Now for something completely different!

We're now nearly halfway through the year and things continue on, but The Lord, while always faithful, is not without a sense of humor. On March 31st Anji's ultrasound revealed that the latest addition to our family will be female. Now, to some families that may not come as much of a shock, but to one with a (current) 5-to-1 ratio of males to female(s) it can be. (That ratio does not include the dog, in case you were wondering).
This revelation has sent both Anji and my minds abuzz with new thought patterns. Girls, first and foremost, may wear pink on occasions other than Easter. Girls, we are told (by liars, no doubt) are "easier" than boys. Girls, we know, have dissimilarities in many other ways: some obvious to the casual observer, some not.
The news of our newest's gender also deeply disturbed Number One Boy, who has spent way too much thought on the necessity of the girl having her own room, girl toys, and the various accoutrements common to the fairer sex. He sees her as interloper in a distinctly masculine environment. He will undoubtedly be her greatest protector and supporter among her siblings as the years pass.
So we anxiously await her arrival in August and pray for her and her Mama's health constantly.
In other news:
-We (with Dad and Mom's help) put up a playset and basketball hoop in the backyard.
-Number Two and Three Boys are playing soccer. I am coaching. It is hilarious and great fun.
-Anji was sick, sick, sick during her first trimester. Maybe because Biscuit is a girl? Nonetheless, she is much better now and is beginning to really show.
-I am still employed and have recently returned from Illinois.
That about wraps it up. Further updates to come, no doubt, but if you're on Facebook be sure to befriend Anji for a more real-time view of our goings-on. Until next time may God bless you and keep you.
Kurt

The state of things

Here we are, six or seven weeks into the new year, and I'm sure you're all dying to know what the heckfire is going on with the Tennessean Settleses. Well, I'll tell you:

1. #2 is 6 years old.
2. Anji is pregnant with #5.
3. Lucy (the dog) cost us a fortune just to tune up, but she's fine (darnit).
4. Christmas came and went uneventfully.
5. The Georgia Settleses came up for New Years and visited.
6. #1 started basketball.
7. I'm fatter, slower, and fortier than I was last year at this same time.
8. Working from home continues.
9. Homeschooling continues.
10. Primitive Baptisting continues.

That's about it. Next update in a few months? Perhaps so, perhaps not.

Wrote a blog post. Check!

I have spent many of my early morning meditations lately in 1 John. I am particularly drawn to this little book because it was written in a way that gives the impression that John was trying to express to the disciples that Jesus didn't only come to earth, lay down a few new rules, die on the cross, and leave for heaven. Rather, I think John was trying to explain to the disciples that there's more to the story. I think John was trying to get across a message of hope for now, not just for the future someday when we (die or) are carried up into Glory. 

I guess I'm of the general impression that a lot of folks who proclaim Christ as their Savior don't necessarily believe that He's still around. Not that they're doing bad things. No, it's not that at all. They do a lot of good things all of the time. A lot of the time, they do that out of a sense of duty or obligation or, maybe more commonly, because they think they'd better keep up the good work because God's going to get them if they don't. Some folks are even doing stuff because somebody else told them that that's what they're supposed to be doing because it's just always been done that particular way! 

No, it's more that they don't act as though Jesus is still present (and I mean present as in when you raised your hand in school when attendance was called), nor that God is still working in the minutiae of their lives. You see, John was probably encountering something that we see pretty commonly today: Christians who'd reverted to "check box religion". 

Check box religion goes something like this: During the work week I get up, I pray at breakfast, I read a devotional book (or maybe actually read the Bible), I go to work, I pray (if nobody's around) at lunch, I go home, I pray at dinner, and maybe I pray before bed. If there's church activities during the week I go to those. On Sunday, I go to Sunday school and worship, I give, I sing/pray/listen, and I go home. My prayers follow the same pattern each time: a little thanks, a little request, and "in Jesus name, Amen." When a new week starts again, I'm at the same place where I was a week ago, except more dry, brittle, hollow, parched. But I'm doing everything right, aren't I? I mean, that's what the Bible says to do doesn't it?

