Here's to a few Friday fotos

Meribeth now stands up by herself, using only the couch as support-another milestone in her young life.
Just another picture I thought was kinda cool looking.
One of my favorite pictures of Bethy.
My wife wanted me to post this for her mom. To me, it's a picture of a couple other pictures. To them, it's something else. I'm not sure what.

Here's to a couple questions from the YouTube/GOP Debate that I found interesting

Here's to a house decorated for Christmas

Here's to three stories I've been thinking about lately

First story—God lets Satan take everything but Job’s life away from him. Job loses his houses, lands, possessions, servants and his sons and daughters. And for a trade, Satan gives him boils. Job’s wife (probably out of pity, methinks) tells him to curse God and die. Job vehemently opposes that idea. Instead, he says that when he was born he had nothing. And nothing’s exactly what he’ll take with him when he dies. He asks his wife if they shouldn’t expect bad things with the good things from God. And get this: while scraping boils off of his arms, Job says, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job literally loved God more than he loved comfort, family, health, or possessions.

Second story—Three Hebrew boys defy the king and stand up when everybody else is bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Ol’ Neb asks them if maybe they’re confused or something. He reminds them that the new law says to bow before the statue whenever they hear the special statue worship music. He also brings their attention to the fiery furnace, the final melting place for dissenters. They tell him that God will take care of them; He will deliver them out of the king’s hand. Then they tell him, and here’s my favorite part, “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
The three Hebrew boys were literally willing to serve God whether he delivered them or not. It was not a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” deal with God. They served God because they loved him. Period.

Third story—Abraham obeys God and takes his son, Isaac, up to the mountain to sacrifice him to God. He places the child of his old age on the altar, and ties him down. He readies himself to kill the son God had promised him for so many years. Isaac was the child of the covenant. His descendants would be the genealogy of the Messiah. He was the promise of hope for Abraham. And Abraham would have killed him. But God stopped Abraham before his blade reached Isaac’s throat. It was a test.
A test that Abraham passed because he loved God more than he loved God’s promise of salvation.

Here's to a Christmas song, number 2

I shall from now until Christmas, occasionally post the Youtube video and lyrics to a Christmas song that I like. The songs will hopefully be ones with which you are not overly familiar, and ones that will you give you something to think about or something to smile about, or both.

Here is Jill Phillips singing Andrew Peterson's Labor of Love.


Labor of Love

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town
And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night
So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move
It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

You may have noticed that the last Christmas on Youtube video I posted was also from Andrew Peterson's Behold The Lamb Tour. You can see the rest of the videos from this amazing Christmas concert here:
http://andrew-peterson.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
You can download the cd (which I highly recommend) here:
http://www.rabbitroom.com/
And you can check out Andrew's official site here:http://www.andrew-peterson.com/

Here's to a few Thanksgiving pictures, chapter 3

My beautiful Dee and my beautiful Meribeth.

Me and my girls.

Nate and Bethy checking out the sports page.

Abby doing her best to stay current on the local news.

Here's to a few Thanksgiving pictures, chapter 2

Abby and Uncle Nate working on her car.

Thanksgiving can be a very exhausting experience.

High five for Daddy!
And one for Uncle Nate, too!

Here's to a few Thanksgiving pictures, chapter 1

Bethy and her uncle Nate.

Abby "climbing a tree."

I thought this picture was kinda cool looking.

Bethy with her breakfast on her nose.

Here's to finally deciding who I'll vote for in the primaries

Chuck Norris Picks A Candidate - Watch more free videos

Here's to a song and a dance

Here's to Bethy and her first pear

Someone gave Abby a pear. Abby gave it to Bethy. And Bethy thought that it was good.

Here's to a Christmas song, number 1

I shall from now until Christmas, occasionally post the Youtube video and lyrics to a Christmas song that I like. The songs will hopefully be ones with which you are not overly familiar, and ones that will you give you something to think about or something to smile about, or both.

