"See, Amid the Winter's Snow"
See, amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.
Hail, thou ever blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies:
He who, throned in height sublime,
Sits amid the cherubim.
Say, ye holy shepherds, say,
What your joyful news today?
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?
"As we watched at dead of night,
Lo! we saw a wondrous light;
Angels singing, peace on earth,
Told us of the Saviour's birth."
Sacred Infant, all divine,
What a tender love was thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this!
Teach, O teach us, holy Child,
By thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble thee,
In thy sweet humility.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Christmas hymn #1
I've decided that in the remaining days until Christmas, I will share some of my favorite Christmas hymns. This is probably all I will have time for until after finals, in any case... I hope these bless you as much as they do me. These wonderful old hymns really serve to bring in Christmas with the proper spirit. I love them!
~*~
"All My Heart This Night Rejoices"
All my heart this night rejoices
As I hear, far and near
Sweetest angel voices.
"Christ is born," their choirs are singing
Till the air, Everywhere
Now with joy is ringing.
Forth today the Conqueror goeth,
Who the foe, Sin and woe,
Death and hell, o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
His dear Son now is one
With our blood forever.
Shall we still dread God's displeasure,
Who, to save, freely gave
His most cherished treasure?
To redeem us, he hath given
His own Son from the throne
Of his might in heaven.
He becomes the Lamb that taketh
Sin away and for aye
Full atonement maketh.
For our life his own he tenders;
And our race, by his grace,
Meet for glory renders.
Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet, doth entreat:
"Flee from woe and danger,
Brethren, from all ills that grieve you
You are freed; all you need
I will surely give you."
Come, then, banish all your sadness,
One and all, great and small;
Come with songs of gladness.
Love him who with love is glowing;
Hail the star, near and far
Light and joy bestowing.
Dearest Lord, thee will I cherish.
Though my breath
Fail in death, yet I shall not perish,
But with thee abide for ever
There on high, in that joy
Which can vanish never.
~*~
"All My Heart This Night Rejoices"
All my heart this night rejoices
As I hear, far and near
Sweetest angel voices.
"Christ is born," their choirs are singing
Till the air, Everywhere
Now with joy is ringing.
Forth today the Conqueror goeth,
Who the foe, Sin and woe,
Death and hell, o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
His dear Son now is one
With our blood forever.
Shall we still dread God's displeasure,
Who, to save, freely gave
His most cherished treasure?
To redeem us, he hath given
His own Son from the throne
Of his might in heaven.
He becomes the Lamb that taketh
Sin away and for aye
Full atonement maketh.
For our life his own he tenders;
And our race, by his grace,
Meet for glory renders.
Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet, doth entreat:
"Flee from woe and danger,
Brethren, from all ills that grieve you
You are freed; all you need
I will surely give you."
Come, then, banish all your sadness,
One and all, great and small;
Come with songs of gladness.
Love him who with love is glowing;
Hail the star, near and far
Light and joy bestowing.
Dearest Lord, thee will I cherish.
Though my breath
Fail in death, yet I shall not perish,
But with thee abide for ever
There on high, in that joy
Which can vanish never.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
First of December!
Tuesday discoveries and excitement:
- My brother and sister-in-law arrive in a week and a day.
- Owl City is fantastic, and is officially my new favorite study music.
- New Moon was ever so much better than I expected, so much so that I actually really want to see it again.
- The colder weather means that soft and cozy sweaters are my new best friend.
- Finishing a project at work still brings a triumphant sense of accomplishment.
- After what seems like a very long time of waiting, the Leahy concert is TONIGHT. Expect an update tomorrow. =D
- My brother and sister-in-law arrive in a week and a day.
- Owl City is fantastic, and is officially my new favorite study music.
- New Moon was ever so much better than I expected, so much so that I actually really want to see it again.
- The colder weather means that soft and cozy sweaters are my new best friend.
- Finishing a project at work still brings a triumphant sense of accomplishment.
- After what seems like a very long time of waiting, the Leahy concert is TONIGHT. Expect an update tomorrow. =D
Friday, November 27, 2009
'Tis the season...
Christmas tree? Check! In the stand, in the living room, all ready for lights and ornaments.
Hot apple cider? Check! Simmering on the stove, with a whole orange and cloves and cinnamon sticks, filling the house with a delightful aroma.
Christmas music? Check! After playing it sporadically for the last month and a half, we are now in full-blown Christmas music mode. Right now it's David Archuleta filling the house, one of my new favorite voices.
Fire in the fireplace? Check! Cheery, crackling, and only the second one we've had so far.
Christmas decorating? Check! After finishing enough homework to give myself a free day yesterday and today, I'm so excited to be able to actually participate in the decorating this year.
My heart is filled with joy. There is much to be thankful for. God is gracious, kind, and pours out His love upon us. I am so blessed.
Hot apple cider? Check! Simmering on the stove, with a whole orange and cloves and cinnamon sticks, filling the house with a delightful aroma.
Christmas music? Check! After playing it sporadically for the last month and a half, we are now in full-blown Christmas music mode. Right now it's David Archuleta filling the house, one of my new favorite voices.
Fire in the fireplace? Check! Cheery, crackling, and only the second one we've had so far.
Christmas decorating? Check! After finishing enough homework to give myself a free day yesterday and today, I'm so excited to be able to actually participate in the decorating this year.
My heart is filled with joy. There is much to be thankful for. God is gracious, kind, and pours out His love upon us. I am so blessed.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Little procrastinations
Talk about convicting... !
~*~
“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and they want as an armed man.” – Proverbs 24:33, 34
The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very proper one. Yet by these little [indulgences] the day ebbs out, and the time for labor is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns. It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They have no intention to delay for years—a few months will bring the more convenient season—tomorrow if you will, they will attend to serious things—but the present hour is so occupied and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like sands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers.
Oh, to be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments on the wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty which shall want even a drop of whatever, and beg for it in vain. Like a traveler steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is on his master’s business and must not tarry. As an armed man enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle, and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that men were wise betimes, and would seek diligently unto the Lord Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected. As yet, faith and holy decision are timely. May we obtain them this day.
~Taken from Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening
~*~
“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and they want as an armed man.” – Proverbs 24:33, 34
The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber; they would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very proper one. Yet by these little [indulgences] the day ebbs out, and the time for labor is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns. It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They have no intention to delay for years—a few months will bring the more convenient season—tomorrow if you will, they will attend to serious things—but the present hour is so occupied and altogether so unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like sands from an hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of grace lost by little slumbers.
Oh, to be wise, to catch the flying hour, to use the moments on the wing! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty of the worst sort awaits us, eternal poverty which shall want even a drop of whatever, and beg for it in vain. Like a traveler steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he is on his master’s business and must not tarry. As an armed man enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle, and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that men were wise betimes, and would seek diligently unto the Lord Jesus, or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late to plough and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is vain to lament that the seed time was neglected. As yet, faith and holy decision are timely. May we obtain them this day.
~Taken from Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The approach of real "Christmas weather" means it's time for:
- Scarves. Lots and lots of scarves.
- Boots.
- Soft and cuddly fleece jackets.
- Crackling fires.
- Early Christmas shopping.
- Blankets for doing homework.
- Space heaters at the office.
- Hot chocolate.
- The occasionally-played Christmas music, to become much more frequent after Thanksgiving! =]
And best of all? The countdown to a beloved brother and sister-in-law's visit. YAY!
God is gracious. May He smile down upon you today.
- Scarves. Lots and lots of scarves.
- Boots.
- Soft and cuddly fleece jackets.
- Crackling fires.
- Early Christmas shopping.
- Blankets for doing homework.
- Space heaters at the office.
- Hot chocolate.
- The occasionally-played Christmas music, to become much more frequent after Thanksgiving! =]
And best of all? The countdown to a beloved brother and sister-in-law's visit. YAY!
