Monday, July 31

My Yukon Garden: July 31



Instead of an overhead photo of the whole garden this week, how about a shot of some of the produce? Once the plants grow large enough to fill the garden up, you won't see much difference in the overhead photo, anyway.

We had coleslaw made from that cabbage for supper last night. We used some of the romaine lettuce and a piece of leftover grilled steak to make steak caesar salad on Saturday night.

The photo on the right is looking back from the far back edge of the garden at ground level toward the house. It'll give you an idea how big the broccoli (at the right of the photo), the cauliflower (left of the photo), and cabbage (front of photo) are. Both the broccoli and cauliflower are starting to head, but they aren't ready for picking yet.

Below is a shot of the back deck, where I have my herb garden in a couple of pots. In the pot on the left you can see tarragon, parsley, dill and sage; but there's marjoram and basil somewhere in there, too. The bench? We found that in a slough on the Mt. Sima road, and I made my husband drag it out and bring it home. I like to think it came from the Slough of Despond. I also like it for it's character, although it's been pretty much relegated to holding pots that are heavy enough to keep it from tipping on it's uneven and teetering legs.


More garden blogging from Violet.

Previous photos of my garden:
  1. June 5
  2. June 12
  3. June 19
  4. June 26
  5. July 3
  6. July 10
  7. July 17
  8. July 24
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Sunday, July 30

Sunday's Hymn: Thanksgiving

Now Thank We All Our God

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;
The one eternal God, Whom earth and Heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

---Martin Rinkart, translated from German by Catherine Winkworth. (Read the story of this hymn at the Cyber HymnalListen.)


Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted this Sunday
Have you posted a hymn this Sunday, and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar, and I'll add your post to the list.

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Saturday, July 29

Time of Trouble

Read about Tim Irvin's last couple of weeks, and then pray for him, okay?
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Overflowing Wilderness

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains,
being girded with might...
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.

(Psalm 65:5-6, 8, 12-13 ESV)

Photo taken in Kluane National Park by oldest son. Click on photo for large view.
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Friday, July 28

Looking Lovely in Lavender

The little Yukon wildflowers in oldest son's photo on the left are commonly called cranesbill or wild geranium. You'd be right if you said they don't look a whole lot like the so-called geraniums you have in the hanging pot on your deck. That's because your bright red potted beauty is not really a member of the geranium family, but rather the pelargonium family, and thus only a cousin to the true geraniums. The family name switcheroo came from a mix-up by botanists in the 1700s, and it's too late now to straighten thing out, so we are doomed to live in a world where the most commonly known geranium is not a geranium at all.

So much for the wild geranium name. The cranesbill name isn't obvious, either, at least not from the look of the blossom. That name comes from the seed head, which resembles, I'm told, the shape of the bill of a crane. You can judge for yourself in the picture below. The seedheads are shown on the bottom.

What do you think? They look like little pirate swords to me, but then I've never seen a crane's bill up close for comparison.

As far as I can tell, any harvesting of this plant is done for herbal medicine purposes only, and then it's used for a lot of problems you'd really prefer not to have. I think I'd rather leave them be and enjoy them for their beauty in their natural setting.

Next up is a dark lavender or blue purple Yukon wildflower that's blooming right now--the mountain larkspur, if you're Canadian, or sierra larkspur, if you're American, or delphinium glaucum, if you want to show off your Latin. And those of you who love Latin might know that the name delphinium comes from the resemblance each flower on the stalk has to a little leaping and swimming purple dolphin.

This particular type of delphinium or larkspur (and there are many types of wild delphinium) is native in western North America from Alaska down through California, and eastward as far as Alberta. It can also be found in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but there it's not indigenous, but an introduced species. And that's a pity, because it does a nasty number on cattle who eat too much of it. Every spring on the prairies, when the larkspur tends to reach grazing height before the surrounding natural grasses, some cattle will be lost due to larkspur poisoning. It's toxic to other animals as well, like horses and sheep, but not nearly so deadly as it is to cattle, and no one understands exactly why that is.

It's because of it's bad effect on grazing cattle that delphinium glaucum has been declared a prohibited noxious weed in both the U.S. and Canada. That means you can't import the seeds, although I'm not sure what the seed import ban accomplishes, since they are native plants in both countries. If you are visiting any cattle grazing country, though, you'll want to check your pockets for stray delphinium seeds before you go, just in case. You wouldn't want to be accidently responsible for any untimely cattle deaths.

So are delphinium good for anything, besides looking tall and stately and deep purple? As you might imagine, that noxious label limits their use as food or medicine. But they do sometimes get to be a pretty blue ink, which sounds rather exciting, when the juice of their flowers is mixed with alum.

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Both photos by oldest son are clickable for larger viewing.

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Thursday, July 27

The Boxing of God

In a former life, I spent a lot of time on theology discussion boards. You don't have to be on discussion boards long before you realize that there are a few standard oft-repeated, but mostly meaningless, rebuttal phrases. The purpose of these particular sorts of rebuttals is to be such shocking accusations that no additional response is needed. I thought it would be interesting to consider a couple of them.

