A Life Worthy

Tag: Thanksgiving

  • One-a-Day Monday 11/25/13

    number 1Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

    Life in Holland provided the religious freedom the Pilgrims were looking for, but at a high price.  Living conditions there were rough, to the point where they had to work brutal hours to survive.  Children as young as six years old were working twelve- to fourteen-hour days just to help make ends meet.  (Feel free to emphasize the above point to your kids, especially if they complain about chores.)  Parents began to fear for the health of their children as the hard labor took its toll.

    Life among the Dutch was taking other tolls, as well.  Language, customs, traditions—all were different from what the Pilgrims were used to.  Parents could see their children growing less English, and more Dutch, with each passing day.  The greatest concern was over the moral “freedom” that accompanied Holland’s religious liberty.  Parents feared that they may have saved their children from persecution only to lose them to licentiousness.  They made the decision to protect themselves and their children by taking them to a new world.

    Chew on this: How are you being polluted by the world?  What are you willing to do to “be transformed?”

  • One-a-Day Sunday 11/24/13

    number 1But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… (Philippians 3:7-8).

    England in the 1500’s and 1600’s was a place of great religious freedom—you were free to attend the Anglican Church.  If, however, you didn’t agree with the Anglican Church, and chose to speak up about it, it stank to be you.  You could look forward to hefty fines, imprisonment, and other extreme levels of governmental harassment.  One group of people experiencing this grief was the Puritans.  They felt that the Anglican Church was polluted with all sorts of non-biblical fluff, and they wanted to purify it.  Hence the name.

    Eventually, some of the Puritans decided that the Anglican Church was simply too far gone to work with, and they should separate from it.  These people called themselves Separatists.  It is from this group that the people we know as the Pilgrims came.

    In 1607, a group of Separatists decided to leave England and move to Holland, a country known for religious freedom.  Easier said than done, for while the King of England made life intolerable for Separatists, he would not allow them to leave.  The Pilgrims had to sneak out of the country, leaving everything behind.

    Question to chew on:  What have you had to leave behind in order to follow Christ?

  • Remembering

    Civil War DrumYesterday, I took the kids to an event billed as, “The Largest Civil-War Reenactment West of the Mississippi.”

    I haven’t done the research necessary to verify that claim, but I’m going to go ahead and believe. (more…)

  • Of Books and Birds

    This recipe was not in the book!

    I sold my book…and not at a yard sale!!!

    Now, lest we get carried away, I should clarify that I sold exactly two copies of my book.  I did, however, manage to give away 231 copies for free.  That goes to show that the readers of this blog are both intelligent and frugal.  I count this a win, not because of the big bucks I raked in (though I can certainly use that $4.10), but because of the lessons learned.  Such as: (more…)