Jewels and Theological Jewels

During the two week Easter break, we were able to visit McAllen, TX., and we spent the week at Russell and Debbie Raymers' house. They are in Hawaii, visiting family. While we were there, we were able to get some pictures. Our children are real jewels.

They also provide us with theological jewels as well. I'll give you two as samples of the kind of thing we hear quite often. Recently we began teaching our children some memory verses. Of course, Ephesians 6:1 has to be the first one: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right." We constantly try to remind them that God is the one who said those words. When we obey our parents, we are really obeying God. After reviewing the verses with the children, I asked them, "Who said that?" Ana, with her typical gusto, raised both hands over her head and yelled, "AMELIA BEDELIA!"

Recently we were reading a story of Jonah. I was explaining how Jonah disobeyed God. As a result, God sent a whale to swallow Jonah. While Jonah was in the belly of the whale, he asked God to forgive him. Aaron interrupted me, "He doesn't have hands." I was impressed! Aaron was understanding something about the spiritual, incorporeal nature of God. "Who?" I asked, "God?" "No," replied Aaron, "the whale. He doesn't have hands. He can't give Jonah a hug." You see, when one of the children misbehave or hurts the other, we have them say "I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" Then they are supposed to hug! In Aaron's mind, that wouldn't work because the whale didn't have hands to hug Jonah. All my hopes about the theological perspicuity of my child came crashing down!

Jewels, indeed!

Back again

After about a one month hiatus, I am back to updating my blog. I apologize for the time that has passed since the last update. Today we have just started our two-week Easter break. While I don't like the interruption that this break brings to the classroom, we do enjoy getting to spend a little bit more time with the family.

Since my last update, we celebrated our fourth Harvest Rally. Once again we had several thousand people attend the Rally. We were stretched and blessed, and we are already planning new things for next year's Rally.

We are also planning a pastors' conference that will coincide with our graduation. May 30th through June 2nd are the dates for that conference. The conference theme is: The Glory of God: Discovering the Magnificence of His Greatness. This is not a common emphasis here in Mexico. I get to preach twice. My topics are: The glory of God and Preaching and The glory of God and the Church. I am really looking forward to this.

Susan is doing well. Her pregnancy is progressing well. The doctor is pretty certain that we will be having another boy. We are both excited about that. Although she still experiences some sickness and tiredness, Susan is doing much better the last several weeks.

Thank you for your prayers.