Romans 1:1-17, Part 1

Key Verse: Romans 1:16-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

There's a lot in the first 17 verses of Romans! Some things we talked about at Bible Study:

Paul is an ambassador to the Romans, from God. He has the authority to bring them God's message. Which is...

The gospel. I discovered that I shouldn't criticise Paul's wordiness when I can't do any better. My supposedly 'simple statement' to summarise the gospel was:

'a powerful message, previously promised by the prophets, which Paul now preaches on behalf of God and his Son, about his Son, which reveals God's righteousness and plan for salvation for all.'

Yeah, not very simple. And there's lots that I missed. I guess that's why we have the whole book of Romans to fully explain it. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in.

I'm on creche on Sunday but I'll try very hard to listen to, or at least read, the sermon on Monday sometime. Stay tuned.

Blogging through Romans

We're just starting a series on Romans at church. I've been trying to think of ways to make sure I give it proper thought and attention, and after the success of this post in helping me think things through, I've decided to blog my way through.


Ideally, I'll be posting twice a week: after bible study and after church. We'll see.

Child Modelling Update

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we were going for an interview with Bettina Child Modelling Agency, after they 'liked Sam's look' at the Pregnancy, Babies and Children's Expo.

We went to the interview, which was more like a sales pitch, but I guess the agent was watching Sam as well.

She must have liked what she saw, because we got a phone call the next day saying that they'd like to have him on their books.

But in those 24 hours, we'd already decided to say no if they asked. Apart from the $600ish per year sign-up fee, it seems like an industry that you really have to throw yourself into - there's no dabbling.

So, as cute and fun as it might have been, child modelling is not for us. Too many other, more worthwhile, opportunities in this season of life.

 

30 days of prayer for the muslim world

The prayer booklet I mentioned earlier is now available. You can buy a paper copy here or download the free pdf here (scroll down to '4 of 5: 30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World eBooks 2010'). There's even a kids version, and a single page summary for the busiest of us.

Ramadan is August 11 to September 9. Thanks to the prayer notes, I'm expecting to learn a lot about it and Islam in general during that time.

 

Bloggy Birthday

Our blog is one year old today! Happy birthday, little blog.

Sorry there haven't been many posts recently. I have many in my head, but they don't seem to be getting into the computer. Expect updates soon on Norwex, Nana May's, child modelling, and general life. Boy, I've got some writing to do...

 

Abigail Grace

Almost a year ago, a beautiful two-year-old friend of ours went to be with Jesus.


Today, I heard that some other (unconnected) friends have given their new baby girl the same name.


I have nothing profound to say, just a heavy sadness in my heart, for myself and for many loved ones grieving different deaths at the moment. And this song continuously in my head.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Praying in Ramadan

I meant to do this last year, but missed it. This year, I'm all ready. Well, as soon as the prayer booklet is released...

Care to join me (and however-many-thousands of others)?

 

5 reasons I love knitting

1. I can pick it up, knit 3 stitches, put it down and feel like I've accomplished something. Great for this season of life.

2. I can do something productive whilst breastfeeding (apart from the whole nourishing a baby thing)
3. It keeps my hands busy, which reduces the temptation to scratch my eczema.
4. It's useful. My knitted soakers (I'm currently working on the 4th) do a great job of keeping SPs pants dry, so I do less washing.
5. It gives me a sense of olde world charm, and somehow a connection with women of times past. Ah, the simple life.

 

Other people think he's cute too

On a whim, I entered SP into a competition with Bettina Child Modelling Agency at the PBC Expo. I had a phone call yesterday; he didn't win the competition, but they're interested in having SP on their books.

My general thought is that as long as SP has fun, it doesn't interfere with more important things, and the photos aren't sexualised, I'm happy with it. In reality, whether or not we sign up depends a lot on the membership price, which the website is suspiciously quiet about.

What do you think?

To the Trekkies

It would appear that SP is one of you ;)

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Long arms and long legs make SP a tall boy

We've suspected since before birth that SP will end up very tall, and it still appears that way. He can now reach anything within about 3 inches of the edge of the kitchen table, which can make things a bit hairy at times. 


I couldn't quite believe that he could get a block this far from the edge of our chest freezer though. Yikes!

Family dinner (at 4:30pm)

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No more corny titles, please...

It's been a few months since my first attempt at planting a decent bunch of crops. How did it go?
- The cayenne peppers were the best of the lot, growing fairly easily and although we only got half a dozen, they're good sized and pack a punch! Currently drying on the window sill, I'll need to grind them down soon...
- The lettuce did a few weeks of lunches...
- The carrots were all about as thick as a piece of string...
- The zucchini started well, then got some form of blight, and right when they were flowering I decided to cover them with mosquito netting to try and keep out whatever was eating things. What's that, zucchini needs bees to pollenate and turn flowers into fruit? Bother...
- The beans, and spinach just died...
- The onions are still in, watch this space...

But today's harvest was the corn - of the eight or ten original plants, only a few survived, and from them I managed to get four cobs.







As you can see (that's a teaspoon in the top photo by the way) it's not going to win prizes at the RNA any time soon. But after cooking, well, it tastes like corn, and the kernels are actually a much richer, deeper yellow than frozen corn from the supermarket. The store-bought stuff looks anaemic by comparison.

So as much as I love time in the country, it's probably best that I'm not trying to feed a family on home-grown produce just yet. Although there's quite probably a family or two of possums that are doing very well out of our little vegie patch.

Now I'm looking forward to spring and summer, and seeing if the grapevine or mulberry bush produce anything of interest.