Mitt Romney For President?

Today we got an email asking us to consider Mitt Romney for president. One of the claims was that he believed in traditional marriage. Mr. Romney is a Mormon... he believes that God was married and that Jesus and Lucifer were his sons. They are historically polygamists. They believe that you can have many wives in heaven and that you will forever procreate to fill your own planet with spirit children.... traditional marriage, huh?

What Thirty is Like

Well, I am now 30 years old. What is different? Well, not much.

I had a nice birthday. I got some cards in the mail and a Lowes gift card from my parents... I am sure that Lydia suggested it. She has been asking for me to repaint the bedroom for a number of months. Now it will get done. Heidi got me some coffee and a new Starbucks cup. I love it. Irma and Lawrence sent some cash. That is always appreciated.

Bill and Paige Kamp (who are expecting in May) volunteered to watch our 3 little ones on Tuesday so that we could go out for a birthday dinner. We took them up on the offer and went out to Olives in East's Gas Light Village. It was a great time. We had Martinis and Mushroom Crostini as an appetizer. For dinner I had Tenderloin Napoleon and Lydia had Garlic-herb marinated steak. It was wonderful! The conversation was adult and the company was splendid! It was a good way to bring in my third decade.

From there we walked to Starbucks for some hot chocolate. We talked some more and really did not want the evening to end. Of course, with small children you cannot be away for long! We picked up the kids and headed home.

On my proper birthday (Wednesday) we did not really do anything. I had class in the AM and prepared for Bible study that I was teaching in the evening. We took a short break for a Mangiamo pizza for dinner, and then it was time for me to go to Bible study. Lydia made a delicious blueberry cake and a chocolate cake to send with me.

At Bible study Ray and Linda sang happy birthday in Dutch and Ray and James sang it in German. We also sang the 30th Psalm in commemoration of my birthday. It was a good night there.

Today (Thursday) was class and writing as usual. I got the mail at 5:20 and to my surprise there was a package addressed to Lydia. I opened it and found a splendid birthday gift! She got me a book that I have been looking for for about a year. I have NOT been able to locate a copy and was hoping to not have to pay $100 for it! She got it for me! The book is Sketches of the Covenanter Ministers, 1888-1930 by Owen F. Thompson. She found a minister in Kansas (Rev. Ken McFarland) that had two copies and was willing to sell one to her.

This is the follow up book to Glasgow's History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church that Ray and I wrote the introduction for upon its reprinting. What a great gift! It takes a very special wife to search long and hard for a bibliophile's gift. What I could not do in one year, she did in one quiet month of searching and emailing. It is good to start my 30th year of life with a woman who knows and loves me so much. She loves books and fine food too, of course.

COVFAMIKOI Psalm Sing

James Lanning found this video on the web. It is one of the many 'family worship' times at our presbytery's annual family conference. You can hear what 350 (although there were 600+ people at the conference) people singing acapella psalms sounds like. I look forward to the International Conference in July in which over 1100 RPs from all over the world will be here in Grand Rapids!
It is Psalm 144.9-15:

I will sing a new song to you, O God;
upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
who gives victory to kings,
who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.
Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace;
may our granaries be full,
providing all kinds of produce;
may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be heavy with young,
suffering no mishap or failure in bearing;
may there be no cry of distress in our streets!
Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!
Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!

Little Watson Watches Papa Write A Sermon

Anna has informed us that Owen and Watson are going to go to papa's school when they are bigger. She claims that they can be preachers and that she can be a talker. Here I have explained, in simple terms, some of the steps to move from exegesis to homiletics. I am not sure how interested he is though.

Whata Weekend With Watson!

This was a very special weekend for our family. Besides Watson getting baptized, we had some special visitors as well.