First up is the God in a box rebuttal. The discussion in which this phrase is used usually goes something like this: Someone makes a propositional statement about God that doesn't sit well with someone else, but instead of giving a reason that the statement about God is wrong, the person who disagrees trots out this all-purpose propositional-statement-about-God rebuttal, "You can't put God in a box like that!"

Of course, part of that statement is always right. We can't put God in a box. God is infinite, and our statements and ideas about him will never contain the whole of who he is. He is other, and in a category completely separate from us, and not exactly like anything we know or are able to experience. He is creator--the one who created us and created the box we exist in--and as boxees, we will never succeed at packaging the packager.

Nope, the problem with that rebuttal statement is not so much with the "You can't put God in a box" part, but with the "like that!" part. Sometimes those words are an objection to any definite statement about God, coming from the idea that God is so beyond us, so mysterious, that we can know nothing much truly true about him. Definite statements about God make some people really, really, nervous. They have the idea that since much of who God is is beyond the realm of our comprehension, any statement about him necessarily is false, in the sense that it reduces him to less than he is by attempting to contain an infinite God in a statement (or set of statements) about him.

More often than not, though, the objection isn't that we can know nothing about God, but that the particular statement doesn't jibe with the objector's idea of God. God, as they understand him, isn't "like that!"

Often this objection arises when someone says that God can't do something or must do something. Statements like this are seen as limiting God, and don't we all know that God is completely free? There are no rules or standards that God must conform his actions to, and no limitations on his abilities, so how can it ever be right to say that God can't or God must?

It is, of course, true that God is completely free. He's the only truly free being there is. Unlike any other being, he is entirely free to express himself, and if you think about it, that's what true freedom is, isn't it? It's when we can't "be ourselves" that we feel our freedom is restricted. But God has freedom to be himself in a way that no other being does. Absolutely nothing stands in the way of his self-expression, but it's himself he's expressing, and he isn't anyone-or-anything-at-all, he's someone. He has characteristics, so when he expresses himself, he expresses himself according to his characteristics, and that's not limiting, that's freedom.

And while it is correct to say that the whole of God is incomprehensible to us, there are things about him that we can understand, and there are some understandable things about himself that he's chosen to communicate to us, so it's not correct to think that we can know nothing truly true about him. While we can't box him up, he's given us hooks we can hang our hats on.

One of the most important hooks that God has given us is the hook of his immutability, because that characteristic ensures the constancy of the other characteristics. God's character is unchanging. He is who he is, and who he was, and who he will be, and he isn't going to morph into something or someone else tomorrow, or ever. If he tells us he is truthful, then he is always truthful. His immutability makes his truthfulness an everlasting hook to hang our hats on, too. It's because of this that we are not limiting God when we say he can't lie. We are not saying that there is a set of rules (including "don't lie!") outside of himself that he must always live up to, even though he feels like lying. Nope, we are affirming his perfect ability to be who he is, forever, freely; and to speak and act in accordance with who he is and what he wants, forever, freely.

Sometimes the God in the box objection comes in slightly different form, but it all boils down to the same idea. For example, in the first comment on this post at Jollyblogger, an objection is made to the idea of penal substitutionary atonement. The idea of a penal substitutionary atonement, says the commentor,
suggests that once the Father has made a law, that He is unable to subsequently be merciful until that law if fulfilled. That makes God's law more powerful than God.
If I understand the commenter correctly, her objection is to the idea that sin must always be given its just deserts, as if the just deserts for sin comes from a rule God set up outside of himself, and if he always has to go by his own rule, God is limited. This is really just another form of the God in a box objection--that any must or can't statements pertaining to God are limits to God's freedom. In this particular case, it isn't that God made a rule that he must always make sure sin receives what it deserves, but rather, that God exists as a God who is characteristically just. Expressing himself fully and freely means that he always gives justice to sin, and if he didn't he wouldn't be who he is. Therefore, he cannot simply pass over sin out of mercy for sinners, but his mercy must be given in a way that is also just.

Of course, there are things for which the objection of boxing God might rightly be made. Whatever limits we speak of in regards to what God can do, if they are not limits that arise directly from the specific characteristics he's revealed and explained to us through his word, then, in a sense, we are trying to put God in a box. If I were to tell you that God was confined to one place at one time, that'd be making God out to be less than he has revealed himself to be, and boxing him in that way. I still don't think that "You can't put God in a box like that!" is nearly as good a response as giving evidence that God has revealed himself to be a both a transcendent and immanent God.

Next up, the oft repeated rebuttal, "You're making God the author of sin!"

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Wednesday, July 26

A Book on a Short List

I have a very short list of books that I'd put in the must-read category for every believer. Right now, I can think of only two, the first being Knowing God by J. I. Packer, which I'm pretty sure you're already familiar with. The second? It's less well-known, but no less important. It's The Atonement: It's Meaning and Significance by Leon Morris. I've recommended it on this blog before, and quoted from it, too. Today seemed like a good day to recommend it again.

