Happiness is Having Grandchildren to Love

Five years ago I ambitiously started the largest cross-stitch I have ever done, intending to give it to my paternal grandparents. Mum had made a similar one for her parents a few years before, we thought it might be nice for both sets of grandparents to have one.

The cross-stitch design has an apple tree with the names and year-of-birth of all the grandchildren hanging off it. My grandparents have one grandchild who is not a part of my immediate family, so all the names only just fit into the 15 spaces provided.

I started with a zest, then quickly experienced burn-out (which is quite typical for me where cross-stitch is concerned), and condemned it to the bottom of a craft bag for a few years, occasionally bringing it out to do a few stitches before putting it away again.

But then early last year Grandad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and given a maximum of five years to live. I decided that the cross-stitch should be brought out again and given (in particular) to him before too much time went by. It still took me a while to finish it as I started uni and found that I had increasingly less and less time on my hands. But when my Aunt started making plans for her wedding, and my grandfather was becoming increasingly sick, I made a specific date to have it finished by the wedding.


Last night (two days before we travel up to the Gold Coast for the nuptial celebrations) I finished the last stitches. I hope my grandfather is touched by it and can find some comfort in the knowledge that he has always been loving .....and to be that is a life well lived.

Our 19th Century Ball

Here are some photos taken at the 19th century ball that our family hosted a week ago.

We organised it as a joint birthday gift for my two sisters Jessica (18) and Rebekah (16).

Jessica, Rebekah & Rachael.

We had a live band playing from authentic instruments, and a caller who has been teaching, calling and writing about this period of dance for over 20 years.

All the guests (over 100 people came) had a wonderful time, and everyone has voted that we do it again sometime! It was SO fun dancing for hours all the dances that one could imagine were danced in Austen and Dicken's time!

We gave out prizes to a boy, girl, man, and woman for the best dressed. Cath MacLennan has posted on her blog some pictures also of the ball, amongst them was a picture of David MacLennan who one the prize for the best dressed man. Cath looked wonderful also (which you can see on her blog), as did everyone who came. It was so wonderful that people put the effort into making their own clothes and accessories. Most of the Gentlemen made their own top hats; and most of the Ladies made their own dresses.

Thoughts on Why Everything Exists

Thoughts On Why Everything Exists

August 8, 2008
By John Piper

One of the main points of the forthcoming book Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ is that sin and God’s wrath against it were part of God’s plan when he created the world. This is different from saying that God sins or that he approves of sinning.

The main reason for making this point is to exalt the revelation of God’s grace in the crucifixion of Jesus to the highest place. This is the point of the universe—the glorification of the grace of God in the apex of its expression in the death of Jesus.

Jesus died for sin (1 Corinthians 15:3). The death of Jesus for sin was planned before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8; Ephesians 1:4-6). Therefore, sin was part of the plan. God carries this plan through in a way that maintains full human accountability, full hatred for sin, full divine justice, and full saving love for all who trust Christ. And we don’t need to know how he does it to believe it and rest in it and worship him for it.

This morning I was meditating for my devotions on Ezra 8 and 9. I saw there another pointer to the truth of God’s planning for human sin and divine wrath.
In Ezra 8:22, Ezra says, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him.” This text leads me to ask: Did God know before creation that his creatures would “forsake him.” Yes, he did. The plan for their redemption was in place before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-6).

Was Ezra 8:22 true before the foundation of the world? Yes, it was. God did not become holy and just after creation. He has always been holy and just. “His power and his wrath are against all who forsake him” because this is, and always has been, the holy and just thing for God to do.
Therefore, since God knew that his creatures would forsake him, he also knew that his power and wrath would be against them. Therefore, this was part of his plan. He created the world knowing that sin would happen and that he would respond as Ezra 8:22 says he does.

This planning is what Paul means in Romans 9:22 when he says that God was “desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power. . .” And if you ask Paul why God would go forward with this plan, his most ultimate answer is in the next verse: “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy” (Romans 9:23).