Here is Mrs. Lanning giving Watson a kiss. He is in the very special baptism gown that she made out of Lydia's wedding dress. All three of our children were baptized in it and we hope that it will stay in our family for generations to come. Maggie spent the weekend with us. She slept in the boy's room and Owen had to crawl in with her at 8AM to make sure that she did not sleep the day away.
Here is the Grand Rapids Commission of the RPCNA. We had a long weekend of examinations, family interviews, and hours of great Christian fellowship. James Faris was unable to be in this picture, but he is on the Commission as well.
Here is a goofy picture of the smiling Eshelman women. It looks like Brian is trying to snuggle up to my mom... but I assure you that this is not the case!
Here is another of Linda with Watson. She deserves two pictures since she made the dress. Today is Linda's tenth 40th birthday as well!
Here is Rev. Lanning with us. He has had the privledge of baptizing all three of our children. I cherish the pictures of him with them after the baptism. He gave a moving sermon as well as on Jesus's view of children. It is worth listening to again.
And one of the family. Watson was the picture perfect baby through the whole baptism. He slept the whole time!
* * * * * * * *Sorry, Bruce, no turkey pictures as of yet. I will get the video for Watson and make sure he memorizes all of the tips. You will have to take him hunting though... I gave it up after grandpa dropped me in the river!

Psalm Singers Are Always Cute

COVFAMIKOI

The five Presbyterian Travelers headed out to Kentucky last week in search of a large number of Reformed Presbyterians. We knew that our destination was the great Blue Grass State of Kentucky and we knew that we had an 8 hour car ride ahead of us. We left Grand Rapids at 7:30am with a fine cup of Beaners to hold us over until lunch.

James Lanning was the co-pilot and about lunch time he decided that we needed to stop for some food. We stopped in Ohio or Indiana for lunch. There was a strip of fast food joints aligned around a corner that James thought we should take a picture of. The fast food area is on the corners of "Sharts-Central". I am still not sure why James thought that was important to note.

From there we headed across the appropriately named, Ohio river. This takes us over the Mason Dixon Line and we began to feel the cultural differences immediately. Notice the plethora of bumper stickers on this touring RV. The center-right sticker says Possum, the other white meat. Opossum is the spelling. You can read the rest for yourself.
Some say that you even begin to look different as you head south. I am not so sure.
When we got to COVFAMIKOI we all had a blast. There were classes for Anna and Owen as well as for us. Anna learned about the Lost sheep, coin, and sons. Owen learned that playing with other kids can be fun. We all tried to get online all week, but we could not until the last day. It took James (who has a degree in computer nerdology) to hook up the internet. Lydia was pleased to have a husband who was 'unplugged'.
We opened our room as the Starbucks room. We ground and brewed almost 2.5 pounds of French Roast over the week. We hosted many great visitors including the irenic Dr. Roy Blackwood. He told us great stories of church planting and being faithful to his call. We also had many LONG hours of discussion and reflection.
Here is Anna outside of our dorm building. She really had a great time, even though she was forced out of bed at 7:30 every morning. This is a huge change in our family.
James was COVFAMIKOI master. He pretty much met all 422 people that were in attendance. It has to be the really great hat- or is the fake Ray Bans?
The window treatments were something to be desired.
Here Owen and I enjoy a cup of Starbucks.
This was our room. We lined 3 mattresses along the floor for our family. (James had his own room as well the rest of the people that we met there.)
Pure class Lanning. Pure class.
This was not at Asbury College, but at some church along the highway on the way home. It is a giant icon of an English Jesus. Notice the church in the background is two stories. That gives an idea of how huge this thing is.
I thought that he was drowning and looking for help. Shawn thought that it was a touch-down Jesus that commemorated the correlation between pro-football and Sabbath breaking. Not sure which it was.

Either way, we had a great time there. It was very encouraging spiritually as well as challenging on many points. Shawn, James, and I got to watch Rev. Lanning be examined for a number of hours. We met a lot of great people and got to sing Psalms acapella with almost 500 hundred Covenanters. I cannot wait until next year when 2000 gather at Calvin for the RP International Conference.

We really got to witness God's faithfulness to the covenant of Grace as he has preserved this group of Reformed Presbyterians since the 1600s in Scotland. He reminded us of this on the way home.

COVFAMIKOI...say what?

