Conformed to the Image

As a new father I am thinking thoughts that I've never thought before. I was walking on a path today with John in his stroller and I had to cover the top of the canapy of the stroller with a blanket because the bright sun was in his eyes. So at that point John couldn't see anything except through a little open flap in the back that is in direct view of me pushing the stroller from behind. I looked down at him and I caught him looking directly at me.

We looked and smiled at each other and I thought, "Wow, he really does look like me." I then thought, "Maybe that is why God created genetics the way they are, because He wanted people to have categories to understand that children look like their parents. They reflect the physical image of their parents. Children are real chips off the old block. In the same way God wants us to look like him as it were, not in some ontological sense. That is, God is a spirit, and He does not want us to become spirits, rather He wants us to reflect Him in His attributes, in His virtue. Real chips off the old block as it were."

I then began to pray in my mind for John that he might be, as Paul said in Romans 8, "be conformed to the image of His Son." I pray that he might only emulate me in my small growth in grace and not in my great failures, and further that he might look to the Father through Jesus Christ and advance in grace further than I will. O God that you might do that for him.

Photos on the walk home from church

Today, I took some photos as we walked home from church;
here are some of the sights we see as we walk along.

An interesting side of a building:

One of my favorite housese to walk by - the whole yard is a beautiful garden:

More flowers in full bloom:

I love all the old doors in Chambéry; I like how this one has one shiny handle and one handle that is dull because it's never used:

Adam makes the most of French-learning opportunities as he records unfamiliar French words in his notepad for later looking up in the dictionary:

More beautiful flowers:

All over Chambéry, the city has placed attractive flower-and-plant pots like these ones we see as we cross the river every day. Also, notice the bike path; Chambéry is very biker-conscience, and is full of biking paths:


The festive painting on the side of the "Bio" (i.e., Organic) grocery store near our apartment:


Back at home, Ruth relaxes with bowtie-wearing John.

Languages of the U.S.A.

Have you ever wondered how many languages are spoken in the United States? I got distracted tonight reading this fascinating page from the Ethnologue. I think it's amazing how many languages are spoken in the U.S., but especially, how many of those languages are almost extinct--many have just a couple speakers left.

Languages of the U.S.A.

Which reminds me of a quote that got cemented into my brain after seeing it over and over again (posted somewhere on a bulletin board at GIAL):

"Another last word,
Another lost world."

I think it was a poster offering funding for people who would like to document "endangered languages," that is, languages that seem to be dying out. Sometimes languages die out because the speakers die out, but often the languages die away because the speakers of that language begin to use, or their children start to grow up using, a different language.

Garbanzo Burgers

When it's been a while since we've done a grocery shopping trip, we begin to get creative with our cooking--inventing new recipes that are concocted with whatever we have in the fridge and on our shelves.

Last night, I put two cups of dried garbanzo beans in a bowl to soak overnight. This afternoon, I cooked them up still not knowing exactly what I would use them for. After they were cooked, I decided to make up some "Garbanzo burgers". They are a lot like falafel, but different because the garbanzos (chickpeas) are pre-cooked, and you do not need a lot of oil to deep-fry like you do with falafel.

These burgers were yummy! We ate them as if they were hamburgers, but next time we might eat them like falafel (with hummus, etc.)

Here's the recipe, if you would like to try it for yourself:

Garbanzo Burgers
(Makes 6)

Main burger ingredients:
1 cup dried garbanzos (chickpeas), soaked overnight and cooked (see below for how I cook them) and mashed
1 egg
1 piece of bread, crumbled
2 tablespoons flour
3 shallots, finely chopped (onion would be great, too)
3 garlic cloves, mashed

Seasonings: (feel free to experiment, and let me know if you come up with something you like!)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
a few shakes of Salt & Pepper

Making the burgers:
Start by cooking the garbanzos as follows:
Soak 1 cup dried garbanzos overnight. Cook them in water that has a little baking soda sprinkled in it. As the beans cook, skim off the foam and bean skins that float to the top. Change the water once during cooking. Cook until the garbanzos are soft (takes about 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours). Drain the cooked beans and mash them well (I use a pastry blender).

To the mashed garbanzos, add all the other ingredients and mix well. Form six balls and smoosh them into burger patties. Heat up a little olive oil in a frying pan/skillet until it is hot. Fry the burgers on one side until light brown, then flip to cook on the other side. Enjoy!

Photos from School and Home

Here are a couple photos of my (Ruth's) French class this month. The first picture is my fellow students and Pascaline, one of our teachers, in the center. The second photo is our other teacher, Pascale:



This room, which used to be the chapel of the Chateau de Boigne, is now one of our school's classrooms:



This is the very nice view I get every morning when I leave for school, as Adam and John come out on the balcony to say goodbye:

A Warned World

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard..."

Just a thought from this morning's reading...

How do you look at the world?

Here in Hebrews 2:1-3 the author describes our world as a world that has been visited and warned by the Son of God.

I've met men who categorize history as the world "Pre-Tom Landry era" (famous coach for the Dallas Cowboys) and the "Post-Tom Landry" era. As if he was the center of history.

But this is not the correct categorization. The eternal Son of God has come and spoke to the rebel-filled world that he created and offered pardon to all those who would take it.


