Mia:  Paul was a really bold guy.  He did lots of things for God.  In Acts 23:11 God says to Paul: “Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”  I would have been scared to even speak to those high and mighty governors.  And alot of people didn’t wanna hear the good news of Christ.  But Paul did it because God said to, and he even wanted to go to Caesar!  I just wanted to say that Paul really was a great guy, and one of the first people to start being sort of a missionary.

Ian:  I’m thankful that even though the disobedience of one resulted in all being made sinners, the obedience of one brought eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Romans 7:24-25.

Mindy and I saw The Swell Season in concert last night with Elise, Olive, and Francis at Crystal Ballroom.  Wow.  I mean, wow.  The two-and-a-half hour gig was one long highlight (worth standing the whole time for) but being ten feet away from the band and Glen Hansard taking the stage literally unplugged for Say It To Me Now (think “that scene” in Once–we might as well’ve been passers-by on a street in Dublin) especially stood out.

They didn’t play my favorite song off of Strict Joy, Feeling The Pull, or Love That Conquers, a song that sounds like a Simon & Garfunkel/The Beatles lovechild, but Hansard covered Van Morrison’s song Astral Weeks and I thought his guitar was going to breakup on re-entry.

Seeing them live we were better able to grasp how robust their music is.  The harmonies on I Have Loved You Wrong were pristine and I already thought High Horses was driving but I didn’t feel it pound in my chest until last night.

Marketa Irglova’s effortless vocals are on my mind, on my mind, on my mind…

And, although The Frames are nineteen years tight, I like to think that the crowd singing along added.  Nicely done, Portland.

Joshua (almost four):  Is that Jesus singing?

Do you remember Aidan’s Yard Work Help Service?  Well, here’s his latest venture…
Do you think the market can bear more than five bucks a month?

Mia: 

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.  Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.  Acts 12:7-9.

Beside being a completely amazing story, Peter didn’t even realized he was really being freed from prison!  He was so used to visions, he didn’t even say anything to the angel, neither was he afraid.  I was imagining the feeling:  An angel just freed me from prison and left.  What does this vision mean, Oh, MAN!  That really was an angel!

Ian: This struck me as a beautiful image of siblinghood.

They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.  Acts 14:21-22.

I can just picture new Christians–I guess they were all new at this point in history–enthused about people coming to follow Jesus with a dose of apprehension knowing that the Way was not just counter-cultural but illegal.  To hear older brothers in the Lord say that ”we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” would be strangely comforting.

If you click on Restoring Social Outcasts to Community under Compassion Blog to your right, you’ll find my latest post on Compassion’s blog.

After an hour of playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii…

Makaena (10):  Dad.  Look at my thumb.  It hurts.  But it’s a good hurt.  Like a satisfied hurt.

Mindy:  Mario versus Luigi.  Cousin against cousin.
Aidan:  They’re brothers, Mom.  You know?  Like Super Mario Brothers?