I'm Speechless After Watching this Will Ferrell Hilarious Acceptance Speech! SO FUNNY!

Others May: You Cannot

I received this via a friend who attended the same Bible College we did. He said they used to receive this upon graduation. I have been meditating on it for some time now. Selah.

"Others May: You Cannot"

by G. D. Watson (1845-1924).

If God has called you to be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious He may let others get credit for the work which you have done, and thus make YOUR REWARD TEN TIMES GREATER WHEN JESUS COMES.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other Christians never feel distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an Infinitely Sovereign Being, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in Jealous Love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

Settle it forever, then that you are to DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this PECULIAR, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, JEALOUS GUARDIANSHIP AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OVER YOUR LIFE, then you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

-from Faith, Prayer, and Tract League: Tract #76; Grand Rapids, MI 49504

The Creation Museum

Last Wednesday while on vacation we drove into Kentucky and visited The Creation Museum. The museum holds a young earth position, but whether one holds to a young earth or an old earth position, the main point is that God is the Creator. The museum takes you through what it calls "The 7 C's of History" to highlight God's plan: Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation. It was really neat walking through the story of God in history and seeing the displays of such things as the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, etc. The the museum itself, as a museum, was very well done. It's definitely worth a trip if you're in the area. Oh yeah, and a walk through the gardens, a visit to the petting zoo, and of course, a ride on the camel makes the day complete.

2 Books I Just Finished

Here are two great books I read over the past two weeks. Coincidentally, both involved the outdoors; specifically Colorado, one of my favorite states ever! 

Wisdom Chaser by Nathan Foster is his story of growing up the son of famed author Richard Foster, and how their distant relationship was healed and deepened by their shared experience of hiking in the Colorado Rockies. 

After the Fall by Craig Demartino is his story of surviving a 100 foot free-fall while rock climbing. Through incredible pain, confusion, and doubt, his faith was put to the ultimate of tests. The accident eventually led to him having his leg amputated. Figuring all of his hopes and dreams were gone, and that his life was over, he found rather that God was opening up doors for his life to be much more than he had ever imagined. 

Both authentic stories. Easy to read. Powerful life lessons. 

Happy 38th Anniversary to My Parents!

Today is my parents' 38th anniversary! I couldn't have asked for more amazing parents! Thanks for loving each other, being great friends with one another, and demonstrating a committed marriage relationship for all of us to emulate. We love you!

Please Move the Deer Crossings!

Happy Birthday to My Babe!

Yesterday was the birthday of the love of my life! We were sad to not have our eldest daughter with us, but we enjoyed another nice, relaxing day on vacation in Cincinnati. We ate a late breakfast at IHOP then drove downtown and visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and learned about the  incredible journey enslaved Black Americans took to find freedom in the 1800s and the network of abolitionists who fought to help them find freedom. It was a powerful experience. Following our visit we stopped briefly by the Reds Hall of Fame (didn't do full visit ... might tomorrow). While we were hanging around, a Reds employee came over pushing a cart with a pitching rubber and home plate. He was bringing them to be put into the Hall of Fame. He told us they were from Homer Bailey's No Hitter on July 2nd and offered to let us take a picture with them! So cool! We then enjoyed a light lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Ohio River. We then crossed the river into Kentucky, strolled around Newport Landing, then boarded the River Queen and enjoyed a nice dinner cruise on the river to celebrate Ady's birthday. It was very fun!

Natalia with pitching rubber and home plate from Homer Bailey's perfect game
on July 2, 2013 before it goes into the Reds Hall of Fame

Meeting Up with Another Bible College Friend

Yesterday we finally enjoyed a much-needed day of sleeping in. We then went for lunch at a Cincinnati favorite, Skyline Chili with an old Bible college buddy, Todd Porter. Todd is a long-time youth pastor who just transitioned into a new role as connections pastor at his church. We had a fun time catching up. We then went for dessert at another Cinci favorite, Graeters. Wow! Their famous black raspberry chocolate chip ice cream was to die for! Incredible! After saying our farewells, Adriana and Natalia went for manicures and pedicures, and I enjoyed some reading in Barnes and Noble. We then went and saw Monsters University - Natalia's 2nd time. Very cute and enjoyable! For dinner we went out to eat at Abuelo's Mexican Restaurant. A very nice and relaxing day. Claudia is having a blast at Camp Electric!

Dropping Off At Camp, Cincinnati Reds, AND Randomly Running Into Relatives 670 Miles From Home!!!

On Friday night we arrived home from our Georgia Missions Trip. On Saturday evening, at 6:30pm, after Adriana finished work, we loaded the car and hit the road. We drove to Pittsburgh, checked into our hotel at 2am, got 3 hours of sleep, then got up and hit the road again early Sunday morning, driving to Ohio where we dropped Claudia off for Camp Electric at Cedarville University. Adriana almost cried as it felt like we were dropping her off at college (which we will be doing in just 3 short years!). We're excited for Clau and praying for a great week of not only honing her musical skills, but also of an awesome encounter with God and building friendships.

After saying farewell to Claudia we drove to Cincinnati where Natalia and I went to a Reds game I sent my parents a picture of Natalia at the stadium. Mom then texted her sister Sarah (who used to live in Cincinnati, and now lives in Indianapolis) to tell her that we would be in Cinci for a few days. My Aunt Sarah texted her back saying that, coincidentally, she and my Uncle John were actually in Cincinnati, and were at Great American Ballpark watching the Reds play the Pirates with some of my other distant relatives. WHAT? Yep! We were both at the stadium! We got on the phone with each other and soon I spotted them waving at us just above the 3rd base dugout. I snapped a pictured of them waving at us, and Aunt Sarah said that while she was waving, they actually projected them on the jumbo tron, which we were unable to see as it was above our heads. We met up, and they actually had 2 extra seats, so we went down and sat with them for the rest of the game. Afterward we met up with Adriana and all enjoyed dinner together. So fun! I was wondering, what would the betting odds be that an aunt from Indianaopis and her nephew from New York would wind up in Cincinnati, on the same day, at the same stadium! As my wife put it: Either the world is too small, or the Larkin family is too big. lol!

Georgia Mission Day 6 ... Home Sweet Home!

Yesterday after packing, cleaning, and a quick visit to the bookstore, we were off at 11:30am. We stopped by Chick-Fil-A and had lunch - the first time for many to enjoy the nectar of the chicken gods! There were no seats available, so we had lunch picnic style under the trees. We arrived at the airport right when we were hoping to, returned the rental vans, and got everyone checked in. We discovered that our flight had a 2 hour delay, so that gave us more time together. We got all the kids dinner, and the flight home was smooth. It was neat watching the lightning storms out the windows as we navigated around them. All luggage arrived and everyone was picked up by very happy parents.

See all the trip pics here.