shining face of Moses

Have you ever stopped to ponder the glory of God? For someone like me, it's hard to consider how BIG God is!

Last night, Carly's story-bible covered sections of Exodus. The children of Israel had [literally] been led out of Egypt by a pillar of cloud from God. In Chapter 19, God commanded the Israelites to come to the foot of Mount Sinai, for He was going to come down on the mountain in the sight of everyone. The special instructions for the Israelites were: "Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death." (Read more from Chapter 19 for more details.) I wonder if someone tried it. And died. God came down onto the mountain, and there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast and fire. Did the people think it was just a good light show? No, they were afraid. They trembled. Even the mountain trembled.

In Chapter 34, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, "the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God." Because of this, the Israelites were even afraid of Moses! So Moses put a veil over his face.

For a six-year-old listening to this story, many questions arise. What's a veil? Why did his face shine? Because God's glory is so great that even talking to God made it shine, and Moses didn't even look directly at God! Why were the people afraid? Because you die if you look at the fullness of God. Why? Because that's how holy God is. That's how perfect He is. I'm no good at answering 'why' questions. Coincidentally, Daddy came walking into the bedroom and answered them for me.

Do we realize how GREAT God is? This is a very feeble attempt at explaining it. God is SO great!

as of late

not in the mood

Carly wanted to capture Sister #3, Isaac, and I.

shootin' blue rock

hot springerle

preschool Christmas program

the Polar Express train, coming down the front steps

their first attempt at a gingerbread house from scratch

santa

A very important discussion took place the other day. The kids were discussing whether Santa was real or not. We've always told them the truth about Santa. Oh, maybe that dashes some fun childhood games that could have been, but we've still told them that Santa isn't real, reindeer don't fly, and we buy the kids' Christmas presents. You can call us (me) Humbug.

If you watch "Polar Express," you'll see our reasoning. When the Polar Express train arrives at the North Pole and Santa makes his entrance, there is an extraordinary amount of Santa-worshiping going on there by thousands of little elves and kids. Santa is exalted as one might exalt God, and that bothers me immensely. Perhaps this is just a "Polar Express" problem, but I think our society puts far too much emphasis on Santa Claus where all the praise should be to Jesus.

Isaac got to thinking about Santa the other day, and he concluded, "Santa Claus is old, and old people can't go down chimneys!!" He thought a while and exclaimed, "Well, if he DID go down the chimney, he'd burn his butt!" Carly jumped on that one. She said, "Isaac, don't say the B-word!"

Jesus is the reason for the season.