Sermons

Two years ago Dave and I made the decision to worship at the Army Chapel on post. It was a difficult decision on many levels, but overall it has been the right decision. We knew that we had a wonderful season of being under wonderful teaching at Intown, and now it was time to be part of a community where the teaching was different, and sometimes wacky (like when one Chaplain sang his sermon to the music of “Under the Boardwalk”) and sometimes heretical (like the sermon about Satan asking the Chaplain for his watch) and sometimes had nothing to do with the Bible at all (like the sermon on the women’s suffrage movement). But Dave and I felt called to this community and decided to remain regardless, and we have been blessed.

Every fifth Sunday of the month we have a special joint worship service at Chapel. Whenever there are five Sundays all Protestant congregations on post worship together. The worship is generally followed by a dinner of some sort. The different services take turns leading worship or organizing the food, and we gather for a good time.

The main Chaplain of the service we attend, whom we love, is United Methodist, and while he is a good preacher, he isn’t an expositor. We get to hear the gospel occasionally and when he nails it, he nails it, but overall the sermons tend to be more motivational, than scriptural.

I was excited for this Sunday because we had heard the Chaplain who was going to be preaching was Reformed, not Presbyterian, but Reformed in his theology. I was excited and looking forward to hearing him preach.

His text was the story of the Good Samaritan, and as he started preaching I thought…this dude can’t be reformed. His whole sermon was based on the “fact” that as believers, our main purpose here on earth is to serve. And yes, while I would agree that we are here to serve, I would disagree that that is our primary reason for being here. The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is “To glorify God and enjoy him forever” (I Cor. 10.31, Rev. 4.11, Ps. 73.25-26). Last week for Hadleigh’s baptism we received the book “Big Truths for Little Kids” by Susan Hunt and Richie Hunt. Their answer to first question goes like this:
Q. Who made you?
A. God

Q. What else did God make?
A. God made all things.

Q. Why did God make you and all things?
A. For his own glory.

This Chaplain’s sermon reminded me of another sermon we had a while back by a different Chaplain, who claimed that the reason we are here on earth is because God needs us. I have been hard pressed to find a passage in scripture that backs up that claim. And so like so many other Sundays we left a little disappointed.

One of the things that I have LOVED about reformed theology is that it backs up what I see in scripture…that God isn’t up in heaven wringing his hands, wondering what to do next. He doesn’t ever say Oh Shoot, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Or, Oh no, he wasn’t suppose to die, or dang, if only she had said this so-and-so might have believed in me…etc. I hate having a pansy God who is reliant on me. I love having a God who does as he sees fit. I love having a God whose plans I can’t thwart. I love that from the beginning of time God had a plan to redeem the world through His son, Jesus Christ. And his plan of redemption included me. I love that.

So, yes, I do think that while I am here on this earth I need to serve others. As a believer I am called to do that, to love God and my neighbor as myself. But my chief end here on earth is not to serve, but to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I am here for God’s glory.

I know that Dave and I both look forward to a Sunday in the near future where we can sit at Intown in Atlanta and soak in the gospel. And we pray that wherever the Lord takes us next we will find a good church where we can hear that gospel message weekly.

Miss Hadleigh Claire Gets Sprinkled

As Dave and I were anticipating Hadleigh’s birth we discussed many things. One of the things that we began to ponder was if we were going to baptize her as an infant. Once we decided that we were indeed going to have her baptized we became a little puzzled. We didn’t want just anyone to baptize her because we wanted to know the person who performed the sacrament, as well we wanted someone who believes similar to what we believe about baptism. We weren’t sure if we should wait until we got back to the states, or if we should try to do it in Germany. During our quandary Dave had an epiphany. Our good friends David and Eowyn Stoddard are missionaries with Mission to the World in Berlin and David is a pastor! So we gave them a call to see if he would be willing to come down here and baptize Hadleigh at our Chapel.

This weekend the Stoddards and their five children are on their way to a family reunion in France and to break up the drive spent the weekend with us, so it worked out for David to baptize Hadleigh yesterday in Chapel.

