Some things die hard!?

Like the old man.

The same old struggles.  The same old sins.  Symptoms of a broken angry heart. 

The tongue is the tail of the heart...A lashing tongue is the symptom of an angry heart.

Ann Voskamp

HA!  Who am I?  This is absolutely ridiculous.  I should never speak again.
Not that I think Ann's comment is ridiculous.  I am.

...for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.  Luke 6:45

In truth I don't even want to put the first part of that verse on the quote because it is so incriminating.  So here it is

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil

The hours run short.
So does my patience.
How does the saying go?-  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  Or for me is it rather When the going gets tough, the heart skin gets tough.  The calloused heart breaks people.  Myself included.  Maybe most of all.
Then I am so very thankful for the Cross.  For Easter.  And that we are the Easter people.

The friend who is as a brother asked something that has my mind whirling these days.

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? -Jeremiah 17:9

This is at the core. What do we do with that, those of us with new hearts?  Those that are new creations.  Because that is what we are.

I wrestle.

Jeremiah 33:29-41 states

I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.  I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them.  And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.  I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

His great work, stated even more emphatically in Ezekial 36:22-32

Therefore say to the house of Isreal, thus says the Lord GOD:  It is not for your sake, O house of Isreal, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name,  which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them.  And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.  I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules...I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses... Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.  It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you.  Be ashamed and confounded for your ways...

 And Romans 5

...and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...but God shows his love for us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 

And on through chapter 6.

Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 So what? I am dead to sin, never to sin again?  I know much better than this.  Either that or there is something seriously sick in my heart... Ah, I read on.

THIS BODY OF DEATH.

 For I do not understand my own actions.  For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...for I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.  For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing...
Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

So, this body of death I carry around.  This rotting corpse so often spilling metritis on those who dare to come near is sin at work within me.
Thanks be to God that He is my righteousness, and that his Grace abounds much more than the old Adam at work with in me.

So I can read Romans 8 and REJOICE! I GET A NEW  BODY! AND THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS!

And yet, I am in massive frustration because our newness is both Already and Not Yet.  A new heart in the already sealed deal, and a deal that is still being worked out.  A heart that is new and  a mind that must be set on the things of the Spirit and a Dead corpse that will be made new. 

So, again I must throw myself at the mercy of the Saviour.  Do your work oh LORD! Thank you that it is already finished! Teach me how much to trust this heart that you have given me.

Dust and Rain

  Dust swirled.  It reminded me of our hearts.  Dry. Weary.  A failing of such promise.  A spring with no rain following a winter without snow.  Hot holy week.  The soil scorched like our hearts.  The rivers had no winter melt surge.  Sounds like our lives.  Sounds like my life.  Where is the promise?  The failures, the foibles. Call them what they are: SIN.  Sin everywhere.  Wreaking havoc.   Destroying relationships.  I feel the crust forming.
The battle with bitterness.  
The battle with self-love. 
The battle with self-righteousness.
One battle that I find so hard to fight.   I feel I fall from bitterness to self-righteousness to self-love to .... 

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against my members.  

This near daily struggle.  I have a brother that hates me.   I pause to even mention it because I do not trust my heart on this matter.  It has been years in the making.  Years in the playing out.  I tire...
Season pass.  I think my heart is healed.  Relationship no.  Heart yes.  Then recently day after day. Waves returned by three fingered "read between the lines".  The gut wrenches.  Even as I write.  A hello returned with in days by being almost driven off the road.  Recently these things have escalated.  The dust was blowing across the growing bareness of my heart.  Bitterness and self-righteousness rearing their ugly heads. 

Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Our great weekend of hope.  Christ's victory! The cross!!! The empty grave!!!
The rains started falling...

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.  By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 And fell all week.  A specific timely encounter and my heart is before my eyes.   And Christ's reign is on my heart.

[Walk] according to the Spirit...those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit...To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace...But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you."

 So, I run to the Word.  Repentance.  Romans. The rain falls...soft and long. And I recall...

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children then heirs-heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
-Romans 7-8

Thank you Lord for...