God knew that the revelation of his wrath and power against sin would make the riches of his glory shine all the brighter and taste all the sweeter for the vessels of mercy.
“The riches of his glory” are the riches we inherit when we see his glory in all the fullness that we can bear (Ephesians 1:18) and are transformed by it (Romans 8:30; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 3:2). These riches of glory reach their supreme height of wonder and beauty in the death of Jesus as he bore the condemnation of God’s wrath and power in our place (Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:13).

In other words, God’s plan that there be sin and wrath in the universe was ultimately to bring about “the praise of the glory of his grace” in the death of Christ (Ephesians 1:6). What is at stake in the sovereignty of God over sin is the ultimate aim of the universe, namely, the exaltation of the Son of God in the greatest act of wrath-removing, sin-forgiving, justice-vindicating grace that ever was or ever could be. The praise of the glory of God’s grace in the death of Christ for sinners is the ultimate end of all things.

Christ is the aim of all things. When Paul says, “All things were created . . . for him” (Colossians 1:16), he means that the entire universe and all the events in it serve to glorify Jesus Christ. May the meditations of our hearts take us ever deeper into this mystery. And may the words of our mouths and the actions of our hands serve to magnify the infinite worth of Jesus and his death. This is why we exist.

Romans 3

I have been reading Romans as part of my daily devotional for some time now.

I do a sort of take off of an idea I read in a book by John MacArthur. He recommends reading the same book of the Bible in it entirety (except where it is HUGE, as in Luke: where you read 1/3 of the book at a time) for a month. The idea is that you sort of memorise the book and are able to identify and know roughly where to find a quote taken from the book when you read it in books, hear it in sermons or songs.

But, as I said, I am only doing a take off. Instead of the entire book, I read one chapter. In my hectic life I find that one chapter is a realistic goal. And, on the bright side, I may finish the ENTIRE book before I am 30! Something to look forward to : )

At the moment, I am reading chapter 3, and I thought I might share with you some thoughts that I had while reading it tonight.

God's faithfulness is confirmed with zeal early on:

"For what if some of them [those who had the 'oracles' of God committed to them] did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? God forbid! Let God be true but everyman a liar. As it is written: That you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

It has just struck me that I often take this portion of scripture for granted. I have read it many times and it is one of those foundation stones of theology, but I tend tread disregard it. But is IS foundational to theology. Even to putting one's faith in God. How could we have faith if we were not first assured of the faithfulness of the One we must trust?

The thing that most often strikes me though, in reading this chapter, is that we must not be comfortable in our position of being God's children. I do not mean to say that we might lose our faith, but that others may never gain theirs. The lost are condemned as sinners, but we are no better......" For all have sinned an fall short of the glory of God." We have been "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus." Many have not. Many never will be.

One part of the passage jumps out at me. The words are: "God presented him [Christ Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished...." Now I am not implying God's injustice through his never calling the sins of the wicked to account. What I want to get at is this......God was forbearing toward those who sinned for a time. Earlier in the book of Romans (2:4) Paul says that God's kindness lead us to repentance. How would it be if we were kind and forbearing? What miracles could be wrought in the human race?

A Casting Crowns song: Does anybody hear her? demonstrates this point well I think. It speaks about someone "searching for the hope that is tucked away in you and me." And I have to ask why is that we do tuck our faith away?

I must confirm here though that I am a firm believer in witnessing through a life lived for God; as opposed to Bible bashing every person you meet on the side of the road or in shopping malls. But that brings me to another point. Do we live like Christians or like those of the world? Can we be confident that we are witnesses for Christ?

We ought to be kind and forbearing, as he is kind and forbearing. Give the unrighteous an example, time to change, love and compassion. Sometimes that is all it takes. Sometimes when we do not do those things we are driving away the lost.

Great is God's faithfulness

Chivalry Is Dead (but only in the mornings)

I was flicking through some "blogs of note" today when I came across this post:


Working Girl: Chivalry Is Dead (But Only in the Mornings)



It seems me to be slightly contradictory in that this woman embraces feminism but demands the "respect" due to women, and other "traditional" things like that. There is no logic in having your cake and eating it too. I believe that in many ways women have brought about this lack of respect themselves through their demands for "equal" treatment and status.....but that is no excuse for cowardly men who are afraid to cop the title "chauvinist" simply because they open a door for a woman. I suppose the issue should be considered from both perspectives.

