Our kids have had colds all week, which meant no church for us. We decided to take advantage of this gorgeous sunny fall day and go for a drive through Amish country. We enjoyed the chance to talk (with the kids securely in their seats and out of reach of one another!!), check out the scenery, and have our own little praise service in the car.

This is a painful season in our lives. Raking the fall leaves today was a poignant reminder that God can make even times of sorrow and loss beautiful, and He uses those times of death to open doors for life to enter, as Nicole Nordemann states so well. [this is one of my most favorite songs and it's a great video - worth your time if you have a few minutes!!]

May God awe you with His splendor this autumn season, and remind you of the beauty He works into every season both of nature and in our own hearts.

This post is linked to the fall picture link-up at Scraps of Life!

I officially have my favorite children’s book author/illustrator. This week I was privileged to read two more of Darrell Wiskur’s books. If you’ve been reading my book reviews, you might remember Wiskur as the author of Timothy Whale’s Rainbow and Dinky Dinosaur: Creation Days, two of my favorite Christian kids’ books I’ve ever seen.

Well, I can add a couple of more to my “books I love from Darrell Wiskur” list.

The Really Big Barn on Noah’s Farm, like Timothy Whale’s Rainbow, is a beautifully illustrated, accurate depiction of Noah and the ark. The Really Big Barn on Noah’s Farm is extremely unique because it is a story about what might have happened after the flood. The Bible tells us that Noah planted a vineyard- I wonder what his farm was like? The ark sure would make a great barn…

I love this book because it approaches the flood as an actual event and lets kids’ imaginations soar about what living after the flood might have been like. Wiskur addresses that Noah would have planted the farm and vineyard from seeds stored on the ark; he also discusses that domestic animals would stay on the farm whereas wild animals would have left. He also suggests that as the families grew and needed more homes, that the lumber from the ark would have been a logical source of building materials. The back of the book also has several pages with descriptions of various farm animals, and a page devoted to a brief discussion of the construction of the ark and why it truly would have been useful as a barn and also to be reused for building supplies. Love it, love it.

Take a Trip on the Silver Ship: Undersea Journey is one of a series of two “silver ship” board books. Wiskur’s beautiful illustrations again drew me in right away. He has a marvelous way of illustrating in a child-friendly, yet beautiful and realistic way. This book contains pictures of whales, sea lions, penguins, squid, jellyfish, deep-sea creatures with lights, sea turtles, and even plesiosaurs (dinosaurs that lived in the water). LB loved the little built-in mirror that shows through a cut-out in every page. The rhyming text is pleasant and short (perfect for my active little guy) while still meaningful – “Praise God for creation, heaven and earth, sky and sea; all that is, or ever will be.”

If you’re starting to think about Christmas gifts, I definitely recommend Darrell Wiskur’s books. Full of Truth, beautifully illustrated, well written – they are refreshing to read.

**For more information or to purchase a copy, click on the book cover images or titles to be taken to the publisher’s website. I am an affiliate and will receive a small percentage of the sale of this or other products. I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from New Leaf Publishing Group. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.

This is a continuation of our series on the Sermon on the Mount – if you missed them, you might want to go back and catch up here.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9

This verse is one that has been used and abused and ripped out of its context. What kind of peace are we talking about here?

Are we talking about “tolerating” one another and refusing to assert that one religion is more true than another? This is certainly a popular opinion today.

We are told that those of us who are closed-minded, those who assert that our beliefs are true and that others are not, those who cling to our “religious ideals” are to blame for the conflict in the world. Yesterday on twitter one of the trending topics was “No God” – in other words, that was the most popular topic happening worldwide on twitter. One individual posted a tweet which read “no God, know peace. Know God, no peace.”

Does this verse really mean that we should all just drop our differences and stop offending one another with our truth claims? A cursory reading of the context of this verse clears up this debate instantly – the next two verses read:

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” (Matt. 5:10-11)

You don’t get persecuted for getting along with everyone. So, what kind of peace are we talking about? I think this verse is often misunderstood because we misunderstand the true conflict that we are to seek peace for. The ultimate conflict that needs to be addressed is that humanity is in rebellion against God. There will never be true peace on earth until Jesus sits on the throne of this world and every knee bows before Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

As believers, as the blessed ones, we have been reconciled to God through the work of Christ. In our hearts, the battle is over – we have bowed the knee to Him and now know a type of peace that passes understanding. Now we have been given a ministry of reconciliation – a charge to bring others into peace with God. To be peacemakers.