God is gracious. May He smile down upon you today.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
"I have graven YOU"
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”
Isaiah 49:16
No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the word ‘behold’ is excited by the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my God has forgotten me”. How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God’s favored people? The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries, “How can I have forgotten you, when I have graven you upon the palms of my hands? How dare you doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?”
O unbelief, how strange a marvel you are! We know not which most to wonder at, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promises a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails; He is never a dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a melting vapor; and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert.
“Behold” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written upon the palms of His hands. “I have graven thee.” It does not say, “Thy name.” The name is there, but that is not all; “I have graven thee.” See the fullness of this! I have graven your person, your image, your case, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your wants, your works; I have graven you, everything about you, all that concerns you; I have put you altogether there.
Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you when He has graven you upon His own palms?
~ Taken from Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening, November 7
Isaiah 49:16
No doubt a part of the wonder which is concentrated in the word ‘behold’ is excited by the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my God has forgotten me”. How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God’s favored people? The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries, “How can I have forgotten you, when I have graven you upon the palms of my hands? How dare you doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon my very flesh?”
O unbelief, how strange a marvel you are! We know not which most to wonder at, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promises a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails; He is never a dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a melting vapor; and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert.
“Behold” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written upon the palms of His hands. “I have graven thee.” It does not say, “Thy name.” The name is there, but that is not all; “I have graven thee.” See the fullness of this! I have graven your person, your image, your case, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your wants, your works; I have graven you, everything about you, all that concerns you; I have put you altogether there.
Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you when He has graven you upon His own palms?
~ Taken from Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening, November 7
Friday, October 23, 2009
My favorite study songs...
Until tomorrow, I will have no time for a "real" post, so here are my two current favorite study songs:
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
An excercise in humility
Today it was time to contemplate God's infinity and magnificence by staring straight into the sky and remembering just how small we are -- how small I am -- how small my problems are in God's glorious plan. I think we all would do well to practice this every day. Just stare into the sky for 30 seconds. What a difference a sense of perspective can make.
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor." - Psalm 8: 3-5
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor." - Psalm 8: 3-5
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday blessings
~*~ A cloudy and almost-rainy sky, with downpours in the forecast. Hurray! ~*~
~*~ Fellowship with friends, and making a huge dent in a project for work. ~*~
~*~ Discovering that I have an unexpected extra WEEK to complete one of my classes. ~*~
Praising the Lord for His goodness!
~*~ Fellowship with friends, and making a huge dent in a project for work. ~*~
~*~ Discovering that I have an unexpected extra WEEK to complete one of my classes. ~*~
Praising the Lord for His goodness!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Within Temptation's new single
Because I don't have time to post anything else, I will share the music video for Within Temptation's new single, "Utopia." Let's just say that I'm wearing out the YouTube link as I study. . . ^_^
Quite possibly their most thought-provoking song yet:
Quite possibly their most thought-provoking song yet:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Last day of September!
And what a beautiful September day it is. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see fall weather arrive. I wanted to squeal when I was running around the house shivering while getting ready for work this morning. Call me crazy, but I LOVE IT!!!
School, for some reason, doesn't feel so overwhelming right now.
A dear friend invited me to go see "West Side Story" tomorrow night.
My sister will be joining me at my office two days a week.
It's a good day. ^_^
... Oh, and a pumpkin spice latte tastes even better on a cold, windy morning. =) Thank you so much, Mrs. E!
School, for some reason, doesn't feel so overwhelming right now.
A dear friend invited me to go see "West Side Story" tomorrow night.
My sister will be joining me at my office two days a week.
It's a good day. ^_^
... Oh, and a pumpkin spice latte tastes even better on a cold, windy morning. =) Thank you so much, Mrs. E!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Ah, Friday... :)
Of course, the weekend doesn't feel too much different when one is drowning in homework, but Friday definitely does come with one decided benefit: the ability to stay up late studying with the knowledge that sleeping in the next day is actually okay! ... Okay, so maybe that was a little cynical. But there are happier thoughts to share, for certain.
Such as the fact that it actually felt cold this morning when I got in my car to go to work.
Such as the fact that I discovered today that my in-basket at work actually does have a bottom, and that with one more good, productive day like I had today, I might actually see the bottom of it again! It's a fantastic feeling to catch up.
Such as the fact that I have two new books that are just waiting for me to finish these classes so I can read them. Finding books on half.com for 75 cents is just too good for me to pass up. . . Yep, I have my sheepish face on right now.
Happy weekend, all. ^_^
Such as the fact that it actually felt cold this morning when I got in my car to go to work.
Such as the fact that I discovered today that my in-basket at work actually does have a bottom, and that with one more good, productive day like I had today, I might actually see the bottom of it again! It's a fantastic feeling to catch up.
Such as the fact that I have two new books that are just waiting for me to finish these classes so I can read them. Finding books on half.com for 75 cents is just too good for me to pass up. . . Yep, I have my sheepish face on right now.
Happy weekend, all. ^_^
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Happy Fall!
First day of fall today! I wish it felt more like autumn weather, but I suppose that will come in time...
The other news of the day:
- more customized ringtones
- visiting with grandparents
- Hobbit day and being reminded of my Lord of the Rings mania
- Coldplay
- discovering Nightwish performing "Walking in the Air" AND "Meadows of Heaven" live in concert
The other news of the day:
- more customized ringtones
- visiting with grandparents
- Hobbit day and being reminded of my Lord of the Rings mania
- Coldplay
- discovering Nightwish performing "Walking in the Air" AND "Meadows of Heaven" live in concert
Monday, September 21, 2009
I seem to have been stuck on the three-posts-per-month theme for most of this year so far; I have broken the trend already, but I don't want to fall off the bandwagon again. Despite all of my hectic-ness and busy-ness, it's nice to keep something of a routine and go back to writing regularly. So I really only have one point to writing this afternoon, and that is to ask if anyone has seen Love Happens yet, and if so, what you thought of it. We might make a trip to our favorite new, beautiful theater tomorrow to see it, but I'd love to get some general feedback before doing so.
So, anyone who has seen it, I'd be happy to hear (er, see...) what you thought!
In other news, today is the last official day of summer. I am quite ready for fall, and this fact makes me happy. Farewell, summer! You have been eventful, enjoyable, and enlightening, but I am ready to welcome a new season.
Thanking God today for changing seasons -- most of all, for changing seasons of life.
So, anyone who has seen it, I'd be happy to hear (er, see...) what you thought!
In other news, today is the last official day of summer. I am quite ready for fall, and this fact makes me happy. Farewell, summer! You have been eventful, enjoyable, and enlightening, but I am ready to welcome a new season.
Thanking God today for changing seasons -- most of all, for changing seasons of life.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Legend of the Celtic Stone
It is officially summer still, so I can now say that I actually finished three novels this summer! It's a pathetic boast, since my summer reading list contained closer to 20 titles than 3 titles, but... I suppose I'll take what I can get. In any case, Saturday mornings are a perfect time to be lazy and read, especially when one has only a few chapters left--which is exactly the situation I was in this morning!
After spending several weeks deliciously engrossed in The Legend of the Celtic Stone by Michael Phillips, I finally finished the final pages this morning. I absolutely loved it. For anyone at all interested in historical fiction, this is a superb read. While I am by no means any sort of expert when it comes to Scottish history, I do believe that the historical accuracy of Mr. Phillips is quite outstanding. I found myself completely absorbed in the legends of Scotland, and I confess that I am more curious than ever to study more Scottish history. There is something very compelling, stirring, and fascinating about the ancient story of Scotland and of Scots. From the grisly and hauntingly horrific story of the Glencoe massacre to the story of Saint Columba and the spread of Christianity, it is a deeply emotional and bittersweet but beautiful history. I want more!!
There is an old quote that goes something like this: "Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly."