220.  The beauty of chlorophyll.

221.  The beauty of chlorophyll and sunshine at work after warm rains.

222.  That Christ doesn't leave us to our own devices and efforts.

223.   miles and miles of safe, fun travel with my peeps.

224.   grace.  Without we would have nothing good.

225.  predominantly healthy cattle through the calving season so far.

226.  fat, lazy, friendly dogs.

227.  those who are the front lines giving their lives for the Gospel

228.  being able to watch my son grow.

229.  the crack of dawn at 6:00am

230.  birds praising their maker each dawn.

Want to join in the gratitude reflection fun? Click on the banner below to check out the Gratitude Community!

For what?

The amassing of wealth.  Building security.  Creating comfort.  Getting a name. Glory for one's self.  Getting a good return.  Living in comfort.  Creating the world we always wanted.  Spending one's self on behalf of the King.  Creating Jobs. Using the talents we have been given to get a good return.

What is our ambition? With what are we wrapped?  What do we want in this short life?  What to consume our years?

Questions swirl.  Frustrations ebb and flow.  Those lead to a breaking point and once again we are at the cross.  From where does our hope come from.

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 
For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever, Amen.
...Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect...
I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think... For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ... Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us...
Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil;  hold fast to what is good.  Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.  Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 
Romans 11

At the cross we are equal.  All desperate.  All dead in our transgressions.
Because of the new life in Christ we are all equal.  All with gifts. 
Why do hands and feet and heads and ears squabble?  Why do we strive to exalt ourselves as if we needed no other and were made for no other.
Forgive us Lord.  Forgive me Lord. 
By grace Lord make our love genuine.
Teach us to hate evil with the same hatred you have for it.
Teach us to outdo each other in honor.
Living in harmony with one another.

Be constant in prayer.

Teach us to pursue a holy ambition.  Spurring each other on in good works to you. Spending ourselves for the King and his Kingdom.  There will be our greatest Joy:  Jesus our Risen Saviour!
 Only you!

All only for your Glory!

New Life

The celebration of new life is coming.

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For one who has died has  been set free from sin.  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;  death no longer has dominion over him,  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God."

However, first...

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

Today was full.
Frustrated/futility , groaning/anger, new birth.
Lunch came late.  What was almost ready was soon to wait.
Two feet for too long.  Only two feet, nothing more. 
And so the need to explore this dilemma.  Two feet for too long. Only two feet, nothing more is not good.
New life comes "easy" to the heifer bred with Jersey.
Only two feet, nothing more should not be.
An anomaly.
Frustration.
Antithesis!
The calving gear gathered.  Chains on dainty legs.
Calf gone backward? Head Back? Leg down? My thoughts whorl.
The heifer lays there waiting, pushing, straining.  Pains of childbirth, but new life has not come.
Hours have passed, but now help has come, hope has come. Seemingly.
The heifer has had enough of this help.  She moves on, on, and on.  Help tries, but only ends up groaning, angry, wrath quickly rising.

"But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness."

God is! Today I fail at imitating.  
More help comes.  The one who knows what it is to be in the throws of childbirth.  The one who understands.  The one quick to speak peace to a mother in distress.  My anger persists as my phone disseminates, and I become covered in what is now spewing out of my mouth.

Then the one who knows being a mother prevails.  The unbound is bounded and he who is all too familiar with a desperate need for grace gets to the work of birthing.
The answer. A head back. Dainty as are the legs.
Tired arms push legs back in.  The mother groans like none yet heard from her.  She can not understand.  Only one thought, one object. EXPEL THE CALF!
Yet as Christ knows the painful work that needs to be done,

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

so he with tired arms knows the only way out is by going back in.  This calf will only come through his work.  The harder she tries on her own the worse her situation will be.  As with us we must rely on His wisdom, His ways, His work, not our own.
Soon the legs are back in.  A tired arm finds a head and wrestles it in to place.  It must come with the feet.
Now the real pushing can be done.  Now the work of redemption.  Now comes new life by him of aching body.

" But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."  -Isaiah 53:5

Click below for more thoughts on new life as we prepare to celebrate Easter...

Keep me from idols

My heart burns with hatred! Oh Lord!
Not of you and your magnificence.
Hatred of Sin!

