day no. 15,776: the annual Van Voorst family poem for 2021

New Year's Eve Poem, 2021

by Penelope Page Van Voorst

--------------------------------------

Another year has come and gone, and memories have collected

In camera cards, in regular cards, and in other things selected,

And though the COVID’s “spreading”, and vaxs might be mandated, 

Our family’s still liturgical, and God’s not to be outdated.

Dad wrote lots of blog posts that totally rocked, so wonderfully written,

And with his words in “postmillitent” many Democrats were bitten.

He grew a beard and cut his hair, and tickled Juni silly,

And nothing’s changed much in his faith: he’s still a postmilly.

Mom cooked a lot, and cooked a lot, and cooked and cooked and cooked,

And Mom’s library account is overwhelmed with books and books and books. 

Mom got pregnant, and had a home birth, which took a lot of grit,

And when things didn’t go so well, Mom learned to roll with it.

Atticus got some clay, and made some little soldiers,

His feet and hands are growing huge, and so are his nice, broad shoulders.

His peach fuzz is turning into a nice mustache, and he’s pretty proud of it,

And he re-built his pickup truck like five times, and was a little upset about it.

My bible reading’s not shortened: still two chapters every night,

And I have started having a more filling routine at night.

I still love to cook, read, and type, and I have just found out a way

To make cute hats and even a swaddle out of new crochet!

Finneas turned it to eleven, and when it’s crazy he’ll be there,

And he and Rocco joined in parties………in their underwear.

His love for yucky, in its greatness, well, it never ceases,

And as for loving lizards, well that love just increases.

Laurelai laughed and laughed and laughed, and laughed and laughed and giggled,

And if you even touch her, she’ll screech and say you tickled.

She still loves unicorns, and pegasi are still in port,

And as for growth and sprouting, well, she’s still so short.

Rocco’s Finneas’s “cronie” and joins in all his fights,

But when girls are put in danger, he jumps in to defend their rights.

His “pieacorn” has ceased, so sad, but now he’s got something new:

A way to be jumped on when he’s not in a fight, and then he’ll tackle you.

Callista’s temper has not lessened: rather it’s grown

And she could tear down a castle……..all on her own.

She and Juniper have made a kind of “girl gang”

And she’s the kind of pretty that makes boys say “hot dang!”

Juniper’s found her voice, but she’s not completely naughty,

And this year she found out how to go in the potty!

She loves her baby sister, and is thrilled to know her.

She chews her pillow and tells you no, and cries when you “no” her.

Ophelia was born at the end of the year, and was the first

Van Voorst to  be born at home, in a Home Birth!

We’re all excited to have her here, have her here to know

And we all wonder what she’ll be like, once she starts to grow.

2021 may not be so great, but at least it brought some good

And next year we’ll continue the enemy and our great feud. 

So let’s raise our glasses, and all give a cheer

For 2021 and a wondrous new year!

New Year’s Eve Poem

Van Voorst Family Year in Review

December 31, 2021

…

So, the year of our Lord, twenty twenty-one

is now in our presence becoming our pasts

and time flies, as they say, when you’re havin’ fun.

so let’s take a look back and review while it lasts

A false start was a sign of things yet to come

when the 6th was a miss some said was a hit

and then Joe was sworn in surrounded by none

and the polar vortex sent chills for a twist

But fear not lest you fret I did not forget

COVID kept up its rep as it crept online

from delta to lambda to mu you can bet

valiant variants arrived right on time

But enough about that, let’s turn to our clan

for we fill up our days with our fill of news

and doing my best I’ll try hard as I can

to remember the best of all we’ve been through

First some traditions invented this year:

Couchechism, Dad Time, and mealtime bells ringin’

dinner dance songs and the “Taki Time!” cheer,

Lauds, Sext, and Vespers and also Psalm singing

We read some new books and also some comics:

The Apple and the Arrow and both Bigfoot Bills

The Wingfeather Saga, Cardboard, and Ghostopolis

Story Club read the ups, the downs, and the thrills

And the places we went… that was money well spent

with trips to the Rally and then back for vacation

and onto Moscow and then Mt. Juliet

we had fun in our van exploring our nation

Speaking of the Kraken, we’re on number two

the first went down swingin’ protecting the flock

to Davey Jone’s locker she sunk down into

but her son-of-a-nut Kraken has taken her spot

We met Chocolate Knox and Toby and Gabe

we met Douglas Wilson and TenNapel too

We met Voddie Baucham the very same day

we made lots of friends, we hope to see soon!

Some things haven’t changed and get better with time

like our popcorn parties, re:treats! and burritos,

our coffees and cashes, our Amish trip drives,

our Friday Night Pizza and ice cream desertos

And then just for a treat, mom thought it’d be neat

if she bought a board game for the kids, here’s a CLUE

it took place in the living room under the seat

but with so many murders, they killed it… who knew?