Legend of the Celtic Stone definitely falls into the latter category. Highly recommended!
After spending several weeks deliciously engrossed in The Legend of the Celtic Stone by Michael Phillips, I finally finished the final pages this morning. I absolutely loved it. For anyone at all interested in historical fiction, this is a superb read. While I am by no means any sort of expert when it comes to Scottish history, I do believe that the historical accuracy of Mr. Phillips is quite outstanding. I found myself completely absorbed in the legends of Scotland, and I confess that I am more curious than ever to study more Scottish history. There is something very compelling, stirring, and fascinating about the ancient story of Scotland and of Scots. From the grisly and hauntingly horrific story of the Glencoe massacre to the story of Saint Columba and the spread of Christianity, it is a deeply emotional and bittersweet but beautiful history. I want more!!
There is an old quote that goes something like this: "Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly."
Legend of the Celtic Stone definitely falls into the latter category. Highly recommended!
Friday, September 18, 2009
My new favorite quote
"Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house."
- Henry Ward Beecher
- Henry Ward Beecher
---
Also, customized ringtones are just way too much fun. We finally got the proper software and cables so that our silly mp3 phone can actually do what it was meant to do all along: create ringtones from any mp3 on your computer. We've had a total blast creating customized ringtones for a bunch of our contacts. From Harry Potter themes to "Chasing Cars" to the Angel theme to "Back in Black" to the North & South theme to the ringtone from A Good Year to the Forrest Gump theme, it has been quite the motley arrangement.
Who knew that something so small could bring such enjoyment? =)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thursday Thankful
- Warm sun, but a decided tinge of fall in the air.
- Chinese chicken salad.
- Time with my family.
- Catching up with a dear, dear friend.
- Letters.
- Being so close to finishing a fantastic book.
- Catching up on more schoolwork.
God is good. All the time. =)
- Chinese chicken salad.
- Time with my family.
- Catching up with a dear, dear friend.
- Letters.
- Being so close to finishing a fantastic book.
- Catching up on more schoolwork.
God is good. All the time. =)
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tapestries of Life
"The Weaver"
My Life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.
Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
-Grant Colfax Tuller
--- --- ---
"Although the threads of my life
have often seemed knotted, I know,
by faith, that on the other side
of the embroidery there is a crown."
~Corrie Ten Boom
--- --- ---
God is FAITHFUL.
God is GOOD.
God is MERCIFUL.
God is PATIENT.
God is GRACIOUS.
But most of all...
God is SOVEREIGN, and His plan is perfect.
I am grateful for the opportunity to see that truth more plainly.
My Life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.
Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
-Grant Colfax Tuller
--- --- ---
"Although the threads of my life
have often seemed knotted, I know,
by faith, that on the other side
of the embroidery there is a crown."
~Corrie Ten Boom
--- --- ---
God is FAITHFUL.
God is GOOD.
God is MERCIFUL.
God is PATIENT.
God is GRACIOUS.
But most of all...
God is SOVEREIGN, and His plan is perfect.
I am grateful for the opportunity to see that truth more plainly.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Gleaning from the Word
‘So she gleaned in the field until evening’
~Ruth 2:17
Let me learn from Ruth, the gleaner. As she went out to gather the ears of corn, so must I go forth into the fields of prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the Word to gather spiritual food.
The gleaner gathers her portion ear by ear; her gains are little by little: so must I be content to search for single truths, if there be no greater plenty of them. Every ear helps to make a bundle, and every gospel lesson assists in making us wise unto salvation.
The gleaner keeps her eyes open: if she stumbled among the stubble in a dream, she would have no load to carry home rejoicing at eventide. I must be watchful in religious exercises lest they become unprofitable to me; I fear I have lost much already – O that I may rightly estimate my opportunities, and glean with greater diligence.
The gleaner stoops for all she finds, and so must I. High spirits criticize and object, but lowly minds glean and receive benefit. A humble heart is a great help towards profitably hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving Word is not received except with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner; down, master pride, thou art a vile robber, not to be endured for a moment.
What the gleaner gathers she holds: if she dropped one ear to find another, the result of her day’s work would be but scant; she is as careful to retain as to obtain, and so at last her gains are great. How often do I forget all that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head, and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I feel duly the importance of storing up the truth? A hungry belly makes the gleaner wise; if there be no corn in her hand, there will be no bread on her table; she labors under the sense of necessity, and hence her tread is nimble and her grasp is firm. I have even a great necessity; Lord, help me to feel it, that it may urge me onward to glean in fields which yield so plenteous a reward to diligence.
- From Spurgeon's Morning & Evening
~Ruth 2:17
Let me learn from Ruth, the gleaner. As she went out to gather the ears of corn, so must I go forth into the fields of prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the Word to gather spiritual food.
The gleaner gathers her portion ear by ear; her gains are little by little: so must I be content to search for single truths, if there be no greater plenty of them. Every ear helps to make a bundle, and every gospel lesson assists in making us wise unto salvation.
The gleaner keeps her eyes open: if she stumbled among the stubble in a dream, she would have no load to carry home rejoicing at eventide. I must be watchful in religious exercises lest they become unprofitable to me; I fear I have lost much already – O that I may rightly estimate my opportunities, and glean with greater diligence.
The gleaner stoops for all she finds, and so must I. High spirits criticize and object, but lowly minds glean and receive benefit. A humble heart is a great help towards profitably hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving Word is not received except with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner; down, master pride, thou art a vile robber, not to be endured for a moment.
What the gleaner gathers she holds: if she dropped one ear to find another, the result of her day’s work would be but scant; she is as careful to retain as to obtain, and so at last her gains are great. How often do I forget all that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head, and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I feel duly the importance of storing up the truth? A hungry belly makes the gleaner wise; if there be no corn in her hand, there will be no bread on her table; she labors under the sense of necessity, and hence her tread is nimble and her grasp is firm. I have even a great necessity; Lord, help me to feel it, that it may urge me onward to glean in fields which yield so plenteous a reward to diligence.
- From Spurgeon's Morning & Evening
Friday, August 7, 2009
Daniel Hannan - boldness Americans should have
Why can't politicians in America have this sort of concise, articulate, courageous response to the bureaucracy and tyranny our nation seems determined to keep sliding toward?!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Magnificent Obsession
Because I have no time for a "real" update right now... here are the lyrics to a rediscovered-and-now-current-favorite song.
"Magnificent Obsession" by Steven Curtis Chapman
Lord, you know how much
I want to know so much
in the way of answers and explanations
I have cried and prayed
but still I seem to stay
in the middle of life's complications
all this pursuing leaves me
feeling like I'm chasing down the wind
but now it's brought me back to You
and I can see again
this is everything I want
this is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for you
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
capture my heart again
take me to depths I've never been
into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy
return me to the cross
let me be completely lost
in the wonder of the love that You've shown me
cut through these chains that tie me down
to so many lesser things
let all my dreams fall to the ground
until this one remains
this is everything I want
this is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for you
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
You are everything I want
You are everything I need
I want You to be my one consuming passion
everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for you
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
"Magnificent Obsession" by Steven Curtis Chapman
Lord, you know how much
I want to know so much
in the way of answers and explanations
I have cried and prayed
but still I seem to stay
in the middle of life's complications
all this pursuing leaves me
feeling like I'm chasing down the wind
but now it's brought me back to You
and I can see again
this is everything I want
this is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for you
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
capture my heart again
take me to depths I've never been
into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy
return me to the cross
let me be completely lost
in the wonder of the love that You've shown me
cut through these chains that tie me down
to so many lesser things
let all my dreams fall to the ground
until this one remains
this is everything I want
this is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for you
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
You are everything I want
You are everything I need
I want You to be my one consuming passion
everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for you
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
Monday, July 6, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy Independence Day!
