Schooling for the birds

One of the nice things about homeschooling is that you get to do all kinds of cool projects or illustrations with your kids.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We study science in the evenings and lately we’ve been reading about birds. Now, generally birds are, well – they’re boring. No offense to all you feathered fowl out there, but you don’t really lead lives of mystery and intrigue.  At least, that’s what I used to think until I actually started reading about them with the munchkins.  But we’ve learned so many different things about birds, many of which are actually quite interesting.

For instance, Black Herons makes an umbrella shape with its wings, shading the water it wades in to help it look for fish.  (This is the bird of the “Nighttime, daytime!” infamy.  If you don’t know what I mean, check out this video. It’s hilarious.)  Flamingos aren’t born pink, but get this color from a natural chemical in its food.  In general, most female birds are a drab color to help camouflage it and protect it and her young from hunters.  A female Cuckoo will lay an egg in a Reed Warbler’s nest after dropping one of the Warbler’s eggs out.  When the Cuckoo chick hatches before the other eggs, it will shove the Warbler’s eggs out of the nest, even while still blind and naked.  The Reed Warbler feeds and takes care of the Cuckoo chick, thinking that the chick is its own, even when the chick outgrows the adult Warbler.  An owl can turn its head in almost any direction, even upside down!  And then of course there’s the many various and beautiful kinds of Birds of Paradise (like the neon smiley face one).

We’ve had a lot of fun illustrating various things about birds.  The kids curled up in a ball on the floor, pretended to “hatch” and then follow the first moving thing that they saw to learn about how goslings “imprint.”  We tried eating “fish” (a.k.a. marsh mellows) upside down like a flamingo.  We tried tossing up our fish and catching it in our mouths like a Snake Bird.  We tried flapping our wings in a figure eight movement like a hummingbird.  And we saw how much water a Pelican can hold in its pouch.  The videos below lets you join our class for this special project.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

And the winner is…

Congratulations to Mark Kelly (on Twitter @GraceDependent), winner of this month’s book giveaway, Where is God? by John Townsend.

Stay tuned for more book giveaways later this month!

Book Review – Just Do Something

Searching for the will of God in your life can be a daunting task.  Trying to determine which car God would have you buy or where to go on vacation can be overwhelming, not to mention the stress of making sure you pick the right career path or marry the right person or be involved in the right ministry.  Make the wrong choice and you’ll forever be “out of the center of God’s will,” having to satisfy yourself with God’s second best.

Talk about intimidating.  At least, it is if you’re of the persuasion that God has a perfect plan for your life down to every minute detail of your life.  Thankfully, as Kevin DeYoung puts it in his book Just Do Something, God doesn’t care about these things.  With good doses of humor and wit, DeYoung argues that while God certainly does have a will for our lives, it does not involve leading us down a specific path for every decision we will ever face.

First, DeYoung points out that when we talk about the will of God, there are three different definitions we might be using.  The first is God’s will of decree, or what God has ordained will happen since the beginning of time.  God’s will of decree will surely come to pass and DeYoung notes that whatever happens was God’s will.  The second definition is God’s will of desire, or what God desires from His creatures.  These two have a solid Biblical basis for them and we would do well to heed them.  The third definition, God’s will of direction, is where DeYoung says we expect something that simply isn’t there.  “Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no.” (p.24) The solution is to seek out and follow God’s will of desire and use wisdom, prayer and Godly counsel to make decisions.

DeYoung also spends time going over why we look for God’s will of direction and in what ways we try to find it.   Sometimes we seek God’s “perfect” will (of direction) out of love for Him and wanting to do what would please Him.  But more often than not, it is born out of an aversion to risk or simply an unwillingness to make a decision.  Or we use God’s will as a crunch for avoiding personal responsibility.  As DeYoung states, “Let’s not spiritualize our inability to make decisions in the quest to discover God’s will.”

Although quite small (which works to its advantage in making it simple & quick to read over again), Just Do Something is crammed full with very practical advice.  While the main target audience seems to be college age readers, there is much in the book that more mature readers will glean from.  Ultimately, if we are seeking to follow God’s will of desire as found in Scripture, we can have the freedom to make choices and, as the title suggests, just DO something.  I would highly recommend this book.