But what of the members who make up the merry?

what have they done and what fun have they had?

let’s turn our attentions and make our inquiries

and remember the best and the blessed and the bad

When Todd caught COVID he lost some of his senses

but ten days later, he again could smell his toots

he continued with his blog and writing run on sentences

built up Postmillitant and wore out brand new boots

Paige, meanwhile, got pregnant, not a shocked face in sight

got into a bad accident and battled the backyard

woke up by eggs and bacon, and by popcorn slept at night

caught COVID and gave birth at home, both good but hard

Atticus finally built a truck using pallets for wood

fashioned weapons from the scraps, set aside the ol’ black hat

carolina reaped some wings and said the hot was good!

turned thirteen, drew many things, and got tall, not fat

Penelope took on more cooking and began to crochet

held a few more women’s events and wrote a few more songs

took on doing lil’ kids’ baths and read her Bible everyday

grew more and more in many ways into a future mom

Finneas finally got new glasses and a cap made of coonskin,

took to wearing fingerless gloves and finding bugs and slugs

sharpened his cartoonist skills and wrote, “Brains, it’s the end!”

grew strong and broad and loud and lean and gave some violent hugs

If you’re looking for Laurelai, I’d start with table or toilet

she’s usually parked at either one thinking over things

sometimes wearing pink headphones pretending she’s a starlet

always giving the best air hugs or learning how to sing

Rocco cannot bust his beans, his head is made of steel

he loves to climb and jump and play and be with his big brothers

if you can’t stop them, rest assured, Rocco will

he’s a good man who gives his best for others

Callista is a firecracker, super really not-so-spicy

least that’s what I’ve heard her say, I advise you not to cross her

loves her chew-box and her beauty shops, but her rates are pricey

makes ya cry, then says, “poor guy,” still she’s an awesome daughter

Hide your M&Ms and any beverages you got

‘cuz here comes Juni and she’s gotta plan

from iced coffee to your water to your fizzy soda pop

“Just Do It” is her motto, so drink it while you can

Ophelia is the sweetest, she’s our little sweetie Belle

she’s also the brand newest, born just sixteen days ago!

what she’ll be like or what she’ll do, time will only tell

but she’ll be loved no matter what by nine who love her so

You are all my favorite people, the best in the entire earth

I’d pick you each and every time without a single doubt

there’s nothing here that can compare to your breathtaking worth

I choose you each and every day and will ‘til time runs out

At this time next year, in a brand new December

We’ll say, “Thanks!” for a past which is now yet to come

We’ll have more things to praise and new things to remember 

We’ll say grace over feasts, which have yet to be thrown

So here’s to the year and to many more like it

To be a Van Voorst is, of course, a delight

So lift up your cups and your spirits just like it

And raise up your glass as you rise to the fight

And raise up your hearts as we raise up a toast

To the memories, the bliss, and the blessings of God

to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost

For the grace and the faith all the more to applaud

So tonight we say, “Cheers!” just as we’ve done before

We say “Thank You” for all that’s already been done

To our great God and Savior and His only Son

We say our “Amen’s” and look forward to more.

day no. 15,775: reading rainbows

“The entire person of Jesus is but as one gem, and his life is all along but one impression of the seal. He is altogether complete; not only in his several parts, but as a gracious all-glorious whole. His character is not a mass of fair colours mixed confusedly, nor a heap of precious stones laid carelessly one upon another... As all the colours blend into one resplendent rainbow, so all the glories of heaven and earth meet in thee, and unite so wondrously, that there is none like thee in all things.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

The beauty of the rainbow is the unity in the diversity, the distinct colors standing side by side without blending or being confused with each other. This is exactly opposite of how it is currently being used as a symbol of those who would have everything brown. God is a unified whole, distinctions married by covenant, not blurred together by blending.

day no. 15,774: we are that heel

Sometimes someone just says something so well that it requires no comment. Such was one of those times on Saturday, June 20, 2020.

"Our worship services are a weekly celebration of that great coronation that happened two thousand years ago. And coronation celebrations always spell trouble for all pretenders to the throne. This is what Adonijah discovered to his dismay. His coronation party was quite overshadowed.

'And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating . . . And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom . . . And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.' 1 Kings 1:39–49 (KJV)

One celebration ruined the other celebration.

God established the antithesis at the very beginning of human history (Gen. 3:15). There is therefore a constant state of war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The Lord Jesus crushed the serpent’s head in His crucifixion and resurrection, but by His grace He permits us to participate in that struggle (Rom. 16:20). He crushes the adversary badly, bruising him under His heel. But remember, as His body, we are that heel.

'And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.' Eph. 1:22 (KJV)

But there is more. Jesus promised us that in this conflict, the gates of Hades would never prevail against us (Matt. 16:18). But please note that the gates of Hades are not an offensive weapon. We are not besieged by the gates of Hades. We are the besiegers. We are not manning our tiny little Alamo, fighting desperately until we finally go under. It is the other way around.