Some current favorite quotes:
"… can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but by his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.…" - Thomas Jefferson
"Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain." – John F. Kennedy
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." – Thomas Paine
"What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; ‘tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." – Thomas Paine
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." – Thomas Jefferson
"Our ancestors purchased the liberty of our country with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation if we should allow them to be wrested from us." – Samuel Adams
"Posterity! You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it!" – John Quincy Adams
"If professing Christians are unfaithful to the authority of their Lord in their capacity as citizens of the State, they cannot expect to be blessed by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in their capacity as members of the Church." – A.A. Hodge, Professor in Systematic Theology at Princeton Seminary from 1877 to 1886
---
Today I am reminded to celebrate not just the liberty and freedom we have as Americans, but the true freedom we have as Christians, through the saving work of Christ on the cross. The gospel provides us with true liberty--a blessing we can never truly comprehend!
At the same time, though, let us be grateful for the sacrifices that so many have made to give us the freedom we have in this country. Let's not be blinded to the loss of liberty that is happening all around us, but be willing to take a stand; be willing to "undergo the fatigue of supporting it"; be willing to give and sacrifice ourselves to maintain the liberty that God has so graciously bestowed on this nation.
Happy birthday, America!
"… can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but by his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.…" - Thomas Jefferson
"Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain." – John F. Kennedy
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." – Thomas Paine
"What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; ‘tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated." – Thomas Paine
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." – Thomas Jefferson
"Our ancestors purchased the liberty of our country with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation if we should allow them to be wrested from us." – Samuel Adams
"Posterity! You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it!" – John Quincy Adams
"If professing Christians are unfaithful to the authority of their Lord in their capacity as citizens of the State, they cannot expect to be blessed by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in their capacity as members of the Church." – A.A. Hodge, Professor in Systematic Theology at Princeton Seminary from 1877 to 1886
---
Today I am reminded to celebrate not just the liberty and freedom we have as Americans, but the true freedom we have as Christians, through the saving work of Christ on the cross. The gospel provides us with true liberty--a blessing we can never truly comprehend!
At the same time, though, let us be grateful for the sacrifices that so many have made to give us the freedom we have in this country. Let's not be blinded to the loss of liberty that is happening all around us, but be willing to take a stand; be willing to "undergo the fatigue of supporting it"; be willing to give and sacrifice ourselves to maintain the liberty that God has so graciously bestowed on this nation.
Happy birthday, America!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Summer reading recommendation #1
"If I asked you, 'Where did the ongoing incarnation of Jesus Christ intersect with your life yesterday?' would you have an answer? We all know that the crucifixion is important for our initial salvation, but what did it mean to you this morning? Does Calvary inform and warm your heart when you're waiting in line at the grocery store or hearing bad news from your doctor? Does His sinless life comfort you when you realize that you've just sinned in that same way again? In other words, is He significantly relevant to you in your daily walk with Him? ... In your pursuit of godliness, have you left Jesus behind?"
~~~
~~~
I love it when a book hits me right between the eyes in the very first pages of the introduction. The above quote comes from the introduction to Elyse Fitzpatrick's wonderful book Because He Loves Me: How Christ Transforms our Daily Life. I have not quite yet finished the last chapters, but I already know that this book is on my list to re-read again... and again... and possibly again. It is simply one of the most encouraging Christ-focused, gospel-centered books I have ever read. Encouraging, refreshing, motivating, and yes, deeply, profoundly convicting, Elyse Fitzpatrick's passion for the gospel and the application of Christ to our everyday lives is as inspiring as it is humbling. I truly believe that her vision of "gospelized" living in the everyday things of life is something that is sorely lacking in the modern evangelical church--and something sorely needed.
I might perhaps post a more extensive review once I've actually finished, but for now... I can simply say that this book is, thus far, my #1 recommendation from my summer reading.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Acquisitions from Barnes & Noble
- Two lovely Piccadilly spiral journals, on super sale!
- A birthday present for a dear friend, which and who will remain unnamed, lest he/she should read this and be spoiled!
- Hood by Stephen Lawhead, adding to my ridiculous pile of summer reading. Goodness, I mustn't add any more...
Add lunch at a favorite pub with great friends, a surprise visit to another special friend, the somewhat horrified excitement of finding a dead bird in the office this morning, and some truly lovely late spring weather, and there are the makings of a wonderful day.
Well, not so much the dead bird part. . .
But everything else. =)
- A birthday present for a dear friend, which and who will remain unnamed, lest he/she should read this and be spoiled!
- Hood by Stephen Lawhead, adding to my ridiculous pile of summer reading. Goodness, I mustn't add any more...
Add lunch at a favorite pub with great friends, a surprise visit to another special friend, the somewhat horrified excitement of finding a dead bird in the office this morning, and some truly lovely late spring weather, and there are the makings of a wonderful day.
Well, not so much the dead bird part. . .
But everything else. =)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Summer movie recommendation #1
Since the release of Toy Story in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios has consistently been a cut above nearly every other film studio. Over the years, Pixar movies have earned 22 Academy Awards, 4 Golden Globes, and 3 Grammys, just to name a few. The astounding thing, of course, is that all of Pixar's feature films are animated. Far from being "cartoons" in the traditional sense, however, Pixar movies tend to have more depth than many (or even most) Hollywood releases. They tell stories that celebrate values, family, and the childlike wonders of life. They make us think -- inspire us -- make us chuckle, laugh outloud, and even cry.
I've seen all but one of Pixar's ten feature films so far, and I am absolutely convinced that Pixar movies are some of my absolute favorites. If it's Pixar, I will go see it. The films are just that good. The newest addition to the lineup, Up, is no exception. Up tells the story of Carl Fredricksen, a shy but determined boy who has one dream in life: adventure. Enter Ellie, a feisty but kind-hearted tomboy whose life ambition is to move her adventure clubhouse to Paradise Falls, "a land lost in time." Put the two together, and of course, it looks like life will be nothing but a grand adventure. But life isn't always what it seems. Sometimes the rainbow-colored adventure turns to struggle, frustration, and heartbreak. Still, it's never too late for an adventure, right?
Up is an extraordinarily moving and heartwarming tale of love, sacrifice, and determination. It celebrates the beauties of a loving marriage, emphasizes the importance of respecting elders, and rejoices in the simple things of life -- the "boring" things that are quite often the things we remember most, as one of the characters says at one point in the film. Faithfulness is favored, respect is rewarded, and villainy is vanquished in the end.
All in all, Up is the essential family summer movie, and thoroughly deserves every accolade it is receiving from critics and viewers alike. Very highly recommended.
I've seen all but one of Pixar's ten feature films so far, and I am absolutely convinced that Pixar movies are some of my absolute favorites. If it's Pixar, I will go see it. The films are just that good. The newest addition to the lineup, Up, is no exception. Up tells the story of Carl Fredricksen, a shy but determined boy who has one dream in life: adventure. Enter Ellie, a feisty but kind-hearted tomboy whose life ambition is to move her adventure clubhouse to Paradise Falls, "a land lost in time." Put the two together, and of course, it looks like life will be nothing but a grand adventure. But life isn't always what it seems. Sometimes the rainbow-colored adventure turns to struggle, frustration, and heartbreak. Still, it's never too late for an adventure, right?
Up is an extraordinarily moving and heartwarming tale of love, sacrifice, and determination. It celebrates the beauties of a loving marriage, emphasizes the importance of respecting elders, and rejoices in the simple things of life -- the "boring" things that are quite often the things we remember most, as one of the characters says at one point in the film. Faithfulness is favored, respect is rewarded, and villainy is vanquished in the end.
