A Forgotten Hymn for the Family

 On Sunday mornings our church has a parenting class that is going through a series of videos by Paul David Tripp.  The class has been incredibly helpful to Christine and I. (I would recommend you join us at 8:30 Sunday mornings at Grace Baptist Church.)

Now, I have read Paul David Tripp's book Parenting and really enjoyed it, but this video series and the conversations with other parents is so helpful.  We're already employing his five questions to ask to get to the heart of our kids' issue when addressing a problem and it's working well with our four year old.

Today my mind was on my kids and how to raise them in a Christian home.  I was thinking how glad I am that my kids were dedicated in a local church that is dedicated to helping us raise them and, quite frankly, raise us in the Lord.

As I was in the pew during Sunday service I sat instead of standing during songs because I was holding my sleeping baby.  We don't use hymnals at church anymore but we still have hymnals in the racks.  My four year old opened it to pretend as though he was reading the song we were singing.  He just so happened to flip open to a hymn that I had never heard before.  I glanced at the lyrics and was engrossed in the beautiful words.  I came home and looked up the hymn on YouTube and thought I should share the lyrics and song with you, too.  I hope you are encouraged by this wonderful, prayerful song today.

"A Christian Home" by Barbara B. Hart

O give us homes built firm upon the Savior,

Where Christ is Head, and Counselor and Guide;

Where every child is taught His love and favor

And gives his heart to Christ, the crucified:

How sweet to know that tho' his footsteps waver

His faithful Lord is walking by his side!

O give us homes with godly fathers, mothers,

Who always place their hope and trust in Him;

Whose tender patience turmoil never bothers,

Whose calm and courage trouble cannot dim;

A home where each finds joy in serving others,

And love still shines, tho' days be dark and dim.

O give us homes where Christ is Lord and Master,

The Bible read, the precious hymns still sung;

Where prayer comes first in peace or in disaster,

And praise is natural speech to ev'ry tongue;

Where mountains move before a faith that's vaster,

And Christ sufficient is for old and young.

O Lord, our God, our homes are Thine forever!

We trust to Thee their problems, toil, and care;

Their bonds of love no enemy can sever

If Thou art always Lord and Master there;

Be Thou the center of our least endeavor:

Be Thou our Guest, our hearts and homes to share.

The Surprising Glory of Eyebrows

 Since March 11, 2020 I have gained a new appreciation for face-to-face communication.

On March 11th COVID-19 went from being something over there to something here.  We remember hearing about 14 days to flatten the curve.  We remember President Trump telling us to stay home for the good of our nation.  We remember Dr. Fauci becoming a household name.  On March 11th we watched sporting events cancel and it hit home to us.

It wasn't 14 days.  The social distancing and mass isolation lasted longer, and that's by no means a political statement.  The things we used to do in person we did over something we called ZOOM.  We had meetings through e-mail.  We spent much more time than we dreamed not doing real face-to-face communication.

In that time our vitriol online has only gotten worse.  We're a meaner people online today than we were on March 10th, 2020.  We type things with Facebook muscles that we would never say face-to-face.

I say all this not to say the COVID-19 mitigation measures were too much.  This isn't some attempt at making masks sound anti-Biblical.  I'm not saying that at all.  What I want is more real communication.  I want us not to abandon face-to-face communication as a primary means of living and communing as we progress beyond this pandemic.

"I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink.  Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete." 2 John 12

The Apostle John ended his second epistle like this.  He, who had just written inspired Words of God, says that face-to-face communication was preferable to writing a longer letter.

Let that sink in: He had just written infallible, Holy Spirit inspired words and he finishes by extolling face-to-face communication!

If face-to-face communication is better for the Apostle John, then perhaps you should schedule a coffee date rather than penning that e-mail.  If this form of conversing is so valuable, then perhaps you should debate that controversial subject on the couch and not on Twitter.

Since last Wednesday 2 John 12 has been on my mind and since last Wednesday I have been thinking about eyebrows.

Eyebrows are amazing and so stinking odd.  Think about it.  You have two (or one for us unibrowers) lines of hair on the middle of your face.  Right in the middle of your face.  Why?  Perhaps to keep sweat from dripping in our eyes, but I think God also gave them to us for communication.  

Draw a face on a sheet of paper, but add no eyebrows.  Now draw downward pointed eyebrows.  What is the face?  Angry.  Draw two raised brows: surprised.  Pencil in one raised eyebrow and one in normal position: confused.  At the dinner table move your eyebrows with your little kids and see if they can guess your emotions.  Just think of all the communication that comes just from these two strips of weirdly placed hair.  Ever see someone without eyebrows who hadn't painted them on yet?  It's disconcerting and confusing and I think that's because our brains feel unable to read that person's emotions.

And you could do that exercise with several parts of your face, shoulders, hands, feet, wobbling knees and more.  We know that our bodies were made, in part, to be communication devices.  Don't waste this.

Before you comment on this, I'm not saying you can't write.  I just wrote this.  I'm not against audio-only communication.  I work in radio.  What I am saying is that before we shoot off an e-mail, type a Facebook comment or record a voicemail, we should ask if we should be like John and save it for face-to-face conversation.

Think before you write and speak and remember the God-given value of face-to-face communication today.