No. That's not all that the Bible says to do. The Bible says that Jesus accomplished His work here on Earth, then returned victorious to His Father. (Queue Bob Barker ...) But that's not all! Jesus sent us His Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to complete us when we abide in Him. Now abide is an old-fashioned word. In fact, in some of the more recent distortions of the scripture, it's been completely left out. Abide, as John used it, means to dwell, rest, remain, or continue. Are you dwelling with the Lord? Is the Lord dwelling with you? Does He walk the hallways of your home? Does He sit next to you at work? Are you aware that He can be continually present in you? That's right: in you! Listen to what John says:  "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." The Holy Ghost's presence in our lives, His abiding in us, is God's seal upon us! (Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30) 

You see, my Christian friend, even though Jesus' work is finished, you are not. You are incomplete. You are inadequate. You are unable. You are needy. This is because you are still burdened with what you were and earnestly hoping for what you will become. (Colossians 1:5) Your flesh is weak. Your spirit is willing. (Matthew 26:41) The Helper, the Comforter, fills the gaps. Jesus said that it was "expedient" that He go away so that the Holy Spirit might come. (John 16:7). Jesus, our Lord and Savior, sent the Holy Ghost to us from the Father. And therefore, we must abide in Him as He abides in us. We must dwell with Him and allow Him to make His abode with us. These are not difficult things, but they are not ordinary, they are extraordinary. The Holy Ghost will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that Jesus said. (John 14:26) His task here with us in not small. All things is all things, after all.

So, you might say to me: "Kurt, that's all well and good. I understand that the Holy Ghost is here with me. I know what the Bible says about the Holy Ghost. Every good Christian does." And I, in return, might say to you: "But is it just in your head? Or is it in your heart? Are you truly aware of Him abiding with you, on a spiritual level? Do you feel Him? Do you hear His voice? Does His presence pierce your soul? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are spirit, but it's so easy to see them only in black in white,  contained within words on the printed pages of your Bible. Oh, brother (or sister), They are so much more than that. Why can't you see?"

May God bless you and bring you closer to Him, through His Son and His Spirit. 

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28)

Love, waffles, paper, and being in the world, not of it.

First things first: We wish you all a very joyous fall season. This is definitely my favorite time of year and it is especially beautiful here in Tennessee, where the leaves are prolific and beginning their radical shift to autumn colors. Come and visit us, friends and family. We want to share God's glory with you!

I am writing partially because an update to this blog was requested by a person we love very much, and also because the subject herein has been heavy upon me for a while. The post you're about to read (or suffer through, if you will) is actually two excerpts from my personal journal. I hope you enjoy it and perhaps it will make you think a bit about our world and how we interact with it.

"I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Luke 17:15-16

(Originally written 9/13/2008)

I wonder, here in the U.S., with our focus on new technology, whether we're losing our contact with our ability to grasp the aesthetic of touch, sound, and earthly beauty. We desire to create social networks online, and reclusively wait behind our computer screens for someone to notice us. We try to electronically meet our determined efforts at research, and while we know information should be free, our minds quickly become overwhelmed with all of the resources available. The days of digging through encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases one at a time have been replaced by frenetic hyperlinking from site to site. Attention deficit is a national plague, pronouncing mental and psychological prison sentences on our youth, our government, and our churches.

I am no Luddite. No, far from it. I have a Facebook, a Flickr, a LinkedIn, a Twitter, a Jaiku, a Plaxo, and other "social network" accounts. I use email and instant messenger. I'm a technical trainer, working with cutting-edge technology. I am not afraid of the Internet, cellular phones, wireless signals, or any of the latest trends. But, I keep a hand-written journal, a daily work log in a paper planner, and want to instill the same appreciation in my family and friends. I love paper, walks through museums, live music, live sports, paperback books, and intimate one-on-one communications.

If we lose touch with these things, we lose touch with who God created us to be: in and experiencing his creation, but not of this world.

(Originally written 9/14/2008)

Samuel is sitting across the table from me, enjoying his second waffle. It is a toaster waffle, of course. And I'm thinking about what he's missing by not having a homemade/handmade breakfast in front of him. Everything he's consuming has come from a package and is missing one key ingredient: love. Love changes the nature of things. You can tell by the taste, the touch, the look, and the spirit of the thing.