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. 

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.  

Proverbs 8:13

With you there is only light,

with you only pure holiness and justice.

You can abide no evil.

You rage at unjust scales.

Your wrath is made ready,

the bowl about to pour,

man's sins about to receive rightful response.

The thrusting out into thick darkness,

distress and darkness,

the worm that never dies,

the fire forever full of lust.

Make ready your Glory Oh Lord!

Make it known through out the earth!

Who is holy, who is righteous!

The Lord Great and Mighty!

Mighty to save....

The Lord who holds out his hand of redemption.

The Lord who alone changes hearts.

The Lord the Savior of the lost.

The heart is an idol factory.

You give good gifts. 
Let not them be gods to me.

Let not my trust be in them.

Only let me be secure in you.

Only let me be strong in your might.

Only let me glory in your power.

Only let me find hope in you.

For only you are secure.

Only you are strong.

Only All things are from you

Only All things are  through you

Only All things are to you

All glory be to you oh Lord! Romans 11:36

Jesus, Oh Lord most Joyous! 

Be more beautiful to my imagination,

Be more attractive to my heart,

than any idol!

Let me not leave the giver to embrace the gift!

With your plentiful redemption there is abundant joy!

Though struggle comes,

though hardship is emminent,

though my wisdom will fail,

though my strength will give in the moment I need most,

we hope in you, 

for at this moment you and your grace shine all the brighter!

Then it is evident that you have held me all along.  

Strip me bare of idols Lord.

Use me to expose those of my culture.

Teach me to hate sin in my heart.

To hate sin around me as you hate it.

To hate sin with a love that reflects your love of your Glory!

Your love of your creation undistorted, 

your mercy on creation distorted.

Root out my idols.

Dig deep. 
Plow hard.

Remove all roots.

Replace all with Love for you that they may not return.

Increase my affections for you.

The Lord of Hosts, him you shall honor as holy.

Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense

and a rock of stumbling...

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

...you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you...

For to us a child is born, 

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 8-9

Keep us from idols.

Keep me from idols.

Do your work.
In my solitude, let it be you and you alone.

Let me not inwardly establish myself as "saviour"

Only you Lord! Only Jesus has satisfied Your righteous

requirement.

Only Jesus!

Amen

A Front

It snowed.  It blew.  A front came and left.  But it was only a front, it only put up  a front. By the looks a rather large storm, doors even filled with snow.    It was a nothing front.

Full of disappointment.  Putting on a show, a start, but failing in the end.  Lacking in substance.  But then I am talking of my heart.  Good intentions turned sour by lack of perseverance.  Good intentions turn sour by a sin racked soul.

Be strong in the Lord, and in the Strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the evil schemes of the Devil.
-Ephesians 6:10,11

How often must I be reminded to be strong in His strength, and not strive in my own.  To lay my burdens at His feet.

And yet this is the hope that we have-

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
-Romans 5:8

Lent helps us remember what Christ came for.  We couldn't save ourselves.  We can't and couldn't live up to the righteous requirements of the law.  We don't, I don't.  I fail.  Just as the storm.  I am utter disappointment. I put up a front, but the substance is lacking.  But because of this Christ is all the more precious.  That he would chose, adopt, call, elect, make his own, me.  Someone who continually shows contempt for THE TREASURE, instead preferring swine slop.

We are reading 1 Kings as a family right now.  I love it for God's clear display of what he requires, and my/our/their/all humans display of utter inability to be faithful if left to ourselves and the law.  What a mercy that Christ has given us his Holy Spirit, that he died for us, that he, the ALL-POWERFUL God is 100% for us, and is indwelling in us and empowering us, has paid the price by his perfect death.

Lent is a time of preparation for Christ's dying for us, and rising again to new life.  Let us celebrate together by walking the Calvary road, by following Christ outside the gate, and up the hill.  Dying to self, that He might shine through... not trying to prove anything by works, rather following Him in faith wherever He might lead...

Knowing what to expect

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. -Psalm 86:15 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation. -Exodus 34:6,7

God can not be unfaithful to himself. The weight of that is heavy in substance and light to carry. A God in whom we can depend. No inconsistency. We need not fear that he will abandon us to our own demise. We have hope because...