So let none of us drift from the word of God that God has written for our benefit. Let us treasure it, for it has been sent from heaven for us.

Our Fearless Mountain Crawler

We decided on Sunday to go to Buisson-Rond park, spread out our blanket and just relax. It is a beautiful park right behind our school with a great view of the mountains around our little town, Chambéry. John also tried his hand at "mountain crawling".

John's 1st (yes, actually the first) crawl

I thought that John might crawl by the way he was moving his legs and hands at the same time, so I quickly grabbed the camera and put his toy in front of him and the rest is history. Son, welcome to the world of self-propulsion! Maw and Paw are proud. And yes, this really is the first crawl.

The fantastic flying john

Being this is the day of a famous John, here is one of (our) John's favorite activities: being (ever so slightly) tossed in the air.

Happy 500th John Calvin!

Its hard to imagine that John Calvin was just a little baby at one time, but he was born July 10, 1509. He was quite a pastor and theologian. He wrote commentaries on all of the Bible except Revelation (because he said he didn't understand it). His most famous work is The Institutes of the Christian Religion. It is excellent and here is a quote from it.

Here Calvin is saying that ultimately, born again Christians do not need a lot of convincing that the Bible is God's word, they know its true and authoritative because through it the Holy Spirit gives spiritual vigor to the heart of the Christian and testifies that the Bible is truly God's word.

The quote is worth the read.

"We ask not for proofs or probabilites on which to rest our Judgment [aka whether the Bible is true or not] but we subject our intellect and Judgment to it [aka the Bible] as too transcendent for us to estimate. This, however, we do, not in the manner in which some are wont to fasten on an unknown object, which, as soon as known, displeases, but because we have a thorough conviction that, in holding it, we have unassailable truth; not like miserable men, whose minds are enslaved by superstition, but because we feel a divine energy living and breathing in it-an energy by which we are drawn and animated to obey it, willingly indeed, and knowingly, but more vividly and effectually than could be done by human will or knowledge."

Amen brother, couldn't have said it better.

He said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."

Have you read John 14 recently? If you are feeling hopeless or discouraged (maybe about what’s happening in your own life, or maybe just by observing the darkness and death in the world around you), I would encourage you to read this chapter. It’s the account of a very reassuring and hope-giving conversation that Jesus had with his 11 disciples (minus Judas Iscariot) right after He told them that He would soon be leaving them to go to place where they could not follow (at least not at that time).

Jesus knows these guys are troubled at the news that He is leaving them soon, so He tells them, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)

It’s significant that Jesus told the disciples, “…you know the way to where I am going.” It’s pretty clear from the passage that they didn’t think they knew the way to wherever Jesus was going. Thomas, probably expressing the thoughts of the other disciples too, answered Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (v. 5)

What was Jesus’ response to that? He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (v. 6) Basically, Jesus was telling the disciples that because they knew Him, they knew the way to the Father, to whom He was going. He then went on to say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (v. 9)

The implications of this conversation are amazing! I know Jesus. What does that mean for me? It means I know the Father. It means I have seen the Father. It means I know the way to the Father. It means I have the truth. It means I have life. I know Jesus, and through Him I know the Father…and I have His promise that I will be with Him.

Dwelling on what it means to know and love Jesus (and to be known and loved by Him!) is the only way to keep hope, and peace, in the midst of a sin-filled world. I hope that you have this same joy in knowing Him.

But this also makes me think about people who have no Bible yet in their language. I can open the Bible in my language and read about who Jesus is, being reminded of everything I have in Him. But what about the people who can’t read, and don’t have any Bible in their language to read even if they knew how to read? Please keep praying with us for the people who don’t yet know Jesus, and for the Bible to be translated into many more languages so that people can know who Jesus is and trust Him as they read His words, finding true hope and life in Him.

pizza party

Tonight we had a spur-of-the-moment pizza party with some friends from school. Pictured here: Zilin, Ruth, Elizabeth and Khaled. It was a good time.

Marriage, Joy, and Witness

I've (Adam) been joyfully plowing through a biography on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I've made it to the second volume and am encouraged and convicted through most of it. Here is a quote from the book (which is actually a quote from a sermon on Phillipians) about marraige.

"Let us in our married relationships show how Christ binds together two persons in holy love...let us so live in this married relationship that people of the world looking at us should say, 'Would to God that we could live like that; would to God we were as happy as they are...' "

Happy 4th of July!

To all of you who are in, or from, the U.S.A.: we hope you're having a wonderful Independence Day. We were planning to join our church friends for a picnic here in Chambéry (in French, a "pique-nique"), but the plan was disrupted by a bout of thunder and rain. So...we settled for taking a family picture in red, white and blue, and making some patriotic-colored food.


Rasberries and crème légère (which tastes kind of like yogurt):

then there were four (teeth, that is!)

Two weeks ago, John had no teeth...and now he has four! Three have sprouted within the last couple days. Here's what he looks like with all these teeth:

An another note, I (Ruth) have completed my first 2 days of French class. The teachers are great. I am enjoying being part of a small, ethnically diverse class: my four classmates are from Japan, Sweden, England and Kuwait.