My family, along with one other Presbyterian Traveler, James 'J Dub' Lanning, will be heading out to the Great Lakes-Gulf Coast Presbytery (RPCNA) family camp. The camp, according to the Mintues of the Young People's Work (1947), was begun in Indianapolis, Indiana in that year.

In 1949 the name COVFAMIKOI was given to indicate that it was COVenanters from Florida, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois who were joining for mutual fellowship and encouragment. The meeting place then was Lake Wawasee, Indiana. Since then it has moved to Kentucky, which is central for the presbytery. The name does not show the seriousness of the 'killing times'... but it sure is fun to say! COVFAMIKOI!

If there is internet available, I will give daily updates on what is being taught and discussed.

*both LOUA as well as PT will have the same posts this week.

Congratulations Stuart Mark Birn

Congratulations to Stuart Mark Birn on his baptism yesterday. It is always a blessing to see children brought into the covenant of grace by the sign of baptism.

He was a trooper as well. We were telling Steve and Janna how Anna smiled as the water ran down her face, but Owen cried when Rev. Lanning was baptizing him. It seems as though he did not want to be a member of the church!

May Stuart grow up to love the Lord Jesus above all things and without compromise.

(Thanks e-Chuck for the stolen photo as well.)

Weekend Visit to Elkhart, IN

This past weekend I preached at the RPCNA of Elkhart in Elkhart, Indiana. It was the first time that we had ever been there and we did not know what to expect from the town or the people. We were impressed the congregation there and found them to be very friendly and wanting to please the Lord in many areas that Reformed people fall short on!

Anna and Owen could not wait to leave for our little get-away. They sat in the yard for some time reading and playing. Anna kept asking questions about Indiana and what it had to do with Anna? "I am Anna, what is Indi-anna?"
We spent the afternoon with a wonderful family that shared a lot of church planting stories as well as other things of the Lord. Ritva is a master level gardener and by the looks of her landscape, church planting is not the only thing that she and her husband are successful at planting. It was the most beautiful landscaping that I have ever seen, complete with espalier. It was a great place to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Johannes is 7 years old. He was very sweet and gentle. Anna has been talking about him since we left. She claims that she is going to marry him and she even picked flowers out of my garden and described how she wants a ribbon tied around them so that she can save them for her wedding. Wow!

When we got home I downloaded the pictures from our trip... notice the angle on this one... yep. I did not take it! Anna snuck in a picture of Johannes before she left.

Klompen Dancing through Tulip Time

The Eshelman's proper, came up from Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. One of the things that they wanted to do was to go to Holland and visit Tulip Time. They had never done this, and frankly, Pella Iowa's Tulip Time is much more ethnocentric. Holland had NO Dutch food that we could try and most of the stores displayed racist signs on the doors that read, "NO WOODEN SHOES". When will the racism end against the humble Dutch?
Here Anna was helping to weed their gardens. I informed her that they wanted those tulips there. She was wanting to replace them with edelweiss, but I reminded her that our Reformed heritage honors the TULIP and we should be nice to the Dutch for their silly ways of remembering the doctrines of Grace. Owen was showing me all of the various parts of the tulip. "Papa, that is the stamen", "that is the ovary", "that is the anther and filament", "that is the receptacle and pedicel"!

Ummm... okay Owen... whatever.

And here we have the famous Holland Klompen Dancers. 1400 women dressed as men and women on Saturday and on the Sabbath day dressed as the gender that God intended them to be.

We had a great time!

Anna Meets John Calvin

Anna got to experience what research and scholarship is recently. We went to the Henry Meeter Center For Calvin Studies to do some research. She was very interested in everything and asked a lot of questions. She got to see some of the rarest books in the world including a first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion and Calvin's liturgy and Catechism. She also got to see 'the Calvin chair' and numerous coins and stamps depicting his image. We spend some time compiling a bibliography on Calvin and the Holy Spirit and then we moved on to other things. It was nice that Polly Pocket was able to go with us.

Columbus, Indiana? Where?

Next week I will be in Columbus, Indiana for presbytery. I have only been through Indiana other than stopping to fuel my car.