All in all, Up is the essential family summer movie, and thoroughly deserves every accolade it is receiving from critics and viewers alike. Very highly recommended.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Meditations after a Monday at Barnes & Noble
Taken from my Desiring God newsletter this morning:
~*~
A trip to Barnes & Noble on my day off takes me beyond the Star Tribune and NPR in my daily culture dose of postmodern pronouncements. Consider Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006). It is ranked as the fourteenth best seller in the nation at Amazon as I write (just behind Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion). It begins like this:
“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ's love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”
Later he says that not believing that man evolved from lower life forms is like not believing the sun is a star. Our nation is being overrun with anti-intellectual people who scoff at true science. The Intelligent Design movement is a scheme to replace science with religion by people who get PhDs to provide a cloak of respectability for their anti-science agenda. And so on.
What makes Harris' book postmodern and not simply modern is that it treats Christian “fantasies” not merely as rational errors, but as dangerous cultural and political power plays. I have no desire to scoff at this book. There is too much right-wing, radio-show-type Christian scoffing. Besides, I am old enough to be Sam Harris' father (I was twenty-one when he was born), and that makes me want to rescue a son, not skewer a peer.
Of course, he thinks I am the one who needs to be rescued. My concern for us evangelicals is not that we bash Harris but that we try not to give the impression that we fear science, and that we make clear that we want Sam Harris to have the freedom to say false things about us.
So my dip into Harris' book was good for me. I may even read more. I don't fear it. I wish he didn't fear us. God, he should fear. But I will do all I can to keep my fellow Christians from playing God. As long as Christ's kingdom comes not by the sword but by the Spirit and the Truth, I will resist the unholy union of conscientious church and coercive state. I stand with those who believe that Christ is the best foundation for a view of the state that refuses to enforce Christ. I also stand with those who believe that true science (not presuppositional secularism) will not contradict true biblical interpretation.
Then I looked at Diane Setterfield's novel The Thirteenth Tale (Atria, 2006). I turned it over and read one of the most up-to-date pieces of postmodern counsel I have ever read. At first, I thought it was a blurb for the book from Vida Winter:
“My gripe is not with lovers of the truth, but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney, when the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with her long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don't expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing rocking safety of a lie.”
No, Vida Winter is not a critic praising the power of this book. She is a character in the novel, and this is a quote from page five. Again, I feel no desire to be clever about the contrast between “hard-boned” truth and the “plump comforts” of a story. My main response is the feeling of wonderment that people today really believe this. And then I feel pity. And then a desire to find some way to shock them out of the trance. What shall we say?
First, this is good writing. Weak metaphysics, but strong metaphors. Listen for the consonance (the hard c's) in, “What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story?” Feel the sounds: “wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney” . . . “the rain taps at the window with her long fingernails.”
Second, the writer of this paragraph has probably never really feared for her life. And almost certainly not for her eternal life. “Plump comforts of a story” will not soothe if you have three minutes before your hijacked plane incinerates you on the Pennsylvania plains.
Third, I wonder why she equates “story” with the “soothing rocking safety of a lie,” instead of asking whether the greatest story might be true. Dorothy Sayers and C. S. Lewis have helped us see that the reason “myth” or “story” have such power is not because they replace truth but because they resemble Truth.
Fourth, I pray that those who see themselves in this paragraph will discover that 2,000 years ago the Truth became flesh and dwelt among us. He is “hard-boned” but not “fleshless.” His name is Jesus Christ. He is the center of the true story of God's saving history. It is not the “soothing rocking safety of a lie.” That is why his story will bring “succor” and “consolation,” not just when the wind howls and the rain falls, but when breath fails and we slip through the lips of eternity.
Thank you, Barnes & Noble, for a good day off.
John Piper
~*~
A trip to Barnes & Noble on my day off takes me beyond the Star Tribune and NPR in my daily culture dose of postmodern pronouncements. Consider Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation (Knopf, 2006). It is ranked as the fourteenth best seller in the nation at Amazon as I write (just behind Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion). It begins like this:
“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ's love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”
Later he says that not believing that man evolved from lower life forms is like not believing the sun is a star. Our nation is being overrun with anti-intellectual people who scoff at true science. The Intelligent Design movement is a scheme to replace science with religion by people who get PhDs to provide a cloak of respectability for their anti-science agenda. And so on.
What makes Harris' book postmodern and not simply modern is that it treats Christian “fantasies” not merely as rational errors, but as dangerous cultural and political power plays. I have no desire to scoff at this book. There is too much right-wing, radio-show-type Christian scoffing. Besides, I am old enough to be Sam Harris' father (I was twenty-one when he was born), and that makes me want to rescue a son, not skewer a peer.
Of course, he thinks I am the one who needs to be rescued. My concern for us evangelicals is not that we bash Harris but that we try not to give the impression that we fear science, and that we make clear that we want Sam Harris to have the freedom to say false things about us.
So my dip into Harris' book was good for me. I may even read more. I don't fear it. I wish he didn't fear us. God, he should fear. But I will do all I can to keep my fellow Christians from playing God. As long as Christ's kingdom comes not by the sword but by the Spirit and the Truth, I will resist the unholy union of conscientious church and coercive state. I stand with those who believe that Christ is the best foundation for a view of the state that refuses to enforce Christ. I also stand with those who believe that true science (not presuppositional secularism) will not contradict true biblical interpretation.
Then I looked at Diane Setterfield's novel The Thirteenth Tale (Atria, 2006). I turned it over and read one of the most up-to-date pieces of postmodern counsel I have ever read. At first, I thought it was a blurb for the book from Vida Winter:
“My gripe is not with lovers of the truth, but with truth herself. What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney, when the lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with her long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don't expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing rocking safety of a lie.”
No, Vida Winter is not a critic praising the power of this book. She is a character in the novel, and this is a quote from page five. Again, I feel no desire to be clever about the contrast between “hard-boned” truth and the “plump comforts” of a story. My main response is the feeling of wonderment that people today really believe this. And then I feel pity. And then a desire to find some way to shock them out of the trance. What shall we say?
First, this is good writing. Weak metaphysics, but strong metaphors. Listen for the consonance (the hard c's) in, “What succor, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story?” Feel the sounds: “wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney” . . . “the rain taps at the window with her long fingernails.”
Second, the writer of this paragraph has probably never really feared for her life. And almost certainly not for her eternal life. “Plump comforts of a story” will not soothe if you have three minutes before your hijacked plane incinerates you on the Pennsylvania plains.
Third, I wonder why she equates “story” with the “soothing rocking safety of a lie,” instead of asking whether the greatest story might be true. Dorothy Sayers and C. S. Lewis have helped us see that the reason “myth” or “story” have such power is not because they replace truth but because they resemble Truth.
Fourth, I pray that those who see themselves in this paragraph will discover that 2,000 years ago the Truth became flesh and dwelt among us. He is “hard-boned” but not “fleshless.” His name is Jesus Christ. He is the center of the true story of God's saving history. It is not the “soothing rocking safety of a lie.” That is why his story will bring “succor” and “consolation,” not just when the wind howls and the rain falls, but when breath fails and we slip through the lips of eternity.
Thank you, Barnes & Noble, for a good day off.
John Piper
Thursday, May 28, 2009
American capitalism gone with a whimper
This is so brilliant and so absolutely true, it's scary.
~*~
~*~
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Source: http://english.pravda.ru/print/opinion/columnists/107459-american_capitalism-0
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
One of my favorite songs right now
I've made you promises a thousand times
I've tried to hear from heaven but I talk the whole time
I think I made you too small, and I've never feared you at all
If you touched my face, would I know you?
Looked into my eyes, could I behold you?
What do I know of you who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood but the shore along your ocean?
Are you fire, are you fury
Are you sacred, are you beautiful
What do I know... what do I know of holy?
I guess I thought I had you figured out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How you were mighty to save
But those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who you might be
The slightest hint of you brought me down to my knees
What do I know of you who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood but the shore along your ocean?
Are you fire, are you fury
Are you sacred, are you beautiful
What do I know... what do I know of holy?