It was very special to have David baptize Hadleigh. Dave and David have been friends for around 15 years, since college. Our first date was with David and Eowyn. David was also the bestman in our wedding, and now he has baptized Hadleigh. Not only was it special to have David baptize Hadleigh, but the whole affair was special as we reflected on the meaning of baptism during the weekend. I was moved as I thought about the promises of God and his faithfulness to us, and to Hadleigh. I struggled through the baptism, I sniffled through the whole thing. The Lord is good and faithful to keep his promises, and Dave and I continue to pray that there won't be a day that Hadleigh doesn't know the Lord.

I am posting the text of what David said this morning as he baptized Hadleigh. It was wonderful, and if you take the time to read it you will understand a little bit more about why we have chosen to baptize Hadleigh. As a fun aside, the dress Hadleigh is wearing is the dress I wore when I was dedicated as an infant.

On October 4, 2003 I had the privilege to stand by you both at another mile marker in your lives: your wedding in Atlanta. I am honored to stand with you again today at another mile marker in your lives, this one being the natural result of the other. At your wedding you exchanged two very precious things. First of you exchanged rings made of gold. Though they were expensive you exchanged something even more valuable, more precious, even more costly on that day. Your exchanged vows: “I David take you Ami to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.” On that day you made a very costly commitment, a precious promise, a vow of infinite value: so valuable that each of you built your lives on the basis of the other’s lifelong faithfulness to that solemn oath and pledge.

Vows have a very sobering side to them. When take a vow we rest the weight of our hearts on another person’s word. We trust and relax in the assurance that this dangerous, threatening world here, at least, is a safe place. That’s why broken promises hurt so much. If what our hearts rests on gives way, we are not just bruised – we are shattered. The more we trust, the more it hurts when our trust is betrayed.

Vows have a very surprising side to them as well. When promises are kept we flourish. We find a joy in life which is refreshing and transforming. Held promises free us up to be who God has intended us to be, to take risks, to be adventurous, to discover what is meant by the “abundant” Christian life. Honored oaths enable us to function as artists in a world of chaos. Because we have a firm foundation in our lives we can begin to bring order where other find only hurt, anger, brokenness, and disorder.

I say all that because you are about to make some new promises before God and these witnessing believers. You are about to take new vows that not only change your lives, but now involve the life of Hadleigh Claire. I say all this so that you don’t miss the importance of this moment. But please don’t feel like you are the principle actors in this drama; as if you are now on center stage at the climax of the play and if you fail now the whole show is lost. At baptism you as parents make promises which are important. But ultimately they only shadow the promises of God. They pale in comparison to what God is now promising you, me, and Hadleigh today. This baptism is a mile marker in your lives, in her life, but a baptism is ultimately to turn all our eyes on the principle actor, the song, the drama which encompasses all of history.

1.Your are making a promise
a.Here is what you are promising today. It is not insignificant, but it is secondary. To devote your entire lives to the training of Hadleigh. To read Scripture with her. To pray with her. To help understand unfolding mystery of God’s love for us. To pray for her. To set and example in your lives in your piety and godliness for her. To nurture her by all means possible to grow in her relationship to Jesus. You are to be the first in her life to speak truth when need; to correct and discipline. At same time you are to the biggest fastest deepest repenters she will ever know.
b.It a promise which you can never uphold perfectly. You will fail. But when you fail, as you repent and cling to the promises of forgiveness in Jesus blood, even your failures will give her indescribable insights into the forgiveness of the Father.

2.God is making a promise
a.The promise is called the new covenant. Jeremiah 31:31-34, “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
b.Peter repeats this promise at Pentecost when he preached, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call."
c.This promise comes with a sobering and surprising side. Here is the sobering side of the gospel: he will also be faithful and just to his covenant if Hadleigh choose to reject his promise. Baptism is a sobering reminder to you, to me, to us that if we reject his authority over us, we will justly receive what we have wanted – eternal separation from the just King.
d.Here is the surprising side of the gospel. What the Lord promises as we come to faith in him is that he will give to us a righteousness equal to Jesus. What baptism seals is the promise that as Hadleigh clings to his grace alone, God will give her a righteousness equal to Jesus. It is precious promise that God makes with imperfect people; a costly commitment which required the death of his own son, for you, me, and Hadleigh. That promise doesn’t depend on your faithfulness nor her piety. It is based his God’s calling and her response to his call. That’s what baptism signifies.