Adam Verner, the narrator for the audio version from ChristianAudio, did a great job of capturing DeYoung’s humor and sarcasm.  At times though, it felt that Verner was a little heavy on the snarky/sarcastic tone as well as coming across a little patronizing.  Overall though, Verner’s narration was good.

(Thanks to ChristianAudio for providing a review copy of this book.)

Crossway: John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

Another great offering from Crossway:

This week’s Trackback Thursday features John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitkin.

Most Christians know John Newton as a man who once captained a slave ship, was dramatically converted to Christ on the high seas, and later penned one of the greatest hymns of the faith, “Amazing Grace.” But he also had a huge impact on his times as an icon of the evangelical movement, as a great preacher and theologian, and as a seminal influence on abolitionist William Wilberforce. Here is a fascinating and historically significant portrait of slave-trader-turned-Christ-follower.

A reminder of how Trackback Thursday works: Simply link to the blog post from your blog, leave a comment on Crossway’s Facebook Page, or re-tweet Trackback Thursday on Twitter @Crosswaybooks. Winners are picked on Friday morning.

The Kindle edition of John Newton can also be downloaded for free during the month of February 2010.

Music Monday – Grace Has Called My Name

Here is another song by Kathryn Scott, called Grace Has Called My Name.  Praise God for his amazing, abundant, never-ending grace!

Peace as elusive as a shadow dancing on the wall
life swallowed by the pain of yesterday;
Left broken by the shame of things that I had done,
No freedom from the choices that I’d made;

But with one touch You made me clean;
You met me in my deepest need.

Grace has called my name,
when all that I had left were just filthy stains;
Grace has called my name;
when hope had all but faded far away,
Grace called my name.

Wounded by words that left their mark upon my soul,
dreams overturned by empty promises;
Well intentioned things I’d heard a million times before
just left my heart to grieve alone again;

But with one touch You set me free;
You met me in my deepest need.

Book Review & Giveaway – Where is God?

A family member of mine recently went through a tragic loss and I found myself wondering where the goodness of God was in all this.  I remember saying to myself, “That’s just not fair!”  It was shortly after this that I had the opportunity to review two books, both on the subject of pain, suffering and the providence of God.  It’s amazing to me how some books that we happen upon are needed at just that particular moment in life.  These books  – one was John Piper’s newest book, A Sweet & Bitter Providence – were a great help and reminder to me of God’s sovereignty and goodness.

The other book was John Townsend’s Where is God? In it, Townsend seeks to gently walk the reader through some of the answers to the book’s title question, “Where is God?”  In asking this question, Townsend notes that there are three different questions that could be at the heart of the matter.  In the question of power, we want to know and be assured that God is powerful enough to be in control of life’s circumstances.  In the question of presence, we simply want to know and believe in the comforting presence of God, to experience a close relational intimacy with Him.  The third question is a protest, a cry of anguish, “a statement of how badly they hate what is going on.”  He further discusses why bad things happen and boils it down to one thing: sin.  Sin committed by us, sin committed against us or sin from a broken world system.

The book is organized around three principles: 1. God is for you, 2. Your experience matters and 3. The Bible is our source for understanding God’s ways in hard times.  Building on these principles, Townsend takes the reader through various reasons why and how we look for God in trying times.  The chapters that had the most impact on me were the following ones that addressed various aspects of God’s work.  While each one was relatively short, they were packed with helpful insights.

• The God who suffers with me – in our suffering, God comes along beside us, empathizing and identifying with our struggles, having compassion on us.
• The God who works behind the scenes – God acts for us and for our good in ways that we may not see or understand.
• The God who transforms you – God uses our trials to strengthen us and draw us closer to Himself.
• The God who connects you with others – sometimes our difficult times result in new relationships and stronger bonds with others and reducing our own perceived self-sufficiency.
• The God of faith when there are no answers – in Townsend’s words, “As someone who lives in faith, make it OK for yourself to say, ‘I don’t know why….’  God sometimes does reveal over time the redemptive meaning behind our struggles as we are better able to look back over the seasons of our lives with more perspective.  But sometimes He does not.  Sometimes we must trust.” (pp.138-139)