What do I know of holy?
What do I knew of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life its name
What do I know of holy?
Of the One who the angels praise
All creation knows your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?
What do I know of you who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood but the shore along your ocean?
Are you fire, are you fury
Are you sacred, are you beautiful
What do I know... what do I know of holy?
- "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road
I've tried to hear from heaven but I talk the whole time
I think I made you too small, and I've never feared you at all
If you touched my face, would I know you?
Looked into my eyes, could I behold you?
What do I know of you who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood but the shore along your ocean?
Are you fire, are you fury
Are you sacred, are you beautiful
What do I know... what do I know of holy?
I guess I thought I had you figured out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How you were mighty to save
But those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who you might be
The slightest hint of you brought me down to my knees
What do I know of you who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood but the shore along your ocean?
Are you fire, are you fury
Are you sacred, are you beautiful
What do I know... what do I know of holy?
What do I know of holy?
What do I knew of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life its name
What do I know of holy?
Of the One who the angels praise
All creation knows your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?
What do I know of you who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood but the shore along your ocean?
Are you fire, are you fury
Are you sacred, are you beautiful
What do I know... what do I know of holy?
- "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
One week ago today...
She played her piano piece exquisitely, she walked down the aisle happily, and she received her diploma excitedly! I can hardly believe it's over. What a great night it was.
Congratulations, little sister. I'm so proud of you.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday randoms
- I am a sister-in-law. (Yes. For real. =D)
- The valley's high for today is 94 degrees. Whatever happened to spring?!?
- I only have 3 weeks of school left, and I am soooooo very thankful.
- I currently have a thought that makes me smile every time it enters my head. Isn't that the greatest thing?
- I still need to post remodel pictures. My apologies to those of you who have been patiently waiting. They're coming, I promise!
- I read almost a whole issue of Modern Reformation last night. And it was great. I miss having time to read. My main summer goal is to read more.
- I have so many things I'm looking forward to right now.
and most of all...
- God is faithful. All the time. Even when I'm not. Especially when I'm not. For that, I will never cease to be amazed and profoundly grateful.
- The valley's high for today is 94 degrees. Whatever happened to spring?!?
- I only have 3 weeks of school left, and I am soooooo very thankful.
- I currently have a thought that makes me smile every time it enters my head. Isn't that the greatest thing?
- I still need to post remodel pictures. My apologies to those of you who have been patiently waiting. They're coming, I promise!
- I read almost a whole issue of Modern Reformation last night. And it was great. I miss having time to read. My main summer goal is to read more.
- I have so many things I'm looking forward to right now.
and most of all...
- God is faithful. All the time. Even when I'm not. Especially when I'm not. For that, I will never cease to be amazed and profoundly grateful.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Let the River Run Deep
From my Desiring God newsletter this morning:
I have always felt that the works of the famous British New Testament scholar, F. F. Bruce, are unnecessarily dry. In reading his memoirs, In retrospect, I discovered one of the reasons why. He said, "I do not care to speak much--especially in public--about the things that mean most to me."1 When you eliminate what means most to you from your writing and speaking, they will be dry. For myself, I would say just the opposite: "I do not care to speak much--especially in public--about the things that don't mean most to me."
This raises a question that is larger than the relative transparency of our souls. It raises the question about the way in which deep emotions can be expressed in public. What is the place of spontaneity and form in venting the passions of one's heart? This is more of a problem for me than for Bruce. That's one reason I moved from teaching in college to preaching in the church. I assume passion has a big place in the life of a preacher. So maybe my ruminations on how Jeremiah handles emotions in the Book of Lamentations will fit your soul too.
I will make two observations about "The Lamentations of Jeremiah" and then draw out some implications for the use of spontaneity and form in the expression of "what means most to us."
First, Lamentations is a deeply emotional book. Jeremiah writes about what means most to him, and he writes in agony. He feels all the upheaval of Jerusalem in ruins. There is weeping (1:2), desolation (1:4), mockery (1:7), groaning (1:8), hunger (1:11), grief (2:11), and the horrid loss of compassion as mothers boil their own children to eat them (2:20; 4:10). If there ever was intensity and fervor in the expression of passion from the heart, this is it.
The second observation, then, comes as a surprise: This seems to be the most formally crafted book in the Old Testament. Of the five chapters, chapters 1, 2, and 4 are each divided into twenty-two stanzas (the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet), and each stanza begins with a different letter of the alphabet. They are three acrostics.
Chapter 3 is even more tightly structured. Again there are twenty-two stanzas, but now each stanza has exactly three lines. The three lines in each stanza begin with the same letter, and each of the twenty-two stanzas begins with a different letter in alphabetical order.
This is the only chapter that is not an acrostic. But it still has twenty-two lines in conformity with the acrostic pattern of chapters 1-4. Now what do these two observations imply? First, they imply that genuine, heartfelt expression of our deepest emotions does not require spontaneity. Just think of all the mental work involved in finding all the right words to construct four alphabetical acrostics!
What constraint, what limitation, what submission to form! Yet what passion and power and heart! There is no necessary contradiction between form and fire.
Chapter 3 of Lamentations is the most personal and most intense. Here first-person references abound: "Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!" (3:19). Here the peak of hope is reached: "Great is your faithfulness!" (3:23). But here the author submits himself to the narrowest form in all the book.
After reading Lamentations, we can no longer believe that unpondered prayers are more powerful or real or passionate or heartfelt or genuine or alive than prayers that are thoughtfully and earnestly (and painfully?) poured out through a carefully crafted form. The danger of formalism is real. Prayers and sermons that are read from a manuscript are usually stiff and unnatural and artificial.
But the danger of spontaneity is also great. If the heart is without passion, it will produce lifeless, jargon-laden spontaneity. And if the heart is aflame, no form will quench it.
But not only is spontaneity no necessary advantage and form no necessary hindrance to deep, personal expression of feeling, but even more, formed affection often strikes deeper. Deeper into reality and deeper into the hearer. Formed grief, while not heaving to and fro with uncontrollable sobs, has a peculiar profundity.
Imagine a man's response when he first hears that his wife and children have been taken captive by the enemy and slaughtered. He throws himself to the ground, cries out in torment, rips his clothes, and rubs his head in ashes, until his energy ebbs into a pitiable "No, no, no." Here is utter spontaneity, utterly real emotion, no studied design, no conscious constraints.
But picture this man a week later, when the services are over and the friends have departed, and he is alone with the weight of his loss. The excruciating pain of the first blast is gone, and now there is the throb and ache of an amputated soul. What does he do to express this deep and settling grief? Between the periodic heaving sobs he reaches for a form and begins to make his lamentation.
Studied, crafted, pondered, full of power. When the time comes, he will read or recite this lamentation. But no one will say of this formed grief: "It is canned." On the contrary, it will strike deeper than the sobs. It will show more of what he has brought up from the depths.
Emotions are like a river flowing out of one's heart. Form is like the riverbanks. Without them the river runs shallow and dissipates on the plain. But banks make the river run deep. Why else have humans for centuries reached for poetry when we have deep affections to express? The creation of a form happens because someone feels a passion. How ironic, then, that we often fault form when the real evil is a dry spring.
Years ago I wrote a poem called "The Innkeeper," about the pain that the innkeeper may have experienced when Herod's soldiers came to kill the baby boys and started the slaughter at the innkeeper's place-"the price for housing the Messiah here." In the introduction I pondered why poets struggle to let deep emotion flow through narrow forms of art.
