Have you ever thought September 13, 2009

 

That these really must be the best years of your life????? When you find that God has actually been very good to you- maybe you wonder why- but we don’t have to wonder why, because we know- we know He loves us. We find out that He is with us, and that He fills our lives with Joy  

in ways we wouldn’t have thought- or ways we’ve never noticed. His love is so amazing and indescribable. Have you ever thought they were the best years, and realised that they would only get better as you pressed on to a deeper knowledge of your Beloved? Have you ever wondered why He says “my beloved” because you know that it isn’t you- then realised it was all Him? Have you ever thought that these we’re such lovely times, but didn’t want to grasp & hold on to them because you are excited about what comes next too?

Because every moment was a gift from Him? More than all these gifts you see pictured, though, is this one pevailing thing that makes even the hard things not so hard: Christ is mine, and I am His.

And you find out that He is beautiful & the one who not only gives us all the beautiful things, but the very one Who makes them seem beautiful- you realise He’s everything, and for some reason He loves even you.

And He is enough.

And He is beautiful.

And somehow its not words anymore- its true.

And He delights in giving his children abundantly more than they ever imagined.

Like eyes.

To see that every good and perfect gift is from Him. 

Where the fire has already been September 13, 2009

What an amazing thought! For those of you who have not listened to Mr. Davies’ sermon series at Christ Church New Albany this past week+, you are encouraged to do so (click here).

One illustration he used (which I am thankful to Jennifer for reminding me of) was that of a family in Australia who lit a fire behind their house in order to be saved from the fire which was rushing toward them. By standing where it had already been burned, they escaped from the fire that was coming- and that’s where we are in Christ.

Hallelujah.

What a Saviour.

Where Are Your Eyes, Oh Ye Of Little Faith? July 24, 2009

In God’s amazing wisdom, after the initial burst with Personhood Mississippi, He allowed things to look uncertain for a period of time – He knows what will bring Him most glory. Now, when things are looking somewhat better, it seems  easier to believe He can “really do it”- but which way are we looking?

When we look horizontally, discouragement and encouragement switch and swap and rise and fall at a dizzying pace that will likely leave us feeling confused and anxious. When things look good, we often feel full of vigor and excitement. “Nothing,” we may say (if not in so many words) “could shake my faith.”- then things start to look less promising, and it is seen that it was never really faith at all- because faith does not alter and bend and sway with the ebbing and flowing of physical circumstances. God’s ability to do His will does not change with all the changes in appearances, and if our hope does, prehaps we should consider whether we need to shift our gaze.

When by God’s grace we look “vertically” – when we fix our gaze on God -  we see that He will accomplish His good pleasure. We can rest in the knowledge that He is in control, and whatever happens it will be for His glory and the good of His people. We can hope in the belief that He is all-wise, and He is not just standing back fretting about the way things are on earth: He is artfully weaving all things together for His glory and the good of His people. We can trust in the fact that he is all-powerful, and that when His Son died on the cross, the battle which we are fighting was won for His glory and for the good of His people. We can rest, hope and trust in our God. He willend abortion- whether He sees fit to do it through us or not. And that faith must be translated into action: if He will end abortion, why not now? Why not through us? Even if it is not His will to do it now, through us, yet He still commands us to action, whether it be petitioning or going to the mill or volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center or active prayer. And when we begin to see a glimpse of the greatness of our God, should our bones not burn with jealousy? and should we not cry “enough!”? – for His Name is at stake. As the spark in our hearts begins to ignite into a roaring – still ever growing – flame of love for Him, may that love be translated into action. Even when we are looking into the eyes of the countless host of our foes as we stand (apparently) alone in the battlefield, our trust that God will conquer must be no less than if our army were broader and deeper than the sea. Indeed, “…those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” In light of He Who is with us, those who are with them are as nothing.

Fath always believes that.

Come, let us fix our eyes on Him.

Anyone seen a red camera? July 11, 2009

(finalisation photo)

I like him June 26, 2009

How about you?

(((BTW, pro-life rally tonight in Tupelo- Hope Chuch 6:30)))

You can tell who’s daughter she is June 23, 2009

For those of you who don’t know and haven’t guessed, Josiah was adopted.

And when you look at a picture like this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 you can’t necessarily tell who’s son he is.

But when you look at this

 it becomes a bit more apparent.

You see, even though he does not have daddy’s genes, he’s his dad. He spends time with him. And somehow, he ends up LOVING tractors. Hmm… As children of God, if we spend time with our Father, we should start to look more and like our Beloved. Then would people start to say “you can tell Whose daughter she is, whose son he is”? Not because of our faces, not because of the shape of our noses, but because of our life- because we start to live like His children.

Just a thought (or so).

2 boys & a chicken May 25, 2009

Come, Make a Home in My Heart May 25, 2009

I – and, I trust, some of my readers – know to some degree what to some degree what it means to have Christ come and make a home in our hearts. Sometimes, even now, we still try to treat Him (as Pastor John might be heard to say) as a house guest- a vsitor. We say “make Yourself at home”, but we would think t terribly presumptuous if He came into “that one closet” – the closet in which we try to hide our sin, not rememberng that it was in front of His face, and He saw it, when that sin was first committed. Do we really want to wait for Him to go into the closet “uninvited” to remember that He already knows about those things, to remember that He already carried them to the cross on His own spotless shoulders anddied to wash them away? How long until the freedom freely offered will be freely received? Blessed are we when we do not tarry to open the closet door and give Him our whole hearts! Blessed are we when we do not tarry to accept the gift of freedom from all those things, all the things in the closet. Blessed are we when we do not tarry to beg and plead for Him to come and do away with all of the sins creeping about His home- do we think that the Sinless One desires to share a home with out pet sins? I am not talking about the unconverted, but of the believer who who goes through seasons of striving with his Beloved for another last drink of sin; and foolishly tries to hide it away for a time when He Who sees all is not looking- and in our great foolishness we think to hid it in His very home. We must learn to give it all to Him, for He requires a whole heart.

Now, just a few words of comfort before I go: He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust – We have not a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses – “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”

Open wide your heart and know the Joy which He alone gives.

SOLA DEO GLORIA!!!

because… May 22, 2009

he’s so cute.

(and I have an apparent fasination with taking pictures of him from various angles)

Josiah May 19, 2009