Monday, September 29, 2008

elkanah and hannah

don't worry, elkanah is not a name consideration. but if it is your name, i would like to say, it is quite swell, indeed.

today i have been thinking about suffering and longing. they are usually linked. perhaps they are always linked, since one surely always longs for deliverance from suffering. even if they long for it, appropriately, secondly to God Himself. i have a couple of friends who are enduring specific suffering right now. reading in the good book today i came across the story of hannah and samuel. and we all know she desperately wanted a baby and she was known to be infertile. but today i was reminded of an element i don't usually think of in this story. i actually recall it being in the rare jewel, so credit goes to jeremiah burroughs for alerting me to this parallel.

hannah is so upset that she can't eat because of how badly she wants a child. i love her husband, elkanah's response. and i picture him kindly saying it to her, with love and compassion, but compelling her to remember what she has already. he says, "am i not more to you than ten sons?" simple, but good. that is what God says to us in suffering. am i not more to you than...(insert your type of deliverance here). now, ten sons would be more than she could ask or imagine, we would think. but really God is more than more than we could ask or imagine. and what He has for us now is good, pleasing, and perfect. it is perhaps not deliverance from the death of a loved one, the unending financial frustration, the dissatisfaction with our body, that relationship that just never seems to heal, etc. but what He has is, for His beloved, his true sons and daughters, always deliverance from self, from indwelling sin, from ultimate hardheartedness that would keep us from the wedding feast of the Lamb. and always, Christ is near the broken-hearted. our deliverance is always unto Him, He is the reward be it in the form of a fattened calf in joyful celebration or a foreign bread raining down to a complaining people in the dregs of suffering.

God is good all the time. we believe; Lord, help our unbelief.

Friday, September 26, 2008

like-mindedness

i guess it is a good thing that wade and i have a hard time agreeing about baby names. b/c i know most people find some of my names almost appalling. but...since i can't use some of these golden nuggets, i am going to pass them on for the few, insightful people who are looking for beauty, depth, and rarity in a baby name. i think they are mostly boy names since that is almost all we discuss b/c we are pretty much settled on ainsley for a girl.

whichever sex it is, christian will be one of his/her names because it is true of us, it is pretty, and it was my mom's maiden name. i just can't get with her other names, terri or lois. terri lois christian mason davis. she had a lot of names. she never legally dropped christian or mason (my dad's name) when she added davis (my step-dad's name). i guess she had a thing for names like i do.

anyhoo. here they go (wade's rejects and my shining beauties):

st. john. yeah that's right. like the character from jane eyre, my favorite book. it is just perfect. st. john alexander jewett or something like that. call him st. john. so good.

john kirk. obviously, i, a southerner in heart, love double names. kirk means the church. what is better than that?

yves. sounds a bit girlish, but it is a french boy name. how beautiful is it when you say yves st. laurent? imagine owning an yves and saying it all the time.

john christian. good classic name with great family meaning.

beauregard. good french name.

donovan, ramsey, frasier. frasier; obviously my favorite show (okay not a good reason) and it means: curly haired. we could definitely have a boy without curly hair, but if we did and we named him frasier it could be ironic and everyone needs an ironic name.

darby. used for a girl but is a great gaelic boy name.


liam, rhett, wyatt. these are all fine to wade, but not great.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

come then lord jesus

the blog title is actually just a shout-out to my favorite song on the latest igrace cd.

we had a great time this weekend celebrating whit's birthday with some of our dearest friends and family. at one point saturday nite i was able to enjoy some of my favorite ladies all at once! on our new trampoline (three-way gift for the september children) we played a silly game (unrelated to jumping) and generally acted very goofy. hard to imagine, i know. partaking in the madness was a fun selection of people from my life; kirsten and chewy (recent norman), annie (sister-in-law), hannah (potential sister-in-law), and alison (dear friend since 7th grade). alison is a PT down here and it has been really fun to spend time together again since she left norman and went to A&M for college. it was so great to have everyone and we are blessed to have such wonderful friends/family.

it is weird that whit is 5, but norah catherine is still only 3 (until the 20th). and knox will be two before that so it would seem that norah catherine and knox are actually closer in age! it is hard to imagine having a baby in any other month than september...

but, who knows maybe we will get to find out.

oh and, i love sarah palin. i could say so much about this, (and i have to many kind listeners who humor me often) but i will just leave at that; i love her (so far).

and lastly, God is at work. this afternoon i had a two-hour long talk with someone i really care about. she is really struggling in her religious affairs. this girl is precious, but very reluctant to being vulnerable. essentially she said she used to believe and doesn't now. even though she wants to. she feels that God is not there anymore. it was one of those rare moments when i felt unhindered by fear or dread and told her what i believe and why. there were tears, questions i can't fully answer (how do you get faith back? she asked me), and plenty of gospel beauty. i only hope God will give her the eyes to behold that beauty.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

He'll Zap you any way he can

You have to listen to this guy's enunciation. It's magic. Also, check out the Mighty Mighty Bostones guitar player as well.

"He taught me how to turn my cheek when people laugh at me." I can't see how this guy got the opportunity.

This is what I'm sending to all of my friends who are skeptical about the gospel.





Thanks to Matthew Smith for this goldmine. Please, friends, share with us your favorite part. Is it the bass solo? The doobie brother-esque backup singer? You tell me...