Here's Derek Webb, singing Andrew Peterson's Deliver Us


Deliver Us

Our enemy, our captor is no pharaoh on the Nile
Our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand
Our ankles bear no calluses from chains, yet Lord, we're bound
Imprisoned here, we dwell in our own land
Deliver us, deliver us Oh Yahweh, hear our cry
And gather us beneath your wings tonight
Our sins they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay
These shackles they were made with our own hands
Our toil is our atonement and our freedom yours to give
So Yahweh, break your silence if you can
'Jerusalem, Jerusalem How often I have longed To gather you beneath my gentle wings'

Here's to a little Friday randomniscity

So it's Friday.

Yup.

I thought I'd throw a few more pictures at you. Maybe they'll make you smile. Even if they don't make you smile, they make me smile. And I look at this website more than you do. So post them I shall. Other things that make me smile (in my mind anyway-as I'm typing this, I'm not actually smiling) include... (and they are numbered for your convience) (what is up with all the parenthetical phrases?)

1. Thanksgiving is going to be pretty sweet this year; my brother Nate is flying in from up north again. So that's cool. And after me and Abby pick him up from the airport, we're going to the Build-a-Bear Workshop in the mall, and Abby gets to make herself a little early Christmas present. That will also be cool. I will post pictures of what I'm sure will be a most joyous bear building event.

2. The Michigan-Ohio State football game is tomorrow. I am mentally smiling about this now. Because tomorrow, I will probably be doing something other than smiling.

3. Yesterday, Abby taught me how to count to ten in Spanish. And she said that her heart was happy. Then she asked me to move my head because she couldn't see the moon. All on the way home from the library.

I'll shut up now. Here are the pictures.

Here’s to what I’ve been entertained by this past week (11/8-11/15)

I will now proceed to review what I have recently seen, heard and read. And I will arbitrarily give each item reviewed some “points.” You may do with these points as you like.

Movie: Flushed Away on DVD. My take: I rented Flushed Away last Friday because my 3 year old daughter, Abby and I had a date night. We grabbed some McDonald’s, plopped ourselves down in the living room and we had a pretty cool time. I thought the voice acting in the movie was great. Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen, especially. The animation was slick but nothing overly captivating. And the humor that was splattered around in the film for the adult viewers was usually pretty funny. There were some quirky things that I really dug, and Abby loves it when animated animals fall down, or say things in loud strange voices. Abby would probably give the movie 9 out of 10 points, but she is not the distinguished film critic that her father is. I would probably say something more like 7 out of 10. I have decided to average out our hypothetical scores. Therefore, 8 out of 10 points have been given.

Music: The Remedy Tour with The Myriad, Phil Wickham and The David Crowder* Band. My take: Easily the second coolest concert I’ve ever been to. The downside to that bit of glowing praise is that I’ve only been to a handful of concerts. Tuesday, I took my wife to Raleigh for the day; we visited a couple of museums, a shopping mall, and a fine dining establishment (Chili’s), and then in the evening we went downtown for the concert. I would definitely have given the concert a 10 out of 10, had it not been for the opening act. The Myriad was lame, in my humble opinion. I guess they’re gaining a fan base, and I guess they’re one of the Christian bands of the future or whatever. But I thought they were lame. Their music was ragged, their songs were indecipherable, and their stage presence was awkward at best. Phil Wickham was another story altogether, though. He did a set of 4 or 5 worship songs, one of which I’ll post the lyrics for in a later entry. It was just him and his guitar, but he did a great job holding the crowd (who were obviously there for David Crowder), and he did an even better job of magnifying the name of God. Very good stuff. But of course, the David Crowder* Band was the reason we bought the tickets, and they did not disappoint. They did an amazing number of songs in the hour and a half that they performed. My personal favorites included: O Praise Him, Can You Feel It, foreverandeverandever etc., Remedy, and You Never Let Go. If you are even a marginal fan of The David Crowder* Band and you have the chance to see them live, do it. You won’t be disappointed. Actually I think I will give the concert 10 points. Why, you ask? Because on three of the songs—You Never Let Go, Remedy, and Surely We Can Change—the music was soft enough for me to hear my wife singing to God. And my wife has a voice and a life that sing to her Savior. And there isn’t much in this life that I find cooler than that. Therefore, 10 out of 10 points have been given.

