Second Sunday of Advent

Malachi 3:1-4

"I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

Christmas is usually considered a time of joy and celebration, and in many ways it is. But the words of the prophet remind us that Jesus' coming is not without heartache, too. The Lord is being sought by the people, who are looking for the age-old covenant to be fulfilled (see Gen 12:-13; 2 Sam 7:12-14); they are longing to be the people God promised they would be, dwelling in the land God promised them, and living in God's presence.

"But who can endure the day of his coming?"

Christ comes to keep the covenant, but like any promise, our side must be kept, too. God does not desire blind obedience, but heartfelt, life-changing devotion. To be refined like gold and silver means allowing all the old, corrosive elements of our hearts to be painfully removed in order to shine in the light of God's love. Will we heed the words of the messenger, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Luke 3:8)? Will our lives reflect the life-changing devotion God desires from us?

May this Advent season challenge us to prepare our own hearts to receive God's promises by shedding the dross from our hearts, and filling them with God's love.

This post originally appears on theorchardadvent.blogspot.com

The Natural

As the baseball regular season draws to a close and we grieve the Braves so close yet so far last week *sigh*, the game lives on here in our backyard.


Isaiah received a tee ball set in May from Aunt Riri and then spent the summer hacking away at the tee (not the ball). This is no surprise because who really expects a 2 1/2 year old to be able to hit a ball off a tee.

30 Things You May or May Not Know about Corrie

Happy Birthday Corrie!!

In honor of Corrie's 30th birthday, I would like to share with you some things you may or may not know about her. I would like there to be 30 of them, but I don't know if I can come up with that many, so I am asking the fathertide faithful to also chip in. I will get us started with the top 15, and if you would like to add something, please feel free to do so through the comments section.

Rules of engagement: Please only post humorous, quirky or memorable things. Please don't post private or embarrassing things. Our goal is to celebrate Corrie, not humiliate her.

15. Corrie once let me cut her hair in college. She has not let me since.

14. Corrie is named after Corrie ten Boom.

13. Corrie made herself like black olives. (I don't know why.)

12. Corrie used to prank call my dorm room in college. (Though she was encouraged strongly by someone who will remain nameless. Right, Gigi?)

11. Corrie liked me from the moment she met me.

10. Corrie sent me a Chinese Happy Meal box while she was living in China.

9. Corrie has a "Harry Potter" scar over her left eye. It turns red when she gets upset or has an allergic reaction. (Or when Voldemort is close by.)

8. Corrie does not believe you should have to pay to get your Master's degree or PhD.

7. Corrie likes to cuddle for 60 seconds before going to sleep at night.

6. Corrie has never read a Jane Austen book all the way through.

5. Corrie is one of the most compassionate people I know.

4. Corrie is awesome at delivering babies.

3. Corrie is the best mom any two boys could ask for.

2. Corrie is the best wife I could ever hope for.

1. Corrie has been my best friend for over 8 years...and she still is!

The Story Behind the Bananas

If you haven't seen Corrie's post from Friday, I encourage you to read that before reading this.

So, Corrie and I officially began our relationship on February 13, 2001. Since then we have taken the occasion to always beat the Valentine's Day rush and celebrate our dating anniversary every year. I won't go in to the full details of how this all went down, but I will say it took place right after supper time that evening.

When I got back to my room that night, I hit me that the next day was Valentine's Day. But what do you get someone you've been dating less than a day?

Well, I thought at least a card would be a good idea so I drove up Harrodsburg Road to the Hallmark store. I looked for the "Happy Valentine's Day to someone I've been dating less than 24 hours" section, and found the perfect card (not too mushy, no mention of "love", and blank on the inside). I then had a thought about what I could give her as a present.

So I went to the Kroger next door to Hallmark, and bought a bunch of bananas.

You see, by this time in the semester, we had been hanging out quite a bit on campus. In fact, we ate lunch together (with other friends) almost every day. And almost every day, I would get a banana as I went through the line in the cafeteria. Now, I like my bananas a certain way - no green on them whatsoever, and just the faintest spots of brown beginning to appear. A banana like this is sweet, soft, and has minimal bad spots.

I got Corrie bananas because I thought of her as being sweet with minimal bad spots...

Just kidding.

Actually, I got her bananas because she would steal my banana off my plate and eat it almost every day. Really. Just ask her. And I don't like to share my food, so I got her bananas for Valentine's Day hoping she would stop stealing mine.

And that's the rest of the story.

"The best part of waking up..."

...is having your son throw up all over you.

This morning we are going through our usual routine, which includes giving Isaiah his milk and yogurt, a banana, some cantaloupe, and half a piece of toast with blueberry all-fruit spread on it. He doesn't eat much this morning, which is not completely out of the ordinary, and after politely saying "down", we let him play while we finished our cereal. It doesn't take very long until Isaiah discovers that I've left my computer on the coffee table, so I go over to overt a disaster by picking him and asking if he's ready for a change of clothes so he can go to daycare.

The next thing I know is that he is coughing a little, but it is followed by all of the milk and yogurt he just consumed. Not wanting to get the furniture dirty or my computer ruined, I just stand there with Isaiah in my arms as he throws up all over the both of us. Finally, when he's done, we make our way to the bathroom where he gets a morning bath, new diaper, and change of clothes. (Meanwhile, Corrie is cleaning up what did manage to make it to the floor.) Once Isaiah is all cleaned up, I take a second morning shower, and realize that I have bits of milk/yogurt in my gotee. (But no, I did not shave it. It cleaned up rather nicely, thank you very much.)

Other than the shock factor, I tell this story because it appropriately demonstrates the nature of parenthood. I love Isaiah so much that I am willing to let him throw up all over me. And while I would have told you that before, I can now tell you that from experience. Being a parent is lots of fun, but it is also very messy.

The rest of the story... we all took a sick day today. Isaiah stayed home from daycare, Corrie cancelled her classes, and I am blowing my nose every 15 minutes because of some kind of late summer cold. The good news, we all took naps.