Columbus Reformed Presbyterian Church will be hosting this event. I am travelling with Rev. Lanning and Mr. Sikma who are going on business concerning our local congregation.

The fall meeting held at Southfield was a really great experience. I have enjoyed getting to know the ministers in the RPCNA. I hope that this meeting will go equally as well. I know some of the issues that will be discussed with me and I am looking forward to seeing how the Lord's hand will work all of this out.

Five Blessed Years

Five Blessed Years

Five years ago today Lydia and I were married at the Chapel of Reformed Bible College. We sang Psalms, read Scripture, and were married according to the Reformation form written by Peter Detanus. Reformed Christians have been using this form for nearly 500 years. It was a blessed event in which the glories of Jesus Christ were proclaimed. We thank Him for 5 years and pray that the Lord would grant us many more.
In the past five years the Lord has blessed us in many ways. The greatest of which being Anna Grace and Owen Justice. We look forward to our new baby as well. The Lord is gracious and kind unto those that love His name.

Here is the prayer that was prayed as we were married before God:

Almighty God, Thou who dost manifest Thy goodness and wisdom in all Thy ordinances, and from the beginning hast said that it is not good that man be alone and therefore hast created him a helpmeet to be with him, and ordained that they who were two should be one, and who dost also punish all impurity; we pray Thee, since Thou hast called and united these two persons in the holy state of marriage that Thou wilt give them Thy Holy Spirit, so that they in true love and firm faith may live holily according to Thy divine will and resist all evil. Wilt Thou also bless them as Thou hast blessed the believing fathers, Thy friends and faithful servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; in order that they, as coheirs of the covenant which Thou hast established with these fathers, may bring up their children which Thou wilt be pleased to give them, in the fear of the Lord, to the honor of Thy holy name, to the edification of the Thy Church and to the extension of the holy gospel. Hear us, Father of all mercy, for the sake of Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, our Lord, in whose name we conclude our prayer.

Fat Tuesday? Ash Wednesday? Where were we?

Every Tuesday is Fat Tuesday in my home... and tomorrow the Ash-heads come out...I always feel a little bit embarassed for them!
Mmm...excuse me, Mr. Kerry...you spilled some religious superstition on your forehead.

Bunch o' Sickos

So the entire clan here on Union Avenue is sick. The process has been going on for over two days. Owen was the first to come down with hyper-emesis and he has graciously passed that on to the whole family.

We have spent many hours in the middle of the night changing sheets and washing towels- quite fun really. It sure does a great job at testing how patient and loving one can be towards the family.

While we we lay sick, Anna and I decided to go over her Bible verse for the week.

CREATE IN ME A CLEAN HEART O, GOD (Psalm 51.10a)

Here is a little conversation that we had over the meaning of the text:
Anna: Papa, do you have a clean heart?
Papa: Yes, Anna.
Anna: Does mama have a clean heart?
Papa: Yes Anna.
Anna: Do I have a clean heart?
Papa: I hope so Anna.
Anna: Did Jesus buy me a clean heart?
Papa: Yes, he did Anna.
Anna: I want a clean heart.
Papa: Then you have to ask Jesus for one.
Anna: Can I ask Jesus for a blue heart too?

*Anna thought that the word clean was green!
Maybe theological discussion is not at its best when one is ill!

Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church

Please pray for us as we travel to Southfield Reformed Presbyterian Church this weekend.

Nathan will be preaching both services and hopes that the Lord blesses the people of Southfield through the preaching of the Word. I am quite excited to have the opportunity to preach in such an historical church in Michigan's history. (This church is older than our state!)

Pray also that as we get to know these brothers and sisters in Christ bridges will be built to further the kingdom of God in Christ. Pray for us.

*It was also brought to our attention that Rev. Rick Miller of Dutton United Reformed Church had a stroke this week. Pray for him, his family, and his congregation as they work through this tragic event.

