On Keeping a Holy Lent

Excerpt from a paper by Craig Higgins, Trinity Presbyterian (Rye, NY) on Lenten observance.

Appendix: Questions for Self-Examination
1. Have I been fervent in prayer? Was there warmth? access?
2. Have I prayed at my stated times? with my family?
3. Have I practiced God’s presence, at least every hour?
4. Have I, before every deliberate action or conversation, considered how it might be turned to God’s glory?
5. Have I sought to center conversations on the other person’s interests and needs and ultimately toward God, or did I turn them toward my own interests?
6. Have I given thanks to God after every pleasant occurrence or time?
7. Have I thought or spoken unkindly of anyone?
8. Have I been careful to avoid proud thoughts or comparing myself to others? Have I done things just for appearance? Have I mused on my own fame or acclaim?
9. Have I been sensitive, warm, and cheerful toward everyone?
10. Have I been impure in my thoughts or glances?
11. Have I confessed sins toward God and others swiftly?
12. Have I over- or under-eaten, -slept, -worked?
13. Have I twisted the truth to look good?
14. Have I been leading in my home, or only reacting to situations?

In his set of questions for self-examination, the late Jack Miller gets right to the point: *
1. Is God working in your life?
2. Have you been repenting of your sin lately?
3. Are you building your life on Christ’s free justification or are you insecure and guilt-ridden?
4. Have you done anything simply because you love Jesus?
5. Have you stopped anything simply because you love Jesus?

If we are honest, the answer to all these questions is no.
This simply helps us name what we tend to ignore.

Two to One

Ephesians 5:31- "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."

Recently, I converted the blog to use Blogger's new software. In that process, all of the previous posts were attributed to me (Batch).

In truth, many of them are Holly's. Just know that as you read anything prior to 2007 that it may say I wrote it, but it could well belong to Holly.

In a sense, I guess two have become one flesh blog.

Happy Pancake Day

From wikipedia.com

Shrove Tuesday is the term used in the English-speaking countries of the United Kingdom^[1], Ireland^[2], and Australia^[3] to refer to the day after Collop Monday and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday). In these countries, and amongst Anglicans in Canada, this day is also known as Pancake Day, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day.^[4][5][6] In other parts of the world—for example, in historically Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States and elsewhere—this day is called Mardi Gras, and in areas with large Polish-immigrant populations (for example, Chicago and Detroit) it is known as Paczki Day.

Click here for the full explanation. Thanks to Barlow for the heads up.