I am glad to have L back home after two weeks at the Theological Foundation for Youth (TFY) program. Unlike most kids who came to Pittsburgh from Seattle, Colorado Springs, Raleigh-Durham, Syracuse, etc., L just motored two miles down the street to the RP Theological Seminary.

I tried not to embarrass him by popping in, but I did drop off an item or two and just happened to be in his building on a couple occasions. He tried to hide.   

I stole these pics from his friend’s Facebook. Forgive me, Logan. They show L’s dorm room, the classroom where they listened to up to 6 hours of lecture per day by Seminary profs, a picture of L in the park, and some of the 30 students going across the street (see the back of L’s head…yeh, that’s pretty much what I got to see).

The cool thing is that L came home wiser and cooler than ever.

||||||  lynard

 
This year at our Vacation Bible School, I’m working with the junior high girls and am enjoying getting to know them better. We usually have 8-10 girls. Some of them I already knew from our weekly KidZone ministry, but some are new. Some know a lot about the Bible; some know nothing. One girl asked who God was, and once we started talking about salvation, I heard her say under her breath, “I’m afraid to die.” The remark softened my heart toward her.

You can see K sitting on the carpet with the little kids during the opening skit. There is a picture of our junior high girl Bible study and a few pix of Shayla (she is a quiet artist), Mimi (from Nigeria who knows her Bible very well!), and Dezhane (who I am just getting to know).

Ben (making the funny face) is one of the mission team members who works with the kids in the neighborhood everyday. He is from Indiana and says his parents still don’t know that he shaved his head (along with the other mission team guys). LOL

Our goals are to maintain long-term relationships with these kids, earn the opportunities to share more with them more about who they are in Christ, meet some felt needs (e.g., we try to feed them healthy meals, and they eat them all!), and show Christ’s love to their families, too. Pray for us if you think of it.

||||||  lynard

We had our kick off Carnival for VBS last night. This is Zach who really liked the balloon sculptures.


One of the mission team members that is staying at our church this summer learned how to do the balloons sculptures in one evening with his laptop for research. What a blessing! The church also rented a cotton candy machine, had free tickets for hot dogs and chips, offered little Carnival games of skills with prizes, and had African drummers in native dress on the lawn.  We also had 11 high school kids from the Theological for Youth program staying at our church building, so they blessed us with their help and energy, too. All in all, dozens of our regular KidZone kids and new contacts came to the Carnival. Some brought parents and grandparents.

This week we will have VBS every night from 6-7:30. You can pray for me as I help with the junior high girls.

Last week, I went to a Showbread concert with Levi and a couple of his buddies. The group can be a little screamo for me, but I enjoy their artistry and lyrics. Here is a sample of their lyrics from Sing Me to Sleep:

Come and find me on this floor 
I am only a half, truth be told 
Take away all the distance and say: 
"My beloved, I'm here, and now you are whole" 
If I turn and see your eyes in the dark I will know the blue in an instant 
Never have they gone so far 
Never has your face been distant 
My life I will give you like a verse and a ring 
I will be your only one 
And what you ask of me will be yours until all is said and done 

Your heart is a song that I hear Jesus sing 
It comes over oceans to me 
And the notes spell out messages in vibrant streams 
And what's written you show only me 

Phone pic from concert:

Which reminds me: my beloved and I had our 25th anniversary this past week! I can hardly imagine it has been so long. Life with him has been richer, better, sweeter than I could have understood when I said “yes” so many years ago. I thank God for his kindness to us.

||||||  lynard

T finished an overview of his mission work in Switzerland. I’m embedding it here because he doesn’t embed or use a hot link on his xanga. But consider leaving him some props on his xanga, which is here:

http://www.xanga.com/gutless0304

There, he offers an update of the work he is doing in France now, too. 

||||||  lynard

Tay, my oldest son who is on a mission team in France, messaged me yesterday with a few items for prayer,
which I had requested to share at church. He asked for prayer for four things:
1…..English-as-a-second-language conversations that they are having.
2…..Surveys that they are doing on the streets of Nantes.
3…..The campsites that they are moving into this week, where they will prepare their own cooking.
4…..The distribution of the church’s newsletter Reflexions.

Today I received a post from the Irish missionary that Tay’s team is working with in France. He wrote:
1…..Praise God for the safe arrival of the summer team and for the work already
accomplished. Thank Him that their level of French is such that they have been able
to do questionnaires and all have been encouraged by having had some good, even
lengthy, conversations. As well as taking the regular Children’s Club and using
their musical talent at a social evening for our church family, they have also
started distributing Réflexions and flyers offering English conversation (in our
estate 30th June – 3rd July and in our salle 7th – 10th). DV they are to take the
youth group on Friday 4th, hold an open-air Children’s Club 7th – 10th and put on an
American evening on Friday 11th. Despite the holiday period pray that these
activities may enable us to get to know new people of all ages, that there will be
good openings to witness to them and especially that, in time, the conversations,
distribution and youth work will produce lasting fruit.

