More wagon wheel

In our sermon from last Sunday, the pastor used this quote. It's from a sermon called, "God's Providence" by Charles Spurgeon:

I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens—that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.

I needed to see it written down, so I set out to read it in its full context. Boy. I'm really glad I did.

I wrote this blog post about the wagon wheel a while back. The following quote was in the same sermon as the above quote, and it jumped out at me:

 You know that, in a wheel there is one portion that never turns round, that stands steadfast; and that is the axle. So in God's Providence, there is an axle which never moves. Christian, here is a sweet thought for thee! Thy state is ever changing; sometimes thou art exalted, and sometimes depressed; yet there is an unmoving point in thy state. What is that axle? What is the pivot upon which all the machinery revolves? It is the axle of God's everlasting love toward his covenant people. The exterior of the wheel is changing, but the center stands forever fixed. Other things may move; but God's love never moves: it is the axle of the wheel; and this is another reason why Providence should be compared to a wheel.

Oh the whole sermon just brought me to tears. (I'm so thankful to God for the way He works.)

I'm putting it here so I can go read it again. And maybe again...

God's Providence

This is how God works here...

God has been pouring over me phrase lately: "Christ, be the Center..." 

Since you may be singing it already, I'll help you out:

But He has. Demanding that I make Him the center of everything. And I mean, that's a good thing. I'm not complaining. I definitely see this is as a way to live, continually and forever. 

I won't go off on that tangent now. 

I was watching a movie on Ruth Bell Graham, and she mentioned this as a focal point of her marriage. Christ as the center, like the center of an old wagon wheel. All the spokes point to Him, and in a marriage as you get closer to Him, the Center, you get closer to each other.

Yep, I can see that. 

And when He's the center, everything in your life radiates outward from Him too. It goes both ways. You live in the overflow of that Center. See?

So I begin to think in the way of an old wagon wheel a lot.

So here are the spokes of late:

1. We're studying American History, which I may or may not have gushed about here. I love it and studying history with the freshly minted Redemptive History on my mind has been challenging and extremely thought provoking too. (I have another post brewing about this also.) We've focused on the Puritans the last couple of weeks, and one of Laney's assignments has been to research the Great Awakening and write a mini-report on it. (Can I gush about how much I love Sonlight  right now? I mean, I love it.) We checked out books on Edwards and Whitefield, and only those two as not to overwhelm her too much, and I'm in absolute heaven reading and discussing all of this with my daughter.

2. Our Bible study group is doing a study on prayer. I don't like the study, and find myself researching and searching for information and resources on prayer. It's been challenging and hard, but I'm thankful for what God is teaching me, even through a study we don't like or agree with.