January 2012
1 post
September 2011
5 posts
Ezekiel 36:26
You see, He’s like this man who is constantly knocking on the doors of our hearts. But we answer, “Jesus, wait—just wait a second. I am not ready yet. I am almost done. Let me just tidy things up in here before you come in.” He waits and waits but no matter how hard we try to tidy up, it does not seem to get any cleaner. And yet he still waits and waits and knocks and...
Love and Justice by Michael Gungor
“Love can be ferocious.
I love my wife and my baby girl, Amelie, and if anyone would try to do something to hurt those girls, I would ferociously try to protect them. If Amelie tries to stick her fingers in an electric socket, I would be ferocious in making sure that she didn’t. If I needed to, I would yell, or slap her hand away or do anything I needed to do to make sure she didn’t get...
August 2011
5 posts
Rest.
Many believe that working shows the glory of God. But in reality, our rest glorifies God too. Rest, even from good deeds brings glory to God and His sovereignty. It reminds us that although man is not sovereign, God is. God never needs sleep, He keeps working. He does not become weary and tired like man. I remember Piper once saying that God delights more in our peaceful trust that casts all...
July 2011
15 posts
My children were too young to grasp the abstract, strategic, and often theological purposes underlying my instruction. Even if I explained everything in as age-appropriate a way as I could, they would still have no actual understanding. They just did not yet have the categories or the capacity to grasp the parental logic behind the plan or command.
So I did the same thing again and again. I...
find rest, my soul.
I am emotionally exhausted. I am confused and tired. It’s exhausting being myself when I do not even know what that looks like anymore. It’s hard to be lively & strong for a group of people because you are a leader and that is what you are called to be and do. It’s hard to be fun and understanding for someone because you do not want to become a burden. It’s hard to...
“If we continue to picture God as a small-minded bookkeeper, a niggling customs...”
– brennan manning
child.
Life after college seemed easy in the beginning. I really thought I knew what I wanted to do. I told God and myself that I would go back to school to get my credentials and live a life becoming a teacher. After I get married, I would get out of this country and go teach in countries that are off the map.
It’s interesting how even plans that seem well thought out and plans that seem good do...
united pursuit band - climb
i lean not on my own understanding. my life is in the hands of the Maker of heaven. i give it all to You God trusting that You’ll make something beautiful out of me. there’s nothing i hold on to. i will climb this mountain with my hands wide open.
“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of...”
– William Temple
“Everyone who drinks this water from the well will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst again. It shall become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. All your fountains are found in me. Give me a cup in exchange for a life. Come daughter, come.”
Even after hearing this voice not familiar but soothing, I threw myself in. I drowned...
June 2011
5 posts
I do not need pretty eyes to see beautiful sights. I do not need pretty ears to listen to beautiful sounds. I do not need a pretty nose to smell beautiful scents. I do not need pretty hands to touch beautiful things. I do not need pretty feet to step on beautiful grounds. I do not need pretty lips or a pretty voice to speak or sing beautiful words.
Who said pretty was the standard? It’s...
“You cannot change your past, your problems, your situations, and your...”
May 2011
15 posts
“Even if God does not answer any of my prayers for the rest of my life, I will...”
– Pastor Joe
My child,
I hear You say, “My love is over. It’s underneath. It’s inside. It’s in between. The times you doubt Me, when you can’t feel. The times that you question, ‘Is this for real?’ The times you’re broken. The times that you mend. The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend.
Well, My love is over, it’s underneath. It’s inside,...
forgiveness. →
rivkah:
When we forgive someone, we aren’t saying that what they did didn’t hurt, that it wasn’t wrong, or that the action in itself is not deserving of punishment. Instead, we are making a statement that they are not their actions. We are speaking truth into their lives and saying, “Even though you may not realize it, you were made in the image of God. And even though what you did goes...
Prayer (Clement XI)
I believe, Lord, but may I believe more firmly. I hope, but may I hope more securely. I love, but may I love more ardently. I grieve, but may I grieve more deeply.
I adore you as my first beginning. I aspire after you as my last end. I praise you as my perpetual benefactor. I invoke you as my merciful protector.
Direct me by your wisdom. Keep me in your grace. Console me with your mercy. Protect...
God is a surgeon and gardener.
Sometimes we have things that we do not know are bad, like a disease or infection we cannot see or feel. But we know that it is eating us inside, and it is destroying us. Even though we may be numb to it, even though we may be okay living with it, we know it needs to be treated. Sometimes the surgery could be more painful than having that disease around. But once the surgery is finished and...
C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters
My Dear Wormwood,
First, let me commend you on the job with the patient’s sloth. As you well know, this is the constant in her life that allows for us to most effectively carry out our work. While she is in this state of uselessness (even if she is not, you must put this into her head) her mind will wander to thinking about all of her shortcomings, unfinished business, time, and what she really...
Watch“okay.”
April 2011
5 posts
Zephaniah 3:16-17
He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; and will rejoice over you with singing.
You will break the silence of this world with Your song and all of creation will bow down in awe at the sound of Your voice. You, the God who did not sing when the world was created, sing when we are reconciled back to You. The day You come to take us home will be the day You sing...
william fitzsimmons - beautiful girl
beautiful...