Post #1 :)

Well, after two years of occasionally contemplating a blog, we're finally getting around to creating one. We hope this can be a way for us to share our hearts and lives with friends and family, both close and far away.

We wanted to create this weeks ago, but every time we sat down to do it we couldn't think of a good name for the Shirk blog. Tonight, however, we were determined. And it's kind of funny how "Mine Ebenezer" came to us, but it really is great because it sums up everything we wanted this blog to be. The story goes as follows: I (Suzy) was reading the lyrics to "Shelter" by Sandra McCracken, a favorite song by a favorite artist. The song talks about how we have God's protection and promise, and therefore are able to ask hard questions and enter into hardship because we have this shelter, as we are in the "arms of a good father". I've done a terrible job of summing up the song in one sentence, but a line in the song says, "and when I am old, I will remember these things, like a mountain of stone...". Upon reading this, I turned to Drew and said, "Hey...do you think she's referencing the Ebenezer Stone here??" (The Ebenezer Stone is from a story in 1 Samuel, when God protected and provided for the Israelites, and Samuel erected a stone as a sort of monument, that they would remember God's goodness and mercy to them. 1 Samuel, chapter 7 if you want to check it out. And for what it's worth, I'm probably way off and, she probably wasn't referencing this.) But this led us to pull out the Bible, check out the story, and then check out a sermon on the Ebenezer stone by Spurgeon that we found on monergism.com. I'll get back to the sermon in a moment, but before that -- we just want to say that we are creating this blog partially for you, but also for us. Because we need to remember. Our life (as we have seen demonstrated in the past 24 hours...also more on that to come later) can go from calm to incredibly hectic in hours or minutes. It's easy for us to get sucked into a pattern of frustration and anxiety. So, we need to remember God's faithfulness to us -- His provision and His mercy. We hope that this will be a means of sharing little life updates and oddball things that go through our minds, but more so, a means of remembering. And we would love for you all to remember with us, because we need the encouragement of hearing how God provides for you, too. The actual title comes from the hymn, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". The song says, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come, and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood."

And we'll leave you with an excerpt from the aforementioned sermon by Charles Spurgeon.
"Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."—1 Samuel 7:12.
It is certainly a very delightful thing to mark the hand of God in the lives of ancient saints. How profitable an occupation to observe God's goodness in delivering David out of the jaw of the hon and the paw of the bear; his mercy in passing by the transgression, iniquity, and sin of Manasseh; his faithfulness in keeping the covenant made with Abraham; or his interposition on the behalf of the dying Hezekiah. But, beloved, would it not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the hand of God in our own lives? Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of his goodness and of his truth, as much a proof of his faithfulness and veracity as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before? I think we do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that he wrought all his mighty acts in days of yore, and showed himself strong for those in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare his arm for the saints that are now upon the earth. Let us review, I say, our own diaries. Surely in these modern pages we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our God. Have you had no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers, supported by the Divine presence? Have you walked through no fires unharmed? Have you not been saved in six troubles? yea, in seven hath not Jehovah helped you? Have you had no manifestations? The God that spoke to Abraham at Mamre, hath he never spoken to you? The angel that wrestled with Jacob at Peniel, hath he never wrestled with you? He that stood in the fiery furnace with the three holy children, hath he never trodden the coals at your side? O beloved, he has manifested himself unto us as he doth not unto the world. Forget not these manifestations; fail not to rejoice in them."
Here's the link if you want to read the whole thing...seriously, this quote is just the opening and doesn't even brush the surface of where he goes.
http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/0500.htm

Alright....it's been a long first post. Good night. More to come soon. :)