Here's to a few contenders

We decided to take the holiday greeting card family photo in the backyard this year. I, being the servant that I am, reluctantly agreed to stand behind the camera again this year. I figured, and rightly so I'm sure, that if you are one of the lucky folks receiving a Christmas card from my little family this year, you already have a rough idea of what my face looks like. I also figured that seeing my mug once again would not make your Christmas any merrier. But these cute faces should light up anyone's day. The following pictures were, alas, not chosen as the official Rahn family greeting card photo (mostly because of Bethy's refusal to participate in the vibe I was trying to create-mainly one of everyone looking at the camera at the same time). But I like them anyhow. So here they be. Enjoy.

Here's to a bee and some caramel

Here's to a lack of depth perception

Here's to a couple more pictures of my girls for the grandmas in their lives

Here's to something truly worthwhile

Here’s to what I’ve been entertained by this past week (11/1-11/8)

I will now proceed to review what I have recently seen, heard and read. And I will arbitrarily give each item reviewed some “points.” You may do with these points as you like.

Movie: Transformers on DVD. My take: Shia LaBeouf is a legitimate actor. The script was not any breed of good. The special effects were the reason for the movie. And they were a pretty sweet reason, even on the small screen. Therefore, 6 out of 10 points have been given.

Music: Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan. My take: You have to like her style of music, and occasionally I do. Every Holiday iTunes playlist should include a medium sized dose of melancholy. And Sarah definitely brings the melancholy. Therefore, 7 out of 10 points have been given. (A quick explanation-I dug out this holiday CD a little early this year, because I was trying to get myself inspired to write a Christmas play for our youth group. And I enjoyed the CD, but I’m not sure that it got my creative holiday juices flowing.)

Book: Saint Thomas Aquinas The Dumb Ox by GK Chesterton. My take: I realized recently that there are quite a few brilliant Christian thinkers that I know almost nothing about. I love Christian history, but I have studied patterns and movements more than I have studied individual stories. Our church ordered this biography for our new bookstore, and so I thought I'd start with it. There are many very informative reviews of this 1930’s classic available all over the web. You should definitely read those for more insight, if you're interested. But I will say that I found it very readable; I don’t always find Chesterton to be this accessible. I also thought that Chesterton did a very good job of whimsically teaching us how St. Thomas thought and how his thinking fit into secular and religious history, and how it was shaped by the ancients and how it shapes us today. The subject matter was brilliant, and of course, GK Chesterton’s dealing with it was brilliant, howbeit atypical, as well. Therefore, 9 out of 10 points have been given.

Here's to five pretty cool things I'm thankful for

1. I spent the weekend in Salem, NH. I have been praying hard lately about moving my family and myself up to the New England area to do ministry. We think God is really urging us in that direction, so it has been kind of cool seeing where He’s going to take us, and what we’re going to do. And so this weekend was a great recon trip for me and I’m pretty pumped to see what happens next. More on that some other day.

2. I am happy to be home. My wife and daughters are literally good for my soul. I feel extremely awkward without them. Everywhere I went this weekend, I felt like I was forgetting something. I don’t like that feeling. I like having my family near. They are now. Life is good.

3. Someone gave my wife and me a $25 gift card to Texas Roadhouse. Someone else gave us a $25 universal gift card—also cool. We plan to use them when we’re in Raleigh next week for…

4. The David Crowder* Band Concert! That’s right, next week I’m taking my wife to Raleigh for the day. We’ll spend some time shopping and goofing around and then end the day at the concert. Good times will be had by all.

5. My new Bible (see below) is sweet.

Here's to a coversation with Meribeth

Here's to my little princess at Fall Festival

So our church did what all good churches do for Halloween—a Fall Festival. And Dee dressed Abby up as a princess. And it took her a few minutes, but she got into the whole Festival atmosphere. You can’t tell from these pictures but she really did enjoy herself. It just took her a little while. Grownups in costumes aren’t her thing. Never have been her thing, actually. But of course, the pictures are still adorable; so enjoy. The last one is Abby and her friend Jenna (also a little apprehensive) with a couple of our youth group buddies.