Day Twenty Five - an easy-going Sunday with photos

Psalm 9:10-12 

"And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, 

For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. 

Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; 

Declare among the peoples His deeds. 

For He who requires blood remembers them; 

He does not forget the cry of the afflicted."

We slept well last night. Got up and did our usually dinking around, got dressed, ate breakfast, then headed for church, I confess that I don't seem to have been paying really good attention, or I was and I just don't remember. 


But one thing I do remember was a story Tim told about a young man in Iran who became a Christian. He started a house group, but for a long time things didn't grow too fast. Perhaps eventually there were five house groups, and this young man was seen as a leader in the movement. When the Iotola Homani returned from exile and cracked down on all things that were not Muslim the young man was executed along with many others. But instead of being able to crush the Christians, the movement began to really take off, and hundreds of house churches have been started by the young people in Iran who have been very disillusions by the establishment there. This disillusionment can be seen in the book I've been reading, Reading Lolita in Tehran; This brings to mind that the Lord will accomplish His will, despite man's intent. A taste of this is seen in a story about Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4: Nebuchadnezzar had been a powerful and tyrannical and egotistical king, ruling a great deal of the world as he knew it. But he had had a scary dream that he had asked Daniel to interpret. The end of the story is here:

"All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king.
"Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.
"The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'

"While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from you,
and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.'

"Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws.

"But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
 And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 


"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, 

But He does according to His will in the host of heaven


And among the inhabitants of earth;


And no one can ward off His hand


Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'

"At that time my reason returned to me And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me.

"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride."

God is in control at all times.  We need not fear, except to fear the Lord.  

"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria 

enjoyed peace, being built up; 

and going on in the fear of the Lord 

and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, 

it continued to increase." 

Acts 9:31

After church we all went for coffee and goodies at Fleur de Lis Bakery next door.  There was Riley and I, Annie, Christian, Emily, Heidi, and Stephan, who joined us a bit later, having not gone to church.  I played gin rummy with Christian.  I'm afraid I beat him three games in a row.  We all had a good time.  Then we all left together.

Riley and I went to Fred Meyer's to drop of my nausea prescription and return a bra that did feel comfortable.  While waiting for the prescription we went and sat on a comfy couch and took a nap.  Then after collecting the prescription we went to Powells to return a book, and we bought some magazines.  We are both very fond of magazines.  I got Vogue Knitting, English Gardens, and Writing Journal.  Then we went home, ate the last two pieces of pizza from the night before, settled in to watch baseball, and I do believe I fell asleep.  Sleep is good.

Rookie Seattle Mariners pitcher Chris Jakubauskas, center, wears a princess backpack as he walks to the bullpen with Mariners bullpen coach John Wetteland, left, and Mariners pitcher Garrett Olson, right, prior to an MLB baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, June 7, 2009, at Safeco Field in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Some where along the line, perhaps yesterday, we had scheduled an appointment with a photographer to take our picture.  This is because I might never look the same again.  So at 3:30 I went up stairs to wash my hair and get ready.  We decided to dress in black.  We each took an alternate shirt and a hat.  On the way there I was thinking about how the photographer was in a big building that you had to ring up to be let in, and I began to imagine that something terrible might happen to us and no one in the family knew where we were going.  So I told this to Riley, and to humor me he called Heidi, but she didn't answer.  Oh well, we just needed to trust the Lord.

As it turned out the photographer was a delightful young man (probably 40, that shows how old I am).  We had a lot of fun, and I think that the session went longer that scheduled.  It turned out that he and his son had been sitting right in front of us at the Joshua Bell concert.  What a small world it is.  He liked to talk about food, and he mention ginger chicken with green beans at Pho Van on Hawthorne, so when we left that's where we went, and that's what we had.  Unfortunately it was a bit sugary.  You can see me here slipping slightly on my regime.  This is going to bring me Trouble.  Notice the capital T.

I had been so sufficiently distracted by the day that I didn't take much time to worry about my operation tomorrow. But before going to be I took a "be calm" pill. I probably stayed up just a skosh too late working on my blog, but I slept very well.

Psalm 4:7-8 

You have put gladness in my heart,


More than when their grain and new wine abound. 


In peace I will both lie down and sleep,


For You alone, O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.