Breagan sings
Topic: Family Life
I am posting this here for my mother.

This is an experiment in using audio mixing software on my laptop with a cheap microphone. If we figure this thing out, we may try to do some of our own recordings of hymns in four parts.

This is Jim singing STB, and Breagan (age 4) singing Soprano.

All glory to God!

And Can It Be That I Should Gain

Transitions
Topic: Family Life
Is anybody still out there, reading this long-neglected blog? Get ready for a long post. I have a lot of pent-up things to write.

It has been a long process, but also one that is like a controlled whirlwind. My family and I have relocated to the St. Louis area. We have a lot of stories of blessing to tell about how God has providentially lead us to a home, a farm, a church, and a job.

Jurisdiction

We set about to move away from Iowa at the time Iowa law requires home-schoolers to file their Competent Private Instruction Form (CPI Form). After much prayer, study of the Word, and consultation with legal and experienced advisors, we determined that signing a form indicated that we submit to the jurisdiction of the state over our children's education. We do not recognize the state's (biblical) jurisdiction over this area. So we decided to stop filing the form.

We were also informed that the state has a history of finding test-cases to prove a point in court. Ours could have been such a case. With fear of state intervention, we determined to list our home for sale and move to Missouri, where the state does not (at least in blanket form) usurp the jurisdiction of parents over their children's education. It did not make sense to me to stay in Iowa where the authorities could knock on my door at any time and remove my children from my custody.

I may write more about this later, but for now, you know why we decided to move.

Decision to Move

So - The house/farm is on the market. I have a job in Des Moines. We also found a fellowship of like-minded believers in Des Moines, and had been attending there since August. We considered moving to just south of the Iowa/Missouri boarder. That would be about the same distance we were currently from Des Moines. Land is fairly inexpensive in Northern Missouri, so we began looking.

Lost Job

In the meantime, the company I work for decided to eliminate my position as of November 30. So I was now free to begin looking for a job in Missouri or other states friendly to our cause.

I had focused efforts in Kansas City, hoping to stay with my current employer. Nothing seemed to be going my way. I was certain the Lord wanted us to move to Missouri (or other points south) but I could not find a job. On November 30, my last official day with my company, after searching for 45 days, I had an interview in Kansas City for a position in St. Louis. My former boss had contacted his former boss and said I was a good worker, and that he should consider hiring me for an opening in St. Louis.

New Job

In the interview (this has never happened to me) I was offered the job. This was the first time I had met this man, but on my interview, and the recommendation of my former manager, he offered me the position, and agreed to pay to move us from Iowa to St. Louis. God is so GREATLY TO BE PRIASED! His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. I am so overwhelmed by His provision, I am tearing-up while I write this.

St. Louis Bound

So we began looking in the St. Louis area. Have you been here before? This is a HUGE city! The sprawl of the beast is amazing. The price of land is atrocious. Some places were $33,000 per acre for less-than-desirable grazing land. Plus, we have not sold our farm in Iowa. So we decided to look for a rental situation we could use as a temporary measure.

A New Home

After 45 days, we finally stumbled across a farm that had been purchased by investors. It was listed as 5 acres, and indicated the tenant must have equipment to take care of that much lawn. When we toured the place, we found out it was a 95 acre farm, which was being leased for the hay. We said we wanted to rent the house and cut the hay, and we wondered if we could have a few cattle on a pasture that had good fence on the property.

New Farm

After negotiating, the landlords were thrilled to have a "farmer" renting the place and taking care of all 95 acres. This is not a fully-functioning farm setup like we had in Iowa. There is only one barn, and no other outbuildings. The house is small (only 2 bedrooms). But we leased the house for a monthly rent, leased 10 acres of pasture for an annual rent, and are share-cropping the rest of the hay!

Once again, the Lord's provision is awe-inspiring.

New Church

While we were looking for land to rent in St. Louis, we decided to find a church to attend on the Sunday of our visit. We went to the NCFIC website at VisionForum.org and looked at the listings. We chose the most compatible listing and made a call. We were invited to meet with them in an office building on the south side of the city. This church turns out to be Reformation Christian Assembly. I had met one of its elders at the 2004 Uniting Church and Family conference! We had only spoken briefly then, but after just a short time together, we felt as though we had known each other for a lifetime!

We are planning to covenant with this fellowship at our next meeting.

God had provided, in the space of just a few weeks, a job, a church, a home, and a farm. Amazing love, how can it be?