2……The summer is the time when many short-term teams are at work in France. At least
three others, to our knowledge, will be in Nantes in July. It is encouraging to know
that as a result, many will be praying for the city. Pray that all the sowing may
produce a harvest and that the experience may plant ideas for future vocations.

3……Give thanks for the presence of some Dutch tourists, a lady staying with
Christine, and a young lady from the neighbourhood (Elodie) at a recent service -
all for the first time.

Priez pour France! Pray for France!

||||||| lynard

We have spent the week in Beaver Falls, Pa., at the Reformed Presbyterian Synod. I tended to the bookstore with Levi’s aid, and Drew covered the proceedings for the web blog and magazine. You can read his reports and that of reporter Brad Johnston here:
http://reformedpresbyterian.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=18&Itemid=31

See if you can find Drew in the Synod delegates picture:

||||||  lynard

Tonight at church we had a class about the structure of the Book of Psalms, or more exactly, the BOOKS of Psalms. There are actually five books, compiled during the post-exile period of Israel.

Rabbis theorize that the five books correspond to the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). They see a lot of parallels between David and Moses in the psalms. Christians, on the other hand, see more parallels with David and the Messiah King, Jesus Christ. Both Jewish and Christian scholars recognize the psalm book divisions in the same places. Each of the five books ends in a hymn of praise, a doxology.

Our teacher tonight, Paul Martin, generally characterized the five books this way:
Book 1 (Psalms 1-40) is about “the seed of the woman,” Christ, being constantly assailed by the seed of the serpent. (See Gen. 3).
Book 2 (Psalms 41-72) is about the relationship between the Messiah King and the church, including conflict, union, the separation of sin, and the offer of redemption.
Book 3 (Psalms 73-89) is about the Messiah King (Jesus) leading His people to repentance.
Book 4 (Psalms 90-106) is about the testimonies of enduring faith in God.
Book 5 (Psalms 107-150) is a liturgy of praise.

Jesus quoted from the psalms more than any other book of scripture, often claiming that what was written was about him. The psalms are, indeed, amazing to read–emotional, personal and Messiah-centered.

Blessings on my brother-in-law who was ordained in the conservative Anglican church this week. (I stole this pic from his wife’s xanga. Hee hee.) The other guy is my father-in-law, a Presbyterian minister.  Grace and peace, Tom!

||||||  lynard

I don’t want to steal his thunder or snag his comments, so I won’t embed his video here. If you want to see my son’s first video installment from his mission work, go to his xanga and click on his YouTube link:

http://www.xanga.com/gutless0304

||||||   lynard

So how do you pronounce “often”? Do you say the “t” or not?

This was a discussion we had with my visiting father-on-law. He is always entertaining company because he writes and reads poetry, discusses issues and language, and provides a worthy word game opponent.

So out came the newer Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and my old Oxford English Dictionary. The latter offers no pronunciation (not “pronOWnciation”) of the “t.” But the newer Webster’s suggests the “t” can be pronounced as a second, less preferred alternative.

My father-in-law was taught never to pronounce the “t” and he obviously received a superior education.

I don’t remember being taught that, and sometimes would feel like I was not speaking correctly to spurn the “t.” Here I was doing the right thing. Who knew?

The following link lists other commonly mispronunciations, such as “prerogative,” “spit and image,”"diphtheria,” and “electoral”:

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html

Enjoy your language!

||||||  lynard

My oldest son begins a week in Switzerland today, helping with a Bible conference for US service men and women stationed in Germany. His mission team is in charge of 40 young ‘uns for a VBS-type program. After a week, his team takes a train to France to help missionaries there for a few weeks. Pray for him as he is the leader of the team of eight.

My other son is preparing for the Theological Foundation for Youth program by reading heavy duty books such as Augustine’s Confessions and something by Gresham Machen. When the TFY program begins, he will leave us for 12 days. He is also making plans to practice with his band and secure some more gigs. As always, he is songwriting.

My daughter is leaving soon for Philadelphia to visit her dear Aunt Anne and, Lord willing, be helpful with her twins. She will be leaving soon with her dear grandpa who is visiting now.

I shall miss them all, but yet am excited for their choices and work.

Guess I’ll be Googling internet recipes for 2-3 in the near future. Weird.

||||||  lynard