Personal -- We're Having a Baby

It's official! Carrie's due date is March 4! We're very excited. We'll keep everyone updated.

Categories -- Things I'll Be Blogging About

I want to categorize the things I'll be blogging about into several categories. That way you can read only the blogs from a category that interests you. Here they are:

1. Theology -- Hopefully stimulating and profitable theological discussions; often something the Lord has recently been teaching me.

2. Personal -- Things about me and my family that may interest family and friends. I'll be posting one of these tomorrow.

3. Web -- Links to sites of interest on the Information Superhighway.

4. Just for Fun -- What can I say? Sometimes you just need a good laugh.

5. Samuel Rutherford -- History, quotes, anecdotes, etc. about a very ordinary man with a very extraordinary God.

For today, here's a Samuel Rutherford post:

Rutherford suffered great persecution at the hands of the state church. He was eventually taken out of his parish at Anwoth and exiled to Aberdeen. Yet in the midst of this persecution, he took an amazingly grace-enabled view of his persecutions. He frequently likened his persecution to carrying Christ's cross (Luke 9:23). Here's what he said about his banishment:

“O how sweet are the sufferings of Christ for Christ! God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet cross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only to the black side, that makes us mistake. Those who can take that crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily, shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird or sails to a ship.” (To Lady Kenmure, Aberdeen, November 22, 1636)

May God grant me that Christocentric attitude in all my joys and all my sufferings!

Will and Carrie at the beach.

Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)

Welcome to Anwoth

There are a lot of questions to answer about Anwoth, the blog. Today I'm going to try to answer some of them. Then I'll ask some of my own.

1. What's an "Anwoth"?
Anowth is not a piece of clothing or an ethnic food or some theological term. Anwoth is the name of the small farming community in southern Scotland that Samuel Rutherford pastored in the mid-1600s. Here's a picture:

Samuel Rutherford has become a sort of hero for me. I will be posting about Samuel Rutherford once in a while so you can meet him too. I want this blog to be a virtual Anwoth--a place where Christ is loved and exalted, a place where you and I can enjoy each other's fellowship and our fellowship with the Bridegroom Himself!

2. What will I be blogging about?
Good question. My goals for the blog fall into three main categories. First, I want to keep friends and family up to date on what is going on in my family's life. Second, I want to generate profitable discussions of a theological nature (notice the emphasis on "profitable"). Finally, I want to have a forum to pass interesting things on to you and maybe even discuss those "interesting things." Yes, that is specifically vague so that I can post about anything that interests me and throw it into that last category.

Okay, my turn for a question:

For those of you who already blog, how do I automatically send an email to people when I create new posts?

I Give Up

Practically the whole world is blogging...except me. Well, I've finally given up and decided, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Actually, I'm looking forward to the whole blogging experience. So, here are the possible predictions for the future of my blogging life:

1. The entire world will find my blog to be incredibly stimulating and productive, and my blog will start a major revolution/reformation among humankind the world over.

2. The evangelical world will enjoy reading and interacting with my blog, and my blog may actually become the catalyst for something good and useful.

3. My friends and family will read my blog and may even humor me by posting their own thoughts once in a while.

4. People that I don't know will read my blog at 2:30 in the morning and wonder why they live such pathetic lives.

5. No one will even know my blog exists and I will develop an alternate personality named Charlie that will post comments on my own blog for a while before the little men with white coats insist on my beginning therapy.

Now, there's no way to really know which of those predictions will come true, but as I read back over them, I think any of them would be a life-changing experience for me! There you have it: optimism at its...best? The real plans for this blog, of course, are more visionary than "multiple personality disorder." I would like to be able to communicate with my friends about wonderful things God is doing in my life and the life of my family. I would also enjoy being able to interact with other people on topics that, frankly, I find interesting.

If you're reading this post, someone (probably me) obviously told you about my blog. If you see value here or even potential value, pass the word along! By the way, if you think you have something worthwhile to say, have at it! Welcome to Anwoth!