A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-5

Hello, friends of the blog. Some of you may be wondering what I have been doing since I graduated and finished studying at BIOLA. I have been reading, exercising, traveling, and moving rocks to create rock paths and planters at our home. This has been a time to be less about me so that I can help my parents to fix the water damage under our house and deal with the water leaking through our roof and from our new air conditioning unit. It has been an education in itself to learn about these things and maintaining them. To stop continued water damage, we abandoned sprinklers and changed our landscape to rock gardens. I found great joy in being able to help in a tangible way by carrying and sorting the rocks. Presently, we are just a week away from completing our projects—which started in September 2022!

With time soon freed up from working on the household repairs, I look forward to recounting my observations and reflections from my reading, which includes Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, The Story of Christianity by Justo L. Gonzalez, Knowing Sin by Mark Jones, and Truths We Confess by R.C. Sproul. There are many truths to digest from these books, as the authors capture biblical teaching in memorable ways so that we might obey in earnest what God desires from us. R.C. Sproul uses the Westminster Confession of Faith, which pulls from the Bible the tenets of the Christian faith and explains how we are to know God and live according to His Word. To look past the creeds and catechisms that have rightly instructed for centuries is a fatal mistake of our generation, especially when many seek to bend Scripture to adapt to our culture. A false teaching of man can too easily replace God’s timeless instruction for humanity. The confessions can serve to not only teach us, but also to provide accountability. If we create doctrine to adapt to our desired way of living, we are not accountable to God, but to ourselves and to our fancy.

I am happy to report to you that I am grateful to be alive and well, and just as there is great satifaction completing a homework assignment or reading a good book, I have enjoyed helping complete house repair projects. Whatever the day consists of, I pray God helps me do it with all my might and an appreciation for God giving me the opportunity. If we value those things which seem to be little, I find that my heart is in a grateful stance, and when the mighty things come, I treasure them with even greater joy. We know there are no guarantees for our plans to come to pass, but if you have committed your life to God, nothing thwarts His plans, and because of this I am grateful for His good plans which give us a hope and a blessed peace during these turbulent days.

I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil- this is God’s gift to man.

Ecclesiastes 3:12

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