Be At Peace

The following is found in "The Fruit of Her Hands" by Nancy Wilson, directed towards women, but applying to all Christians. This is in light of The Director's recent post on Wendler Cottage. This is quite helpful and we thank Marion for her summation:

Be at Peace

Nancy Wilson

[Wo]men who want to be at peace with other [wo]men must come to understand the very important difference between principles and methods. A dictionary defines a principle as "a basic truth, general law, or doctrine used as a basis of reasoning or a guide to actions or behavior." A Christian [wo]man must learn to think biblically; [s]he must derive her/his basic principles of living from God's Word. The world eagerly presses its principles regarding marriage and child-rearing upon us. But if we learn to think like Christians, we can discern between worldly and Christian principles.

A method, in contrast, is "a procedure or way of doing something." In other words, we use methods to apply our principles. For example, a sound mothering principle is "All Christian mothers should feed their babies." This principle could easily be substantiated in Scripture, and few, if any, would take issue with such a fundamental principle. In spite of general agreement on this and other related principles, however, much disagreement exists on the method of applying this simple precept. Some women breastfeed their babies; some bottle feed. And of course there is the question of schedule feeding vs. nonschedule feeding, when to wean baby, and so forth.

Within a Christian community, families will certainly share many common principles, but their methods will vary. Sometimes an overzealous allegiance to method will lead to confusion and controversy, for the method of feeding baby can become larger and more important than the principle of feeding baby. Suddenly, pressure is exerted to convince women to join the group and support a particular method.

Of course, this is not an argument that all methods are equal--they are not. Some methods are inferior to others. Rather, the point is that the methods of others are not really our business. If a friend asks for advice on a method, we may of course give it. But when sharing a method, we must remember we are not on a moral crusade.

Young Christian [wo]men are particularly vulnerable to this wrong kind of pressure. When the sisters get together they very naturally "talk shop" about children. This can provide an overzealous type quite an opportunity to apply pressure. If the young women feel inexperienced, a woman with "a strong case" for her method can exert a great influence. The young Christian woman can be made to feel that she isn't really dedicated unless she adopts "the method."

Because every family is a distinct cultural unit, it is good that our methods differ. God did not intend for us to walk in lockstep with one another. This is not altered when some families have inferior methods; we may deem their methods to be unwise. And remember, there are others, wiser than we, who see the inferiority of some of our methods! We ought to rejoice in a common commitment to biblical principles, and rejoice in the variety of methods God's people employ.

If we become overzealous for conformity to our method, strife between Christians will commonly result. I have talked to women who, because they felt strongly about one way of feeding babies, became critical toward their sisters who used a different method. This should not be! "Be at peace among yourselves" (1 Thess. 5:12-13). Certainly the [wo]men of the church ought not to be squabbling about whether or not to schedule feed their babies! Who cares? What someone else does in this regard is no one else's business. It is not a moral issue, and we have no business fighting over it.

We do not honor God if we are critical or defensive. How our friends feed their children is not our concern.

The biggest danger is when people begin to think their own methods of applying biblical principles are the most spiritual, for the really committed. If we fall into this trap, then it becomes an issue of first importance for us. The result is a feeling of superiority over others who differ. This obviously leads to self-righteousness, envy, jealousy, defensiveness, and quarrels.

As we grow in grace, may we all learn to discern the difference between principles and methods, and relax, and keep the peace, when our friends' methods are not our own.

(From A Hedge of Courtesy)

But another aspect to this whole question of different methods needs to be addressed and that is the question of common courtesy. How do we treat our friends when we differ with them over methods? Do we criticize them behind their backs? The Bible calls this backbiting. Do we openly criticize them? Do we tell them their method is inferior to our own? That can be arrogant or just plain rude. Do we make officially "polite" but loaded comments which express our displeasure and disapproval of their application of God's principles? Do we try to embarrass them to make ourselves look better? This is not courtesy.

Can Christians ever discuss their methods? Certainly! But the hedge of courtesy and good manners should be firmly in place. If it is not, defensiveness and hurt feelings will be the common result.

More here...

Thoughts on the Governor's Debate

Not to be obnoxious, but...

If the vote for governor was today, and I based my vote soley on who mentioned God and talked about his or her faith...

I would vote for Jennifer Granholm. Too bad for Mr. De Vos, he even claims to be a Reformed Christian.