Of course, there are many excellent books out there, many important books; but what sets The Atonement and Knowing God apart from all those other worthwhile books is that I can recommend them to you (and by that I mean you) and know that no matter who you are, you'll learn something valuable from them (After all, what's more important than knowing your God and understanding what Christ did for you?), and at the same time, you won't find it difficult to make your way through them. They aren't pablum--you'll need your big kid underpants on--but you won't need to know the original languages, or keep a theological dictionary (or even a regular dictionary) nearby to use as you read. And they're short enough for those of you who do a page count first and automatically turn down anything over 250 pages. Yep, they represent the best of all worlds: dense, but not difficult, and they don't drone on.

Leon Morris, of course, is more well-known for his scholarly tome The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. You wouldn't be far wrong to consider The Atonement to be Joe Everyman's and Jane Everywoman's version of the The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross. I know that not all of you will be able to pick up a copy at the Salvation Army Thrift Store for 50 cents like I did, but you could order it today from Monergism Books for only $14.99, or you could get it on Amazon, too. You won't be sorry, I promise.

So why am I telling you this today? Because I learned this morning from Justin Taylor that Leon Morris passed away on Monday at the age of 92, and I can't think of a better way to mark this faithful servant's passing than to recommend one of his books to you. And by that, I mean you!

Update: You can read the obituary for Leon Morris from Anglican Media Melbourne here.

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Tuesday, July 25

Round the Sphere Again

Christian Carnival
  • Last week's Christian Carnival is up at the Evangelical Ecologist.
  • Today is the deadline for entries to this week's Christian Carnival. Entries are due tonight (July 25) at midnight ESTPST. Submit your entry to ChristianCarnival [ATT] gmail [DOTT] com. Include
    • The name of your blog
    • The URL of your blog
    • The title of your post
    • The URL of your post
    • A short description of the post
    • The trackback link if you have one
    Then look for your entry in tomorrow's (July 26) carnival at Faith at Work Blog. You'll find more complete information on the Christian Carnival here.
Parenting
Church History

Theology

Language

Reading
Current Events (sort of)

Awards
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Monday, July 24

My Yukon Garden: July 24


I know you've been waiting with bated (or is it baited?) breath for to see this week's progress in the garden. If you'd asked me before I compared photos, I'd have said nothing much changed this past week, but it looks like the garden's grown quite a bit since the last photo was taken, doesn't it?

The cabbages have heads, still smallish, but I'll probably pick one sometime this week. Cabbage grown in the cool Yukon air is unbelievably sweet, so I can't wait for my first taste of this year's homegrown coleslaw.

The cauliflower plants have little button heads, not nice sized ones like Sierra's cauliflower. But once they start heading, it usually doesn't take long before they're ready to pick, so we'll probably be eating cauliflower soon, too. There's nothing much to report yet on the broccoli front.

I staked the peas with rows of twine. It looks messy, but it works. Next year, remind me to buy my pea netting early, okay?

Right below the peas, on the very right edge of the photo, two-thirds of the way down, you can just make out a few branches of the the raspberry plants in the container on the lower right side of the garden. They are the most amazing thing in the garden right now, and I really should post a photo of them up close. I've never seen them so covered with berries before. None are ripe yet, but we'll be picking them soon.

More blog gardening:

Previous photos of my garden:
  1. June 5
  2. June 12
  3. June 19
  4. June 26
  5. July 3
  6. July 10
  7. July 17
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How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul,[1] being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her,[2] yet without sin.[3]
  1. John 1:14
    And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    Matt. 26:38
    Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

  2. Luke 1:27, 31, 35, 42
    ....to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.

    And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

    And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

    ...and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

    Gal. 4:4
    But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law...

  3. Heb. 4:15
    For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

    Heb. 7:26
    For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Question 37, Westminster Larger Catechism.

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Sunday, July 23

Sunday's Hymn: Jesus Christ

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever living Head.

He lives to bless me with His love,
He lives to plead for me above.
He lives my hungry soul to feed,
He lives to help in time of need.

He lives triumphant from the grave,
He lives eternally to save,
He lives all glorious in the sky,
He lives exalted there on high.

He lives to grant me rich supply,
He lives to guide me with His eye,
He lives to comfort me when faint,
He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears,
He lives to wipe away my tears
He lives to calm my troubled heart,
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives, my kind, wise, heavenly Friend,
He lives and loves me to the end;
He lives, and while He lives, I’ll sing;
He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

He lives and grants me daily breath;
He lives, and I shall conquer death:
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives, all glory to His Name!
He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
I know that my Redeemer lives!

---Samuel Medley (Listen to organist Beth Palmer of Grace Lutheran Church, Hibbing MN.)

Other hymn, songs, etc, posted this Sunday:
Have you posted a hymn or worship song this Sunday? Let me know in the comments and I'll add your post to the list, too.

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Saturday, July 22

Stopping on Yellow

Here are two of the yellow coloured wildflowers you might see if you visited the Yukon right now. On the left is one little yellow arnica flower. As you can probably tell from the picture, it's closely related to sunflowers and asters. Yes, it's another member of the largest family of flowering plants--the composite family. This particular variety of arnica grows throughout the western mountains of North America, from the Yukon down through northern Mexico.

