The Unity of the Body of Christ

Brian and I attended Allan and Christine's Church (Covenant Pres. of Nashville) this past Sunday and during the prayer request time in Sunday School someone remembered First Pres of Gulfport, MS and prayed for Guy Richard by name. I thought that was so neat. It gave me an overwhelming sense of he universality of Christ's church. Also, one of the pastor's there is Stuart Latimer Jr, who is the son of my pastor's wife's old pastor. As if that sentence made any sense. :) It was cool to exchange greetings with him. He is an excellent teacher, by the way. Very much in sync with what Dr. Gage has done with typology, oddly enough. So we promised to send him a copy of the new Joseph and Judah book.

We've been having a blast this week. I will post more (and hopefully pictures!) when we get back.

Also, I've been feeling pretty nausated the past three days-- looks like I'm not going to get out of morning sickness after all. Should be a long car ride home. :} That's a sickly smile, in case you were wondering. It's been a grea trip and we have lots to tell, but that will have to keep!

Blessed in more ways than one

I realized as a sat in class tonight how much I owe to Dr. Gage. We covered a lot of ground tonight, but one of the central themes of tonight OT class was the heavenly promises of God. His most valuable gifts are the spiritual ones. We are sojourners looking for a heavenly kingdom and eternal fulfillment, not earthly shadows that quickly pass away. And so much of what was said was familiar because we covered much of the same material in last spring's OT Theology, but in greater detail then. As Dr. Gage spoke my soul resonated with agreement. Yes, yes, YES! So much of this I know by experience. So much of this the Lord sustained me with in my time of trial.

And then I realized how gracious God had been to me. Dr. Gage was the one who spoke of those heavenly hopes every week. He was the one that provided the material that bolstered my soul. He gave me the framework to read God' promises and look for more than instant gratification. How much of the meditations on this blog are a result of his work? I don't know. But I am grateful to God for sending me that teaching from His word when I needed it most.


In other news, I had to go back for my second pregnancy test today. I was delighted to discover that I am indeed still pregnant and the HCG is doubling every day just as it should. I am so thankful. I still can't get over God's physical blessing to me. He had me looking so hard for the spiritual seed that I didn't think He intended to give me an earthly one. I've learned so much from sorrow, can I learn as much through joy?

I have to go back on Wednesday for one more test. (Brian swears they are milking us, and I myself am not sure why this is necessary, but it something that they do to everyone. And it is nice to have the confirmation that the baby is there. I feel so normal that it all seems like a dream.) After that, we are heading to Tennessee on Friday to see Brian's brother, Allan, and his wife, Christine. I'm really looking forward to that. It has been quite a while since we've seen them and it is a great time to take a vacation. Hopefully I'll find the time to catch up on some class reading! I've been so distracted by the events in my personal life lately. After we get back from TN, we go for our first ultrasound! I'm so excited. Then we'll see how many the Lord has blessed us with.

Well, here's a another excited post all wrapped up! :)

Poodles in Hell

This is just too funny not to share...

I was eating lunch with my pastor and his wife, Robin, yesterday and the conversation turned to a newspaper column that they had read recently. Someone had written and asked the pastor of a local megachurch if pets go to heaven when they die. He said that they did. Robin nearly had a fit. "I had two poodles" she said. "One was good and one was bad. And let me tell you, if anyone is going to hell, Pierre is!"

I thought I'd die laughing.

And in case you're wondering, I don't believe in any sort of afterlife for animals. :)