Merry Christmas!

The Hamlin Family photo-op

Just loungin' around...

I promise this was not posed. Anna Ruth apparently likes to rest her head on her hand when lying on her side.

A quick announcement, more to follow...

Anna Ruth Hamlin was born Tuesday morning (Dec. 6) at 6:59 a.m. EST 6 lbs 14.8 oz., and 19 inches long! She has fair skin and light brown hair. A few pictures are posted on the Redeemer website on the sidebar for all who are interested. Anna Ruth is named such because we want her to wait on her Redeemer as these women did. Also, she bears the name of Olivia's mother, Anna, and sister, Lisa Ruth. Praise God for a healthy delivery, and pray for healing for Olivia, as she is going to be okay, but has a lot of recovery to do.

A Hamlin Thanksgiving

All the Hamlins came up to our wee apartment in Blacksburg, since we couldn't travel down to Charleston this year. (Liv says that the basketball is getting quite heavy.) God blessed us all with good fellowship in His name, clear weather, and lots of good food and wine. Praise God for every good gift, including that wine. If he has not withheld from us his own Son, how will he not graciously give us all things?

Despite the ladies' reluctance to play, the Thanksgiving tradition of croquet did not end this year. The men bravely ventured into the cold for another ultimate croquet challenge. This year's course included an approximately 100 ft. shot, and the added difficulty of hills and very high winds. Though I gained a large lead early on, my father made a furious comeback, and we sat even for the final challenge on the course. In the end, I hung on, and for the first time in many years, the younger Hamlin took the victory.

What is the business of God's church?

Some great quotes from the latest issue of Modern Reformation:

The world will never consider Christ crucified relevant. The unchurched will never tell us that they want to hear the message of the cross. This is why the church doesn't ask people what they want to hear. The church preaches what people need to hear.

The unchurch offers the unchurched lots of things to do. The typical unchurch is a very busy place. Why? This is what the unchurched expect. The unchurched always expect less than God gives. The unchurched expect the church to be like any other volunteer organization. The church has something better.

The church isn't interested in giving sinners something to do. The church is interested in giving sinners the things God has done for them. The church isn't interested in keeping Christians busy. God has given our families, neighbors, and work to do that. The church is where God does his work.

~Todd Wilken "The Promise-Driven Church"

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" 1 Cor 1:18

Another quote(saying the same thing):

"We know what sinners want to hear. We want to hear about ourselves. We want to hear that God loves us just as we are. We want to hear how we can improve our lives and ourselves. We want to hear that we can do it--with a little help from Jesus. This is why the unchurch preaches so much about the Christian and so little about the Christ."~ Wilken

As for a definition of terms, the "unchurch" is the church that is built on what the people want out of a church rather than God's design.

Sorry for the length of the quote. I seriously didn't post the entire article.

My wife keeps saying she's pregnant...

As of Friday, Sept. 30, 6:00 pm. Liv is hiding a basketball underneath her shirt. And she's blocking the view. Who's that behind her? ...

Introducing our new baby!

We haven't named her yet, but she sure is beautiful, ain't she?

Of course, I'm more excited about my darling wife and our upcoming child than our new Ford Focus. But I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce the 2005 wagon to our audience. We really like it, and we are very blessed to have it.