Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
This is the third interview of a Christian. The guests have all been randomly chosen and interviewed. Their answers are authentic and original. However their identity has been anonymised. For earlier interviews click here. In this edition we sit down and listen to a Christian home schooling mum as she shares her world view and the gospel. Ready?
ATCT [A Twisted Crown of Thorns ®] : Sorry you are masked from your audience today. What is a typical week in your life like?
CHRISTIAN: A typical week in my life is anything but typical. We run a small farm and home school two boys, so most days are busy, between lessons and farm chores. Spring is busy with the arrival of baby animals, summer and fall are spent in the garden, or in the kitchen preserving the harvest and winter is a bit slower, but it is also the time we are well into schooling. I am also a youth group leader on Wednesday nights year round, and a Sunday school teacher for a teen class, both of which require preparation time in advance. I am regularly active in other church activities as well, like singing services, dinners, and fun activities for the children. We are busy, but blessed.
ATCT: Did you have any Christian influence in your youth or childhood?
CHRISTIAN: Not really. I grew up more a cultural Christian than an actual Christian. There were godly people in my life, but not in my everyday life. Spirituality was considered a good thing, but my family was not regular in church attendance.
ATCT: What is the gospel in one sentence?
CHRISTIAN: We, who were lost, eternally separate from God by our own sin, with no way to repair the gulf, have been granted the gift of eternal life and reconciliation to and by God through His Own action on our behalf — paying the price we owed but could not pay, whereby we receive the reward we do not deserve — Grace.
ATCT: If you woke up this morning and found your self transported back in time, which preacher in the last 500 years would you like to listen to? Why?
CHRISTIAN: Charles H. Spurgeon. The Prince of the Preachers. His sermons, more than 150 years old now, still speak to me every time I read one of them. I would have loved to hear his oratory, speaking to thousands without aid of a microphone. I can only imagine what it would have been like to hear him in person, and watch God work through him.
ATCT: How would you like to be remembered by your HUSBAND and closest family?
CHRISTIAN: I would like my husband, children, and family to remember me as a person who loved the Lord, and who strove to do His will, even so imperfectly. I would love for them to know that I was a sinner saved by His grace and not my own actions, knowing that even when I failed, I did my best.
ATCT: How easy (do you think) is parenting?
CHRISTIAN: Parenting is the singular most difficult, and most rewarding, job I have ever undertaken in my life. We came late to parenting, adopting our children when we were more than 40 years old. I have had to learn how to be a parent during a time when most of my friends are toying with the idea of grand-parenting. It is maddening, frustrating, difficult, and at the same time, wonderful, watching your children grow and learn, often making the same mistakes you did. It has often made me praise God knowing what an Awesome Father He is to me, even knowing how many times I have lived my life in a way that I am sure has grieved Him far more than my own children have ever frustrated me.
ATCT: Your teenage daughter comes weeping to you and tells you she is pregnant. She doesn’t know who the dad is. (Yup, it’s that bad). She feels she has let you down and feels disillusioned about her walk with God. She got a phone number from a friend who can arrange to “sort out” this inconvenient unplanned pregnancy. It’s all a big shock to you. What do you do?
A) Pretend you didn’t hear her and continue reading your news paper.
B) Tell her to dial the number REAL QUICK!
C) Let her know in no uncertain terms she has brought shame to you and your testimony. And she has therefore left you with no option but to disown her.
D) OTHER:
CHRISTIAN: Wow. Well, the first thing I would do is to tell her I love her. I would remind her that she is not the only person in this world who has made poor choices, or has found herself in a situation she did not know how to handle. And then I would remind her that each life given on this planet is a gift from God. I would tell her that there is no sin that cannot be forgiven, and that even in this God has a purpose. Some of the most difficult times in our lives give rise to the biggest changes IN our lives. It is these times when God molds us into the person He wants us to be. We can choose wisely and prayerfully seek God’s guidance in these times, or we can let them knock us off track. I would promise to stand with her during the months and years ahead, and then we would make an appointment to begin getting her some prenatal care planning for the birth of the child into our family.
ATCT: We are sending you to a desert island. You can only take one book aside from the Bible. Which book would you take and why?
CHRISTIAN: LOL oh! I thought it said one book OF the bible lol. That is not nearly so difficult J Is John Gill’s commentary of the whole Bible one book? 🙂 No, actually, all I need of God I can find in scripture. The word is complete. Therefore I would probably take along some survival related book — since I would be stranded on a desert island 🙂
ATCT: What attribute of God do you struggle to understand?
CHRISTIAN: His Sovereign Grace. Not that I question his Sovereignty; I don’t. The question is not whether He IS — there is no doubt that He orders the entire world, makes nations rise and fall, and all things according to His purpose. I have no problem with *any* of that. My questions are more the whys associated with it. Why He would choose one person over another. The election of Grace. And I know that my questions are simply because I cannot see what He can see. The answers will never come this side of Heaven. And I rest in His Faithfulness, knowing that even when I don’t understand all that happens, that nothing takes Him by surprise.
ATCT: What are the words of your favourite Hymn?
CHRISTIAN: When peace like a river, attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well (it is well) With my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well, with my soul!
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.. It is well (it is well) With my soul (with my soul), It is well, it is well, with my soul!My sin, oh the joy, of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole. Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Oh my soul. It is well (it is well) With my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well, with my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul), It i swell, it is well, with my soul!But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul! (It is well (it is well), with my soul (with my soul). It is well, it is well, with my soul!And Lord, haste the day, when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall resounds, and the Lord shall descend! Even so, it is well, with my soul. It is well (it is well) With my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Thank you very much for sparing a few minutes of your precious time. I hope it is well with your children as it will be with your soul. [More anonymised interviews here]
Soli deo gloria!
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 