An interesting topic for discussion anyway!

The Hope of Holiness

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

Source: A Lamp For My Feet

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 13:6 Psalm 51:10

The "openness" that is often praised among Christians as a sign of true humility may sometimes be an oblique effort to prove that there is no such thing as a saint after all, and that those who believe that it is possible in the twentieth century to live a holy life are only deceiving themselves. When we enjoy listening to some Christian confess his weaknesses and failures, we may be eager only to convince ourselves that we are not so bad after all. We sit on the edge of our chairs waiting to grasp at an excuse for continuing to do what we have made up our minds long ago to do anyway. The Lord is ready to forgive sin at any moment and to make strong servants out of the worst of us. But we must believe it; we must come to Him in faith for forgiveness and deliverance and then go out to do the work He has given us to do.


"Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity" (1 Cor 13:6 AV). Let us be willing to call iniquity what is really iniquity, rather than to call it weakness, temperament, failure, hangups, or to fall back on the tired excuse, "It's just the way I am."


Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right spirit within me. (Ps 51:10 AV)

Thoughts on Literature

Literature enlarges our being by admitting us to experiences not our own. They may be beautiful, terrible, awe-inspiring, exhilarating, pathetic, comic or merely piquant. Literature gives the entree to them all. Those of us who have been true readers all our life seldom realise the enormous extension of our being that we owe to authors. We realise it best when we
talk to an unliterary friend. He may be full of goodness and good sense but he inhabits a tiny world. In it, we should be suffocated. My own eyes are not enough for me. Even the eyes of all humanity are not enough. Very gladly would I learn what face things present to a mouse or bee.

In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in a Greek poem, I see with a thousand eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.



Quote taken from: "An Experiment in Criticism"
Author C. S. Lewis
Pages 140-141
Cambridge University Press, 1961

Submission and Independence

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: A Lamp For My Feet
Scripture Reference: James 1:4


Paul tells us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, and James tells us we ought to have "the right sort of independence" (Jas 1:4 JBP). Can the same person obey both commands? The answer is yes, for in both he is being obedient to Christ. Submission is the recognition of and obligation to authority. An independence that refuses all accountability to those assigned by God to exercise authority--parents, husbands, employers, teachers, government--is the wrong sort. The right sort, according to James, begins with the acceptance of adversity. That in itself indicates a measure of maturity. One who has not attained that maturity but tries to achieve independence will certainly have the wrong sort.

To accept adversity, obviously, goes against the grain of all of us. We don't like adversity. Acceptance takes fortitude and faith--faith that Somebody knows what this trouble is all about and has the situation well in hand. In other words, acceptance is submission to God Himself. Often the real proof of our obedience is the willingness to submit, not only to adversity, but also to the specific individuals whom God has put over us (and sometimes this comes to the same thing--those individuals spell "adversity!"). Take a close look at what James says: whatever tests our faith leads in the end to the right sort of independence.

Time and Beyond

Elizabeth Eliot has said that C. S. Lewis was one of those rare people who seemed to have "thought-through" everything. Here is one of my favourite quotes from C. S. Lewis. It is taken from "Mere Christianity" (one of my favourite books), and explains in a way overflowing with genius, one of the hardest truths in Christianity.


Another difficulty we get if we believe God to be in time is this. Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow. But if He knows I am going to do so-and-so, how can I be free to do otherwise? Well, here once again, the difficulty comes from thinking that God is progressing along the Time-line like us: the only difference being that He can see ahead and we cannot. Well, if that is true, if God foresaw our acts, it would be very hard to understand how we could be free not to do them. But suppose God is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call 'tomorrow' is visible to in Him in just the same way as what we call 'today'. All the days are "Now' for Him. He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees you doing them, because, though you have lost yesterday, He has not. He does not 'foresee' you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because, though tomorrow is not there yet for you, it is for Him. You never supposed that your actions at this moment were any less free because God knows what you are doing. Well, He knows your tomorrow's actions in just the same way--because He is already in tomorrow and can simply watch you. In a sense, He does not know your action till you have done it: but then the moment at which you have done it is already 'Now' for Him.

"Mere Christianity" pp 145-146