The Vows: David and Ami•Do you acknowledge your child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?
•Do you claim God’s covenant promises in Hadleigh’s behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for her salvation, as you do for your own?
•Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before Hadleigh a godly example, that you will pray with and for her, that you will teach her the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
•To the congregation: Do you as a congregation, in so far as you able for the next months undertake the responsibility of assisting David and Ami in the Christian nurture of this child?

Dave and Hadleigh


The Community Group Ladies: Karie and Ben, Missy, Sarah, Jan, Jessica, me and Hadleigh, Kristen, Sara and Ellie

The Stoddards and The McNays:
Eowyn is holding Emma (17 months), David is holding Ethan (2 months), and then Alethea (4), Jesse (7) and Liam (6) are in front

Visit from the Stoddards

Here are also some fun pics from our weekend with the Stoddards. David and Eowyn have five children- Jesse who is 7, Liam who is 6, Alethea who is 4, Emma who is 17 months and Ethan who is 2 months. They arrived in time for dinner Friday evening, and then we took them to the Bostalsee (a lake nearby) Saturday. Sunday they came to Chapel with us and David baptized Hadleigh. I realized just before they came that it was around this time in July 4 years ago that I first met David and Eowyn. It was just before Dave and I started dating, and our first date was actually with David and Eowyn during I&O when I was working at MTW. The date was a little weird, but it ended up working out in the end. =)

Ethan was born 2 months after Hadleigh but he is 3 pounds heavier than her. He is a rock. When you hold him it is like holding a plank, he doesn’t really fold at the waist. All of their children are wonderful and precious, and we had a fun time being with them again this weekend.
They will be back through in 2 weeks on their way back from France.

71 Days Notice

I love that movie “Two Weeks Notice” with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. Dave actually rented it for me a month or so ago and we watched it together. I think that actually the first time I saw it was with my BFF Erica Anne Pollock.

In any case, normal people generally give two weeks notice when they are leaving their current job. Some folks give more than that out of courtesy. For example last spring I knew that I was going to quite my job at the Education Center by August 1 in order to devote my time to women’s ministry at the Chapel. I knew it would be hard to fill my position quickly, so I gave them 2 months notice. Even with that they still ended up asking me to stay a couple more weeks in order to train the new gal. I agreed and then of course, got prego and started puking, so that didn’t work out too well in the end. Anyway!

Some folks give more notice time because they are required by their contract to give more notice. Case in point, Dave’s contract requires him to give 90 days notice if he wants to leave. So 19 days ago he gave the folks notice. That means we have 71 days to go here in Germany. We even have our plane tickets back to the states. We fly to Atlanta on September 29. We don’t know what we will be doing post-September 29. Hopefully a week in Cali and a week in TN visiting the fams. The only family member who has met Hadleigh is my mom. And hopefully a long weekend or so in Atl visiting friends. And then…from there only the Lord knows, but I am sure it will be an adventure, because it always is.

Roly Poly

There is an old Western song that Dad always used to sing to us that began "Roly poly, Daddy's little fatty." I am not sure exactly what it was suppose to mean, but I have been singing it to Hadleigh as she rolls all over the place now. Yesterday her playmat cramped her style...this is how I found her.

Gideon

Dave and I have been part of a couples Bible study for the last two years. It started out as purely a Bible study and slowly we have turned it into a Community Group. In the Fall of 2004 we started through Romans. Wowee was the ever intense! We had three couples who were Reformed, one couple who had just become Christians, one couple who was into Open Theism. There were some heated discussions, as you can imagine! Once we finished Romans we lost two couples and added two more, and we went through James. Last fall we started through a series called Gospel and Heart. Currently Dave is leading us through the book of Judges. And let me say Judges is fascinating! Again we have a wide variety of couples/people (we have several women whose husbands are in Iraq). We have Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Wesleyan, and so on. It always makes the discussion lively. And I think that for the most part people feel comfortable to disagree and state their opinion.