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. -Romans 3:21-25

Because of this we are not guilty. Because of this we have hope. For I am not consistent. Sin abounds. Some days I feel overrun. Days I feel victorious are more like I am going over the falls Raurus,


opposed to raftless in the North Sea.

There is no true hope in my self sustained situation. Even with being sanctified, being made like Jesus, I would still die. I am not good, and definitely not good enough. I know my sin, it is ever before me. And I pray more so daily. Why, that I might feel even more overwhelmed by grace that Christ has poured out.

I think on what my son has to deal with. An earthly father who struggles to realize Hebrews 12 for his son in a way that he knows what to expect. Something for which he, not alone, longs. Yet there is hope for him. The Father who is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Christ died that I, the non-faithful, the non-consistent might be saved?!

Because of this great hope, I know that I am neither as Boromir over Raurus, nor the Titanic. But instead I am safe, because Christ took my sin upon himself.
Hope waits for me. Hope draws me in. Hope leads me on...

Frost on a Sabbath, on my heart?

Hours roll by and bodies tire. Sleepless nights compound and the sin nature lurks to rule unabated. How often the tongue lies in wait ready to strike. Morning comes early. As milk pours forth the mouth is silent. Mostly. But the mind is churning. Hard freezes bring edgy pasture days. Bloat comes easy to the unsuspecting. Cattle graze not knowing of danger in every bite. The mind keeps churning. Will this year be different than others? Have we learned from mistakes, or like our nature do we keep rehearsing that which we soon regret. Can we repent? Turn away? Do that which we have not always done. Walk a different road? Cattle are restless. Do they know what has changed? Bull menaces. The tongue utters challenge. Reminds of supremacy. Analogies come to mind. How much my heart is in tune with Bull. Demanding attention. Challenging my master. "My way!" "My time!" "My family!" The list is long. I am reminded
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. " Thank you Lord, your kindness leads us to repentance. I should have remembered the verses that predicated both, but I do not.
Moment passes and I am again working. Time is running hard and I am not. Will I be on time for the gathering of the body of believers for Worship? My mind again begins to churn.
I should have continued praising. In that moment the freshly rising Sun was in my stead, doing my delightful duty of praise.
Frozen mud flying, bitter wind biting at my hands I ride to barn. Are the others done? Yes, barely except one, he is already gone. My heart begins to overflow. Phone in hand my tongue becomes a world of evil, salt water flows fast. An ill spoken response catches me. Deed done, heart sick I go on, later than ever. My mind now a hurricane of spite and malice, yet light dawns mirroring the sun.
Self righteousness is seen for its hideous self.

Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

I am broken. Lord you are my righteousness, I am a sinner.

Therefor you have no excuse, O man, everyone of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man -you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself - that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:1-4

Lord thank you for your kindness. Forgive me.

2 Coringthians 7:10
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Thank you Lord for enduring such hostility from us, for being so patient.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding you r blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

"My son, do not regard ligtly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

Lord, because you you we have hope. Give me a repentant heart.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea,
a great High Priest whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands,
my name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heav'n he stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart,
no tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to dispair,
and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see Him there,
who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
for God, the Just, is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me,
to look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there! the risen Lamb,
my perfect spotless Righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of Glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
my soul is purchased by His blood;
my life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Savior and my God,
with Christ, my Savior and my God.
-Charitie L. Bancroft

Christians and Prayer

"We must fight to cherish the kingdom above all "other things"- that is our first and most constant battle.... We are a "third soil century." In the parable of the soils, Jesus says that the seed is the Word. He sows his urgent Word of kingdom power. But instead of taking it up as our sword (or bearing fruit), we "are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19)... The crying need of the hour is to put the churches on a wartime footing. Mission leaders are crying out, "Where is the church's concept of militancy, of a mighty army willing to suffer, moving ahead with exultant determination to take the world by storm? Where is the risk-taking, the launching out on God alone?"(-James Reapsome Evangelical Missions Quarterly) The answer is that it has been swallowed up in a peacetime mentality... We will never know what prayer is for until we know that life is war."

