A family reunion is meant to be a longstanding celebration of family ties in history of shared people and events. But time rolls along and the people who attend change by choice and peril. This year’s reunion for my wife’s family was smaller in number than any that I remember possibly ever in the 43 years, most of which I have attended. If I count correctly, there were twenty-two people there. Five of the siblings and three of their spouses were there. Two of the siblings not in attendance were for health reasons. Check out some of the interactions at “More Intimate Group.”
Archive for June, 2025
Time is A Passin’
Posted in Family, General, tagged Family, Family Reunion on June 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Bushwhacker’s Special
Posted in Exploring, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Wildflowers, tagged Herbaceous varieties, Hike, Lichens, Nature, Outdoors, Pond Mountain Wilderness, Wildflowers on June 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »
A bit over two years ago my hiking partner and I went across the Pond Mountain Wilderness at Pond Mountain Peak from Watauga Lake to the Appalachian Trail (see “Bushwhacking Pond“). This day, several Saturday ago now, we were headed back to the wilderness to explore up a mountain creek that looked interesting to my partner. Now, I thought, ‘Bushwhacking up a mountain creek involves rhododendron/laurel thickets’, which gets a bit wearisome without a goal and set amount of time. But hey, I’m up for most anything, so in we plunged in, this time with an Initiate. After perhaps a half of an hour, I suggested that we add a goal and possibly a way out of the thicket. This holler is at the base of Pond Mtn. So, straight up slope we went. The thickets thinned and thickened but really didn’t subside all the way to the ridge. When you get on the side of the ridge in trees and particularly thicket, you cannot see the top. We did fairly well though, peaking the ridge less than an eighth of a mile from the peak and benchmark. None of us wanted to retrace that route back down, so we decided to follow the ridge along the heretofore low maintained trail back to the lake. Well, that was two years ago before Hurrican Helene. Except for short stints of reasonable trail, there were piles of down trees of every size to go around and through. When we finally got back to the road and the lake, we had done approximately six miles. Problem was, we estimated that we were two and a half miles by road from the car. So, I left my pack and ran/walked to the car. As I progressed up the holler, the road kept getting steeper. If you really like bushwhacking, I’ve got a “Bushwhacker’s Special” just for you. Click on it to see a few pictures.
Free Grace
Posted in Baptist Catechism, Blessing, Faith, General, Gospel, Grace, Joy, Person of Jesus, Salvation, Sanctification, Work of Jesus, tagged bible, christianity, Condescension, Faith, Free Grace, God, God-man, Grace, Jesus, Rejoicing, Salvation on June 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I rejoice that the transcendent, all powerful, sovereign, Creator of all things condescended to pour out His free grace upon an undeserving, rebellious sinner like me (1). I rejoice that his free grace (2) gifted me with eternal life (3), every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places while here on earth (4), all that I need for life and godliness (5), a growing knowledge of Him (6), and the ongoing sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to completion (7).
Grace was free but not cheap. That sounds like a contradiction, but to clarify, grace was free to the recipients but very costly for “…Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (8) Not only did He leave the throne of God to die on a cross, our Redeemer “became flesh, and dwelt among us.” (9) His condescension included permanently taking on the nature of a man and temporarily taking on flesh, for “much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” (10) “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (11)
Question 24: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the condition of sin and misery?
Answer: God, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, having chosen a people to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the condition of sin and misery, and to bring them into a condition of salvation, by a Redeemer.
Ephesians 1:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 5:21; 8:29-30; 9:11-12; 11:5-7; Acts 13:48; Jeremiah 31:33.
Question 25: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
Answer: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.
Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:5; 3:16; John 1:14; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9.
- Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 11:33; Job 42:2, Numbers 11:23; Psalm 115:3; John 1:14, Psalm 103:7; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23, Jeremiah 17:9, Nehemiah 9:26
- Ephesians 2:8-9, John 4:10
- Romans 6:23
- Ephesians 1:3
- 2 Peter 1:3
- 2 Peter 3:17-18
- Philippians 1:6, 1 Corinthians 6:11
- Hebrews 12:2
- John 1:14
- Romans 5:15
- 1 Timothy 2:5
Actions Have Consequences
Posted in Baptist Catechism, Consequences, General, Judgment, tagged Consequences of Sin, Depravity, Guilt, Liability, Original Sin, Sin Nature, Total Depravity on June 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The last questions that we covered of the catechism (“Federal Headship“) explained how and what happened to man because of the Fall. “All mankind…sinned in him [Adam]”, verifying federal headship, and they were “brought…into a condition of sin and misery.” The questions that we consider today explain and enumerate what those sins and miseries are. In question #22 are given three degradations of man’s nature and one of his resulting conduct.
Guilt is a judicial problem before God, not a feeling. The feeling that results from guilt is shame which compelled Adam and Eve to sew fig leaves. Unregenerate sinners, and all too often believers, ide in many ways, frequently by denying sin. Secondly, “the lack of original righteousness” renders us impotent to please God or earn His approval. The third, is “corruption of the whole nature (…original sin”) or total depravity represents such corruption as excludes that person from the ability to do right. And finally, these degradations of nature result in “actual transgressions”, thereby placing the punishable crime clearly upon the sinner without excuse.
Question #23 the misery results from what was lost and gained before God. But even in this dire pronouncement there is a glimmer of hope. The word “liable” means “subject to” or “likely to”, not required of necessity, thus preparing us for the good news of salvation in the subsequent questions.
Question 22: What is the sinfulness of that condition into which all mankind has fallen?
Answer: The sinfulness of the condition into which all mankind fell is the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the lack of original righteousness, and the corruption of our whole nature (which is commonly called original sin), together with all actual transgressions which come from this nature. Romans 5:19; 3:10; Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 51:5; Matthew 15:19.
Question 23: What is the misery into which all mankind fell through Adam’s first sin?
Answer: All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
Genesis 3:8, 24; Ephesians 2:3; Galatians 3:10; Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41-46; Psalm 9:17.
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