imprimisFiled under: Bible studies, Homemaking, personal, Just blogging, Links, My simple life, Quotes, Radio Ministries, Standing for Truth, The Holy Scriptures | Tags: Blogging, Books, Everyday, God is the Gospel, Ministry links, My simple life, My world, Others writings
I don’t generally share with you in the blog-o-sphere what I am reading, or hope to read, but there are times when I can’t help sharing what’s on my bookshelf.
A couple of years ago, I purchased John Piper’s fabulous little book 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, but instead of reading the book, I left it to languish in the world of the forgotten. Recently however, I have longed for a deeper understanding of the reasons behind Christ’s death on the cross and how they are applicable to my life.
So, I have written a short review of this book. Enjoy!
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Why Jesus Came to Die : A Review of John Piper’s book Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die
© 2006, Desiring God Foundation
Published by Crossway Books
$6.49 at Desiring God bookstore
Are you seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus? A greater understanding of Christ’s death? Do you want to grow your love for our Saviour? How about a true sense of gratitude for His death?
Recently I have taken the time to read and study through John Piper’s marvelous book 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. An overview of the theological reasons why Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of mankind. As I work my way through this book I am seeing more clearly my sinfulness and His sinlessness. The picture is becoming clearer to me as to the reasons (or as Piper explains so wonderfully, the purposes) behind Christ’s great love for me.
Supported by many scripture references, Dr. Piper draws a dramatic picture of the vast ramifications of Christ’s death. He points it back to the reason why behind the Cross. A predetermined agreement between God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit to conquer death and Satan. A holy agreement.
From the forward of this wonderful book Piper says the following: “When all is said and done, the most crucial question is: Why? Why did Jesus come to die? Not why in the sense of cause, but why in the sense of purpose. What did Christ achieve by His death? Why did He have to suffer so much? What great thing was happening on Calvary for the world?” “… I have gathered fifty reasons why Jesus came to die. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes. Infinitely more important than who killed Jesus is the question: What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending His Son to die?” (p. 17)
As I began to work my way through this dear little book (it is actually rather small, only 122 pages long), my whole frame of reference changed as to the purpose for Christ’s death. This became very apparent in the sixth entry: To Show His Own Love For Us. “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” Or as Piper puts it: “The early witnesses who suffered most for being Christians were captured by this fact: Christ “loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). They took the self-giving act of Christ’s sacrifice very personally. They said, “He loved me. He gave himself for me.” (p. 30) His death was for me, for my sins. Very personal.
“Yet is was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief.” Isa. 53:10
Ultimately, Christ came to die for the sins of mankind, to fulfill the will of the Father, and to bring glory to God.
I am so thankful that I purchased this book, but regretful that I have not read it before now. This is a book that I highly recommend to everyone, so that you will have a clearer idea of the greatest sacrifice… ever!
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7
Filed under: 1, Fun together, Happenings, Homemaking, personal, My dearest family, daily blessings | Tags: My family, Family time, Birthdays, Special occasions, Everyday
Y
esterday was my sister Phoebe’s 14th birthday! Boy how the time has flown since I prayed for a sister to be born.
Phoebe is my best friend, a constant cause of joy and happiness. She and I enjoyed being “best buds” for several years before Jo was old enough to join in. Since I’ve grown older, she and Jo have gotten closer, but we still enjoy doing things together, just the two of us. 
Her names (Phoebe – Greek for “the moon” literally, but we prefer another meaning, “bright and radiant”; and her middle name, Ann a name derived from the Hebrew Anna meaning “grace, graceful, gracious, full of grace”) suit her perfectly. She is always glowing. Being one of the more quiet members of our family, sometimes it is hard to know what she is thinking, but whenever she shares her heart, it is amazing to find the jewels of wisdom hidden beneath that miscevious smile.
Some things I admire in her:
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She loves Jesus with all her heart and strives to serve Him more perfectly each day.
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She is passionate about evangelism; she wants others to know Jesus in a personal way.
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Her smile lights up the whole house! She is always smiling and cheerful in a world full of sullen people.
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She loves a challenge, whether academic, sports related or a challenging recipe, she sets her sails “full into the wind” and is determined to be the conquerer.
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She is a hard, diligent worker.
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She is a lover of the out doors, we enjoy various activities together outside.
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She is very smart, and proves it in an un-boastful way ALL the time!
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She is a loving and obedient daughter and sister.
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Phoebe is my best friend, and Jo’s as well…. I love that fact!
May the Lord continue to bless you Phoebe and give you His perfect strength to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus each day as you strive to serve Him more fully!
I love you Phoebe!!!