Every faithful sermon that declares Christ as Savior and Lord is a proclamation, but not just to the gathered believers. The message is also for unbelievers, as well as all the principalities and powers. Every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which we do every seven days, we proclaim the vicarious death that conquers the whole world (1 Cor. 11:26). And every time we open our mouths and our psalters to sing, we want to do so in a way so that Adonijah can hear it." -- Douglas Wilson, What Worship Accomplishes

day no. 15,773: knowing your left hand from your right

“'It'll be all right, my fine fellow,' said the Otter. 'I'm coming along with you, and I know every path blindfold; and if there's a head that needs to be punched, you can confidently rely upon me to punch it.'” ― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

A man needs to be the kind of person who is willing to punch the heads that need punching and the kind of person who can tell the difference. Too often the head punchers don't use or have discernment and the those with discernment don't have the mettle to melee. 

We need more men, like Phinehas, who have the chutzpah to act in severity when it is clear (Numbers 25:7-13) and the caution to ask questions when it's not (Joshua 22:13-32). In other words, we need more men who punch the right heads and refrain from punching the wrong ones.

day no. 15,772: grab, get, give, gone

Matthew 16:25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

The world operates under the assumption that those who grab are those who get and that those who give are those who lose - to get something, you must grab it and to give something up is to have lost something. 

But the Word operates under a different principle: those who grab lose what they have and those who give gain what they lose. Those who demand respect can't gain it and those who endure disrespect gain it. Those who try to save themselves guarantee their defeat and those who wave the white flag before God are more than victorious through Christ who loves them.

"Authority flows to those who take responsibility. Authority flees from those who don't." -- Douglas Wilson

day no. 15,771: feel the weight

This is a repost of my friend, Josiah Blansett's post found HERE.

Put on your boots, your blouse, your trousers. 

Drape your flak across your shoulders and fasten it across your stomach. Feel the plates press against your chest and back, feel the security provided by the weight. 

Dawn your Kevlar. Withstand the pull your neck now experiences while executing mundane tasks like bending over. 

Now that you are bent over, clasps your hands on your main pack. Flip it onto your shoulders and cinch it down over the straps of your flak. 

Sling your Rifle across your shoulders.

Feel the weight of it all bearing down your traps. 

Now Walk. A simple task, now made infinitely more challenging by what lies on your shoulders. Your arms may go numb as the straps restrict circulation past your shoulders. Your feet will begin to ache and blister as they sweat. But continue to walk. The more you walk under the weight the stronger you will become, the more comfortable you feel under adversity, and the further you will be able to go. 

Every ounce of water, every piece of food, shelter, ammunition, that is added to the pack adds to the burden on your back. However; each item will also sustain you when you reach the objective. What may seem like a burden will sustain your life. The more weight you carry of essential gear, the longer you will be able to take the fight to the enemy. 

Take a man who has never carried weight and give him the full load and he will crumble. Build him up a little at a time and he will flourish. Give him the necessary burden of responsibility and it will sustain his life. Let him walk with nothing, and when he reaches the objective he will be sleeping in the elements, scrounging for food and water, and upon taking fire will have no means to defend himself. 

Weight is good. Revel in its burden, and revel in the sustainment it surely will provide. But pack carefully, for some burdens do not sustain. 

Galatians 6:5 "For each will have to bear his own load."

Lamentations 3:27 "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth."

day no. 15,770: sold for profit, told for prophet

“Cultures are built by men with families to feed.” — Douglas Wilson, 2020 Vision/The Year Many Christians Begin to See Clearly

The Creator made men creative. When this ingenuity is employed for the purposes of providing for those over whom the Creator has made the man responsible, it results in full bellies, warm hearts, excellence in achievement, and artistry in endeavor.

Cultures are carried along by stories and songs. Songs and stories then are not merely sold for profit, but told by prophets. They capture what was, what is, and the promise of what could be. 

The more a man desires to tend to his household, the better the stories and songs will resonate with those under his roof and other households outside his own; and as a result, community and culture flourish.

day no. 15,769: holi and happi

Psalm 37:4

Delight thyself also in the Lord.

“The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than 'holiness' and 'delight.' But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them... We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight." -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

If the modern evangelical knows anything, he knows that God is more concerned with our holiness than our happiness. This, in one sense, is true. Holiness is a higher priority than happiness, however, they are not mutually exclusive. In other words, it is not as though God has made the world in such a way as to force us to choose between being holy or being happy.  If you aim at holiness, you get happiness. In fact, you get it to the brim, pressed down and flowing over. If you aim at happiness, you will not get any holiness and whatever happiness you do get won't be much and it won't last long.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." -- John Piper, Desiring God

day no. 15,768: assailing by the five C's

"The Structure of Our Worship: Consider first the broad outline of our worship service. We find five basic elements here. Take a look at your bulletin as we consider this. Notice that the first and last elements are the Call to Worship and the Commissioning. These are the book-ends of our service. The church is the called out gathering. The word for church (ekklesia) means “called out.” So at the start of the service, we call you out of the world and into the church, and at the end of the service we send you out again. You are sent out with a blessing and a task.

So the first invites us in from the world to assemble before the Lord to worship Him. The last sends us out into the world in order to function as ambassadors of Christ and of His gospel. If we have learned rightly, when we are being sent out into the world, we are letting the clutch out. Worship is the engine, but we have to let the clutch out.

Then there are the central three elements of our worship.

