Yesterday was the first day of spring, but the weather could have fooled me because it is cold and pouring rain. We even had some thunder. This picture to the right is of the wall in Tyler’s nursery where my good friend, Missy, is painting a lovely mural of a picture we liked in an old Pooh book. It’s originally of the classic “hundred acre wood” but we’ve made a few additions such as “Blakey Point”, “Ty’s House”, and, in the bottom right corner, the pond and fountains where we go for walks.

Now that Tyler is a little older I’ve been taking him places. Not many–just Bobby’s office, a couple of stores, and of course, Starbucks. I like (and so does he) to put him in our baby carrier, which is like a backpack but goes in the front. I was excited when two of the high school girls, Kelsey and Michaela, put our stroller together for us. The infant seat snaps on the top until he’s big enough to sit in the stroller seat. It will be nice to use that if we are out for longer periods of time. Having people over is another great thing about Tyler being a little older. He’s much better with an eating-sleeping routine so having people over is much easier than it was the first couple of weeks.

I am really enjoying my iPod these days. Not only do I have all my music readily available but I can hear sermons too! I’ve been downloading John MacArthur’s messages from Grace to You and just finished a four part series “A Call For Discernment”. Grace to You messages are only about 20 minutes long, which is just about how long it takes to feed Tyler, so I have found that to be a great use of that time during the day.

In his series on discernment MacArthur preaches from 1 Thessalonians 5:21–”Test all things; hold fast what is good.” He talks a lot about how in our culture people not only shy away from making judgment, but it is seen as a bad thing. People are so afraid of stepping on anyone’s toes, no one wants to say that they are right and the other is wrong. In being so grey we end up forfeiting any good judgment. In each segment he keeps saying that good discernment will flow from being rooted in God’s Word, “Scripture is the standard by which all claims to truth must be tested.” I was very encouraged by these messages because I want to live with a Berean perspective. It is sad how so many Christians fall into the extremes. Many seem harsh, divisive and unloving in trying to exercise good judgment. Or others, never wanting to make any judgments at all, end up tolerating unbiblical teaching and sinful behavior. It is imperative that Christians learn to test all things and hold fast only to the Truth. If you would like to listen to these messages just follow this link and you can download them for free! “A Call For Discernment.”