We’re off to see the wizards, the homeschool wizards. At least, my muffin mix and I will get to admire them from afar as I sell books in the exhibit hall at a homeschool convention. I tend to agree with Konk regarding homeschool conventions, but there are many who are new to home education who need to get some support and encouragement, and a homeschool conference can be a great shot in the arm if it doesn’t kill you with an overdose of too much of a good thing. I’ve noticed, too, that many conventions now feature speakers who give encouragement in family and spiritual issues. This can be helpful to those who face the inevitable downs that come after the ups of homeschooling, particularly those who want to be in it for the long haul but who don’t know how they are going to make it through the week.

I don’t know how the internet access will be while we’re gone. If I get online I’ll give an update. My online book sales will be temporarily out of commission until we return.

Our friend Rick Saenz has been busy working on guides to accompany the excellent books he sells through Draught Horse Press. The guides should be available soon. If you don’t have their catalog, write to Rick and he’ll send it along, though you also can see their offerings on the website. The Saenzes share similar philopsophies to the Friedrichs about family and homeschooling; they seek to raise godly men and women who will be smart cookies to the glory of God, showing them how to love learning and encouraging them to use their knowledge in His service, whether they become truck drivers or doctors, as long as they obey God in everything and raise their own families to do the same.

I promised to give you the book recommendation passed on to me by Becky Morecraft.

So much that is foundational to our faith is found in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. As Mr. Blogpipe, quoting Douglas Kelly, reminds us:
1. There are 165 passages in Genesis that are either directly quoted or clearly referenced in the New Testament.
2. There are over 100 references or quotes to chapters 1-11.
3. The New Testament refers to Genesis more than to any other Old Testament book.
4. Every New Testament writer refers to something in Genesis 1-11 at least once.

When the foundational things that are clearly taught in those first chapters of the first book of the Bible are attacked, then there is nothing to support the faith we profess. I don’t know whether the doctrine of a literal six, 24-hour days creation or the doctrine of the role of woman as helpmeet to the man is more under attack, but both are certainly assaulted by those both in and out of the church. One of the reasons that I constantly remind you of the biblical distinctions between men and women is that to deny, or even blur, those distinctions is to deny the order of creation. Adam was created first, and Eve was created to be his helpmeet in his task of taking dominion over the creation.

Back to the book, the one I promised to recommend. It is called The Art of God: The Heavens & The Earth by Ric Ergenbreit. He is a very talented landscape photographer who has used his gift to show the glory of God in His creation. His book is filled with awesome pictures and Scriptures which remind us of Who the real artist is. Mr. Ergenbreit also has added his commentary about the spiritual truths he has discovered in the beauty of God’s creation:

The art of God was created by the Word of God, spoken outside of time and space, possessing the inherent power to bring forth visible physical matter from invisible spiritual energy. Hence, all that exists, from the whole of the cosmos to its subatomic particles, bears the clear impression of God.

Were this said of the Mona Lisa or the Sistine Chapel we would think it totally absurd. Why then, when even the simplest molecule in nature is infinitely more complex and perfect than these masterworks by da Vinci and Michelangelo, do we give less credence to the higher art form and spurn its Designer and Creator? Perhaps we need to take a closer look at the art of God before blindly accepting the critic’s opinion of its origin and meaning.

If you clicked on the above link, you will see that the entire book is online. But even though Mr. Ergenbreit has so generously shared his book on the internet, his family still needs to eat. If you like it, why don’t you consider giving some copies for Christmas presents? Boldly reminding people that God is our Creator is imperative in this day when the foundations are being destroyed by those who embrace all the “isms” that tempt them away from the great “I AM.”

This month Steve and I have been blessed to spend time with many incredible people (in addition to our incredible children). You may recognize the names of some; others were new to us but tremendous blessings, as well, as we had many conversations with folks from all over the country who are striving to serve God by tending their gardens.

Yesterday we took Ben to the Bay Area to drop him off for the West Coast Worldview Conference this week. The whole family made the trek, and we went to church with our friends at Reformed Heritage where we had the privilege of listening to Joe Morecraft preach. He warned us at the beginning of the message that he hadn’t traveled all the way across the country to preach a short sermon, and I restrained myself from shouting, “Amen!” as I didn’t think it would be a Muffinish thing to do.

We have listened to many of Pastor Morecraft’s sermons at SermonAudio, particularly the series where he has been preaching through the entire Bible, a book at a time, in a year. We really appreciate his meaty teaching and his devotion to the truth of God’s Word. Hearing him in person was a wonderful experience, and we could see that he is a man who loves the Bible more than anything in this life; we have no doubt that he would lay down his life to guard the truths entrusted to him as an elder in the church and a child of God. In fact, that’s what the sermon was about: the importance of guarding “doctrine,” a word which has acquired many negative connotations because of assaults on the centrality of God’s revealed truth. Pastor Morecraft took us through I and II Timothy, pointing out the places where sound doctrine is emphasized over and over. I jotted down in the back of my Bible where he said that “biblical doctrine is central to a faith that has Christ as its object.” He pointed out that you can’t believe in God unless you believe God.

Another thing that Pastor Morecraft preached is that when we are faithful to both teach and live God’s revealed truth, it polarizes…it separates the church from the world. We must season all we do and say with love, but there will be those who recoil from the truth, and our job is not to water it down to make it easier for them to swallow. We are to “let God put the chips where they may fall.” Some want to avoid the polarization for the sake of unity, but it is the predestined effect of truth, the antithesis between the church and the world. This is not an excuse to become brusque and offensive in our presentation of the gospel or our discussion of other doctrines, but going to the other extreme is just as unbiblical. Revealed truth is not negotiable, he said, whether it’s doctrine we consider central to the faith, or other doctrines which may not pertain to soteriology (our salvation) but are not to be considered “non-essentials.” Nothing in the Bible is non-essential.