Confession of Sin—we wipe our feet at the door. We wash our hands for dinner.
Consecration—we offer ourselves up to God as living sacrifices.
Communion—we sit down for table fellowship with our God.

Our name for the worship that deliberately and self-consciously follows this basic pattern is covenant renewal worship. This is not because the covenant was going to expire, like a lease. That is not why renew it. It is an everlasting covenant. But it is also organic and alive, and needs to be nourished and fed." -- Douglas Wilson, The Structure of Our Worship

day no. 15,767: the army of the resurrected

Colossians 2:4-7
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving

"In verse 4, Paul warns against the seductive power of a certain kind of religious approach, the kind that always fails to approach Christ. Even though Paul was not present with the Colossians (v. 5), he was with them in spirit. He rejoiced as he beheld their order (the word is taxis), and the rock-solid nature of their faith in Jesus Christ. This word taxis is a military term, and should be understood as a kind of regimentation. But note that this order was both disciplined and alive. It was not an orderly row of gravestones, but rather it was the order of a military troop, arms at the ready.

Worship is Warfare: the order (taxis) we are cultivating here is not the order of porcelain figurines in a china hutch, neatly arranged on a shelf. The order we are pursuing is alive and disciplined, the order of a well-trained military unit. And why? Because every Lord’s Day we go into battle. But as God’s people we fight on earth from the high ground of heaven."
-- Douglas Wilson, The Structure of Our Worship

1 Corinthians 14:33
God is not a God of disorder but of peace

The Church is the original order of the phoenix. We are the army of the resurrected marching with military precision and divine vitality for God's glory, our neighbor's good and the coming of His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  

day no. 15,766: natural and unreasonable

"A train of thought loses all rational credentials as soon as it can be shown to be wholly the result of non-rational causes. When Nature, so to speak, attempts to do things to rational thoughts she only succeeds in killing them. That is the peculiar state of affairs at the frontier. Nature can only raid Reason to kill; but Reason can invade Nature to take prisoners and even to colonise. Every object you see before you at this moment—the walls, ceiling, and furniture, the book, your own washed hands and cut fingernails, bears witness to the colonisation of Nature by Reason: for none of this matter would have been in these states if Nature had had her way." -- C.S. Lewis, Miracles

If you are trying to think through something with a headache, nature may murder reason and leave you to do your mental work without its assistance while nature is raping and pillaging your physiology. In other words, nature can riot and raid reason, but it cannot domesticate it because nature is unreasonable. Reason, however, can cultivate and colonize nature. It can make nature better than it was. It can make fruitful things more fruitful than they were and beautiful things more beautiful than they were. Nature can produce no reason to resist Reason. Reason has every reason to resist Nature.

day no. 15,765: emergency contact

"I do not think Dualism is true. There is an enormous difficulty in conceiving two things which simply co-exist and have no other relation. If this difficulty sometimes escapes our notice, that is because we are the victims of picture-thinking. We really imagine them side by side in some kind of space. But of course if they were both in a common space, or a common time, or in any kind of common medium whatever, they would both be parts of a system." — C.S. Lewis, Miracles

When we consider the proposition that good and evil are eternally at odds with each other as a possible solution to the problem of the presence of evil, we introduce a different problem into the mix which Lewis here points out: we imagine God and the devil at opposite sides of a room aimed at each other as in a stand-off, occupying the same circle, but separate and distinct and opposed to each other. But notice in this scenario, they both occupy the same room, the same circle, the same world. So, Lewis points out the presuppositions which require explanation: where'd the room come from? Whose circle is it? Who made the world that contains these two eternal opponents? Who pays the rent for the space? Whose name is on the deed? Whose the emergency contact should it catch on fire? Who referees the fight? Who has the authority to call fouls? If there is a ring in which they battle, even assuming they have opposite and distinct corners, where did the ring come from and who controls and patrols its boundaries? If good and evil are against each other on stage, they are both contained to its dimensions, which means there is someone or something above them both. If there is eternal good and evil, the question is then, "good" and "evil" by whose standard? To what principles do the opponents attempt to justify themselves and impugn the other? All that to say, who is authoritative and who is derivative? Who is defined by whom? Who is whose opposite?

There could only be an eternal good and evil if there was Someone above them both to draw up the line of scrimmage and determine the end zones. Someone must toss the coin. Someone must create the coin and determine its two sides and declare one "heads" and the other "tails" and create the law of non-contradiction that to be heads is not the same as to be tails.

Isaiah 5:20-21
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;
that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes,
and prudent in their own sight!

The idea that good and evil are different sides of the same coin is one that ascended from hell. It is from below and as such below standard. In other words, dualism is demonic.

day no. 15,764: overlooked

This morning (6/12/20), I began reading through Leviticus. When most people think of Leviticus, they think of heavy-handed, meticulous insignificance. They think that because it is repetitious, meticulous, heavy-handed and refers writ large to a sacrificial system no longer practiced by Jews to whom the texts were originally concerned nor perpetuated by Christians for whom the types and shadows of the ceremonial law have been fulfilled in Jesus.

