Meanderings

With our schedule, not much blogging time as of late.  So I appreciate the recent offerings of the other _"_GenRef Gents" as I like to call them.  But here are a few morsels of joys and lessons as of late.

  
On Saturday, I made it through performing the [wedding ](http://gentlereformation.org/2013/05/29/at-your-table-gathered-round/)of my son with my emotions almost under control and nary a hitch, except at one crucial point.   As I began the vows, I momentarily got distracted by the mic we were using and asked my son to say, "I, Trevor, take you, Abby, to be my lawfully wedded husband."  Unaware of what I had said, I did not realize my mistake until Trevor, after dutifully saying all the words but the last one, paused for just a moment, smiled widely, then emphatically said, "Wife!"  Not only the bride was blushing that day.<!--more-->  
  

Last Lord's Day we had the honor of having Ted Donnelly bringing God's Word to us at Sycamore.  Much recovered from a near fatal bout of encephalitis a few years ago, he spoke to us from Samuel's statement: "Until now the Lord has helped us."  As he lovingly and directly applied it to our congregation as we go through a season of transitions, the message was baptized with quiet, Spirit-wrought tears throughout the sanctuary.  Praise the Lord for using His vessel and His Word to draw so very close to us.

  
Speaking of such, was encouraged to read these words of Philpot describing the "nursing" work of the Spirit:  
  
> The Holy Spirit is especially tender of his own work upon the soul.  He originally formed it; it is his own spiritual offspring; and as a mother watches over her babe, so the blessed Spirit watches over the spirit of his own creating...He, therefore, acts upon it, breathes into it fresh life and power, and communicates grace out of the inexhaustible fulness of the Son of God."  
  

With friends recently, our girls were all enjoying one another's company with much chatter and laughter.  I commented that if a group of geese is called a gaggle, then a group of girls must be called a "giggle."

Someone then asked, "What would you call then a group of boys?"

Without missing a beat, my ten year-old daughter said, "Annoying."

  
Was in Indianapolis yesterday dropping dear friends off at the airport.  As Miriam and I were just starting to head back home, for the first time we heard from my son on his honeymoon.  Without being very aware of either's travel schedules, Trevor and Abby happened to be passing through Indianapolis on the way to another friend's wedding in Kansas.  So a few minutes later we were enjoying  a milkshake together with our beaming children before they headed again on their way.  To quote an understatement from a character in _Persuasions_, "It was almost providential."  
  

Stole my wife away for a few days in Michigan before the next wedding and then our move.  Nothing more calming than walking hand-in-hand with my own bride on the soft sands of Lake Michigan's shoreline.

  
My mother-in-law, recently diagnosed with ALS, is facing her condition with faith and even joy in anticipating being with the Lord.  She showed me a piece she had written that she would like read at her funeral which testifies to such.  As we face a move from one state to another in two weeks, how humbling it is to see one preparing to move from earth to heaven with such grace.