Why this struggle? Why does the poet bind his heart with such a severe discipline of form? Why strain to give shape to suffering? Because Reality has contours. God is who He is, not what we wish or try to make Him be. His Son, Jesus Christ, is the great granite Fact. His hard sacrifice makes it evident that our spontaneity needs Calvarylike discipline. Perhaps the innkeeper paid dearly for housing the Son of God. Should it not be costly to penetrate and portray this pain?2
Many pastors are not known for expressing deep emotions. This seems to me especially true in relation to the profoundest theological realities. This is not good, because we ought to experience the deepest emotions about the deepest things. And we ought to speak often, and publicly, about what means most to us, in a way that shows its value.
Brothers, we must let the river run deep. This is a plea for passion in the pulpit, passion in prayer, passion in conversation. It is not a plea for thin, whipped-up emotionalism. ("Let's all stand up and smile!") It is a plea for deep feelings in worthy forms from Godbesotted
hearts and minds.
1. F. F. Bruce, In Retrospect: Remembrance of Things Past (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), 304.
2. John Piper, The Innkeeper (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1998)
Used by permission of Broadman & Holman Publishers. Excerpted from "Brothers We Are Not Professionals," copyright 2002 by John Piper.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Lessons from a lost MasterCard
I have recently started devouring John Piper's Taste and See: Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life. This collection of brief daily meditations has proven to be a treasure chest of encouragement, conviction, and reminders of God's merciful faithfulness. Pastor John's hope at the beginning of the book is, "...if this book is seen on the bedside table of some battle-weary saints, I hope the reason they give is, 'Because I love to sweeten my mouth with the supremacy of God before I go to sleep.'" That has truly become the ministry of this book to my heart, and I wanted to share this reading, which actually comes from the very beginning. May it encourage all of you as it did me.
~*~
I used to carry a MasterCard for identification and rare, unforeseen expenses. Noel and I quit using it for regular purchases after the personal finance seminar at our church that exposed our own foolish habits with credit. That solved the problem of overspending our monthly budget. We use checks and cash for everything now.
So we know how much we have spent before the horrible reckoning at the end of the month. But I still carried it. Then I took it to California on vacation and lost it--and I had no idea where. It could have been in the seal show at Sea World. It could have been in the fruit shop in Tijuana where the bees covered the watermelon. It could have been in who knows how many McDonald's or on the beach in Coronado, where the sand really is gold and the condos sell for half a million dollars. (We were swimming, not shopping.) I had no idea where it was.
But the wonderful thing is that I felt no worries. Now, mind you, that's not natural for me. I am by nature a pessimist, and under ordinary circumstances I would have concluded that someone had already charged the limit on my card. I would usually have gotten mad at myself or my family and taken out my frustration on everybody. I would have looked hard for some divine purpose in all the trouble and had an awful time being happy.
But this time it was different. I felt no worries at all. I didn't get angry with anyone. I never felt any frustration. I was happy the whole way through. What a victory! The whole time it was lost I went about my business as usual, trusted God, and loved my family.
And when I got back from vacation, there it was in an envelope. Daniel Fuller, my friend and former professor, had mailed it to me from California. I had dropped it in his car.
Do you know what the secret to my happiness was? I never knew I had lost the card until I saw it in the envelope in Minneapolis.
I stood there holding it in my hand and smiling. Just think of how feisty I might have been if I had known I lost it. Think how depressed and worried and angry and frustrated and irritable I might have been. And the whole time the card was safely on the way to Minneapolis. All my anger and frustration and discouragement would have been absolutely pointless.
Now, is there not a lesson in this? There is for me. It's this: As soon as we discover we have a problem, God has already been working on it and the solution is on its way.
I have seen it happen again and again in my life. A letter arrives with the solution to some problem. But just the day before I had been discouraged and downcast, not knowing that the letter was already in the mail.
If we believe in the God of Romans 8:28, we will always remember that by the time we know a problem exists, God has already been working on it and His solution is on the way. Ponder the eagerness of God to work for us. "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him" (Isaiah 64:4, RSV, emphasis added). "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward him" (2 Chronicles 16;9, RSV, emphasis added). "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me (literally: pursue me) all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6).
That is what was happening before I knew I had a problem. And that is what God is doing all the time for those who trust Him. Of course, the point here is not that God spares His people trouble. And all of us know that a lost credit card is the least of our worries in a world of suffering like ours. The lost credit card is merely a parable of much greater things. They will not always turn out the way we think is best. But that does not mean God is not at work. He is always at work. And He is turning all our losses and all our pains into something good for us as we trust Him. This is His promise.
Therefore, fret not. Cast all your anxieties on Him. They are as unnecessary as mine would have been for the lost MasterCard. The time will come when you will see the wise and loving point of it all. By faith live in that moment now, even before you know.
~*~
Lesson From a Lost MasterCard
"Cast All Your Anxieties on Him Because He Cares for You"
"Cast All Your Anxieties on Him Because He Cares for You"
I used to carry a MasterCard for identification and rare, unforeseen expenses. Noel and I quit using it for regular purchases after the personal finance seminar at our church that exposed our own foolish habits with credit. That solved the problem of overspending our monthly budget. We use checks and cash for everything now.
So we know how much we have spent before the horrible reckoning at the end of the month. But I still carried it. Then I took it to California on vacation and lost it--and I had no idea where. It could have been in the seal show at Sea World. It could have been in the fruit shop in Tijuana where the bees covered the watermelon. It could have been in who knows how many McDonald's or on the beach in Coronado, where the sand really is gold and the condos sell for half a million dollars. (We were swimming, not shopping.) I had no idea where it was.
But the wonderful thing is that I felt no worries. Now, mind you, that's not natural for me. I am by nature a pessimist, and under ordinary circumstances I would have concluded that someone had already charged the limit on my card. I would usually have gotten mad at myself or my family and taken out my frustration on everybody. I would have looked hard for some divine purpose in all the trouble and had an awful time being happy.
But this time it was different. I felt no worries at all. I didn't get angry with anyone. I never felt any frustration. I was happy the whole way through. What a victory! The whole time it was lost I went about my business as usual, trusted God, and loved my family.
And when I got back from vacation, there it was in an envelope. Daniel Fuller, my friend and former professor, had mailed it to me from California. I had dropped it in his car.
Do you know what the secret to my happiness was? I never knew I had lost the card until I saw it in the envelope in Minneapolis.
I stood there holding it in my hand and smiling. Just think of how feisty I might have been if I had known I lost it. Think how depressed and worried and angry and frustrated and irritable I might have been. And the whole time the card was safely on the way to Minneapolis. All my anger and frustration and discouragement would have been absolutely pointless.
Now, is there not a lesson in this? There is for me. It's this: As soon as we discover we have a problem, God has already been working on it and the solution is on its way.
I have seen it happen again and again in my life. A letter arrives with the solution to some problem. But just the day before I had been discouraged and downcast, not knowing that the letter was already in the mail.
If we believe in the God of Romans 8:28, we will always remember that by the time we know a problem exists, God has already been working on it and His solution is on the way. Ponder the eagerness of God to work for us. "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him" (Isaiah 64:4, RSV, emphasis added). "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show his might in behalf of those whose heart is blameless toward him" (2 Chronicles 16;9, RSV, emphasis added). "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me (literally: pursue me) all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6).
That is what was happening before I knew I had a problem. And that is what God is doing all the time for those who trust Him. Of course, the point here is not that God spares His people trouble. And all of us know that a lost credit card is the least of our worries in a world of suffering like ours. The lost credit card is merely a parable of much greater things. They will not always turn out the way we think is best. But that does not mean God is not at work. He is always at work. And He is turning all our losses and all our pains into something good for us as we trust Him. This is His promise.
Therefore, fret not. Cast all your anxieties on Him. They are as unnecessary as mine would have been for the lost MasterCard. The time will come when you will see the wise and loving point of it all. By faith live in that moment now, even before you know.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hiatus and playlists
hiatus
/hiayt
ss/
• noun (pl. hiatuses) a pause or gap in continuity.
— ORIGIN Latin, ‘gaping’.