The study has some key themes and asks us to look through these themes as we study Judges. This is the intro from the study:

1. God relentlessly offers his grace to people who do not deserve it nor seek it nor even appreciate it after they have been saved by it.
2. God wants lordship over every area of our lives, not just some.
3. There is a tension between grace and law, between conditionality and unconditionality.
4. There is a need for continual spiritual renewal in our lives here on earth, and a way to make that a reality.
5. We need a true Savior, to which all human saviors point, through both their flaws and strengths.
6. God is in charge, no matter what it looks like.

This is the place for a first word of caution. One commentator summed up the book of Judges as “despicable people doing deplorable things” and as “trashy tales about dysfunctional characters.” As the history unfolds, even the “heroes”, the judges, become increasingly dysfunctional and flawed. They do many appalling things, and their efforts have less and less redemptive effect. It is a dismal story. The reader will be led to ask, again and again, “what in the world is this story doing in the Bible?” The answer is an important one--it is the gospel! Judges shows us that the Bible is not a “Book of Virtues;” it is not full of inspirational stories. Why? It is because the Bible (unlike other faiths) is not about emulating moral examples. It is about a God of mercy and long-suffering who continually works in and through us despite our constant resistance to his purposes.

Last night we read Judges 6 which begins the story of Gideon, and it was amazing. To basically sum-up of the first 5 chapters…God tells Israel to go into the land and drive out the other nations. He tells them that he has given them the land and that victory is theirs. Of course, Israel goes in, becomes lazy and doesn’t drive out the nations. Because of Israel’s disobedience God says “OK dudes, because you disobeyed me I am not going to drive out these nations, but I am going to leave them there and they will be a snare and a test for you.” So, the people do evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord gives them over to be oppressed by their enemies, and then the people cry out to God, and God raises up a deliverer or a Judge. The Judge saves the people and then usually when he dies the people go back to doing evil and the cycle continues.

In this chapter we noted in v. 11-24 that God starts the deliverance even though the people did not show signs of repentance. This was incredible to realize and pointed me back to the first point that God offers grace to people who don’t deserve it…God is going to do what he wants to regardless of whether I cooperate or not. Sometimes he will act when I ask him too, and sometimes he will act even when I don’t ask him to. That to me is so comforting because he is not bound by me, and I can’t do anything to earn his mercy or grace. He will show mercy and grace when I don’t deserve it.

It was also interesting to see that God’s assessment of Israel and Gideon’s assessment of Israel were drastically opposed. God said they were evil and unrepentant…Gideon said that God had forsaken them. But Gideon was wrong, God had not forsaken them because He doesn’t forsake his people. Israel had been disobedient to God, but Gideon didn’t see that, he just saw that things weren’t going the way he thought they should. He failed to see his sin and Israel’s sin of worship gods other than the true God. This was just another reminder to me that I cannot measure myself. I might think that I am good, or that I know what is going on, or that I don’t need to repent. But I usually measure myself against myself or against other people, and since God doesn’t grade on a curve, it doesn’t really matter if I think I am better than so and so. God’s standard is perfection, and I am measured against Jesus, and I don’t come within a stones throw of that. Therefore regardless of my best work apart from Christ I am still under the wrath of God. But when I was saved God justified me. My sin was imputed to Christ on the cross and Christ’s righteousness was imputed to me. As we read and studied about Gideon it reminded me that I need to be ever aware of my sin and need to repent, as well as a reminder that I need to use God’s measuring stick and not my own when assessing my spiritual walk.