This book doesn’t necessarily argue for God’s existence.  It isn’t a philosophical or even a theological book.  It assumes God’s existence.  It draws more from counseling and psychology while applying Biblical truths.  Some chapters of the book seemed a little wordy and perhaps could have been more concise.  Additionally, parts of Townsend’s theology felt a little lacking (such as saying “God gives up all the control He could use and puts Himself in an extremely humble and vulnerable position.”) However, there are plenty of points made throughout the book that are both good and helpful.  What Townsend offers in this book is an explanation of what God is doing through hard times and how to find hope in Him.  Recommended: Yes

Next Friday, February 5 2010, I’ll be giving away a copy of Townsend’s book, Where is God?.  The deadline for entering the drawing is Thursday night by midnight, February 4, 2010.  To be entered in the drawing to win Where is God?, you can do one or more of the following.  For each method you use, you’ll receive one entry into the drawing (3 entries possible).

1. Post a comment below.
2. Link to this post from your blog.
3. On Twitter, RT “@Eskypades: Book Giveaway! Enter to win at http://wp.me/pzfPF-a4”

I’ll randomly select the winner sometime Friday afternoon, February 5, 2010.  (Giveaway is open to US residents only.)

(Thanks to Thomas Nelson for providing a review copy of this book.)

Which table would you rather sit in on?

Here’s a very fascinating scenario.  Which table would you rather sit at and why?

At Table 1, you’ve got (clockwise from the top) Eisenhower, T. Roosevelt, Nixon, Ford, Lincoln, Bush Sr., Reagan, & Bush Jr.

At Table 2, there is (clockwise from the top) Clinton, Wilson, L. Johnson, Truman, Jackson, F. Roosevelt, Carter, & Kennedy.

HT: James.

Music Monday – Creator King

Here is another artist I recently discovered -  Kathryn Scott.   I am thoroughly enjoying her music so far.  I’ll be featuring a few of her songs over the next several weeks.  Here is her song Creator King (written by Don Moen).   Enjoy.

You made the mountains and the sea
Measured out the universe and you made me
Echoes of the voice that called the worlds to be
Reach through the ages and now speak to me
You’re my Creator King

You made the valleys and the skies
Displayed Your love on far horizons and before my eyes
You, Who lit the stars and set the dawn in time
Called them all by name and now You whisper mine
You’re my Creator King

Chorus
Who am I that You are mindful of me
Who am I that You sent Your love on me
You’re my Creator King

You made the darkness and the light
Sun and Moon to watch the day and guard the night
The hand that stretched the heavens like a canopy
Reaches down to cover and watch over me
You’re my Creator King

Book Review – The Prince’s Poison Cup

It’s not every day that you come across a story that not only helps your child understand something he doesn’t like to do, but (and more importantly) one that uses the same principles to illustrate a great Biblical truth.

In R.C. Sproul’s The Prince’s Poison Cup, a grandfather explains to his granddaughter that some things like medicine, while tasting horrible, help us to feel better.  While he doesn’t really give an answer as to why this is, he uses it as an illustration to teach a greater truth.  He tells the little girl the story of a people who disobeyed a King’s command not to drink from a beautiful fountain.  Even though the fountain was beautiful to look at, the water was bad for them and turned their hearts to stone.  In order to heal them, the King’s son takes his Father’s cup to another fountain in the City of Man to drink the poisonous brew, even though he knows the drink will kill him.  The Prince dies, but is raised again by his Father.  As a result, many of the people’s hearts are changed and love the King once more.

The Biblical parallels in this story are unmistakable.  Sproul weaves the story in a way that makes it very easy to point out to children the similarities to Jesus’ death and why it was that he died.  There are two strong parallels made to the Scriptures.  The first is that Jesus (the Prince) willingly does what His Father asks of him out of love for the Father and for the people.  The second parallel is that because Jesus drank the cup of poison, the Father’s anger is turned into the sweetest water.

It should be noted that the story isn’t a straight point-for-point allegory of the atonement, but I don’t think the story was meant to parallel exactly.  In illustrating the people’s disobedience, the Father’s love, the Son’s willingness and the new life found only in coming to Jesus, this book does an excellent job.  The guide for parents at the end of the book is helpful in pointing out where in Scripture the concepts in the story can be found.  My children enjoyed listening to the story and were able to see the links between it and the Bible.

Music Monday – Blind Boys of Alabama

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day, here are the Blind Boys of Alabama singing their awesome rendition of Amazing Grace.