I think you get the idea…there is lots to chew on when you listen to a sermon by Joe Morecraft. He is also a walking encyclopedia of history, and he will be talking about the history of the Reformation this week at the conference. If you want a real treat, listen to the dozens of messages on the Reformation by Pastor Morecraft at SermonAudio.

After church, we went to the home of the pastor of Reformed Heritage, Gary Wagner, where he and his wife (with a little help) had prepared a huge spread for everyone. We munched on barbequed salmon and chicken (for my Southern friends: that means it was cooked on a barbeque grill, grilled, in other words…the only sauce was tartar sauce for the fish) and many other delectable things. Though I enjoyed the sermon immensely, I have to say that the highlight of my day was having an opportunity to spend quite a long time visiting with Becky Morecraft, Joe’s wife.

Steve later asked the girls, “Did you notice how beautiful Mrs. Morecraft is? What have I always told you about what makes a girl beautiful? It’s the love of God in her heart that shines through her eyes.” I hesitate to call her a Prairie Muffin when she hasn’t called herself one, but I think you Prairie Muffins would really like Becky. It was so encouraging to talk with her, and she loves books, too (tomorrow, a new book recommendation)! I also hesitate to tell you that she’s Judy Rogers’s sister, because she is a talented lady in her own right, but she is proud of her sister and you can hear her singing on Judy’s recordings. She sang for us last night (a couple of songs with her husband, who has a great baritone) in an impromptu mini-concert at her husband’s urging, who is very proud of her beautiful voice.

Becky has published a book of poetry (it can be ordered from their church by contacting church(at)chalcedon(dot)org), and she gave me a copy last night, with permission to put one on my site. Her family has Southern roots which go back many generations, to the days when King George ruled the land. The book is called Roots and Vines, and she has woven those elements into her poems as a metaphor of her connectedness to her place and to her family. Can you guess why I asked to post this particular poem?

Reading Between the Vines
(for Joe)

Theology arms you,
my gallant knight,
as you arise,
laying your beloved book aside
to turn off the beans and
check out the Band-Aid supply
then patiently sharpen the blade of the hoe,
preparing to save me from my briary cage,
praying that the brambles,
sure to come,
will sanctify.

The Friedrich clan with the Morecrafts outside Gary Wagner’s office/library

I’ve lived in the city, I’ve lived in the suburbs, but it’s the country life for me. When we first moved to the country, the most pleasing change was the silence. It’s not a quiet silence…there are crickets chirping at night, occasional airplanes fly overhead; but I was especially startled by the lack of car noise, doors slamming and engines starting, to which I had become accustomed in all the neighborhoods I had lived. And I could see so many more stars! My space seemed wider, my breathing easier. I hadn’t realized the claustrophobic feelings until they were gone.

Just because we live in the country doesn’t mean we have gone “back to the land.” We are not very good farmers, though we live on 34 acres. We have had goats, rabbits, chickens (there are currently 7 Delawares and Barred Rocks residing in the coop) and gardens—I once grew a bumper crop of Yukon Gold potatoes—but we have learned firsthand that God wasn’t kidding when he cursed the ground with thorns and thistles, aka blackberries and star thistle, and we have to contend with four-legged predators instead of two-legged ones, in the form of mountain lions and black bears. Currently I’m battling a pesky gopher that has been ruining the grass in my backyard. We even have plenty of serpents in our Garden, diamondback rattlers.

We don’t often complain about our struggles with nature, however, as we are so grateful to have the blessings of our small-town life. We can’t go to town without running into several people we know. It’s nice to have everyone know our names, and not because they read it on their computerized register when we swiped our membership card at the grocery store.

Though life is slower here, and the backwoods contingent is colorful, there is a lot of culture represented in this small community. It is home (though I read that he may recently have passed away) to poet, dramatist and author Cornel Lengyel, whose poetry was once praised by George Santayana. His wife, Teresa, was the love of his life and the subject of some of his poems. Here’s a poem Cornel wrote for her:

SONNET FOR TERESA
I cannot claim to make your beauty deathless.
Your loving self will long outlast my rhyme.
From words I build no cage to catch your breathless
Music, unbetrayable by time.
I cannot boast my love will prove immortal:
The pyramids are crumbling with the moon,
And time will find the fairest garden portal
To choke with sand the flowers of night or noon.

We walked these same hills before one evening
And ate red apples by a pool of Mars;
Like playful Gods who send far worlds careening,
We flung our apple-cores among the stars.
And since I could not trap eternities
I caught but that one moment: here it is.

Teresa was the first public librarian in town and she’s remembered for purchasing the oldest building in town, a house which was going to be razed, restoring it to be enjoyed by future generations of country bumpkins. A local artist recently honored the Lengyels with a bronze statue of them which resides next to the quaint coffee shop I like to visit for lunch with friends or a mocha after stocking my bookstore. There are many other artists, poets, authors, songwriters (I met a gentleman at the library who teaches in a Tennessee university during the school year, writes country-western songs and uses the computer at the library for the internet) and intellectuals who have forsaken the rat race to start a new life in our small town (including our friend who has a Ph.D in biology, was a university professor and a museum curator, but is now in the book business).

I even know a top-notch, world-class genius software developer who loves technology but wouldn’t give up his country life, even for a new dual cpu 2.5 ghz Macintosh G5 PowerMac.

All this to ask, which are you: a country mouse or a city mouse? Why?

If anyone thinks they are a country mouse, or want to be, you might check out some of the articles about the simple life at Countryside Magazine online.