Anji has surrounded us, in our home, with handmade items that Ken (my father-in-law) has produced over the years: many things that embody what I'm writing about. Many of them are imperfect, rough around the edges, just like me. But they're made with love, and it shows, just like me.

Thy mercy, o Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgements are a great deep:
O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.
How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, o God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.
Psalm 36:5-7

God bless you all.

Kurt

The Rod of Love

This past Friday and Saturday Kurt and I attended one of the maaaaany meetings going on in the PB world this summer. This particular meeting was featuring a man by the name of Sonny Pyles. I had read indirectly about him from an author by the name of Tom Hagler and was anxious to be an audience member at this particular meeting.

Before I share with you a delightful nugget that I was given, let me share my observations of this man (accurate in my view, but subjective as well, so keep that in mind). Elder Pyles is a humble man with a powerful message. He presents himself in such a way that exemplifies the scripture describing our permission to approach the throne of grace with boldness. He demonstrated his knowledge and wisdom in scripture and his calling to share this wealth to God's children throughout his talk with his audience. His physical stature was slightly bent but his cowboy boot (and hat) spirit pointed to an upright, stand-tall southern gentleman with a message to be heard. All that said, I felt the Lord glorified and was directed to *His* Word, not his [Edler Pyles'] word.

The topic was the fear of the Lord and in his illustration of chastisement and the scripture references throughout the Bible.  Elder Pyles gave a personal example of such an event in his life and the practical application of the example; he described an incident in his young life where he was to experience "the rod" by his mother. As he squirmed and attempted to avoid the blow(s) his mother would be holding him at arms' length and therefore have a wide sweeping line of site on her target. Thus the blows were quite effective in their sting. Over a short period of time the young Sonny discovered that if he would, instead, cling to his mother's legs that the blows were less severe. Not in spirit but in actual physical effect. In essence, Elder Pyles' suggestion is to run TO the Lord in chastisement and not FROM the Lord. 

My personal thought is that of justification that the Lord is, indeed, Lord. Agreeing with God that I an erring child does not make Him God - nothing that I say or do can alter such a fact. His desire for me to see myself closer to the way *He* sees me is an honorable purpose in the life I've been given. And if I am to run to Him in crisis to see that I am veering (or totally lost) from His  Truth, then I need to take the "blows" of a loving God who only desires me to succeed. 

Hebrews:

⁶For whom theLord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ⁷If ye endure 

chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? ⁸But 

if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers,then are ye bastards, and not sons. ⁹Furthermore 

we have hadfathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much 

rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰For they verily for a few days chastened us 

after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. ¹¹Now no 

chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the 

peaceable fruit of righteousness untothem which are exercised thereby. ¹²Wherefore lift up the hands

which hang down, and the feeble knees; ¹³And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame 

be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. 

I understand that Elder Pyles will be in Pigeon Forge, TN sometime in the near future and I hope to hear his message again, Lord willing. I thought of so many of my family in Christ as I heard this message - not that they needed to hear it for enlightenment of sin in their lives but for encouragement and practical Godly living. 

Peace and blessing to everyone who reads. Our life in this earthly kingdom is one meant for glorifying Christ and enjoying Him forever. Thanks to the ones in my life who share their life's purpose with me and my family.

Early AM Drive

At 5:40 this morning Kurt and I drove out of our subdivision headed towards Nashville. In the back of the van were four groggy boys still clad in their pj's with lap blankets to console their tired bodies from the premature evacuation of their comfy beds.

Kurt's on his way to drive back J&Rs car to Georgia (with a detour through Cookeville) and my mom will be joining him in the passenger seat (poor Kurt - Mom is a terrible "back seat driver"!!) While we were talking about the trip to come for him he said, "I hope your mom can stand me in the car for five days!" I assured him it is possible. He was looking forward to seeing some folks there at home but due to his schedule, he barely has enough layover to speak of but he will see a couple, I guess.