A web search for information on this wildflower quickly tells me that it is best known for it's use in herbal medicine. It's one of those "external use only" plants, rubbed on the skin in hopes of soothing all manner of owies--scrapes, bruises, sprains, muscle pain, chapped lips, irritated nostrils, acne, burns, sores, and eczema. And apparently, (Move over, Rogaine!) applied to the scalp, it will make your hair grow. It has the potential, it seems, to be one of those cures that is worse than the disease, so you may want to think twice before using it, especially up your irritated nostrils. It should come with a little warning sticker that says, "May produce severe inflammation."

On the right is another yellow wildflower. I know it doesn't look yellow in the photo--and the photo, by the way, is what it looks like right now--but it was yellow just a little while ago. It looked like this, and that's why it's called the yellow dryas. I don't know what you think, but I like them better as a little hairy fruit than in yellow flower form.

Dressed in their light lavender silky robes and golden crowns, their surname dryas seems quite appropriate. Dryas, as you know if you're up on Greek mythology, was the son of King Lycurgus, and thus a right royal myth prince. Unfortunately for young Dryas, his father went just a tad loony one day and mistook his own son for a patch of ivy and killed him. So in this young prince's memory, someone named these little whippersnappers dryas, because, I suppose, it would be next to impossible to mistake them for ivy. Unless you were loony.

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Both photos by oldest son are clickable for larger viewing.

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Friday, July 21

Line O' Linens


Of all domestic tasks, hanging the laundry is the one that brings me the most satisfaction. It's the pure physicality of the job, I think, along with it's irresistable attraction to the senses. First there's the lugging of the basket of wet laundry up the steps and out the door. Then there they are when hung: Clean and bright, like coloured flags in the wind, all in order, sheets with sheets, big towels, then smaller ones, and finally the wash cloths. And no perfumed fabric softener can compare with the smell of laundry freshly dried in the pristine Yukon air.

My home is on an old Canadian Air Force base, and each house once had a grey painted wooden stoop to reach the clotheslines-on-pulleys that ran from the front of the house to a big iron T-post at the edge of the street. There are a few of us who still use our front-door-to-street clotheslines, but more and more they are disappearing, strung instead in the backyard, or maybe disappearing altogether as the electric clothes dryer permanently takes their place, and children grow up never smelling fresh air dried clothing.

Yes, this is a recycled post. Old, but slightly revised text; new photo. What can I say? I love line-drying the laundry.

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Thursday, July 20

Who is the Mediator of the covenant of grace?

The only Mediator of the covenant of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ,[1] who, being the eternal Son of God, of one substance and equal with the Father,[2] in the fulness of time became man,[3] and so was and continues to be God and man, in two entire distinct natures, and one person, forever.[4]
  1. I Tim. 2:5
    For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus...

  2. John 1:1, 14
    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    John 10:30
    I and the Father are one.

    Phil. 2:6
    ...who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped...

  3. Gal. 4:4
    But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law...
  4. Luke 1:35
    And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. "

    Rom. 9:5
    To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

    Col. 2:9
    For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily...

    Heb. 7:24-25
    ....but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Question 36, Westminster Larger Catechism.

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Wednesday, July 19

Hot Pink

We are now well into the fireweed period of the Yukon wildflower season. In many places, fireweed is seen as more nuisance than asset, and there is good reason for that. It grows throughout the northern hemisphere, and there is nothing that can compete with its ability to take over when other species are wiped out, like when there's a forest fire, for instance. So its common name is a well-earned one, since it spreads after a fire exactly like a weed.

But its mauve beauty makes it too lovely for the weed label, don't you think? Here in the Yukon, we treasure the fireweed, giving it the honor of being the official territorial flower. If you were to drive up the Alaska Highway during July, you couldn't help notice an abundance of these tall pinkish flowers growing along the sides of the highway.

In the photo above, snapped by oldest son in Kluane National Park this past weekend (click for larger viewing), only the blossoms along the bottom of the stalk are blooming. The blooms on fireweed start at the bottom and move upward toward the top as the summer progresses. Yukoners say that when the blossoms reach the top of the fireweed, summer is over, and that's a fairly accurate statement.

I've been told that honey made mostly from the nector of fireweed is especially delicious, but I've never tried it, so I can't vouch for that. Some people pick the very young shoots and leaves of the fireweed to use as salad greens or a cooked vegetable. I haven't tried that, either. I have tried fireweed tea, which is made from the dried leaves, and I found it rather bitter.

I think I'll skip the harvesting and continue to enjoy them for their simple pink beauty.

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Tuesday, July 18

Perfect in Every Way

The lovely Missmelliflous has a question. It's about question 1 and the answer to question 1 on the quiz from last week on the humanity of Jesus.
I have a question about Number 1, cause I don't think I get it:

If Jesus was did not experience sinful desires, how was he tempted in every way (yet without sin) as Hebrews 4:15 tells us?

Can temptation really be temptation if you do not experience sinful desires?
Where does the temptation lie?

