"Freedom" by Run Kid Run

I heard this song last night on the radio. It's awesome. Partly because it's a great song, but mostly because it's so true.

Our God is a truly awesome God!

Brave by Nichole Nordeman

The gate is wide
The road is paved in moderation
The crowd is kind and quick to pull you in
Welcome to the middle ground
You're safe and sound and
Until now it's where I've been

'Cause it's been fear that ties me down to everything
But it's been love, Your love, that cuts the strings

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

I am small
And I speak when I'm spoken to
But I am willing to risk it all
I say Your name
Just Your name and I'm ready to jump
Even ready to fall...

Why did I take this vow of compromise?
Why did I try to keep it all inside?

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

I've never known a fire that didn't begin with a flame
Every storm will start with just a drop of rain
But if you believe in me
That changes everything
So long, I'm gone

So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
I wanna be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!

There once was a poor old man who owned a bony plow horse. The animal was old, but allowed the man and his son to plow the fields to grow the food off of which they lived. One spring afternoon the horse broke loose from his plow and ran away. The man and his son chased the horse, but it ran into the forest. They searched the woods for days, but to no avail. They were without any means of making a living. The old man’s friends, hearing the yelling, ran to his house. Trying to console him, they said, “We’re so sorry about your horse, old man. What a misfortune you’ve had.” But the old man said, “Bad news, good news-who can tell?”

A week later, the old man and his son were in the field, attmepting to plow it by hand, when they saw a cloud of dust approaching on the horizon. Lo and behold, it was their horse returning leading a herd of wild horses. The old man was rich! Not only did he have plenty of horses to work on his farm but he could sell the others at a profit. Again his friends came running. Filled with joy, they cried, “How wonderful!” But the old man whispered, “Good news, bad news-who can tell?”

Then the next day, when the farmer’s son was trying to ride one of the new horses, the young man was thrown to the ground and broke both of his legs. Upon hearing of the accident, the friends ran to the old man's house. "How unfortunate!" they cried. "Surely this is horrible news!" But the old man simply replied, “Bad news, good news-who can tell?”

And a short time later when the village went to war. A declaration went out that all young men had to go and fight. But when the recruitment officer came to the house of the old man, he shrugged, saying "We've no place for your son in this war." So the son avoided going into battle. Good news. Bad news. Who can tell?

Excellent thoughts on suffering

A series of blog posts by Mark Driscoll on the Mars Hill Church blog. Very insightful. Most helpful.

Part 1: Intro
Part 2: 15 Kinds of Suffering
Part 3: Why do we suffer?

It could have been bad

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/03/city_police_apprehend_fugitive.html#more

The "undisclosed" M-burg area was the Wal-Mart parking lot.
He was there @ 7:30, shooting at cop cars.
I walked out of the store @ 7:45.

Praise God for safety!

Sorry Amy

"Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone."
~John Calvin(?)

A very well phrased answer to the question, "How can we be saved by grace alone through faith alone if 'faith apart from works is useless/dead' (James 2:20)?"

The power of music

God speaks to us all sorts of ways. Sometimes it's awesomely and epically earth-shattering revelations. Others it's through prayer, or Scripture, or in a conversation.

And other times, He just works miracles through your playlist, to show you exactly what He wanted you to see. What was there all along; you just forgot it was there.

Cardboard Testimonies

My roommate showed me this amazing video. After an already fantastic weekend, it was amazing to see how God is at work in the lives of so many people.

And they'll know that we're Christians by our tips

As someone who's waited tables for an entire summer, I can testify to how crummy serving can be some nights. Generally it was great, and I had fun, but some nights it was super terrible. And what's even worse it when you totally get shafted (<10%) on a tip, when you worked your butt off, kept their glasses filled, cleared away their dishes, and were really nice to them.

We went out to Olive Garden tonight (Amy's favorite, I know). I was 7 of us, so we were a bigger table than your standard 4 top. We had 2 waitresses, and they worked super hard to do well by us. And they did! I was impressed! That takes skill and they pulled it off (on top of a full dining room.)

Now, we may be college students. And we may not have much money. But waitresses make $2.83 an hour. They live off of tips. How do we dare to go somewhere nice, demand excellent service and then tip them hardly anything?

That's terrible! And people say, "Well, if they're making 2.83 an hour, and they turn over 3 tables an hour, and each gives them a $2 tip, then they're making minimum wage...."

Yes, yes they are.

And if you want minimum wage service, I suggest you go to a fast food restaurant. Where they hand you your food and an empty cup and you take it and deal with it yourself.

But if you're going to a restaurant, you should be willing to pay a bit more than minimum wage. Yes, you're paying for your food too, but that money doesn't go to your waitress. It goes to the buying of products, the chain, the managers, the cooks, the utilities, the liquor license.... They hardly see any of that.

And as Christians we're no different. People don't understand the volumes that their tips speak about them.

If we were just to tip well, and leave a little note: "Thanks, and God bless!" Think of what that could do. What does that show to a non-believing waitress/waiter?

I got 3 notes on my checks all summer. One was my first table I waited on, and he saw I was really nervous. One was a super nice couple who practically tipped me 75%. And the other was when Gabby and Brent visited.

Even the smallest gestures make a BIG impression in the middle of a hectic shift.

Why don't we take advantage of it?

Grace is

seeing a 98 on the back page of the exam you thought you bombed.

Old Testament Therapy

Depression isn't a new thing, by any means. And how did God treat it?

Sleep, food, sleep, food.

It's Biblical!

Biblical character

So, reading thru the OT, you meet a lot of people. A LOT of people. (I kind of wish my Bible had a Silmarillion-style index in the back so I could keep people straight.)

And having a zillion years of English lit classes, and now Spanish lit classes, I find myself asking all the time: Who's the protagonist? Who's the good guy in this story? And quite frankly it's hard to find a good guy. You have Saul, who starts out pretty good, but then goes all mad-crazy and tries to kill David a zillion times. David seems like a good guy, except for his...erm...womanizing, shall we say? His son, Amnon is a pretty straight-forward bad guy: we don't know much other than he rapes his sister. And then there's Absalom (which is an awesome name), who loves his sister and takes care of her, and avenges her...by killing his brother. And then he repents, but then he tries to overthrow his dad's kingdom!

Which makes one ask: Who's the good guy? Is there a good guy?? Even the good guys have a lot of bad in them.

It's the perfect question, that even the youngest child can answer. And it applies as much today as it did then. None of us are doing any better than Saul or David or any of them.

Who's the good guy?

Jesus.

Never say never

Oh how I'll be glad to turn twenty. Perhaps my teen-aged "no one understands me/ what I'm going through" angst will magically disappear. (We can hope, right?)

~For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15)

~And that same high priest knows what we're going through, and (whether or not we know it) puts people around us who are experiencing the exact same thing.

"There's no one I can talk to, because no one is going through a similar situation." = so very not true.

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one.

Don't you understand? He saved me!

A video I don't believe I can watch too many times.

How great is our God. That He comes to us when we are so shameful, so ugly, so evil and claims us as His own. He takes us in His arms and heals our wounds and loves us even when we don't love Him.

How great is our God? Someday we'll be able to fully express it to Him.