So, when I think about Leviticus, I am struck by that; but when I actually read Leviticus, I am always reminded and struck by how hopeful it all is. For as much as it involves blood and sacrifice, it is always for the sake of forgiveness and reconciliation with God eagerly receiving soiled sinners back into His good graces and declared sanitized saints.

Leviticus reminds us of TWO important realities:
(1) God pays much closer attention to details than we'd like to imagine; and
(2) God offers much more forgiveness and grace than we ever dreamed possible

As you plod through the details of Leviticus, it should give you the shivers to think about the degree to which God is involved in the details. He holds even the atoms together. At the most minute, detailed levels, He is there. That means He is interested in the details and minutia of what constitutes our life. In one sense, this may be a great comfort knowing that there is nothing that is important to us that is overlooked by God. But that also means that many things we discount or shirk as unimportant, He sees and cares about. That means our sin problem is much, much WORSE than we even know. That is to say, there are sins we miss that He doesn't.

But the fear and anxiety produced by considering that, should immediately be mediated by the breadth and depth of His provision in grace. He covers more sins than we thought. He covers things we missed and He covers them deeper than we thought they went. 19 times in Leviticus, He calls the sacrifices of repentance "sweet." He enjoys the sight and smell of repentance and gladly receives them not merely as obligatory, but as celebratory.

In reading Leviticus, you CANNOT miss the attention to detail, but DO NOT miss the fact that all of it is aimed at forgiveness and cleansing.

day no. 15,763: too much

My friend, Linda Cox, sent me this quote from her morning devotionals this morning (6/12/20)

"If you’re following the Lord at a distance, you will have too much of the Lord to be happy in the world, and too much of the world to be happy in the Lord." -- Greg Laurie

This reminds me of the man in the iron cage at the Interpreter's House in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. 

Once you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, you can never fully enjoy what used to pass for fine wine; but neither can you fully enjoy the flavor of the Father with your mouth full of gravel. When you deliberately keep Christ at a distance, you cannot enjoy the adventure of the path or the company of the One who makes it worthwhile.

Hebrews 6:4-6
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 

"The happiest state of a Christian is the holiest state. As there is the most heat nearest to the sun, so there is the most happiness nearest to Christ. No Christian enjoys comfort when his eyes are fixed on vanity--he finds no satisfaction unless his soul is quickened in the ways of God. The world may win happiness elsewhere, but he cannot... Christians must seek their delights in a higher sphere than the insipid frivolities or sinful enjoyments of the world. Vain pursuits are dangerous to renewed souls... No Christian is safe when his soul is slothful, and his God is far from him. Every Christian is always safe as to the great matter of his standing in Christ, but he is not safe as regards his experience in holiness, and communion with Jesus in this life. Satan does not often attack a Christian who is living near to God. It is when the Christian departs from his God, becomes spiritually starved, and endeavours to feed on vanities, that the devil discovers his vantage hour. He may sometimes stand foot to foot with the child of God who is active in his Master's service, but the battle is generally short: he who slips as he goes down into the Valley of Humiliation, every time he takes a false step invites Apollyon to assail him. O for grace to walk humbly with our God!" -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

day no. 15,762: celsius 37

In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, a conservative world order, afraid of socialistic ideas, outlaws books written containing these values and employs firemen, whose occupation is to set these books ablaze. This is the common trope: conservatism looks to squash the voices of communism by abandoning its first principles and unilaterally applying its regulations. 

What has happened, what always happens, in actuality, is quite the opposite. Conservatism despises liberalism, but allows it to exist. It defends its right to exist by sending its strongest young men to fight wars in order to protect their right to exist. In a world where conservatism is King, liberalism is permitted to dwell in the kingdom. 

Yet burning books and violations of free speech are still characterized as a conservative effort to sniff out liberalism. But these tropes, mind you, are always written in books by liberal authors, printed by liberal publishing houses, and sold in liberal bookstores. If the burden of being liberal is bearing up under such oppression, it is not hard to imagine where the charge of "snowflake" originates. I mean, who could operate under such conditions? 

The reality is that principled conservatism has always reserved room for liberals, they wrote it into their founding documents. When given the chance to begin from scratch, they felt compelled to include their right to exist in essence and in print. 

But liberalism does not return the favor. When liberalism is crowned, conservatism is outlawed. That is because liberalism is not rooted or anchored in principles of free speech, tolerance, the equity of all peoples under the law, etc.. and they demonstrate this by policing social media and determining which sources are permitted to speak on which subjects. They systematically shut down and shame all alternate sources or vantage points. They refuse to tolerate any back talk.

We live in a world where England uses the metric system. English measurements are no longer used in England. There are no inches in London, only centimeters and that, in essence, is the work of socialism in a microcosm: a people finagled out of their own history by the pressure of the spirit of the age.

When the burning and banning of books comes, it will not be lit by the matches of conservative distaste and distemper, but rather at the point of the socialistic spear. When books and blogs are taken down and destroyed, it will be done by red-handed blue-heartedness. Under the first principles, all peoples thrived. Under the governance of socialistic syncretism, the first principles will be shouted down at gun point and their writings burned to bits in the name of "diversity training."

