AEOU!

Ten years ago ...

Song of Solomon 7:1-9                                         February 21

preparing for Lent; preparing for life w/out.          10902.21

How fair and how pleasant are thou, O love, for delights! 6

James 2 — My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

It is a catch-22, you’d think, that your salvation is based on your faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, yet that if you don’t have works your faith is no good. The works — what you do after you are saved by God’s grace through Jesus Christ — proceed from, are a result of, your faith. You obviously have to have an opportunity to do works — the second third on the cross didn’t, nor does anyone confessing at their last as (supposedly) Constantine did — and if you do, to not do them is sin, as James refers to elsewhere. The talents and powers we employed to hinder God’s work now help it on Earth, not because God needs our help but for our perfection, our becoming more like Him in attitude and intention and acting on Who we believe. Amen.

And now, a week before our daughter Sarah officially becomes a teenager, SHE’S OUT OF THE BOOT! Yes, that broken left foot (two of the toes, anyway) she’s had since mid-December is near completely healed, and she’s practicing putting on her shoe and walking with full force now at home and field-testing herself next week. And Tuesday I got my front tooth capped (again) that I’d first broken when my face met the loading dock at work last September... and Saturday our son Jeffrey has his trombone solo and the temperature is actually getting above zero! Hallelujah.

David