“In the media today, the Christian media, there’s too much triffling with God, too much slapstick, too much triviality. There aren’t enough tears. There isn’t enough seriousness. The Joy has a light silly flavor to it. Not the kind of flavor that out to be there when you have suffered and died with Jesus. We ought to be calling the world to a kind of joy which has tears on it’s face and can walk through dark valleys. Instead of trying to sound like the silly banter of primetime, drive time, world.”
John Piper, “Looking at the Kindness and Severity of God 2

Claire’s Birth

Claire arrived 4:44pm on Thursday, June 14th. We arrived at the hospital at 2pm after Jenn’s water suddenly broke at home. When we arrived at the hospital she was only at 4cm, which is not very far along. Even the nurse was expecting Jenn to be more towards 8cm. So we were expecting a long and hard labor and Jenn was contemplating getting an Epidural for pain. However, shortly after 4pm things started to change rapidly. At around 4:30 Jenn began pushing and only moments later at 4:44pm Claire was out! The midwife described it as a textbook perfect birth! Apparently they are very rare. And to think we were expecting a long and laborious birth!

Things afterwards went equally as smooth. With Matthew there was some struggle getting him to latch properly. This had cause Jenn’s nipples to be sore and feeding to be very painful. However, Claire was immediately an excellent feeder and made it very easy on Jenn. Claire is such a strong sucker that between feeding she’ll suck on her hand so hard that she sounds like a little pig.

Since things went so well and Claire passed all her tests, we only stayed in the hospital for the minimum 24 hours. We thank God for a smooth birth and a healthy beautiful baby girl.

I placed some photos of our experience online, including photos before the birth, during, and after. Click Here to see the photos

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Christianity,

Why Intense Bible Study?

In a book I’m reading called “The Hermeneutical Spiral”, I found this very good illustration of why a Christian would want to spend lots of time in Bible study. It’s an excellent illustration because it sums up the truth about the value of God’s word in a way that the material side of our human minds can easily understand.

For the true believer there is very little as important as studying God?s Word seriously. Let me use an illustration. Suppose someone were to rush into your Bible study and tell you they had discovered gold coins all over your church?s back lot, and that in fact soundings had shown that the number of coins got greater every few feet all the way down to two hundred feet. It would take one-tenth of a second to clear the room, and you would not be content just to gather them off the surface of the ground. You would start digging, and soon you would be buying and learning to use the tools (back hoes, etc.) to dig deeper and deeper. That is the reality of Bible study; the deeper you go, the greater the rewards. Yes, you will be blessed at the surface level, but why stay there when you can dig deeper and find ever greater treasures?

Osborne, G. R. (2006). The hermeneutical spiral : A comprehensive introduction to biblical interpretation (Rev. and expanded, 2nd ed.) (21). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.