What then does it mean that Jesus was tempted in every way, like us, yet is without sin?
First of all, let me clarify that when I used the term sinful desires, I was defining that term as desires that are in and of themselves sinful. Jesus certainly had desires that arose from being human, but his human desires were never in themselves sinful. Some human desires that are not sinful would be the desire to eat when we are hungry, the desire to get rest when we are tired, and the desire to avoid physical pain. In the category of sinful desires I'd put lust, coveteousness, or greed, for instance.

Those desires in the last category--the sinful ones--seem to include right within them a purpose that's wrong. Someone who's coveteous, for example, doesn't just want an ox to make his work easier, he wants to own his neighbor's ox. Sinful desires have an evil intent at the heart of them, and are at their core wickedly self-indulgent, and they often have hurting others as an additional part of their purpose. They are the sorts of things James talks about when he says that people are tempted when they are lured and enticed by their own desires (James 1:14), or where Paul says we all were, at one time, busy fulfilling the passions of the flesh and of the mind (Ephesians 2), and were by nature objects of God's wrath. Our very character or nature, which all by itself was deserving of the wrath of God, produced passions that were wicked ones, and we were willingly fulfilling them.

We know Jesus didn't have those sorts of desires, because, for one thing, if he had sinful desires, he would have been an object of God's wrath as well, and we can't have that, can we? The only way he can stand in our place and bear the wrath of God that was our due is if he himself is blameless, and thus due no wrath of his own. So the two places in Hebrews where it says Christ was like us, except for sin, I would take except for sin to include not only sinful acts, but a sin nature and sinful desires as well.

The point of the statement in Hebrews about Christ being tempted in every way like we are, I think, is not that Christ experienced temptations that arose from sinful desires, but that he had the sorts of human needs that call out for satisfaction--needs that are not in themselves wrong, but that can be satisfied in ways that are wrong. Therefore, he understands the kind of suffering that results when we fight against temptations arising from all sorts of human frailty, and the difficulties we endure when we don't give into them. Jesus was hungry in the wilderness, and he certainly desired to eat, but he did not want to eat in disobedience to the Father's will for him, and that resulted in him suffering prolonged hunger. As a human being, he desired to avoid physical pain and death, but not if that meant going against the will of the Father, so he had to endure the pain and suffering of death on the cross. He withstood temptations because his overriding desire was to do his Father's will, and as a result of this ever-perfect obedience despite various sorts of temptations, he understands how much we suffer when we resist temptation, and how difficult it can be to continually put obedience to the Father ahead of fulfilling our own desires.
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Monday, July 17

My Yukon Garden: July 17




(Click for larger photo.)

What's up this week in the garden? You can see I've started another compost pile right down the middle in the spot leftover when I ran out of seed potatoes three plants too soon. Everything's a little bigger. The carrots (4th, 5th and 6th rows from the bottom) look smaller, but that's because I finally got around to weeding them. Without the chickweed, they look like less, but they're really more.

The radishes (bottom row, right half) are all gone but for a few wormy leftovers. We ate the last of them in our salad yesterday. There is lots of lettuce (three varieties) and spinach for salad greens, so we're eating lots of salad. Today I even gave a bag of greens away to a friend.

I need to pick the rhubarb. Last week I made a batch of strawberry rhubarb jam, and I'm planning to make another batch with this week's rhubarb.

Tomorrow I hope to stake the peas (vertical row, far right). I can't find pea netting anywhere, so I'll be improvising. Next week you can see what my improvised system looks like. I do have a plan, and it probably won't be pretty.

Other recent gardening related posts:

And a completely gratuitous photo of the lilies.



Previous weekly garden photos:
  1. June 5
  2. June 12
  3. June 19
  4. June 26
  5. July 3
  6. July 10
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Refrigerator Poetry

While doing my regular Saturday garage saling, I came across a little plastic container of Magnetic Poetry. Of course I had to buy it. Right now it's only been used by my kids, who haven't progressed beyond the sort of bathroom humour that a four year old would find hilarious. One of these days I'll compose a fridge poem and post it.

Meanwhile, here is a list of fridge poems posted lately. If I missed yours, let me know and I'll add it.
  1. Not Broken at Regaining Paradise
  2. She is a at The Great Separation
  3. Television and untitled at Hireath
  4. We Were Dreaming and untitled at Shook Foil
  5. Silent Moment at The Upward Call
  6. Life As We Know It at Reflections of the Times
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Sunday, July 16

Sunday's Hymn: Jesus Christ

All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name

All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.

Let highborn seraphs tune the lyre, and as they tune it, fall
Before His face Who tunes their choir, and crown Him Lord of all.
Before His face Who tunes their choir, and crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye morning stars of light, Who fixed this floating ball;
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might, and crown Him Lord of all.
Now hail the strength of Israel’s might, and crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God, who from His altar call;
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s Rod, and crown Him Lord of all.
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s Rod, and crown Him Lord of all.

Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all.
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Lord of all.

Hail Him, ye heirs of David’s line, Whom David Lord did call,
The God incarnate, Man divine, and crown Him Lord of all,
The God incarnate, Man divine, and crown Him Lord of all.

Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget the wormwood and the gall,
Go spread your trophies at His feet, and crown Him Lord of all.
Go spread your trophies at His feet, and crown Him Lord of all.

Let every tribe and every tongue before Him prostrate fall
And shout in universal song the crownèd Lord of all.
And shout in universal song the crownèd Lord of all.

O that, with yonder sacred throng, we at His feet may fall,
Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all,
Join in the everlasting song, and crown Him Lord of all!
---Edward Perronet (Last verse added later John Rippon.) Listen: Coronation; Diadem.


Other hymn, songs, etc, posted this Sunday:
Have you posted a hymn or worship song this Sunday? Let me know in the comments and I'll add your post to the list, too.

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Saturday, July 15

Did You Know?

Some things I've learned recently:
  • Some mugs and cups are righthanded. They have the biggest and best design where it would be facing toward you if you drink righthanded, and only a smaller piece of the design (or none at all) on the backside--the side that faces toward you if you drink lefthanded. Since I'm lefthanded, you'd think I'd have noticed this a long time ago, wouldn't you?

  • If you flush a kleenex with self-tanner on it down the toilet, the water in the toilet will be orangey brown for at least 15 flushes.

  • This August you'll be able to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. I must thank Tim of The Irvins for bringing this to my attention. Bene D points out in the comments that this story is a hoax that's been circulating in email for a long time. So I learned less than I thought!

  • Wasp larvae look just like the photo above. And they pulsate.

  • July in the Yukon is a good time for painting, gardening, hiking, destroying wasps nests, reading and refrigerator poetry, but not a good time for serious blogging.
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Friday, July 14

Answers to Quiz On Jesus As A Human Being

You'll find the quiz itself here. There are a few weaknesses in the quiz as it is written, so it may be possible that you have answers different than mine because you misunderstood the questions.

Question 1
1. In his humanity, Jesus was just like us except that
a. his humanity didn't limit him in any way.
b. his blood was divine blood, which gave it special power to save.
c. he did not have a sin nature with sinful desires.
d. all of the above.
e. a and c above.
The correct answer is c. Hebrews 2 tells us that Jesus was like us in every way except sin. As the second Adam, he was a human being in the same condition Adam was before the fall.

Looking at the question now, I can see that answer a might have been confusing, because even as Jesus was walking the earth as a human being, he was upholding the world, so in respect to him as the whole of who he was--the God/man--he was not limited. But in respect to his humanity, he had limitations or human weaknesses. He grew tired and hungry, just to name two of the most obvious limitations. Luke tells us that he grew in wisdom--he learned things in the same way the rest of us do--so in respect to his humanity, there were limits to what he knew. I'll have more to say on this specific point in the answer to the next question.

On further consideration of the wording of this question, I'm thinking it might have been better to say "With respect to his humanity" or "With respect to his human nature" instead of "In his humanity." Would that have helped? Do you have a better suggestion?

In the comments on the quiz, Brandon points out a weakness in answer b. It
could be read in two different ways, depending on whether 'divine blood' means 'blood belonging to the One who is divine' or 'blood that partakes of the divine nature', e.g., by a mixture of natures or something like that.
I was trying to make things clearer with the addition of "which gave it special power to save". This particular wrong answer is in response to a specific doctrine I come across now and then, which is the teaching that Christ's blood as a material substance had divine properties*, and that's why it could save. I'll have more on this, too, in the answer to the next question. I should have worded this one differently, perhaps using wording similar to what Brandon used, like "his blood partook of the divine nature, which gave it special power to save."

Question 2
2. Jesus's human nature is
a. mixed with his divine nature.
b. distinct from his divine nature.
c. separate from his divine nature.
d. none of the above.
e. b and c above.
The correct answer is b. This question is straight up from the Definition of Chalcedon (or the Chalcedon Creed), which states that Christ is both human and divine,
in two natures without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without contrasting them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the "properties" of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one "person" and in one reality.
In other words, the human nature and divine nature of Jesus are distinct without being mixed or separate.

This helps explain a little more how answers a and b in Question 1 are wrong. The properties of each nature--divine and human--are conserved, so with respect to his humanity, Jesus had human limitations, yet with respect to his divinity, he was not limited; and his blood, as part of his human body, was just regular old human blood. It's special power to save come not from anything unique about the substance of the blood, but because Christ, as the perfectly obedient human being, represented sinners in his death.

By the way, it's on the side of Christ's humanity rather than his diety that conservative evangelical Christians are most likely to run into error. We have docetic and monophysitic tendencies in that we are much more likely to think of his humanity as a kind of "diefied humanity" than we are to think of his divinity as a humanized divinity. This is, however, a heresy that was dealt with a long time ago, but that still keeps popping up in subtle forms from time to time. This is most likely a result of wanting make sure we protect Christ's full divinity, which is a noble aim; however, his full humanity is just as important to protect as his full divinity. We'll see the extent to which Christ's full humanity is necessary to Christianity in Question 5.

