Sunday night recap

Sunday's are always long days, but today was even longer since I was up at 5:00 a.m. This was not by choice, at least not my choice. Moriah decided at that time that she just had to have her doll, and so did what she always does when she needs something in the middle of the night: she called out to Mom and Dad (just like some alarm clocks, her cry for help begins quietly and then slowly increases in volume until it can no longer be ignored). So I got up and gave her her "baby". And there was no going back to sleep after that. This sort of thing happens more often than I would like, but "this too shall pass." At least I don't have to wake up once or twice each night to feed Monica.

Rob, a member of the church, taught the adult Sunday School class. Today's passage was Genesis 4:1-16, in which Cain murders his younger brother Abel. The best question we pondered was, why did the Lord accept Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's? There is no definitive answer to that, other than "by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain" (Hebrews 11:4).

At the morning service, the ranks were thinned somewhat. Many of the missing were out of town or sick. We're definitely in the sick season; I was out of commission myself on Thursday due a virus. Thankfully (if I was superstitious, I would knock on wood at this point), our family has avoided the flu and viruses (other than mine) thus far. However, I can't help but think our time will come soon enough.

At the evening service, I preached from Romans 7:7-13, in which Paul explains how the law, though in itself is "holy and righteous and good," becomes the means by which sin comes alive in the human heart, grows, and ultimately destroys the sinner. So God's law is inherently good, yet through it sin shows itself to be "sinful beyond measure." The good news, as I pointed out, is that as we - by God's grace - become conscious of our sin in response to God's law, we also become conscious of our desperate need for a Savior. And so the law in this way leads us to Christ.

We had an amusing conversation at dinner time. For some reason, we got on the subject of cameras, and Robyn and I found ourselves explaining how in the "old days" people had to use something called "film" to take pictures. And in that primitive era, you couldn't immediately see the picture you just took. Someday I'll tell them about really ancient technology, such as the 8-track cassette or the rotary phone.