Back To Normal!

It was good to see our people again and to be in the house of the Lord. I’m glad things are back to normal now that the Kamps are home and taking care of their own church. I missed ours.

Susanna gave me a candle today that smells like banana bread. Sometimes I make banana bread for the folks at church. Anyway, I thought that was sweet of her. I like candles.

We had a good turnout; I can only think of 4 people who usually come and weren’t there. The singing went well. It was odd to play along with Mischa after not having done so in a month of Sundays. It’s great to have him there covering my mistakes. =) I know Dad likes it better when the two of us play together.

Dad translated his message from last week into Dutch and preached it today. It was about David’s mighty men, in 2 Samuel 23. Dad likened David to Christ and his 3 mighty men to us. What made Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah greater than David’s other mighty men was that…

• These three men battled their way through the Philistine army together. God is in favor of team work. (Matthew 18:20) Faithful attendance to Sunday and Wednesday services will keep you strong in the Lord.
• These three men desired to serve David; they risked their lives bringing water from occupied territory to David just to show their love and devotion to him. It isn’t so much the accomplishment of a deed, but the spirit in which it is done that is important to God. What would you be willing to do to refresh Jesus Christ? Are you willing to risk everything?
• These three men stayed close enough to David to hear his voice. They were listening and ready to do his every bidding. Are you close enough to God to hear His spirit speaking to your spirit?
• The sacrifice of these three men was precious to David; so precious, in fact, that he refused to drink the water they brought, and poured it out to God, saying, “….Is not this [like] the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?” The things you do to show your love for the Lord are precious to Him. No deed you do for the glory of Jesus Christ goes unheeded!

There was more detailed stuff Dad preached about--like Bible memorization--I’d have to check my notes, but those were some things that stayed with me. I’m still digesting some of that message. It was good to hear it a second time. God has been dealing with me about some things. I need to have an open heart and mind to know what God’s will is. Pray for me, will you? There are so many crucial decisions we have to make at such a young age; we can’t afford to mess up. We are called on to make the wisest choices at a time when we have the least amount of wisdom. Rather ironic, isn’t it?

After church I held baby Nathan. He just got a haircut and looks soooo cute. What a handsome little guy! Now if we could only get him to smile…
Mom gave Nathan a cheese doodle. In case you don’t know, cheese doodle mixed with baby drool makes a big mess. My freshly washed jacket needs to go right back in the laundry. Mom’s wry comment was, “Get used to it.” Ha, ha! Hmm…
After cleaning myself up Nathalie gave me Nathan’s yogurt to spoon feed him. I played the plane game that I played with Josiah as a baby (acting like the spoon is a plane, and making plane noises while zooming down to the baby’s mouth and honking for the “garage” to open), and he still wouldn’t even smile then!!! That is one serious baby!

After a bit Dad and Joe got our last session of The Way of the Master up and running. They showed a lot of testimonies in this last part. My conclusion is that it would be so much easier to witness to people if you could tell them to be quiet and let you talk without any interruptions. =D Too bad you can’t do that. I want to share a thought provoking quote I heard today during that session.

“If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap into Hell over our bodies.
If they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees.
Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
Charles H. Spurgeon

Wow! What an awesome responsibility we have!!!

This afternoon I read a long, very informative article about Spurgeon and tried to contact some people who weren’t in church today. Mom woke up from her nap, so we played a game of Dutch blitz.

The Kamps stopped by on their bikes. We had a short visit. Grace bought Lydia and me bracelets while they were in Canada; she was very excited to give them to us. They are so pretty! Annika was very sleepy. The poor little thing sat on my lap for a good part of the time and let me rock her like a baby. Dad left to go counsel with some folks in our church, and the Kamps left shortly after that. It’s raining out now. I’d better be moving along.

Hope you have/had a blessed SONday!