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Homemaking, personal, My simple life, My travels, a lovely home, daily blessings, shopping | Tags: My world, Family & Friends, a lovely home, My travels, updates, Babies, Special occasions, Everyday
This morning has been a bustling, “normal” morning. The only thing that is different is that us girls are getting ready to leave for the weekend.
Joel’s car is currently not functioning, which is not really that good of a deal. Although, it does keep the rest of us from running all over creation. 
Hopefully though, he will have it up and running again by early next week once his part comes in from Washington State.
Dad is not feeling 100% due to aninfection he is battling; it is strange because he is rarely sick! I am thinking that maybe next week when Mom goes to the doctor, that he can go and get this checked out. Just keep him in your prayers because he is in some pain and discomfort.
Summer is almost gone – well, not really, but the “no school” part of summer is speeding by very fast! Last night I went into Target® to purchase a gift for my aunt’s baby-shower this weekend, and everything is “back to school” or big sales for the “end of the season/beginning of the season” clothing. Dots® is just down the sidewalk, and since I’d never been in there before I decided I would take a quick peek. Pretty much all they carry is the trendy, bling-bling, gaudy, shiny and flirty clothing that is hugely popular today. I did find a couple of reasonably priced skirts, and they did have some modest and cute tops I might be interested in their Americana section (plaid clothing). I may go back during the tax-free holiday later this month… we’ll see.
I need to clean the house, get all the laundry done and make sure there is food in the fridge before I pack for this weekend’s adventure in Tyler. I am really looking forward to spending time with family from out-of-town and those loved ones we don’t see very often. Mom is excited because she missed Jen’s wedding, and so she gets to come to her baby-shower which is neat! :)
Dad is calling for family worship. I will try to post photos this weekend.
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Just blogging, My travels | Tags: Blogging, Everyday, Family time
As I am writing this, I am in Dallas with my grandparents visiting with them and also my Uncle Jim and Aunt Naomi who are here from Germany. There visits are never long enough, but what time we do have with them is always fun, exhilarating and creative! We have already played a couple of basketball games, talked a good bit and partaken of lunch.
This afternoon we are to run over to Garland for some important paperwork for UJ and who knows what else we might do. I will say this, it is so wonderful to have them here!
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Homemaking, personal, Just blogging, My dearest family, My simple life, My travels, a lovely home, simple things in life | Tags: Blogging, Everyday, Family time, Joys & Blessings, My simple life
The days are long, the evenings brighter longer, the temperature tells us that summer is here, at least for a while longer. Each new day presents itself with a beautiful sun rise and a bursting of rays behind the clouds causing a glorious display of lights in the Eastern sky.
For me, time seems to move ever so quickly. “Wasn’t it just the 4th?” “Didn’t we just celebrate Caleb’s 17, and Joel’s 23rd?” Time marches on, mindless of my one million things to accomplish.
Some interesting things should occur this week. They already have, as a matter of fact. Yesterday it rained all day long and into the wee hours of this morning. A blessing indeed. The cooler weather makes it feel more like late spring instead of the middle of July in Texas. Thursday, we are going to Dallas to meet with a man from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) and discuss having someone from their ministry come to speak at our conference this fall. After that has been accomplished, we are hoping to trek over to Carrolton/Farmers Branch to visit with our loved ones, including our Uncle Jim and Aunt Naomi who’ve just (last night) arrived from Germany, via Georgia. The anticipation mounts with each passing day… oh the longing to be reunited with them after such a lengthy period of absence!
The rest of the week who knows what will happen (only God). That is one thing I love and hate about being a part of this family, we never know what could come up from day to day. Saturday will be my parent’s 28th wedding anniversary and they are planning on going out to a fancy resturant for lunch or dinner. Dad is also giving a devotional at a men’s breakfast that morning, and Caleb will be going out for the day with friends. Me… I will be getting the house cleaned for company on Sunday.
Life moves on, time continues to pass. Surely, “my times are in Your hands.”
Q: Do you like my new theme? I was getting kind of bored at how *blah* it was, if you will.
The grass at the top looks pretty neat I think, but I’m going to have to do something with my CSS, and customize it a little more.
Please leave your thoughts with me, give me tips or just tell me to change back (whatever it is you feel you need to share!)
As always, thank you!!! 
Filed under: Bible studies, Quotes, The Holy Scriptures, daily blessings | Tags: Others writings, Bible studies, American Government, Everyday, Liberty, Devotionals, C.H. Spurgeon, Men of Faith
I have been meaning to post these devotionals ever since my Mom got this wonderful devotional (earlier this month) but I just keep procrastinating.
I know why C.H. Spurgeon was called the “prince of preachers” just in these readings (2 for each day, thus the title) are such nuggets of spiritual gold. I wanted to share todays readings with you, and I hope that you are blessed by them. [I am posting the morning reading.]
Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge, etc.” – 2 Peter 1:5, 6
If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit’s influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, “Give diligence.” Take care that thy faith is of the right kind – that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that He would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, witha consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of doctrine will tend very much to confirm faith. Try to understand God’s Word; let it dwell in thy heart richly.
When thou hast done this, “Add to thy knowledge temperance.” Take heed to thy body: be temperate without. Take heed to thy soul: be temperate within. Get temperance of lip, life, heart, and thought. Add to this, by God’s Holy Spirit, patience; ask Him to give thee that patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come forth as gold. Array yourself with patience that you may not murmur nor be depressed in your afflictions. When that grace is won to godliness. Godliness is something more than religion. Make God’s glory your object in life; live in His sight; dwell close to Him; seek for fellowship with Him; and thou hast “godliness;” and to that add brotherly love. Have a love to all the saints: and add to that a charity, which openeth its arms to all men, and loves their souls. When you are adorned with these jewels, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly virtues, will you come to know by clearest evidence “your calling and election.” “Give diligence,” if you would get assurance, for lukewarmness and doubting very naturally go hand in hand.
Filed under: Current Events, Family & Friends, Fun together, Gardening, Happenings, Homemaking, personal, My dearest family, My simple life, My travels, daily blessings, simple things in life | Tags: Personal, Current Events, My world, Blogging, updates, Books, Family time, Birthdays, Everyday
I haven’t been hiding, really I haven’t. Instead I have been very busy.
Yesterday our whole family went with Mom for her doctors appointment. We kids left Mom and Dad at the office and went to the local library. I enjoyed reading the first three chapters from Adam Smith’s enormous (and enormously important) book The Wealth of Nations it was actually quite easy to understand. Next time we go down there I hope to read even more. An interesting way to do it I know. :)
After Mom was done at the doctors office, we headed to Plano for lunch with some friends. We had picked a local mexican cafe, and it was very enjoyable and delicious. Our new friends are very interesting and we laughed a lot.
Yesterday’s high and for the last 2 weeks or so, has been well over 100 degrees. The high for today is thankfully only 97 due to the fact that we were blessed with an inch of rain! Cheerio!
The garden has really suffered because of the intense heat. So nothing is producing right now. We are however, getting ready to start our fall garden which should be fun. Hopefully that will work out well so that we will have crops later this year.
My grandad had a stress test yesterday afternoon – everything went well insofar as they could tell without results. Please keep him in your prayers, he is not in the best health and we are all concerned about him.
In just 12 days Uncle Jim and Aunt Naomi will arrive here in the states for a time of furlough from Germany. I am SO looking forward to their visit, it has been almost 2 years since we last saw Aunt Naomi. UJ is doing much better from his weakened condition of last fall. His heart and other problems seem to have improved a lot, which is good news.
Joel’s birthday is Sunday – he’ll be 23! Hard to believe. The time just flies by and as it does we get older. We have yet to decide what we’re going to do to celebrate.
On Wednesday we girls helped Grandma clean her house and her car. That was a HOT job, but the car needed it. Hopefully next week we can go down again and help out some more. She has a couple of projects for us. Our cousin Jason got a cat a few weeks ago, it is SO cute and playful. She is still a kitten and likes to play with the strangest things, like plastic spoons which she batted around the kitchen floor. It was quite entertaining to watch.
Our other computer has been down, thus the lack of posts either here or over at the family blog. Hopefully we will have it back up and running soon. The power cord has a short in it, which makes it difficult to do anything. Finally last week it finally just died. A new one costs over $50 so Joel is holding off for the time being.
The rest of the family is doing well. We spend most of our time in the house. Mom is thinking about sewing some bags next week, so we have to get some sort of an assembly line system started. That should be fun. I will keep you posted about that business venture.
Until next time – God Bless!
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Homemaking, personal, My simple life, My travels, a lovely home, patriotism | Tags: Everyday, Family time, Holidays, Learning from life, updates
This is supposed to be a personal blog, but lately all you have been getting is political blogging. For that I apologise. Some days I wish congress and the senate would take a LONG vacation so that I (as an activist) could take a break.
What have I been up to lately? Well, let me start with the weekend and go from there.
Saturday – Phoebe and I went on a walk at 6 on Saturday before it got really hot. After that we had breakfast and waited for our ride to arrive so that we could head to Plano. I assisted at a booth at the Southfork Ranch TEA Party in Wiley/Plano Tx. According to some reports there were between 35-45,000 people in attendance. It was a hot, but very fun day with friends and fellow lovers of liberty. Caleb and Phoebe accompanied me, and we were later joined by Johanna, Jaden, Joel and Andrew.
