Bless her heart, Nancy, my bride, cares about health with a passion. I sat down to dinner with her on Saturday night to this lovely dish. I had to take a picture. As I uploaded it today, I got to thinking about just how much she cares for me in the way she looks after the food I eat.

Let me count the ways. That’s ground venison in the sauce. We know just where that animal had been. Free range, no hormones, lean, delicious meat. That’s spaghetti squash. I know it looks like pasta, but it’s not. It’s a vegetable. Got to admit, I miss pasta. By the way, aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t say, I am the vegetable of life? I am. Anyway, we don’t use pasta as a rule with meat because the protein and carbs don’t combine well and make it difficult on the system to digest. Add that to your Did you know? list of things.

Let’s see, what else? Basil garnish, from Nancy’s herb garden. Spring water from Zephyr Hills. Of course, my seemingly endless supplements. Anybody who has been to lunch or breakfast or dinner with me knows about that. Oh, yes, and then the plastic ware. Metal is TOXIC to the body, you know.

So welcome to my culinary world. If you are what you eat, then I’ve got a leg up on the competition. Thanks, babe, for keeping me alive, Lord willing, for as long as possible so we can serve the King as much as possible with good health and well souls (3 John 2).

Ungodliness is a poison which drinks up all serenity of conscience and inward springs of joy.

William Gurnall

A blog post yesterday from missionaries aiming to get to Salerno with Campus Crusade for Christ. Today comes a blog post from one couple on our team already there. You can check it out here.

Oxford Club met this morning. What a band of brothers. Where would we be without godly men in our lives? We tackled the first half of chapter 18 in J. I. Packer’s book, Knowing God. It dealt with the doctrine of propitiation.

Here are portions of my journal from 8.8.05. I was still finishing up a combo treatment of radiation and chemo for tongue cancer at the time.

(I almost posted a picture of a tumor that looked similar to the one on the right side of my tongue before my blessed ENT removed it from my mouth. It was far too ugly to subject any viewers to. I called it the monster. It was. It’s gone. It hasn’t come back. Thanks be to God. This is no small thing. I saw my oncologist recently who told me about another patient of his. She has head and neck cancer. The disease is out of control. Eventually it will eat through her carotid artery. What God spared me from! Amazing. Grace. Mercy. Every day is a gift, especially Sundays. Oh, Lord, have mercy on that woman. If she doesn’t know You, bring her to your blessed peace through the redeeming work of Jesus.)

I went to church, if only for twenty minutes, yesterday, for the first time in weeks. I miss the worship of God’s people. I shared and did the pastoral prayer. It was sweet. They greeted me with a standing ovation! (OGC loved me/us well through our cancer storm on our Sea of Galilee) They did not know I was coming. I cried and pointed heavenward. This is about God; it’s not about me. I am SO weak; He is MEGA strong. I testified of the truth of Romans 8:32 and future grace. I prayed. I exhorted. I blew them a kiss and left. Thank you, Lord. I won’t soon forget that Sunday. (I haven’t)

There is nothing like God’s people, the church for which the Son shed His blood, when they/it practice fervent love towards those who suffer.

That’s Brett & Nicole Bradley with Campus Crusade for Christ. They’ve got a heart for Salerno, Italy. God willing, they will get there soon, once the support comes in. This is the kind of missionary I want to promote – all out enamoured with the glory of God on display in His creation and in His redemption through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

They’ve got some extraordinary pics and an amazing video on their blog. You can check it out here. By the way, if you are any kind of regular visitor to my blog, and I am grateful that you are, please add this one to your list as well.

These two make me want to be a better pastor.

Dr. Al Mohler has an intriguing post on his blog about cooking in light of the new movie released today about Julia Childs. I felt particularly interested to read it in light of where we are in the gospel of John right now, namely the bread of life discourse in chapter six.

Here is a sample of what Dr. Mohler writes.

Christianity contributes a distinctive understanding of the importance of food and, by extension, the importance of cooking and hospitality. We understand that human beings are made to require food for sustenance. Our need for food is a reminder of our finitude. The food in our fields and all in our tables is a reminder of God’s loving provision for us. The Bible dignifies the loving preparation of food as one of the distinctive gifts of women. While cooking is not limited to women, throughout human history wives and mothers, sisters and daughters, have shown their love for and commitment to their loved ones through the careful preparation and celebration of food. When this is lost, something more than culinary knowledge is lost.

You can check it out here.

Justin Taylor has posted an elaborate inteview with the writer and musician. You can check it out here.

Members of our leadership team gathered last night to pray for Valor Edwards Gjertsen. He’s the one still in the womb belonging to the radiant young lady seated on the left.

This was new for me. Prayer cards with various Scriptures were passed out. Each of us prayed the word of God back to the Father with Valor’s name inserted appropriately in the text. What a sweet time!

I’m wondering if it is too late to do something like this for me? I’ll only be 57 next month.

Man, Gurnall was terrific this morning.

But let the saints humbly shout “Hallelujah!” When God made you a holy man or woman He gave you gates and bars to your city. Now through His grace you are able to defend yourself with the continual comforts which heaven sends to withstand Satan’s power. Once you were a timid slave to him but now he is under your feet. The day you became holy God firmly planted your foot on the serpent’s head. Your lusts–mighty strongholds which gave him easy control–have been take out of his hand. Satan has been dislodged and can never again set himself up as king of your soul.

All together now, HALLELUJAH!