Question 3
In his humanity, Jesus was
a. in one location at a time.
b. able to experience suffering and death.
c. learning things as he grew and experienced.
d. all of the above.
e. b and c above.
The correct answer is d. These are all limitations that came from being fully human. As a human being, Jesus is in one place at one time. He was not in Jerusalem and also in Nazareth at the same time. In his divinity, of course, he is omnipresent. As a human being, he was capable of suffering and dying, too, as history tells us. We are also told that he grew in wisdom and learned obedience, so he learned things as he grew and experienced.

Question 4
In his humanity, Jesus had
a. a human will.
b. a human mind.
c. human emotions.
d. all of the above.
e. none of the above.
The correct answer is d. If Christ was like us in every way, as one of us, he had all of these elements of humanity. He had a human will that had human (albeit not sinful) desires. He wanted food when he was hungry, for instance, and rest when he grew weary. He also had a human mind that, as already mentioned, learned as he grew. He had human emotions, too, so that, for example, he was troubled and sorrowful before his crucifixion. It is because he had all of these things that the author of Hebrews can tell us that Jesus was in every respect tempted like we are (Hebrews 4:15). It is the completeness of his humanity that makes his perfect obedience throughout his life so remarkable.

Question 5
That Jesus was fully human means that
a. his obedience can be counted as our obedience.
b. he can be a mediator between humanity and God.
c. he could be a propitiatory sacrifice for human beings.
d. all of the above.
e. b and c above.
The correct answer is d. Romans 5 tells us that as a human being, Christ's obedience was parallel to Adam's disobedience. Through Adam's disobedience, many were made sinners, while through Christ's obedience, many are made righteous. His humanity was also necessary for Christ to be the one mediator between God and humanity. He can represent us to God because he is one of us (Hebrew 4:14-16 and 1 Timothy 2:5). It was also necessary for Christ to be one of us in order to be the sacrifice for us. Hebrews 2:17 tells us that
he had to be made like [us] in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (ESV)
If doctrines like the humanity of Jesus seem like so much impractical pie in the sky to you, the answers to this last question ought to bring it right down to the practical level. The whole of your salvation hinges on Jesus being fully human. No one could be saved without Christ being human in exactly the same way we are human. How can we not be awe-struck by what Christ gave up for our sakes?

Moreover, the confidence with which we can ask for help from God in the various difficulties that arise in our lives comes because Christ our High Priest understands by way of his fully human experience what we are going through. And we know that none of our temptations are impossible to withstand, since Christ withstood them as a human being just like us. He felt the entire force of each temptation, because he endured them to the end, and yet he was victorious. Knowing this should give us strength to hold fast, with God's help, when we are tempted to give up and give in to temptation.

*For more on this "divine blood" teaching see these posts:Technorati Tags: , ,
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Wednesday, July 12

Refrigerator Poetry at Shook Foil

Candyinsierras is collecting refrigerator poetry. That picture of the fridge covered with word magnets wasn't mine, by the way, so I had to go The Fridge to make my poem. Here's mine, such as it is.

[Update: I'll add a list of those who have participated later.]
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Quiz: Jesus As A Human Being

Time for another fun quiz, this one on what it means that the Son of God became a human being. Choose the best answer from the choices given. I'll post the answers and the reasoning behind them on Friday. Answers are here.

1. In his humanity, Jesus was just like us except that
a. his humanity didn't limit him in any way.
b. his blood was divine blood, which gave it special power to save.
c. he did not have a sin nature with sinful desires.
d. all of the above.
e. a and c above.

2. Jesus's human nature is
a. mixed with his divine nature.
b. distinct from his divine nature.
c. separate from his divine nature.
d. none of the above.
e. b and c above.

3. In his humanity, Jesus was
a. in one location at a time.
b. able to experience suffering and death.
c. learning things as he grew and experienced.
d. all of the above.
e. b and c above.

4. In his humanity, Jesus had
a. a human will.
b. a human mind.
c. human emotions.
d. all of the above.
e. none of the above.

5. That Jesus was fully human means that
a. his obedience can be counted as our obedience.
b. he can be a mediator between humanity and God.
c. he could be a propitiatory sacrifice for human beings.
d. all of the above.
e. b and c above.

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Tuesday, July 11

A Little Word Play II

More fun and games for word-nerds.
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Monday, July 10

My Yukon Garden: July 10

Now's when you really start to see the growth from week to week in the garden. (Click for the big picture.) Last week Monday it looked like this. Quite the change, eh? We've had lots of rain, so the weeds have grown at the same rate as the vegies, requiring that I spend a lot of time weeding over the past week.

I've also received a few emails commenting on the garden and asking questions about Yukon gardening, so I thought I'd answer them in this post.

What is the growing season like up there? When do you plant and when do you get the last harvest in?

Planting is usually done around the last week of May and the first week of June. The exact time of planting changes a little from year to year, depending on what kind of spring it is, and how quickly the frost goes out of the ground, and what your location is. The last things to harvest are the root vegetables--the potatoes, carrots, and beets, etc. I aim to have all those in by the first of October. I harvest the brussel sprouts from early to middle October. And if there's any lettuce left, sometimes you can brush off the snow and harvest it in October, as long as the temperature hasn't dropped too low.