So according to the liberal fiction, it may take 451 degrees Fahrenheit to properly burn their books, but in actuality it only requires 37 degrees of Celsius.

day no. 15,761: that's what he said

Jonah 4:1-2
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to offer them mercy and forgiveness in the name of the Lord, Jonah was distressed. He didn't like the fact that the wicked could get off with a warning. But he also reasoned, if they, being absolutely horrid can go about their horrible business and be forgiven on a whim, then why can't I go about my wicked business of doing whatever I want and expect the same mercy in the end? Yet, he knew this logic wasn't completely solid, yet the importunity of it perplexed and frustrated him. He reasoned, what good is it knowing God if you can't do what you want and are obligated to do things you don't want to do when those who are living their best lives now get to do so and still be forgiven for having done so? It sounds like the ignorance of the Lord is a better deal than the knowledge of Him. On having imagined thus, he headed out away from Nineveh to test his theory. What he found in walking away from the Lord was terror and turmoil. You cannot know the Lord and enjoy walking away from Him anymore than those in ignorance of Him can experience salvation for their ignorance if they are not warned.

The episode of Jonah highlights a common theme: should we sin the more that grace may abound? If we are saved by grace, why not do what we want? And aren't the ignorant having more fun? They get to live it up with a clean conscience and then still be saved since God extends grace to whomever He desires.

Yet, Jonah received discipline when he walked away, not freedom. And the people of Nineveh didn't see grace as a license to sin, but as requiring repentance in dust and ashes in order to secure. Those of Nineveh did not prefer ignorance once knowledge arrived and knowledge can find no solace attempting to ignore what it already knows. Salvation belongs to the Lord and to know Him is eternal life.

day no. 15,760 continued... Ophelia's hymn

For each child, my wife and I select a hymn which becomes theirs. We sing a respective stanza of each of their hymns with them at night before bed and often on their birthdays. For the incomparable Ophelia Belle, we went classic and selected John Newton's timeless "Amazing Grace." The stanza has not been decided yet, but will likely either the first or second, with the second leading the likelihood race at the moment.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;

’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

His Word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God, who called me here below,

Will be forever mine.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Than when we’d first begun.

day no. 15,760: God helps those who've hurt themselves

Hosea 13:9
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

We cannot bring ourselves to complete destruction. We did not create ourselves and we do not possess the authority or capacity to unmake ourselves. Even in our self-loathing, we cannot erase ourselves entirely. In God's mercy, He does not allow us that jurisdiction so that even when we have done our level best to level ourselves, He is able to help us pick up our pieces.

God helps those who've hurt themselves. 

day no. 15,759 continued... introducing Ophelia Belle

12/15/2021 - 12:10 pm

Paige gave birth to Ophelia Belle Van Voorst

8 lbs. 8 oz, 21 1/2"

happy... healthy.

Our 8th child and 5th daughter is Ophelia Belle which means "helpful beauty," or "beautiful helper."

Ophelia

Ophelia is derived from a Greek word meaning, "help, aid, succour, especially in war" according to Strong's #5622 (ὠφέλεια, ἡ, ōphéleia, o-fel'-i-ah).

Your mom is named Paige, which means "servant, assistant, helper." Her name is a take on her mother's maiden name, Page. Your big sister, Penelope's middle name is Page.  You are named after your mother's family line, your mom in particular and your big sister. May you grow up to be beautiful and helpful in the eyes of God and man, just like them.

The name "helper" is also fitting in that God made women to be helpers. It is who they are and what they are when they are glorifying their God.

Genesis 2:18

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 

Woman, however, was not made merely to help Man with his loneliness. She wasn't merely a companion, though she certainly was not less than that. She was a co-laborer. Man had been given the high and noble task of dominating the world. God showed man the pattern by planting a garden called Eden and said, "Now go and do this to all of that," with "all of that" being every other square inch of planet earth. God gave man dominion and commanded him to take it. But man was not capable of accomplishing this goal on his own. He needed help. He needed more hands on deck. What he needed was a woman. And that is what God made for him. This woman was not only an extra set of hands, she was a different set of hands. She was made for hard work just like him, but different work. And to top it all off, she wasn't merely another worker, but she possessed inside herself an ability to house and grow more workers. She had a garden inside of her that could bring forth fruit. Just as man had been made from the ground and woman from man, so woman was given a ground from which all future generations of men and women would spring. She was a helper indeed. No wonder Adam's first reaction was the Hebrew akin to "Whoa! What a woman!"

Before woman there was work. After her creation, there was still work, but now there was poetry. The first recorded words of the first man in the history of the world were inspired by a woman and they were beautiful. She drew that out of him. The grace of God is hard work and hymnody working together in harmony. Callouses build things and caress makes them habitable. Man didn't just need more hands. Another man would have sufficed for that. Man needed a set of hands unlike his own. The woman not only multiplied the number of hands hard at work, but magnified the work by being a different kind of hands. Feminine strength cultivates beauty, nurtures life, makes a home, and makes babies. It is good and godly work that no man could do.