More Transitions

So, this weekend we are traveling back to Iowa to pick up the hay equipment that the movers would not bring. Our cattle have remained at Shady Larch Farm, which is a blessing, because we had put up over a thousand bales of hay to make it through the winter. A young man, who is a good neighbor-friend of ours, was willing to regularly feed our cattle in exchange for some extra hay and oats that I had.

So the Lord is also providing for our cattle while we wait for our farm in Iowa to sell.

Business

We are working on setting up our business and preparing for the busy summer that is coming very quickly. We have settled on Pilgrims' Acres as our new farm name. Shady Larch Farm was very specific to our farm in Iowa. The new farm name should be portable - which also reflects our status as the Elect in this world.

Blessing

I'm excited about the future, and prayerfully seeking the Lord's continuing work in my family and me. I truly hope the Lord has shown His Grace and Mercy on you in this past year, and that you are seeking to glorify Him in your life.

X-mas, or not?
Topic: Family Life
Chad Degenhart has a wonderful story that helps take away the heart-felt pains we have when we consider that as Christians we should not be celebrating (sactifying) a day other than the Lord's Day, because it reveals just how absurd and error-filled our observance of the tradition really is.

I have been agonizing and (some would say) terrorizing my friends and family by telling them all about how X-mas is both pagan and uncalled for. They are as perplexed as Grandma and Robbie in Chad's story.

Many of my Christian friends say, “What do you mean Christians shouldn’t celebrate X-mas? Why wouldn’t you want to celebrate Jesus’ birthday?” Some even get a puzzled look like Robbie and just can’t imagine the blasphemy.

One thing that people don’t seem to get is that not celebrating X-mas (or Easter) is a breaking of the yoke of bondage that Christ promised. When we point to Romans 14, they say, “See! We can celebrate any day we wish!” What they fail to realize is the context.

Jewish Christians were still practicing the ceremonial appointments concerning meats and days. Matthew Henry says, “This, which had been bred in the bone with them, could hardly be got out of the flesh, even after they turned Christians; especially with some of them, who were not easily weaned from what they had long been wedded to. They were not well instructed touching the canceling of the ceremonial law by the death of Christ, and therefore retained the ceremonial institutions, and practiced them accordingly; while other Christians that understood themselves better and knew their Christian liberty, made no such difference.”

The Christian who points to Romans 14 as their license to celebrate Christmas misunderstands completely. They are the weaker brother, which is not a commendation from Paul! And in the context of the day, they are not being transformed from one godly practice to another. The original practice was never God-given in the first place.

In Mark 7:9b, Jesus said “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”

We all need to read Mark 7 and apply the “How is this me?” technique.

Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade
Topic: Family Life
Read about the latest best-seller! Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade

Singing together
Topic: Family Life
We enjoyed dinner brought by my wife's parents last night. We also sat around the living room singing hymns with them while my son Bryant (14) played the piano. I would recommend Piano for Life to anyone that longs for a time like this and has a piano collecting dust.

Simple Living
Topic: Family Life
I would encourage you to read about Simple Living from Draught Horse Press.

Back to the Bible
Topic: Family Life
We were seeing character problems throughout our household. They were surrounding our "school" work, mainly. Do all home schoolers experience this? What are we doing wrong? Why do the experts who put this curriculum together not mention this?

I was challenged by the Holy Spirit to forsake the world and get back to basics. We are on a sabbatical now. The children each chose five character issues to study from God's Word. They started Monday with cursory work, and yesterday studied for about six hours. We plan to continue this until two weeks after the baby is born. Then, back to our regular schedule.

There was a remarkable change in the countenance and general atmosphere of the household yesterday. Although I was in my office most of the day, I could sense it.

Last evening, we sat around four about two hours sharing what God was doing for each of us as we studied. My time was not so richly spent, since I have to work. But even my lovely wife took up the challenge and studied.

My wife studied meekness. Bryant, 14, took on repentance. Brytni, 13, humility. Brady, 11, lust/covetousness. My topic was being slow to speak.

I was overcome with joy as my children (even Breagan, 3) shared with us their convictions, repentance and prayer requests. This was true family worship. And wouldn't you know it, God's Word was the centerpiece and catalyst.

We are far from perfect. God is perfect. We are looking at His perfect Word to emulate Jesus Christ, encourage each other and exalt the Father.

We also picked up this resource: Raising Godly Children. I wish we would have had this training before we got married. Much of it we have learned through countless mistakes. But with God, it is never too late in this life.