Sunday's Hymn: Jesus, Where'er Thy People Meet

Jesus, where'er thy people meet,
There they behold thy mercy-seat;
Where'er they seek thee, thou art found,
And ev'ry place is hallowed ground.

For thou, within no walls confined,
Inhabitest the humble mind;
Such ever bring thee where they come,
And going, take thee to their home.

Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few,
Thy former mercies here renew;
Here to our waiting hearts proclaim
The sweetness of thy saving Name.

Here may we prove the pow'r of prayer
To strengthen faith and sweeten care,
To teach our faint desires to rise,
And bring all heav'n before our eyes.

Lord, we are few, but thou art near;
Nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ear;
O rend the heav'ns, come quickly down,
And make a thousand hearts thine own.

William Cowper, 1769
Tune: Warrington, Ralph Harrison, 1784

Sunday's Hymn: O God, the Rock of Ages

O God, the Rock of Ages,
Who evermore hast been,
What time the tempest rages,
Our dwelling place serene:
Before thy first creations,
O Lord, the same as now,
To endless generations
The Everlasting Thou!

Our years are like the shadows
On sunny hills that lie,
Or grasses in the meadows
That blossom but to die;
A sleep, a dream, a story
By strangers quickly told,
And unremaining glory
Of things that soon are old.

O thou who canst not slumber,
Whose light grows never pale,
Teach us aright to number
Our years before they fail;
On us thy mercy lighten,
On us thy goodness rest,
And let thy Spirit brighten
The hearts thyself hast blessed.

Lord, crown our faith's endeavor
With beauty and with grace,
Till, clothed in light for ever,
We see thee face to face:
A joy no language measures;
A fountain brimming o'er;
An endless flow of pleasures;
An ocean without shore.

Edward H. Bickersteth, 1860
Tune: Schubert, Arr. from Franz Schubert by W. W. Gilchrist, 1895

Sunday's Hymn: None Other Lamb

None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other Hope in heav'n or earth or sea,
None other Hiding place from guilt and shame,
None beside thee!

My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart's desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to thee.

Lord, thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love's fire thou art, however cold I be:
Nor heav'n have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but thee.

Christina G. Rosetti, before 1893
Tune: Rosetti, William Jeater, 1907

Off Again

I've been home less than two weeks since our fun-filled trip to Northern Wisconsin and I'm off again tomorrow. I'm going to Ann Arbor, MI to help Emily move back home after finishing her program of study over there. We'll be back on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Andy is leaving tomorrow morning for Allentown, Pennsylvania. Its a business trip. And he'll be back home on Thursday too.

Then early Saturday morning, we are all leaving on a two week road trip to Oregon to visit family and attend the wedding of our nephew, Dave, and his (almost) wife, Julie.

We never planned for this spring to be quite so full of travel but sometimes things just happen... never outside of God's plan and will, of course. I trust completely in that, especially since I'm a homebody by nature, a homebody who loves order and routine. (Yes, I am probably kind of boring.) And I know I will be very happy to be home the whole month of July, Lord willing! But, right now, despite a miserable cold the last couple of days, I am having fun! Emily even has some things planned for us tomorrow after we get the cars packed! I just hope I can keep up this pace!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, Charlie is traveling with me to Ann Arbor. Then he will go on the road trip to Oregon as well. No rest for an old dog, either....of course, he mostly sleeps in the car.

Sunday's Hymn: When Peace, Like a River

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

It is well with my soul;
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And has shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin—O the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend;
"Even so"—it is well with my soul.

Horatio G. Spafford, 1828-1888
Tune: It Is Well, Philip P. Bliss, 1876

Ice Hockey?

I am not a sports fan at all. In fact, none of us here at the cottage are sports fans and we are pretty limited in our knowledge of team sports. We do enjoy fishing and bicycling and canoeing and those kinds of sports but nothing involving a ball--or a puck.

So its kind of interesting to me that one of my dearest friends is a die-hard hockey fan. And she's had reason to be enlightening me about the details of that sport and the merits of her favorite team recently because the Detroit Redwings (her team of choice) had some sort of play-off with the Chicago Black Hawks and now they are playing for the Stanley Cup. Most of what she said just caused my eyes to glaze over as I smiled and nodded. But when she started talking about the beauty of the teamwork that is involved and how it irritates her to see an individual player attempt to draw all the attention to himself, I took mental note. That made me think of our unity as a body of believers, the church universal, and how beautiful it is when we work together for His glory in individual humility. And how ugly it looks, especially before the world, when we try to glorify ourselves individually as followers of Christ.

It never ceases to amaze me the things that God uses to teach me more about Him and His ways! Ice hockey! Who would have thought?

I'm Back...

...and beginning to feel caught up around the cottage. We had a wonderful, wonderful respite in Northern Wisconsin! As Emily pointed out, we all (except Charlie) have a "fisherman's tan" now. That means the backs of our hands are tan but the rest of our arms are not due to the coolish weather requiring long sleeves. And yes, we all caught some fish! I even caught a big snapping turtle! That was really exciting!

But the best part was the feeling of complete relaxation that we had where the only decisions to be made were things like should we go fishing before supper or after. And why wouldn't we feel completely relaxed when we were surrounded by scenes like this?



And catching fish like this?



And doing lots of this?


I thank God for His magnificent creation and His provision for us to enjoy it!