Now obviously, this peace also will surface in our lives in our interpersonal relationships, as well. Remember that these descriptions of “the blessed” in Matthew 5 are not descriptions of different groups – this is all one group being described in the beatitudes. Those who walk with God are poor in spirit, mourn over their sin, hunger and thirst for righteousness, show mercy to others, etc. So, while I am saying that peacemakers means seeking to bring peace between God and man, I am also saying that those who belong in this group fulfill this ministry of reconciliation in a manner consistent with all those other characteristics.

Peacemaking is an overflow of true inner peace with God. I love the description of this in the Jamieson Fausset Brown commentary -

When this reconciliation actually takes place, and one has “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”–even “the peace of God which passeth all understanding”–the peace-receivers become transformed into peace-diffusers. God is thus seen reflected in them; and by the family likeness these peacemakers are recognized as the children of God.

It’s a family likeness.

Today as we live in an increasingly hostile world, pray for God to open your eyes to the true battle going on. There were lots of angry, hateful things said today on Twitter; a few weeks ago was International Blasphemy Day; an atheist ad campaign is scheduled to begin in New York. Recognize that while believers in Jesus Christ get caught in the crossfire, these people are not really at war with us – they are at war with God. May God grant us compassion to see these people as individuals who are in desperate need of the ministry of reconciliation, for they have declared war on God.

For blessed are the peacemakers.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I believe that part of our God-given “mandate” as human beings is to be good stewards of the earth and to care for God’s creation. This is His world, and rather than exploiting and plundering His masterpiece, we should be enjoying, using, living in it in a responsible way that allows His creation to continue to sing forth His glory to those around us.

Because of that, I have been quite torn about the global warming debate. It is hard to get a straight, logical answer about this issue. Often one receives an overly emotional, not terribly scientific argument supporting the global warming hysteria, while arguments against global warming seem to be whispers amidst the clamor.

I really enjoyed reading Global Warming and the Creator’s Plan by Jay A. Auxt and Dr. William M. Curtis III. This book is logical, Biblical, and very easy to read. They frankly discuss the fact that the data available simply does not allow us to accurately understand what is happening. Is global warming occurring? We don’t know. They address the fact that the “Al Gore” type arguments for global warming break down very quickly from a scientific perspective, as well as addressing common misconceptions that global warming is causing increased hurricane activity, melting glaciers, etc. They also give clear comparisons between “alternative fuel” sources and explain why the energy debate is not as clear-cut as the media might lead us to believe.

One thing that I found very interesting was that they tie in a Biblical framework of the age of the earth and the 2nd law of thermodynamics, as well as pre-flood vs. post-flood differences. Having a Biblical framework for the purpose and age of the earth vastly changes this debate: if the earth is under the curse, forever altered by the flood, and was never intended to support life for “millions and millions” of years, one views the current “crisis” very differently. Auxt and Curtis lay a good case that man’s activity on the earth has had minimal impact in any global warming that may or may not be occurring. What we are observing is the groaning of a creation deeply marred by sin and the curse.

In some ways, I felt that their arguments could have been fleshed out more. I vacillated between feeling like they weren’t giving hard scientific evidence and feeling like they were giving too much math and science with too little “plain language” explanation. But then on the other hand, sometimes their arguments seemed like they could have been more thorough.

I think this book would be more impacting if I knew who Auxt and Curtis were. Only once (very briefly) was any reference made to their expertise in this subject. While I felt that the book’s content was logical, understandable, and balanced, I looked in vain for an explanation of why these two men were the ones standing up against the global warming frenzy. I learned more about the authors from the 1 paragraph “about the author” note on Amazon.com than I did reading this entire book.

So all in all, it was good. I enjoyed it, found it interesting and informative… but I think it could have been better.

**For more information or to purchase a copy, click on the book cover image or the amazon link provided. I am an affiliate of New Leaf publishers as well as amazon.com and will receive a small percentage of the sale of this or other products. I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from New Leaf Publishing Group. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.