25 August 2009

Summer Picnic


Who could turn down a chance to go on a picnic on a day like this? Especially when put on by your sweetheart?





Simple sandwiches and fruit salad taste like the most luxurious feast in the world when eaten outside in good company.



Once our stomachs had their fill, we sat in the light of the fading sun and read from a Book, life's Light, filling minds with God's thoughts and words. A beautiful end to a beautiful day.

24 August 2009

Anniversary

A year ago today, very dear friends united their lives until death parts them. Congratulations to both of you for enjoying the first year of life together!

19 August 2009

We Are Nearing Home!



Have you ever come home, and still felt like all you wanted was to go home?  I've caught myself in that strange place--home but not home--and I've wondered about it.  Why wouldn't I feel at home in my own house?

Maybe Abraham felt that way sometimes, coming into his tents at night, knowing in his head God had promised him the land right outside his door, but still being a stranger in it, still traveling from place to place, never knowing just when he'd settle for sure.  

Like him, as long as we're on this earth, we're still just nearing home.  We won't be home until Jesus comes again, and we settle into our homes He has prepared for us.  Until then, good old hymns like this one, tucked away in the memory bank, remind me to keep walking forward, step by step, because the real home isn't as far away as it seems.

If you're looking for music to this hymn, check The Church Hymnal:  The Official Hymnal of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (or more commonly and affectionately referred to as "The Old Hymnal").  It's number 642, and it's found in the index under the titles "Just Over the Mountains" and "We are Nearing Home!"  (You might even be able to find a copy of this hymnal on Amazon, if you don't have one already.)


We are Nearing Home!

Arranged by C.P. Whitford
Words by John R. Sweney


Just over the mountains in the promised land
Lies the Holy City built by God's own hand.
As our weary footsteps gain the mountain's crest,
We can view our homeland of eternal rest.

Chorus

We are nearing home, we are nearing home!
See the splendor gleaming from the domes afar,
See the glory streaming through the gates ajar!
There we soon will enter never more to roam,
Hear the angels singing--
We are nearing home, We are nearing home!

From the roles of the prophets we have long been told
Of that wondrous city with its streets of gold.
Now with raptured vision we can see it there,
With its walls of jasper and its mansions fair.

Chorus

Those who enter that city are the chosen few
Who keep God's commandments--faith of Jesus, too.
There we'll lift our voices through the endless days
In sweet songs of gladness and in psalms of praise.

Chorus

My brother, my sister, will you meet us there,
In that land of sunshine where there'll be no care?
Accept of God's message and to Him be true,
Then when Jesus cometh, He will call for you!

Chorus

06 August 2009

Pick Me! (A lesson in home decor)



"Here the few hours of our stay were not spent in useless labor or in doing that which could be done as well as at some other time, but were occupied in a pleasant and profitable manner, restful alike to mind and body. The house was a model of comfort, although not extravagantly furnished. The rooms were all well lighted and ventilated...which is of more real value than the most costly adornments. The parlors were not furnished with that precision which is so tiresome to the eye, but there was a pleasing variety in the articles of furniture.

"The chairs were mostly rockers or easy chairs, not all of the same fashion, but adapted to the comfort of the different members of the family. There were low, cushioned rocking chairs and high, straight-backed ones; there were also comfortable sofas; and all seemed to say, Try me, rest in me. There were tables strewn with books and papers. All was neat and attractive, but without that precise arrangement that seems to warn all beholders not to touch anything for fear of getting it out of place.

"The proprietors of this pleasant home were in such circumstances that they might have furnished and embellished their residence expensively, but htey had wisely chosen comfort rather than display...The God-given sunlight and air had free ingress, with the fragrance of the flowers in the garden. The family were, of course, in keeping with the home; they were cheerful and entertaining, doing everything needful for our comfort...This was a home in the fullest sense of the word."


--Ellen G. White, 1877