Thanks, Martha

For almost three years I have had to endure mocking from Dave over the way I make the bed. Tonight was no different. We changed the sheets and as we were putting on the top sheet I noticed that the hem stitching was face down on the bed. I was taught growing up that the hem should face up so that when you fold down the sheet over the blanket the hem touches the blanket and the sheet presents itself right side up. Dave has other ideas. Every time we make the bed I insist that we flip the sheet according to the way "I" like it. Of course, whenever he makes the bed without me, he makes it his way.

Tonight we had a long "discussion" about the proper way to make a bed and he said that he would leave me alone about it if I could find two sources that back up my position. Well, I did and even Martha Stewart is on my side. From her website, "DO YOU KNOW? The top sheet always goes wrong side up. That way when you fold it back over the blanket, the right side—the decorative, printed side—will show." Thank you, Martha!

Pool Time

Summer is finally here, it past 30 degrees today, which I think is somewhere around 90. Hadleigh and I have been trying to make a run to the pool with all her little friends, but everyday we picked turned out to be overcast.

Today was the day, so we headed to the pool. This wasn't Hadleigh's first pool experience, but it was her first outdoor pool experience. It is a really nice area with grass and a great baby pool. We went with Hadleigh's friends Ben and Ellie and their moms, Karie and Sara, and then Missy and Brandie came along as well.

She loves the bath, but was a little hesitant with the pool. By the end of our time there she was kicking around. I think that our next trip will be even more fun as she continues to get used to all the noises associated with the pool. She was able to stay in the water for about 45 minutes, so all in all a success.

Four Months

Miss Hadleigh turned 4 months old today and had her 4 month check up. She despised being "handled" by the doc and the nurse, but other than that did well. She showed them all of her tricks.

She is 25 inches long, still up in the 80+% for length and she was 11.5 pounds. So she remains long and skinny. In fact, she is so skinny that her pants seem to fall right off her body. She doesn't look sickly skinny, she is just long and lean.

She continues to talk to us, laugh and has started a little scream of delight. She has been able to roll from stomach to back for a while, but now has added rolling from back to stomach. She likes to sleep on her side, and now her stomach. She is strong and has good head control, can hold it up as well as lift it up to 90 degrees when on her stomach. She likes to stand up on our laps, and loves to dance to music. I call it shaking her booty. She even shakes it "loud" in honor of Susan Nichols from my Reach Out days. I never knew what "shake your booty loud" meant until Hadleigh started doing it.

She likes to be sung to sleep. Her favorites are "Soon and very soon, we're going to see the king" the old hymn redone by Red Mountain Church in AL. She also likes "He will rejoice over you, he will rejoice over you. If you could only hear his voice, you would hear the Lord rejoice. Rejoicing over you with singing." That was one of my favorite Intown songs.

Her tooth hasn't come in yet, but we continue to wait and she continues to slobber. Everytime I get her up from her nap she is lying in (what seems to be) a puddle of slobber.

Miss Hadleigh Claire Goes to Norway

We are now really in the final countdown of our European tour. Since we had yet to hit any Scandinavian countries we decided to give Norway a try, and we were very pleased. A few months ago I purchased Ryan Air tickets from Frankfurt Hahn to Oslo Torp and paid $.04 total for our tickets. Of course by the time you add taxes it added up to about $100 but still. We arrived at Oslo Torp, which is 2 hours outside of Oslo. I don’t know why they don’t just call it Torp, but whatever. So we arrived and caught a bus into Oslo, quickly found our hotel and decided to try to find a minibank (ATM) and a restaurant for lunch. We had a lot of trouble finding an ATM that worked, apparently they were all out of money. At the beginning of our quest we had decided to pull out 600 kroners which is about $100 and figured would give us a good start to the vaca. Dave walked out of the 7-11 (where he finally found a minibank that worked) with a confused look on his face. “I think I pulled out to much” he said. “Too much?” I asked. Yea, too much, like 4,000 kr…or about $650. Hmmm… Apparently he got a little confused and forgot about the exchange rate and couldn’t remember how much we had determined to get out, so, at that point we had a wad of cash burning a whole in our pockets. I found it amusing (which is a little unusual since I take care of the finances at home), but since I knew we had randomly enough in our account to handle the withdrawal I was OK. We quickly found a place to eat and realized it might actually be a good thing he took out that much money because Norway is WAY expensive. For lunch I had a tuna salad sandwich, which consisted of one piece of bread, some tuna, lettuce and a couple of tomatoes, Dave had a salad with little pieces of ham and a beer. The cost of our lunch was $50. Dave’s beer was $10! Unbelievable! After that we quickly decided to hit the market and make packed lunches from that point forward.

