Rebecca Writes

 
for a couple of days while I regroup.

Mostly I’ll be doing spring yard work and spring cleaning and spring sewing. I’ll be back on Friday with this week’s Gas Up post, and should it rain on my parade, I may get one of the Romans 8 posts up soon, too.

A couple of quick notes about May’s agenda here at Rebecca Writes.

1. I’m hoping to have another Recipe Round Up, but no one has volunteered to host. Hint.
   
2. I want to do an interpretive paraphrase of Romans 8:18-39, which will involve a whole series of posts. The aim of that series is to show one way to do that sort of Bible study. If you want to join in and work along with me, I’d like that. If you want to offer suggestions for how my work might be improved, I think I’d like that, too.
3. There’ll be no theme for May, then, because I’m going to concentrate on the Romans 8 series.
   
4. However, over the summer, I’m planning to post weekly photos of the pricing sign at my neighbourhood gas station so you can see what I pay for gas. It’d be fun if some of you posted periodic prices of gas at the pumps near you, too. If you do, I’d love to have the link to your post so I can link back to you and we can compare prices. 

From my email:

Do you know of some old hymns that speak directly to penal substitution? I saw one on your blog but do you know of others?

That Christ’s death was penal substitution means that “his death bore the just penalty of God for our sins as a substitute for us.” (Definition taken from the glossary of Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.)

The hymn refered to that I posted was Hallelujah! What a Savior, which says, “in my place condemned he stood.”  Can you think of other hymns with phrases like this, hymns that clearly teach that Christ’s death was penal substitution?

If all goes as planned, on March 13th Charles Colson will be appearing here on the blog, answering one question I submit to him about his new book, The Faith. He’ll be doing what has now become known as the Tim Challies-style book blog tour.

My question needs to be submitted by the 3rd of March, but the book hasn’t arrived in the mail yet. So when (and if) it shows up, I’ll be busy reading for a few days to try to make the deadline for the question. I am also supposed to be reviewing the book here on the blog sometime before the day of the posted interview question and answer, so I have that deadline on my agenda, too.

I am old enough to remember Colson for Watergate, and since I moved to the north of Canada shortly after all that, that’s about all I know him for. Up until the time I started blogging, I was, like many other Canadian believers, ignorant of most of the happenings in American evangelicalism, which isn’t such a bad thing, you know.

When it comes to asking Chuck Colson a question about his latest book, that he’s been flying under my radar is probably not a bad thing. It means the question I ask  him will have to be based on the book itself and nothing else, and when I judge the book in my review, I won’t have to work very hard to be unbiased. And if the book really is about what the subtitle claims—What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters—then I won’t come into it ignorant of the subject matter. It’s all good, isn’t it? As long as the book arrives, that is.

Here is the schedule for the blog tour for The Faith. Why this blog was included in that list of famous blogs, I can’t say.

I will also be giving my testimony in church on the 9th of March. I am not the sort who can fly by the seat of her pants when it comes to speaking in public, so I’ll be preparing for that, too. By that, I mean I’ll be writing down, word for word, what I plan to say.

If I disappear for a day or two here and there over the next couple of weeks, you know why: I’m reading or writing something other than blog posts.

my side bar photo once again, but this one I promise to keep for a while. In this one you can really see the t-shirt from Reflections Apparel and Gifts, where Carla says she has “the LARGEST selection of reformed/ Calvinistic/ sovereign grace themed t-shirts and gifts of any online (or offline) retailer (that we know of, anyway).”

So if you are looking for a t-shirt, a mug, a tote bag, a poster, a Bible verse calendar, some greeting/note cards, a framed print, a button or something for baby, check Carla’s store first, where you’ll find all that and much more.

Carla, by the way, blogs here. 

Don’t forget.

Recipe Round Up

and 

Pensieve’s Snackalicious Super Dishes

Together in one super-duper carnival of delicious food

Tomorrow, January 25

Click here for more details

Have you posted your recipe?

And why are you running off already? I’m not through yet.

Tomorrow (January 25) is also the second to the last chance to have your weather post linked. Yep, next Tuesday will be our last weather post and then (mercifully!) January is done. You might want to be working on a weather post, too, or before you know it, your chance for 15 minutes of weather fame will be over and you’ll have missed it. And it’ll be no one’s fault but your own.

You stated, “And while it seems certain that he does not feel emotions in exactly the same way we do, we still need to take seriously the statements of scripture that show him exercising love or joy or anger or wrath.” 

Recently, I’ve been trying to find verses that show God is completely content with Himself and does not need us for His joy. You stated that you knew of verses that illustrate Him exercising His joy; have you ever seen any verses that demonstrate the concept I’ve been searching for? 

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

Off topic, but also recently, heh, I’ve been trying to improve my grammar skills. I’ve checked out multiple books from the library, and I have learned a lot, but at the same time, I’m left with many questions that these books fail to answer….I was wondering if you know of any grammar books that go into extreme depth, or grammar books that you find helpful.

 

I did a year end blog review yesterday and that led me to make two resolutions concerning this blog in 2008.

Excuse me while I indulge myself in a little year end blog review, with links to my favorite posts for each month.

January
January was a month for lists, including one with books on theology suitable for the lay person. Favorite post? The coyote one, hands down.

March
This is the month I moved over here to the new blog. It was also the Irish themed month, and that was a whole lot of fun. During March, I worked hard on a couple of posts on redemption: What Does It Mean? and From What Are Sinners Delivered? Still, my favorite post was one I wrote on the spur of the moment after an incident in the supermarket, Doing Our Job.

April
During April, I was still in my William Cowper, William Wilberforce and John Newton phase, so this month’s favorites are a couple of Sunday’s Hymn posts that included a bit on the life or William Cowper: There Is A Fountain and God Moves In A Mysterious Way.

May
In May I started the series from Hebrews 1 called Seven Statements About the Son, and those posts are undoubtedly that month’s most substantive post, but my favorite post has to be the one on Mike the Headless Chicken.

July
July was the month for justification. You’ll find

•  A quiz on justification, with answers here, here, here, and here.
  
• Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience in our Justification
  

August
I didn’t have all that much to say in August because I was making jam, canning peaches, harvesting the garden and painting the deck. I did manage to put together a quiz on the biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity along with answers.

September
Let’s see. I posted instructions for canning peaches, and started posting the Theological Term of the Week with a post on the perspicuity of scripture.

November was a  month of thanksgiving and I managed to post thankful thoughts every day until I went on a two week holiday. 

December
This month my biggest undertaking was hosting the Recipe Round Up, but my very favorite posts were the ones with scripture about Christ and light.