Sunday – It rained during the night, which cooled things off. What a blessing! I got up later than I had the entire week previous, which was quite nice. We were all getting ready for church, rushing around the house getting things ready for the day. The service at church was good, the sermon great and the invitation even better, because a long-time friend came forward to be baptized! I am SO happy for Nathan, God is answering prayers. Sunday was also the beginning of our church’s VBS (Vacation Bible School). So far we have had a good turnout each night and I just love being around all the little children. 
Our family picture we had taken on Sunday (July 5, 2009).
Monday – We just hung out at the house, enjoying the cooler weather. Nothing really exciting happenend. Actually, I got kind of bored, if that’s even possible. I am trying to finish listening to Augustine’s Confessions since I have to return them to the library on the 10th.
Tuesday – Joel goes in to work later on Tuesday’s so we get to see more of him then. He has been trying to fix a problem he’s been having on his truck for a while now. Actually, last night he went to a friends to see if he could help him fix it, but that didn’t work, so it looks like he’s going to have to buy a couple hundred dollar part. The rest of our family hung out at the house, working and playing. We’ve had a much more relaxed schedule this week than we normally would. We are taking a break from summer school because of VBS. I was so tired yesterday afternoon that I decided to watch Paul Jehle on the Law of Nations and American History. Such interesting information about our nation through the centuries. Things I have never heard before, and Dr. Jehle has such an animated way of explaining things it makes it fun to listen to! Joel and Caleb own Vision Forum’s Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy on DVD and we’ve been watching it over the last few weeks.
We are going to do work around the house today, hopefully get some things in order so that the house looks ok this weekend when we are going to be REALLY busy. It’s going to get hot again by tomorrow. Today’s high is 98, and very humid.
I hope that each of you has a wonderful week and a beautiful rest of the summer.
Filed under: Family & Friends, Fun together, Gardening, Happenings, Homemaking, personal, My dearest family, My simple life, Pictures, a lovely home | Tags: a lovely home, Current Events, daughterhood, Everyday, Family & Friends, My family, Pictures, updates
It seems like the last few weeks have been so very busy, with lots of guests and visits from friends and acquaintances. People drop by, or call and then come over. Unexpected and expected visitors to chat with and enjoy their company.
That is one thing that I admire in my parents. They have always been hospitable, to everyone. We’ve had complete strangers over for meals, to stay with us for a night or just given them a glass of cold water as they were trying to sell us a product. That is the way every Christian home should be, a revolving door of company. It is certainly a high motivation to keep the house clean.
Yesterday was no exception. In the morning Joel, Caleb and I went to the other garden to weed, and pick veggies (the Mom is out of town for a little bit and asked us to do some extra work while she’s away). After the hot work was complete, we came home and ate breakfast. It wasn’t long before the W.’s arrived. Caleb and Nathaniel have been working together to get all of Caleb’s lawnmowers up and running and so they were delivering one of the fixed ones here. It was a wonderful visit, though short. 
Later in the afternoon, we got a call from our friend Neal that he was selling the Jeep (Joel’s old car) to a man and needed to come by to pick up some paperwork. He was here for a couple of hours after the transaction talking with Dad about theology and other things. Mom was out in the front speaking with our neighbor Jana about life and whatnot, while Caleb worked across the street at one of his customer’s making a patio. Phoebe, Jaden, Johanna and I played with Dillon (Jana’s son) in the front.
At dinner, Joel told us that Uncle Greg was going to come over for a few minutes so he could pick up something Joel had purchased on his behalf. So, a few minutes later, he arrived and it was wonderful to see him again! He stayed for 25 minutes and we chatted about everyday things. 
Mom was talking with Aunt Jill (her sister) on the phone, and they are coming over on Friday. I can’t wait to see them!
After Uncle Greg departed, and dinner was done, we kids surprised Dad with a late Father’s Day present. A 2 volume Dictionary of Evangelical Biographies. 
After dinner, I read to Jaden from Kirk Cameron’s autobiography Still Growing. What a fun read! And Jaden was listening and asked if I could read anotherchapter. Too bad it was 10:00. Then at bedtime (a few minutes after reading to Jaden) I read some more from The Princess Adelinato Johanna. We are enjoying reading this wonderful historical narrative together. It is a bit difficult to understand, since it is from 700 A.D. but what a wonderful story it presents! 
Tomorrow is going to be another BUSY day – Some of us will go up to the garden to work in it for a while, Mom has her Dr’s appointment, then we are going to have lunch with the M.’s in Rockwall, and then who knows what else we’ll do for the rest of the day. One never knows at the Kautt house.
