Muffy Toe

Yay for sweet parents, for God's blessings, for chai lattes, for helpful people, for heaters and couches, for rugby games and airport security guys, for blue skies and blankets.

As for New Zealand... I will leave you with a little Spurgeon. I read this in a coffee shop in Wellington.

"What is this fear of God? I answer first; it is a sense of awe of his greatness. Have you never felt this sacred awe stealing insensibly over your spirit, hushing, and calming you, and bowing you down before you down before the Lord? It will come, sometimes, in the consideration of the great works of nature. Gazing upon the vast expanse of waters, looking up to the innumberable stars, examining the wing of an insect, and seeing there the matchless skill of God displayed in the minutes; or standing in a thunderstorm, watching, as best you can, the flashes of lightning, and listening to the thunder of Jehovah's voice, have you not often shrunk into yourself, and said, "Great God, how terrible you are!" Not afraid, but full of delight, like a child who rejoices to see his father's wealth, his father's wisdom, his father's power - happy, and at home, but feeling oh, so little! We are less than nothing, we are all but annihiliated in the presence of the great eternal, infinite, invisible All-in-all.

...

While a time of sorrow and suffering is often, to the Christian, a time of confidence in his God; on the other hand, a time of prosperity is, to the same man, a time of holy fear. Not that he is ungrateful, but he is afraid that he may be. Not that he is proud; he is truly humble because he is afraid lest he should become proud. Not that he loves the things of the world, but he is afraid lest his heart should get away from God, so he fears because of all the Lord's goodness to him.

...

Take care, O you ungrateful souls that the Lord does not begin to strip you of the mercies which you have failed to appreciate! I pray that you may be led to confess whence all these blessings came, and to cry, "My Father, you shall be my Guide, henceforth and forever. May God grant to every one of us the grace to believe in Jesus, and to rest in him, and then to walk in the fear of the Lord all our days. Amen."

(C. Spurgeon's "A Fear to be Desired")