The Rock of My Salvation

The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted

be the God of the rock of my salvation.

2 Samuel 22:47

No graver danger threatens the believer than that of forgetting that he was redeemed - forgetting even in the joy of realized life what our salvation cost, and what is the rock foundation of our faith. To meet this need our Savior pictures Himself not merely as the Rock of Ages, and our Strong Rock of Refuge, but the Rock of our Salvation. Here, in Him and upon His merit and atoning grace, we were saved from among the lost. Let us glory in this precious name and never forget that He was "wounded for our transgressions" and "that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree."

A couple years ago our Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) studied Ray Comfort's Revival's Golden Key. Comfort's point was that the modern church is missing the mark on evangelizing by promising peace, joy and a happy life. He contended that the key in evangelizing is to focus on the fact that people need salvation and stop promising things that may or may not happen after accepting Christ. I look at the apostle Paul and would argue that it wasn't a happy life that kept him "fighting the good fight." However, Comfort's approach is a little on the "fire and brimstone" extreme (ironic that a man with the name Comfort could be labeled as someone who scares people into Christianity...I digress) and I do think there is room for the "softer" side of evangelism in some cases. Sean actually just read a book called They Like Jesus But Not the Church (I don't know the author) that contradicted Comfort's approach and argued that people in our generation are turned off from the church because of the judgment they think exists - kind of hard to make people believe they need to be saved if we don't tell them why they deserve hell, which gets interpreted as passing judgment. Disclaimer: I have not actually read this book and am writing based on discussions I had with Sean. Maybe he will post a comment with a better summary. I think it's an interesting dichotomy of views and I'm not quite sure where I stand on either one. I would be interested in hearing what other people think and/or personal experience with one approach over the other. My second disclaimer is that the comments about the books above are meant to point out the extreme nature that both of these approaches can take and don't necessarily represent the complete thoughts of the authors (that's why they wrote books instead of white papers...to expand on their positions).

Chester Cheetah

No, we didn't invest in Cheetos. We've got the pox. More specifically, Wesley has the pox all over. Here's the full story: We noticed some funny bumps on Jack about two weeks ago and brought him to the doctor where we were told that they were bug bites and they should go away. This past Sunday (two weeks after we noticed the bumps on Jack...funny, two weeks is the incubation period for chicken pox) Wesley woke up with a few bumps that looked just like the ones Jack had. We were at the cabin so we thought they were also just bug bites. But after he developed more and more "bug bites" and there was no bug to be seen, we knew they definitely weren't bug bites. Since they looked just like Jack's and we were told Jack didn't have chicken pox, I brought Wesley to the doctor thinking they were going to diagnose him with some rare, potentially fatal skin condition. Nope, "definitely chicken pox" said the same doctor that told us that Jack didn't have chicken pox two weeks ago. Grrr...

Wesley is actually managing pretty well. He has had a low grade fever, but not many other symptoms besides the blisters. He doesn't seem to be too itchy either, except on his head and face. Below are a couple pictures of our spotty baby.

By the way, I would like to apologize to anyone we may have infected (or their parents). WebMD has some good tips on how to manage the symptoms of chicken pox. In our defense, we were told they were "bug bites." Also, if anyone has some good suggestions for managing symptoms that aren't available on WebMD, please post them here. And I would also like to know what you've heard about the symptoms of chicken pox because what is listed on WebMD is exactly opposite from what the doctor told me. Hmm...

Just Like a Real Fireman

Saturday we visited the Medicine Lake Fire Department. Wesley stayed with some friends (thank you very much, Laura, Justin & Myles) while Jack, Sean and I headed out for the adventure. When we arrived, the garage doors were open revealing two fire engines with flashing lights and open doors just waiting for a little boy to climb in. We checked out all the doors and compartments.


We saw where the firefighters ride on their way to an emergency and where all the gear is stored.


The whole time Jack kept saying "I want to dwive." After he'd had enough looking, Jack and I climbed up in the cab (Sean had to sit in the back seat) and we got to go for a ride around a couple blocks. Jack pushed some buttons that made the siren go. When we returned to the fire station, Jack finally got to sit behind the wheel of the big red engine and "drive."




After that we went to the back of the building and got to spray water through a real fire hose. Jack was a little timid at first, but he warmed up. Sean had a really good time, though.


Jack was more interested in getting back up into the cab and driving again.


We think Jack was overwhelmed by the whole experience because he didn't smile that much, but we're pretty sure he had a good time. What is there for a little boy not to like? fire engines...flashing lights...sirens...ladders...hoses...water...

Our adventure ended after a few more photos (okay, a lot of photos, but hey, how often do you get a fire station and three engines to yourself? it needed to be well documented) and some very grateful goodbyes to Captain Halvorsen (our coworker who generously provided this experience).

Look at me again!

I think we're going to have a lot of posts titled like this in the next few weeks. This morning when I heard Wesley babbling in his room I walked in and found him like this:


I didn't sit him up and I know he didn't sleep sitting up so he must have sat up on his own.

Monday night he pulled himself from sitting to standing (in the bathroom, of course, the safest of all places for someone with bad balance and wobbly legs). And last night he took a few steps while holding on to the ottomans in the family room. He's going to be running around the house before we know it.

Did we need to go to the zoo for this?

We spent the morning at the zoo with Shannon, Adelyn and Alyse. We checked out the new exhibit: Russia's Grizzly Coast. We saw the grizzly bears swimming right up by the glass. The first time we went through the otters were nowhere to be found, but we caught a glimpse of them on our way back through. The biggest hit for Jack was, of course, the sand box. There were woolly mammoth "bones" buried in it that he had fun digging up. Below are some pictures of some of the fun things the kids did while we were there. Really, we were at the zoo.

What else, but digging in the sand?

Do you see a trend?

Adelyn chased Jack through the new fountain outside of Russia's Grizzly Coast.

Jack stood under the tall sprinklers commenting on how it was like a shower.

I think they had the most fun in this fountain...the one outside of the main entrance to the zoo...the one that you don't have to pay for...kids.

By the way, Wesley was there too. It's just that pictures of a baby sitting in a stroller really aren't that interesting. He's at the age now where he is aware of the animals and finds them a little bit interesting, but he has to sit in the stroller because he's too big to hold and too little to walk. So I'm one of the obnoxious moms who is trying to push a double stroller up to the exhibits so her baby can see, blocking the view of other children who will appreciate the animals much more and ramming ankles along the way.

Tylenol is my Best Friend

Mr. Crabby Pants

Ooh...what's this?

Ahh...much better

A tooth has appeared in Wesley's little mouth - poor baby. He's been pretty fussy lately and has adopted quite the attitude. Now I know why and I am much more sympathetic. It's almost all the way through so we shouldn't have too many more days of Mr. Crabby Pants. By the way, he isn't really drinking the Tylenol in the photo above.

Daddy's Home!!

Sean returned home from a week in Germany yesterday afternoon and we were all very happy to see him. He brought toys for the boys: a helicopter for Wesley and a garbage truck for Jack. Both toys are a hit. Thanks, Daddy!!