After lunch we wandered around Oslo, checking out the old churches and just getting a feel for the city. We saw a couple of cops on bikes stop a guy and begin going through his pockets. It was pretty funny. After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. After asking 4 times at the front desk for a crib for Hadleigh (and them telling us they were checking on it) it finally arrived and we were able to put her down to bed. We watched some Wimbledon tennis and beach volleyball.

The next morning we packed everything up and headed back to the train station where our Norway in a Nutshell tour began. We jumped on a really nice train and headed west toward the other side of Norway. Around lunchtime we stopped at Myrdal and switched trains to the Flamsbana rail that took us 12 miles down the mountains to Flam. ON the train we were surrounded by a Japanese tour group. I had heard this, but experienced first hand that the Japanese are obsessed with babies. They were all up in Hadleigh’s face which was funny at first and then frustrating as it continued since I was trying to get her to take a nap. Every time she would dose off someone else would be taking a picture of her.

We made it down to Flam which was beautiful and then jumped on a boat headed toward Bergen. After 1.5 hours on the boat we jumped off at Balestrand where we stayed for two nights.


Balestrand is a cute little town with a beautiful view of the Sognefjord (largest fjord in the world). It was quiet, calm and peaceful. We rested here for a couple of days, walked around, went swimming in the water. The fjord is like a long finger-like bay that comes off the ocean. The water is salt water and the mountains go plummeting into the water, just beautiful.


After two nights we reboarded the boat and headed onto Bergen. The boat was pretty cool, it took us 4 hours from Balestrand to get to Bergen. Once in Bergen we grabbed a couple of chicken curry wraps at a bakery and headed to the train station. We took a night train back to Oslo and had booked a sleeper car. Dave was VERY pumped about having a sleeper car, and as I explained the set-up (small, narrow room with two skinny bunks) he was determined that Hadleigh would sleep with him on his bunk. We boarded the train at 10pm and it was to leave Bergen at 11. After jumping up on the top bunk Dave decided that wasn’t the safest idea for him and a baby to be up there. He was afraid of rolling off. So he claimed the bottom bunk, grabbed Hadleigh and we turned off the lights. And Hadleigh cried…and cried…and screamed…and cried…Dave would change positions trying to get her to sleep and everytime he moved he would accidently hit the light switch on and she would scream. After a couple of hours of this, the light came on and I saw Hadleigh’s head appear at my bunk (of course she was screaming) “Your daughter wants to see you,” Dave says. I will insert here that this occurance was ver unusual. Dave is an expert at getting Hadleigh to sleep. He generally does it better and faster than I do, so this was an aberration. I took her and sang one of her favorite songs to her and she settled down. Now it was my turn to not get any sleep. She slept, but I continued to stay up, nervous that we would fall off the bunk or that I would smother her accidentally. I don’t sleep well with her in my bed, which is one reason why I can’t comprehend the idea of a family bed. Ugh!!! So I took one for the team, and Hadleigh slept the rest of the way to Oslo.

Upon arriving in Oslo we grabbed a yummy cinnamon roll type bread, ate breakfast at the park while Hadleigh slept on Dave and I finished reading out loud John Grisham’s “The Client”. I can’t read the book without picturing Susan Saranden as Reggie Love and James Earl Jones as Judge Harry. We jumped back on a bus to Torp and flew back to Germany. Dave called our flight an international zoo because there were SO many children from different countries…India, America, Norway, Germany…and they were all running around and screaming. It was insane.

So, Hadleigh was a little trooper and did amazingly well throughout our trip. This was her first flight and first major train ride. We continue to be thankful that the Lord gave us a good little traveler.