Ophelia in Greek means help, especially in war. Reinforcements are always a breath of fresh air. War is inescapable and everyone has their part to play. While women are prohibited from being outfitted as foot soldiers (Dt 22:5), it doesn't mean they are exempt from the war effort. Everyone is called to contribute to the war effort. The domestic theater of the war nourishes warriors and provides them with a strong desire to defend it. Beauty is dangerous. Better to face a mama bear robbed of her cubs than a man defending a home he loves.

Song of Solomon 6:10

Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,

fair as the moon, clear as the sun,

and terrible as an army with banners?

Beauty is dangerous. It is like an opposing army decked out with waving banners. It strikes fear in to heart of those gazing at the army-clad horizon. Women are like that. They are strong and influential. They move men. They are gifted with powerful persuasiveness. Eve had a great deal of sway in the Garden. She convinced Adam to go against his better judgment. She was deceived, he wasn't. He went into sin eyes wide-opened because of his desire to give in to Eve. 

Beauty wins. That is why it is so important that it accompany truth and goodness. 

Belle

Belle means "beautiful" in French. In our time, one hardly hears the name without immediately thinking of Beauty and the Beast where the female protagonist is named Belle. She is the beautiful youngest daughter and her beauty wins over her beastly captor and the spell that bound him. Beauty, in the end, wins. It reforms the deformed and reverses the curse.

In Latin, the word bellum means "war." This is fitting since beauty is warfare. It fiercely opposes the ugly and conquers it. Beauty is not burning the house down, but in remodeling it. It doesn't draw beauty out of something, but infuses beauty into it. As Doug TenNapel points out in his Nnewts trilogy, beauty is a weapon. It unmakes the ugly. Beauty overcomes.

....

Ophelia, my prayer is that you would be a beautiful woman of God, inside and out, just like your mom. May you make the world more beautiful and may your beauty destroy many of the works of darkness that surround us. May you help mankind take dominion of God's earth in the name of Jesus: for His sake and for our good. May you make men better by being what only you can be. May you make mankind in every sense of the word: bearing them, raising them, educating then, shaping them, and nourishing them. 

Genesis 24:60

And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, "Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."

May you be the mother of millions and may they be nourished and raised under your care to join the good fight and be good at fighting it to the extent that the gates of hell prevail not against them. Amen.

God bless you baby girl.

I can't wait to get to know you.

Love,

Daddy

day no. 15,759: the divorce of breath and body

Malachi 2:16
"For I hate divorce," says the LORD

In the beginning, soul and flesh were wed together when God officiated the marriage of dust and breath. Man was a marriage.

When Adam choose sin by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, fruit which God forbid and forewarned by saying, "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Gen 2:17), he experienced a divorce. His soul and his flesh, the dust and the breath would no longer liver happily ever after in marital bliss. Sin is separation.

As a result of the Fall, every man and woman is now born in the midst of a divorce hearing. From the moment of our conception until the day we sign the final papers, we are living as children of divorce. Our bodies and our breath are at odds and their separation is already in process, the paperwork has been filed, the proceedings are under way, and all that's left is the negotiation of terms, times, conditions, and custody. 

The struggle for the salvation of our souls is a custody battle characterized as being between flesh and spirit. Yet, God's design is ultimately for reconciliation. God's plan is for covenant to be kept and body and breath to be reunited and fixed in marital fidelity. 

God hates divorce so much that He murdered it on the cross and excommunicated it to the grave when His Son was resurrected from the womb of His tomb - body and breath reunited, back together again, and better than ever.

day no. 15,758: without a bullet being fired

"You can vote your way into socialism, but you will have to shoot your way out." 
-- Douglas Wilson

A vote for socialism is a vote for doing away with voting. It is a move to use freedom to put freedom into checkmate. It is an exercise of will that puts an end to free will. As such, it is satanic. Just as Satan's maneuver was to trick Adam and Eve into using their freedom to enslave them, so socialism employs the same tactic. It is as old as sin. It is the root of the original deception. 

“There is a thought that stops thought. That is the only thought that ought to be stopped.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Jesus has set us free from the effects of our misguided affections. We lusted after what we already had and lost what we loved in the process. May God grant us wisdom and faith to embrace a foundation of freedom fueled by a refusal to be reeled in by the wiles of the devil.

God's grace provides us with a world where we can wander into bondage without a bullet being fired. But once we're enslaved, the only way out is by blood. Jesus shed His blood to set us free. He died to give us life.

Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Let us not trample His blood underfoot by submitting our free necks to the yoke of socialized slavery.

day no. 15,757: walk in faith, rise to His warhorn

1 Chronicles 5:22
There fell down many slain, because the war was of God.

"Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure... The Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for he is the sword and the shield of his people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that 'the war was of God.'"  -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

We must neither misplace our weapons nor place our faith in them.

We must neither neglect them nor obsess in our cares for them.

We must fight the good fight which must mean fighting His battles. We must not devote any of our armory to other altercations. We must fight entrusting the victory to Him since it is His to win, but we must pick up our weapons in faith.

We do not entrust the battle to the Lord by refusing to fight or merely musing on fighting.