When I arrived home I called my mom and asked her how her preparations were going and she said that she hoped everything would fit in the PT Cruiser that they are shuttling. With the rather bulky items that she's planning she was a little concerned for space. Then, she said, (I kid you not) "I hope Kurt can stand me in the car for five days!" I laughed and told her that the feeling was mutual so she was in good company. She sounded excited to come and I am so, so jazzed to have her here. She's a bit of a Washington State snob so I can't expect too much but I did "wow" her with the plans of attending the Grand Ol' Opry. We're planning a mom and daughter day/night out. Won't that be fun?

I got a call from Jay (during a mini flooding incident in their recently vacated Washington home) soon after I spoke with Mom. They sounded like they were ready to head to Georgia so I think the trek will be a good one. 

Your prayers for safe travel for the five of them would be coveted.

Blast From the Past

I'm sitting here at my desk with eight past issues of Quit You Like Men that were dug out of the obscure location that I managed to pack-rat away with so many of my other "treasures". The published dates are from July/August 1998 to September/October 2000 (with some missing ones here and there). I had come across them a couple of weeks ago as I was looking for some encouraging past issues of a different publication for a perspective home schooling mom. 

Let me take you back to: 1997 or so we were introduced to this publication from our legendary mentors, the Ables'. It was such a fresh message to us that we were stunned at the quenching nature it provided to our thirst for some TRUTH. Of course, it's a men's magazine but there were articles written by the editor's wife that I would immediately search out upon it's arrival in my mailbox.  Robert and Rachel Green were highly regarded in our eyes. We laughed at the inconsistent population of cats they housed, cringed when they would receive a critical letter from a reader, and cheer at the glory they gave to the Lord. Then one day it all seemed to fade away. We kept our issues of the magazine and shared the collectibles (in our estimation) with others when we thought they needed some spiritual "meat". All other magazines were measured up according to two publications we read and this was one of them. There really hasn't been any since.

Now let's return to the present... Kurt and I are members of the Cookeville Primitive Baptist Church where we met Debbi Sacran (among other FABULOUS people). Over the next six months we had been informed of a great family camp to attend over the summer (we didn't attend this year), and her daughter-in-law's family who were so musically inclined (particularly vocally), and some folks who she thought we "had to meet". Well, those particular folks (who own the camp property, sing really well and are so totally needing to be met) were going to be attending the Smithville Fiddler's Jamboree as judges. I was on task to help with registration at that event. Debbi introduced me to "Rachel". Then a man kept wandering in and out of our registration area with a name button labeled "Robert" and Debbi, again, introduced me. I go home and casually tell Kurt about the goings on of the day and include information about the Greene's (yes, for some reason this is the spelling that I thought was theirs... I don't know why). I just mentioned it to him that they were going to be at church in the morning so we were going to have a common meal together after services.

Sunday morning Kurt yells from the bedroom dripping wet from jumping out of the shower, "Robert Green??? That's the editor of Quit You Like Men??!!?!!?!" I said, "Nah, they spell their name with an "e" on the end." Kurt just stood there with a slightly deflated look. We continued on with church preparations and headed to the church building. After a lovely lesson we were getting the food prepared for lunch and Kurt approached Robert and asked him if he were the Robert Green of QYLM. Robert sheepishly acknowledged that he was one and the same. No "e" on the end of their name. These were the folks that had six, five, twelve, six, five, eleven, four, two, one, three, five, four, five, two cats and two lurking toms that we had felt so blessed to have known of. All of the sudden we were in the presence of celebrities! And then they had to go to a meeting and we had a fussy two year old overdue for a nap. 

We didn't get the opportunity to sit and just soak in their company but I am so happy to say that Rachel is my "friend" on Face Book and we look forward to another possible opportunity to glean from their adventures as editors, parents, home schoolers and disciples of Christ. 

It's almost like we went to Texas to be shown this humble little magazine (and don't forget that we had to pick up #1 boy there too ), go home to Washington to share it with a few folks, and then sent to Tennessee to hear the wonderful truth that the Primitive Baptist church cherishes, only to become members, and then meet the very people who have assisted my little family to be seekers of Christ through the PB network. It appears full circle, eh? What a crazy, winding road the Lord blessed me to travel to meet some great people.