Seconds later, our son Christian began to annihilate this cake.

We loved every minute of it.

as you can see…

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No indulgence of passion destroys the spiritual nature so much as respectable selfishness.
… George Macdonald, Robert Falconer, BiblioBazaar (undated reprint), p. 518

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Eucatastrophe is a term coined by J. R. R. Tolkien which refers to the sudden turn of events at the end of a story which result in the protagonist’s well-being. He formed the word by affixing the Greek prefix eu, meaning good, to catastrophe, the word traditionally used in classically-inspired literary criticism to refer to the “unraveling” or conclusion of a drama’s plot. For Tolkien, the term appears to have had a thematic meaning that went beyond its implied meaning in terms of form. In his definition as outlined in his 1947 essay On Fairy-Stories, eucatastrophe is a fundamental part of his conception of mythopoeia. Though Tolkien’s interest is in myth, it is also connected to the gospels; Tolkien calls the Incarnation the eucatastrophe of “human history” and the Resurrection the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation.

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One of the fiercest riots Charles Wesley ever faced was that at Devizes in February, 1747. The Rev. John Meriton, a clergyman from the Isle of Man, who died in 1753 and spent his last years in accom panying and helping the Wesleys, was his companion. The mob surrounded the house where they were staying, broke the windows, tore down the shutters, blocked the door with a wagon. Next day they poured water on the house with a hose. A constable carried this off, but they obtained the larg er engine, flooded the rooms, and de stroyed the furniture. The mob untiled the roof that they might get hold of the Methodist preacher. At last the friends mounted their horses, and were escorted out of the town by the constable and his posse. ‘We rode a slow pace up the street, the whole multitude pouring along on both sides, and attending us with loud acclamations. Such fierceness and diabolical malice I had not seen in human faces. We felt great peace and acquiescence in the honour done us, while the whole town were specta­tors of our march.’ When they reached Wrexal, ‘We joined in hearty praises to our Deliverer, singing the hymn, “Worship, and thanks and blessing,”

Telford, pp. 286-7

Worship, and thanks, and blessing,
And strength ascribe to Jesus!
Jesus alone defends His own,
When earth and hell oppress us!
Jesus with joy we witness
Almighty to deliver;
Our seals set to, that God is true,
And reigns a King for ever.

Omnipotent Redeemer,
Our ransomed souls adore Thee;
Our Savior Thou, we find it now,
And give Thee all the glory.
We sing Thine arm unshortened,
Brought through our sore temptation;
With heart and voice in Thee rejoice,
The God of our salvation.

Thine arm hath safely brought us
A way no more expected,
Than when Thy sheep passed through the deep,
By crystal walls protected.
Th glory was our rearward,
Thy hand our lives did cover,
And we, e’en we, have passed the sea,
And marched triumphant over.

Save as devoted Peter
Betwixt the soldiers sleeping,
Like sheep we lay to wolves a prey,
Yet still in Jesus’ keeping.
Thou from th’infernal Herod,
And Jewish expectation,
Hast set us free! All praise to Thee
O God of our salvation.

The world and Satan’s malice
Thou, Jesus, hast confounded;
And, by Thy grace, with songs of praise
Our happy souls resounded.
Accepting our deliverance,
We triumph in Thy favor,
And for the love which now we prove,
Shall praise Thy Name forever.

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A wolverine walks by the destroyed effigy of Brutus Buckeye, the Ohio State mascot at the Detroit Zoo on Friday. The pinata used as the effigy was filled with meat and other treats to entice the animals.

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Seniors, we’ll watch the last 30 minutes of the sermon (roughly starting where the 1st youtube clip starts)

The questions for discussion will be posted here tonight (after the 3rd clip)

1. (Point 3) How does John Piper know that he’s alive in Christ?

2. (Point 4) What is the gospel? Acts 10:43!

3. (Point 5) What does it mean to be a child of God? (Hebrews 12:6-8)

4. (Point 6) What is the book of Proverbs designed to do?

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hold on to that feeling.

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…he’s right.

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…to be delivered tomorrow morning at Blackhawk Ministries in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Father,

This morning we humbly come before you on behalf of Your church, persecuted around the world. This morning we intentionally join with millions of Your children around the world in praying as one body in Christ, individually as members of each other (Rom. 12:5). This morning we join together in praying for the brutalized, victorious bride of Your Son, Jesus. A bride that is making herself ready for the coming of the Bridegroom. As we prepare and adorn ourselves, Father, help us.

This morning we pray for the millions worldwide who faithfully serve and minister under governments that have set themselves against You and Your gospel. This morning we pray that they will continue to be strong in the face of real and violent resistance to Your word. We pray Father, that those serving in the midst of physical violence will remember that this is not our home (Hebrews 11:14). I pray that as they are imprisoned, beaten, tortured, alienated from children, spouses, fellow believers and friends, that they, by their faithfulness to You, will agree with Your apostle Paul, and that they would “not account their lives of any value nor as precious to themselves, if only they may finish their course and the ministry that they received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

This morning, Father, we continue in praying for Your church, persecuted here in the West. With our brothers & sisters overseas, Father, we pray, not that You would deliver us from persecution, but that You would equip Us by Your Holy Spirit to stand strong in the face of it. We ask You, Father, to save us from ourselves. Save us from the persecution that we have visited upon each other as we have fallen short of our calling as “the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” ( 1 Timothy 3:15). We cannot pillar and buttress a thing, Father, that we have failed to put in place. We are persecuted internally by materialism, selfishness, and a failure to live as “blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which we have not, like we should, shone like stars in the universe” (Phil. 2:15). Deliver us from evil, Father. Lead us in the everlasting Way. Make us righteous. Give us fidelity with our long-suffering brethren around the world who know and understand, at a terrible personal price, the awful, magnificent & worthy cost of following Jesus. In an uncertain time, Father, give us perspective as to what we might give to Your kingdom’s cause.

Father, this morning we commit, by your grace, to live differently. We commit to, as never before, our ministry of reconciliation in this world. Make us instruments of peace. Make us vessels of Your love. Empower us to set forth Jesus as the One most precious. “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way” (Isaiah 35:3). May we say with Isaiah, Your prophet, to ourselves & our ill-treated co-laborers:
      
“Be strong, do not fear; 
      
your God will come,

       he will come with vengeance;

       with divine retribution

       he will come to save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)

Amen

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