Announcing the Arrival of Brennan James Shedd!!

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Hello Everyone--

It's been quite a month for the Shedd Household! I'm including our special announcement below . . . And I hope to get back to MWF blogging starting NEXT week! I've been doing lots of musing recently, but it's mainly been looking at an amazing gift of God's creation to the Shedd family!


We are pleased to announce the Birth of

Brennan James Shedd
Born at 4:31 p.m. on July 19, 2010
8 lb. 14 oz. – 20.5 inches


He joins his deeply grateful parents and siblings—
Olivia (13), Sophia (11), Stephen (9), Ava (7), Susanna (5), Laura (3), and Juliana (2).



Brennan means “Little Raven,” and its spiritual connotation means “Gift of God.” We pray that like the ravens that fed Elijah, Brennan will feed God’s People . . . and that as much as he is a “gift of God” to us . . . he might be a “gift of God” to many others!

 James means “Nurtured by God” and is named after Brennan’s maternal grandfather, as well as James the Just—the first leader of the Jerusalem Church, the brother of Jesus, and the author of the Book of James.

We have been declaring Isaiah 58:11-12 over him since the point that we knew he was a “him” :)

Isaiah 58:11-12 (NKJV)—“The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought [interesting how Chesapeake has been in a moderate drought the past month], and strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to dwell in.”



Thank you so much to everyone who has joined us in prayer for the safe, healthy delivery of this little one . . . it’s a joy to have God’s people surrounding us! God answered our prayers—he (and Alyson!) are both doing terrific! (For those of you who are familiar with this, the Apgar score was 8/9!)

May your lives be richly blessed today, just as we are rejoicing in His blessings!

Brad and Alyson Shedd






Using Biblical Language with our Children

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How much should we “simplify” biblical words and vocabulary for our children? I found this passage from Answers Magazine (July-September 2010, p. 18) to be very helpful:

Have you ever attended a kindergarten program? If so, you were probably amazed that such little children could learn and recall so much.

Children understand and can learn a lot more than we think they can.

So why downgrade the education in Sunday school and other settings? Obviously children won’t understand everything an adult would; they need a foundation before tackling more difficult concepts. But does that mean we should avoid unfamiliar words or soften definitions? Does that make our teaching easier to understand, or does it simply give a false concept of truth?

One example of a mature word that can enrich a child’s vocabulary is abide. Christ commands in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” Here the word abide has a definite meaning, and it is the word used in most English translations.

If a child is taught some other, less specific word here, what will he do when he comes across this word in the Bible later? It is much better to use the biblical language and explain what it means. That way, we develop students’ understanding of biblical language in general and prepare them to pick up on connected thoughts in Scripture later.

Let’s do our best not to eliminate key Biblical concepts in our attempt to make the Bible understandable! Our children can truly understand more than we realize!!

Our Job as Christians in the World . . .

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What is our job concerning those who do not yet know Christ? Certainly we are to be in the “disciple-making” business (Matthew 28:18-20), but it’s very helpful for us to clarify what is our part, and what is God’s part . . . Here is a helpful answer from Carl Kerby in the latest Answers magazine (July-September 2010):

Our job is not to convict or convert. That is the Holy Spirit’s job. Our job is to converse (Mark 16:15). Christians must become more visible in the culture. We’ve been hiding our light under a basket far too long.

If we say we love Jesus with our mouths, our actions should also reflect that love. To quote a friend, “Jesus paid much too high a price for us to pick and choose who should hear the gospel” (Romans 10:14-15).

Let’s do some “conversing” today . . . and let’s be free to converse with all! Maybe that brief conversation will be just the seed that will sprout into spiritual life in the near future!

Resting on the Resurrection

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It’s amazing how Christ will show up in what seems to be the most unlikely places in the Bible! I was working through Genesis 8 recently, and I discovered this comment from Dr. Henry Morris concerning Genesis 8:4—

This “resting” of the ark, after protecting its precious cargo against the terrible cataclysm for five long months, occurred exactly 150 days after the Flood began. It may be significant that on the anniversary of this date many years later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The seventh month of the civil year used by the Jews (almost certainly the calendar used in the Flood narrative) was later set as the first month of their religious year. The Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month, and Christ rose three days after the Passover. Thus, He “rested” in Joseph’s tomb and then rose from the dead on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the civil calendar.

The Ark had gone through the most catastrophic event ever to occur upon the earth, and the day that it at last “rested” became the day of Resurrection so many years later. Likewise, our world went through such a season of darkness and unrest, and the Day of Victory began on that wonderful Easter morning. Our entire lives and faith needs to “rest” on this critical moment, just like the Ark foreshadowed this thousands of years earlier.

Forgiveness and Marriage

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Marriage is an amazing gift from God . . . and an amazing challenge! Elisabeth Elliot shares some helpful comments about how critical forgiveness is in the marriage relationship:

                “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who apologize” is the way many of us pray the prayer the Lord taught the disciples. Jesus told us to forgive those who trespass.

                No marriage can survive without forgiveness. Marriage is a long-term, intimate, all-inclusive, no-holds-barred, day-to-day, and year-after-year commitment between two sinners. How will they get along without forgiveness?

How’s that for a tremendous definition of marriage?? If we’re married, let’s resolve anew to walk in the forgiveness of Christ, recognizing how desperately we contribute to the “mess” ourselves!
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