-Let The Nations Be Glad, John Piper

Bic Vanwhalenburgenhoffen

Our dear friend Bic came real quick to visit us riding on a stick.


He came for a weekend long summit on "Foundational Theology and Strategic Planning for Quiescent Joint Ventures in the Unfolding of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in Frontier Localities"

.......

As many of you know, and my wife has stated before, I love books, actually we both do. Well, some books I read b/c I don't want to get sucked into a cyclone of movie watching. Some books I read in 2-3 days and don't get any sleep, or as much work done as I probably should, (When Crickets Cry is a great example) They are the type of book I read while eating instead of talking with my lovely wife;) (even though she tries). Then there are the books that I read because they were suggested to me, or I would like to read them and they trudge along and take forever, even though they are decent, and informative (for me this was The Prince-Francine Rivers, (on the life of Prince Jonathan) a good book I just couldn't get into it). Then there are my favourite books, and the VERY RARE exception. They are the books that make your heart leap and break at the same time, the books that you only read parts of chapters because you can't take anymore. The ones that make me come alive and WONDER! They are very few, less than a hand full that I have read. They make you just want to stop and stare out the window at the snow falling and marvel at the intricacies of the design of the snow flakes falling and marvel that our All Supreme God knows each one, or at the marvellous design of the pine tree next to the window that is still fully awake, not dormant because it was DESIGNED to do very slow respiration so it would be able to be alive all year round and survive through the months of drought each winter. They are the books that bring GOD to the forefront. And by doing so all is righted. If you have experienced this you know what I mean! Your mind is a swirl of emotion and thought, you can't hardly concentrate on the task at hand because you are carried away to thinking about the Supremacy of God, the wonders of HIM and HIS ...... Grace, mercy, love, a myriad of things!!! Sometimes these books take a long time to read. Not because you struggle through them, but because they require it! You are continually stopping to think over what you read, to contemplate the magnitude of what was just read and what that means for my worldview, for how I think about God in relation to God, and Him glorified through me.
I think I am starting one of those books right now. I have only just begun, and am already ............ I just don't know how to explain it, hmm. I will end with this quote of another quote: "Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!....Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth" (Pss. 67:3-4; 47:6-7)

A day of rest?

The Sabbath, a day set apart for God. A day modeled by God when he created the world. A day we do not observe. Or do we? I have often wondered on the Sabbath, or should I say wondered about the Sabbath? What does it really mean to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy? Some of the most thought provoking conversation on the topic happened in a college Sunday School class in College. Our teacher really helped us to struggle with this topic. He is a farmer. He does not do normal farm work on Sunday. And yet he really struggled with what was the best for Sunday. Should he regularly go boating on Sundays and do all kinds of other sport on the Sabbath? Is it totally permissible? Yesteryear, so many of our forebears would have thought it complete apostasy. Is it? Did they have a point, or do we have a point? Is it simply a matter of food and drink and nothing more? I am sure that it is not the law ridden Sabbath that it became by the time of Jesus. But is it more than food and drink? Or to put it another way, is it more than usual church and than whatever we find for our hands to do; as it is here and now? Christ said that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Thus, it surely frees us from the rigid law. And yet I often wonder if there isn't something more than what it has become...... What do you think?

Who is this hopeful BAD man?

Check out this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhLCus0tsmw

This is too funny to me!! I love it. John Piper is one of the pastors of the church my friend Blake attends. I found this video while listening to a podcast from Louie Giglio on the upcoming Passion '07 conference.

It has been my experience that the greater the understanding of the fact that I am sinful, the greater the Glory of God has been revealed in my life. If only we could understand as Paul the apostle said "I am the greatest of sinners", oh how we could rest in the arms of Christ, and begin to understand the compassion of Christ and the matchless love He has for us. It is in the times of greatest understanding of this that I have had the greatest times with Christ, and have begun to feel/see just how all sufficient God really is!........


Ecclesiastes 7:20- Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Luke 18:19- And Jesus said to him "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone."

Isaiah 64:6 -...our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment...

Romans 3:10-12,23- as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

1 John 1:8 "If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."