I read what you have growing in your garden and I did not see any kind of beans listed. Do any kinds of beans like pinto beans or soybeans grow there?

For growing outdoors, we have to content ourselves with cool weather/frost resistant plants, which rules beans out. Our average last spring frost date is June 11, and our average first fall frost date is August 25, but it is possible for us to have frost any time during the summer, even in the middle of July. Someone who has a greenhouse can grow beans there. When I had a greenhouse I grew pole beans, because they take up less space.

Does corn grow there?

It's the same for corn as for beans. I used to have a neighbour who grew some stalks of corn in her greenhouse, but to be honest, I don't see the point. Corn takes up an awful lot of space to grow a few ears.

Of all the food plants you have grown, which ones seem to do best?

Carrots. The carrots are always good, and the mountain air seems to make them particularly crisp, tender and sweet. Other plants that are fairly reliable are any greens, potatoes, and broccoli.
Previous weekly garden photos:
  1. June 5
  2. June 12
  3. June 19
  4. June 26
  5. July 3
Also check out Violet's flowers.

You can find the frost dates across Canada here.
Do you have questions related to gardening in the Yukon? Ask away, and I'll try to answer them in the weekly garden photo post.

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The First Time Ever I Heard the Label

One of the blessings I'm most thankful for is that for most of my life, I've had solid Bible teaching. When I was growing up, I was almost always under the teaching of my own father--in church three times a week, often in Sunday School, too, and around the kitchen table.

My father is an exegete and expositor. That's the way he preaches and teaches and discusses. He's not a polemicist, although he does have opinions on controversial matters, but he doesn't approach things polemically, which means that while I grew up grounded in the truths of scripture, I was also mostly ignorant of the various theological disputes.

That's not a bad way to be. Having been so grounded in what scripture said, and having developed a sort of system over time to put all the teaching I absorbed into a unified whole (even though I wouldn't have been able to label that system), I could usually smell lousy teaching a mile away, because somewhere, in some little corner of my system, it didn't fit.

This is all to explain why, at aged 22, and married with one baby, I'd never really paid much attention to the label Calvinist. Perhaps I'd heard it--I wasn't living under a barrel, you know--but if I had, I'd chosen to ignore it, probably figuring that it had very little to do with me. So there I was, an ignorant young missus, walking with my husband and wee daughter back from an evening service at a Bible conference at the little Christian college to my parent's home right off campus. My younger sister and some of her friends, who were students at the college, were walking along with us.

When we got to my parent's driveway, my sister stopped to say goodbye to her friends. "Did you know," said one of them, "that your dad is a Calvinist?" That last word was said in the kind of tone that let everyone know it was not a good thing to be a Calvinist. The label was used as an insult, so I've never forgotten that incident. You don't forget when you hear someone in your family attacked, even in an off-handed way.

That young man? He went on to become a professor and author--an author of books like this one.

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Sunday, July 9

Sunday's Hymn: Jesus Christ

This week I'm posting a hymn we sang in this morning's church service, one of many hymns of Fanny Crosby. It reminds us that our blessed assurance comes from resting in the perfect work of Christ.
Blessed Assurance

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
Here's a little of the background story of this hymn from sermonaudio.com's Online Hymnal:
One day Miss Crosby was in the home of her friend Mrs Joseph F. Knapp. In the Knapp home was installed what was believed to be the largest pipe organ ever placed in a private dwelling. However, on this particular day Mrs Knapp called her guest over to the piano to listen to a new melody she had just composed. After playing the tune a few times she asked, 'What do you think the tune says?'

"Blessed assurance Jesus is mine", answered Fanny Crosby, and then, drawing from her vast storehouse of Scripture knowledge, continued with

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

In a very short time a new sacred song was born with words by Fanny Crosby and music by Mrs J. F. Knapp.
Listen and vote for your favorite rendition of Blessed Assurance:


Other hymn, songs, etc, posted this Sunday:
Have you posted a hymn or worship song this Sunday? Let me know in the comments and I'll add your post to the list, too. (Update: Thanks to those of you who are new participants in the Sunday Hymn round-up. I love to see the list growing week by week!)

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Saturday, July 8

Yet More Yukon Gardening

Here's a closer look at vegies than you can get in the weekly picture of the whole garden. On the left you can see a few of my sixty-three potato plants. My neighbor's potatoes are twice that size, but I've got him beat on the brassicas--the broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprout plants in the center of the picture. As you can see, there are bare spots in the brassicas. Up until the unfortunate hoeing accident yesterday, all the dead brassicas could be blamed on the dog.

On the right is a row of peas. They're getting big enough that they need me to get out there and put up the pea netting for them to climb up. Running horizontally across the bottom of the photo is a row of chickweed and onions. No, the chickweed is not supposed to be there, but I keep hoping if I ignore it, it'll go away.

What have we eaten out of the garden? Lots of rhurbarb, lots of radishes, a little spinach, a little romaine lettuce, and a few green onions.

In other Yukon gardening news: Sierra has photos of some of her garden and greenhouse vegies. Look at her tumbler tomatoes! The girl's got gorgeous flowers, too.

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