We entrust the battle to the Lord by actually brandishing our weapons and marching boots on the ground in faith to the front lines where and when His trumpet blasts. 

May we walk in faith as we rise to His warhorn.

day no. 15,756: duty, neglect, and grace; justice, mercy and injustice

Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything

Three elements to consider: 
(1) Value: Good or Bad
(2) Responsibility: Owed or Not Owed
(3) Application: Given or Not Given

These three factors produce eight unique circumstances:

Good owed and given, which is DUTY.

Good owed and not given, which is NEGLECT.
Good not owed and given, which is GRACE.
Good not owed and not given, which is PRIORITY.

Bad owed and given, which is JUSTICE.
Bad owed and not given, which is MERCY.
Bad not owed and given, which is INJUSTICE.
Bad not owed and not given, which is PREROGATIVE.

We must fulfill our duties. There is good that we owe others which we must dedicate ourselves to give.

We must repent of our neglect. If there is good that we owe, it is our responsibility to obtain the power and position to give it.

We should look for opportunities to give grace. There are always more good things we could look to be doing just because.

We should not feel guilty about not taking advantage of every opportunity for good. We must prioritize who is owed what and give what we have until we run out. This will mean having some opportunities which we cannot get to.

We must be interested in justice. Sin must be repented of if any are to be forgiven and saved instead of forsaken and damned. The one committing evil must be confronted in order to come to a change of mind where he agrees with the charges against him.

We must look for opportunities to show mercy as we have received mercy. We must not be so exacting as to leave no misdeed unpunished inasmuch as God has not left us without mercy. Our inability to pay everything owed has not kept Him from providing everything we need. We show mercy when we absorb some of the comeuppance we were entitled to dish out.

We must not be agents of injustice by inflicting bad on those who do not deserve it or giving bad in disproportion to what is owed.

We should exercise our prerogative and patience not looking for opportunities to give bad or to create or imagine debts where there are not any.

No matter what, God will be glorified. Either in His justice or in His mercy, He will be glorified and He will share that glory with no other. May the glory of God be our good. May it serve Him best that we serve Him most. May it manifest the most glory for Him to manifest Himself in mercy to us. God save us and sanctify us, set us aside by Your divine design, consecrate us for Your kingdom. May Your glory be our good. Amen.

day no. 15,755: to be at peace with sin is to be in league with it

Genesis 3:15

I will put enmity

between thee

and the woman, 

and between thy seed

and her Seed;

It shall bruise

thy head,

and thou shalt bruise

His heel.

The doctrine of the antithesis is alive and well, just as God intended it. He placed it between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Eve till Kingdom come. Enmity in inescapable. You are at war with something. To be at peace with sin is to be in league with it.

Join the fight from the other side. Surrender to the Seed of Eve, the Son of God, the Serpent Slayer and fight sin within and without by the power of His Spirit, in His Name, and for the glory of His Father.

day no. 15,754: a prayer for the peacemakers to prevail

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, Franklin D. Roosevelt offered up this prayer,

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. 

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. 

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. 

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. 

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. 

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas -- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice. 

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. 

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. 

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be. 

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. 

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. 

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen."

day no. 15,753: taking responsibility for the privileges given

“O let us prove our gratitude by our devotion, and live as those who, having claimed a privilege, are willing to take the responsibility connected with it.” — Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Christians are a privileged people.

No shame in our game.

Blessings are a gift of God. They are nothing to be ashamed or repented of. We should want to be blessed by God. He wants to bless. He doesn't begrudgingly give. God is the original cheerful Giver. He leads out in that by example. Our response should be gratitude. We should be grateful for all He has given us and all He gives to others.

Romans 12:15

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

God commands us to rejoice when others are blessed and weep with those who have lost blessings. Envy turns this on its head and rejoices when others lose their blessings and weeps when others receive more blessing.

The envious should be ashamed of themselves, not the blessed. The blessed have nothing to apologize for or feel bad about. If they followed the advice of the envious, they would disobey God who commands us to say, "Thank You!" for all the good He gives. If the blessed repent of being blessed, they do not honor their God, nor do they appease the demands of the envious. 

Privilege is grace in operation. Who has anything which they did not receive? Life, breath, and everything else? So if we have all received it, how could we boast in it? Or imagine we have it as a reward?

Do not balk at blessings because the world has taught you to flinch at the sound of "privilege." Privilege is good. The reason some use it as a slander is because they want the privileges of others. By their envy, they confess that privilege is good. They think it's bad that they don't have it. But enough about what others say about blessings, back to what God says.

Some imagine that they have received eyes as a reward for being so good at seeing. Others imagine that they are being rewarded with feet for having walked so far. Don't take credit for hitting a triple for having been born on third.

To be blessed is not merely to have received, but to have given thanks. 

Privilege is a responsibility. It is something which requires a response. And God has commanded that response to be given in the form of gratitude. The heart which gladly thanks God for all it has and dedicates itself to the grit and grind of giving Him glory demonstrates that it has fully embraced and employed its privilege. It hasn't pretended it wasn't by shamefacedly refuting the privilege or pretended as though there was no proper response.

Gratitude is the proper response to grace.