Many of you may have noticed that I have taken an unexplained vacation from my blog lately. There were many reasons for this, not least of which was an over-abundance of homework recently, as well as a flurry of activity getting ready to welcome with joy and open arms these two:
Our visit was wonderful, our soon-to-be addition to the family is delightful, and we were thrilled to spend time with both of them. The house was indeed quiet after they left...
Now life is back to "normal" (whatever that means!), but still as busy as ever. I do hope to continue to maintain my blog, though it might be abbreviated at times, especially during the next seven weeks as I finish out my current set of classes before summer arrives.
In the meantime, I have a question for those who read. I am in the process of putting together a playlist for two very special people, and I need advice. Perhaps it would help to give a general idea of what I have so far:
- Theme from The Last of the Mohicans
- "For the Love of a Princess": Braveheart soundtrack
- "Elan" by Secret Garden
- "The Promise" by Secret Garden
- "Dawn": Pride and Prejudice soundtrack
- "Mrs. Darcy": Pride and Prejudice soundtrack
- "Gumption": The Holiday soundtrack
- "Minor Swing": Chocolat soundtrack
- "Elysium/Honor Him/Now We Are Free": Gladiator soundtrack
- Theme from The Notebook
- "River Flows in You" by Yiruma
- Theme from Forrest Gump
So mostly soundtrack songs thus far, with a few other random things thrown in. Any suggestions for more additions? I'd like it to stay within this same general genre/style.
~*~
Enjoy the first days of spring! May God's goodness abound to you all.
Living life Coram Deo,
Genevieve
Monday, February 9, 2009
An elephantine pursuit of the obvious
Somewhat lengthy, but well worth reading. I was moved almost to tears by the time I reached the eleventh point. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
~*~
"I don't want to give the impression that in our fight for joy one must always make special plans to pursue such revelations of God's glory--like a trip to the mountains or a theater. Most of the time we should simply open our eyes (and ears and noses and skin and taste buds). Not that this takes no effort. Clearly human beings have a strange malady that makes the ordinary glories of each day almost invisible, and certainly less interesting than their imitations in theaters and television. There are more ooooh's and ahhh's over the visual effects on a thirty-foot theater screen than over the night sky and the setting sun. Why is it so hard for us to feel wonder at the usual when clearly it is more spectacular than the man-made imitation? ...
"This is a tragic condition captured by the proverb, 'Familiarity breeds contempt'--or breeds blindness to ordinary and obvious beauty. But surely redemption through Jesus Christ means that we will be freed from that proverb someday. And since our redemption has already begun in this age, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians ought to have better eyes than people in general for seeing the wonders that day and night pour forth. We ought to be the kind of people who walk out of the house in the morning with the same sense of expectancy that we take into the theater--only more. ...
"At the end of his life my teacher, Clyde Kilby, came to Minneapolis and gave a lecture on how he intended to do just this. ... He summed up his talk with eleven resolutions. I commend them to you as one way of overcoming our bent toward blindness for the wonders of the ordinary.
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: 'There is darkness without and when I die ther will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.'
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tre, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what [C.S.] Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now.
10. If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.
11. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke ade by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega."
~*~
Taken from John Piper's book When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy
~*~
"I don't want to give the impression that in our fight for joy one must always make special plans to pursue such revelations of God's glory--like a trip to the mountains or a theater. Most of the time we should simply open our eyes (and ears and noses and skin and taste buds). Not that this takes no effort. Clearly human beings have a strange malady that makes the ordinary glories of each day almost invisible, and certainly less interesting than their imitations in theaters and television. There are more ooooh's and ahhh's over the visual effects on a thirty-foot theater screen than over the night sky and the setting sun. Why is it so hard for us to feel wonder at the usual when clearly it is more spectacular than the man-made imitation? ...
"This is a tragic condition captured by the proverb, 'Familiarity breeds contempt'--or breeds blindness to ordinary and obvious beauty. But surely redemption through Jesus Christ means that we will be freed from that proverb someday. And since our redemption has already begun in this age, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians ought to have better eyes than people in general for seeing the wonders that day and night pour forth. We ought to be the kind of people who walk out of the house in the morning with the same sense of expectancy that we take into the theater--only more. ...
"At the end of his life my teacher, Clyde Kilby, came to Minneapolis and gave a lecture on how he intended to do just this. ... He summed up his talk with eleven resolutions. I commend them to you as one way of overcoming our bent toward blindness for the wonders of the ordinary.
1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me.
2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: 'There is darkness without and when I die ther will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.'
3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
4. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.
5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tre, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what [C.S.] Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.
7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder."
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now.
10. If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.
11. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life in the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke ade by the architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega."
~*~
Taken from John Piper's book When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Trembling Christian
‘I have yet to speak on God’s behalf.’
Job 36:2
We ought not to court publicity for our virtue, or notoriety for our zeal; but, at the same time, it is a sin to be always seeking to hide that which God has bestowed upon us for the good of others. A Christian is not to be a village in a valley, but ‘a city set upon a hill’; he is not to be a candle under a bushel, but a candle in a candlestick, giving light to all. Retirement may be lovely in its season, and to hide one’s self is doubtless modest, but the hiding of Christ in us can never be justified, and the keeping back of truth which is precious to ourselves is a sin against others and an offence against God. If you are of a nervous temperament and of retiring disposition, take care that you do not too much indulge this trembling propensity, lest you should be useless to the church. Seek in the name of Him who was not ashamed of you to do some little violence to your feelings, and tell to others what Christ has told to you. If you cannot speak with trumpet tongue, use the still small voice. If the pulpit must not be your tribune, if the press may not carry on its wings your words, yet say with Peter and John, ‘Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee’. By Sychar’s well talk to the Samaritan woman, if you cannot on the mountain preach a sermon; utter the praises of Jesus in the house, if not in the temple; in the field, if not upon the exchange; in the midst of your own household, if you cannot in the midst of the great family of man. From the hidden springs within let sweetly flowing rivulets of testimony flow forth, giving drink to every passer-by. Hide not your talent; trade with it; and you shall bring in good interest to your Lord and Master. To speak for God will be refreshing to ourselves, cheering to saints, useful to sinners, and honoring to the Savior. Dumb children are an affliction to their parents. Lord, unloose all Thy children’s tongues.
-- Taken from Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening", January 12
Job 36:2
We ought not to court publicity for our virtue, or notoriety for our zeal; but, at the same time, it is a sin to be always seeking to hide that which God has bestowed upon us for the good of others. A Christian is not to be a village in a valley, but ‘a city set upon a hill’; he is not to be a candle under a bushel, but a candle in a candlestick, giving light to all. Retirement may be lovely in its season, and to hide one’s self is doubtless modest, but the hiding of Christ in us can never be justified, and the keeping back of truth which is precious to ourselves is a sin against others and an offence against God. If you are of a nervous temperament and of retiring disposition, take care that you do not too much indulge this trembling propensity, lest you should be useless to the church. Seek in the name of Him who was not ashamed of you to do some little violence to your feelings, and tell to others what Christ has told to you. If you cannot speak with trumpet tongue, use the still small voice. If the pulpit must not be your tribune, if the press may not carry on its wings your words, yet say with Peter and John, ‘Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee’. By Sychar’s well talk to the Samaritan woman, if you cannot on the mountain preach a sermon; utter the praises of Jesus in the house, if not in the temple; in the field, if not upon the exchange; in the midst of your own household, if you cannot in the midst of the great family of man. From the hidden springs within let sweetly flowing rivulets of testimony flow forth, giving drink to every passer-by. Hide not your talent; trade with it; and you shall bring in good interest to your Lord and Master. To speak for God will be refreshing to ourselves, cheering to saints, useful to sinners, and honoring to the Savior. Dumb children are an affliction to their parents. Lord, unloose all Thy children’s tongues.
-- Taken from Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening", January 12
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