Month: April 2017

Strangers and Exiles

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…and yea, another perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon has my God blessed me with. Gorgeous weather outside…and so another reading session on the porch of EQ was heartily enjoyed…sunshine and blue skies and bird song abounding…and my book lay open upon my lap as I read and I prayed and I pondered.

No one answered. The noon-bell rang. Still no one spoke. Frodo
glanced at all the faces, but they were not turned to him. All the
Council sat with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought. A great dread
fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom
that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be
spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by
Bilbo’s side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he
spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will
was using his small voice.
‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, ‘though I do not know the way.’

Wind roars Over the Highlands now

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Hey all – happy Friday! I realise this is an odd time for me to post an update. But you won’t be surprised when I say where I’m writing this from…Starbucks! I’m meeting someone in about half an hour and this Starbucks is a very convenient place to wait at…so I simply couldn’t resist. Something else I just couldn’t resist was a hot chocolate. Even though it is approximately 90 degrees outside. I don’t care. It is creamy and chocolaty and delicious. And now it is mine.

In other news…I have been thinking about how I really am not a fan of the proliferation and prominence of social media these days. There are definitely some positive uses of online social spaces, but as I gaze into the void that is social networks(whether it be the facebook, the twitter, the tumblr, the instagram, the snapchat, the etc, etc, etc….), it seems the main goal and purpose is to project yourself into that void and indeed, to promote the idealized image of yourself. Of course I can understand the allure of presenting yourself in the most flattering of surreal light…indeed, I’m not always happy with my “real” self either, nay – may it never be! But too often, these online forums are used as mechanisms for propping oneself up atop the bones of all others. Our arrogance and pride is such that every action we take in the hyper-glare of the net is taken with the end goal of self love above all. And that self love comes in so many different forms…depending on the user’s preferred image to project to the audience…world-weary ideologue, earth-loving naturalist, quirky free-loving spirit, hyper attention-seeking adventurer, sarcastic filter-shunning individualist. There is a space for all and for all there is space. And each user feels self-righteously good about who they are…except for those who don’t. For there are those that drown in the maelstrom of lies and deceit, yet they too long to achieve a modicum of normalcy and so they too strive to be known – even if it is only as a depressed soul. And my time is quickly spinning away. I will write more at a later day. But for now, it is fascinating and not at all surprising – we all long to be known. And so these new media? That is what we use them for – to project the song of ourselves to the world. And we consume the songs of all others and out of these songs we revel and we despair and we are desperately, exceedingly envious. Are we now entertained? Oh so superficial. Oh humanity. We dance and sing in the marketplace, fearing to look to the sky.

Standing at the Prow

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So once again it is Friday morning…hello all!! I only have moments before I need to start work in earnest, but thought I’d write a few words -just because! I really meant to write something a bit more substantial about humility, contentedness, thankfulness and the wonders of God’s love for us, His children…but you will just have to imagine I did that now. I think I just wanted to say how sometimes it is quite easy for us to complain about our current state of affairs and wonder why God allows certain things to happen in our lives. So easy, right? Yet I realize that God is refining me, making me more like Him. And that is truly what I desire, is it not? I may wonder how much humility I really need – apparently much more than most people! – woe unto me for my pride. Yet I am grateful to my God for caring for me as a son – for disciplining me and keeping me humble before Him. Again – one thing do I long for – to be more like Christ and to honour my God in all that I do. It would be useful for me to think less of myself and more of my God. May I remember this. And may I be oh so thankful for the gift of eternal life that has been given to me, a sinner. Do I deserve such blessings? Surely not. Yet God of His own good pleasure deemed it good to bless me so. Oh wondrous joy – a vista of unending beauty is mine forever!

Now pardon this ill-structured paragraph…maybe later I shall write more. Maybe not. For now, my hand waves farewell. My heart calms. My soul is at peace.

and Thus

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To hunger and thirst after righteousness is nothing but the longing to be positively holy.
I cannot think of a better way of defining it. The man who hungers and thirsts after
righteousness is the man who wants to exemplify the Beatitudes in his daily life. He is a man
who wants to show the fruit of the Spirit in his every action and in the whole of his life
and activity. To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to long to be like the New Testament
man, the new man in Christ Jesus. That is what it means, that the whole of my being and the
whole of my life shall be like that. Let me go further. It means that one’s supreme desire
in life is to know God and to be in fellowship with Him, to walk with God the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit int he light. ‘Our fellowship’, says John, ‘is with the Father, and with
His Son Jesus Christ.’ He also says, ‘God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ To be
in fellowship with God means to be walking with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the light,
in that blessed purity and holiness. The man who hungers and thirsts after righteousness is the man
who longs for that above everything else. And in the ends that is nothing but a longing to be like
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Look at Him; look at His portrait in these Gospels; look at Him
when He was here on earth in His incarnate state; look at Him in His positive obedience to God’s
holy law; look at Him in His reaction to other people, His kindness, His compassion, His sensitive
nature; look at Him in His reaction to His enemies and all that they did to Him. There is the portrait,
and you and I, according to the New Testament doctrine, have been born again and have been fashioned anew
after that pattern and image. The man, therefore, who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, is the
man who wants to be like that. His supreme desire is to be like Christ.
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, pp 66-67

Amen and Amen.

Day of Days

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Hello friends! It’s Sunday evening here and I’m enjoying my chamomile tea and a little MLJ reading and really should get ready for bed momentarily. Quickly then…just know that today was a simply wonderful day. From being at church with my brothers and sisters and worshiping God together…to having some wonderful chats with friends old and new…and then getting home today and realizing after I finished my workout that I simply could not stay indoors as it’s been gorgeous all day!! After lying by the pool and finishing Steelheart(Brandon Sanderson) – I went for a walk…then thought how nice it would be to read outside at EQ. So walked back to the flat, picked up Lord of the Rings and walked back to EQ and sat on the porch with the sun warming my face…truly, this has to be one of my favorite days of the year. Blissful. I got many chapters of LotR read(from Bree to Rivendell!) and then finally walked back home to make my salad for dinner. Now…I prepare for the upcoming week. Knowing that God is good and has set my path in front of me, I cannot wait to walk in it. Give me the strength, Lord. Give me the strength. Sometimes I feel I know not why I take the steps I do…nonetheless, I trust my God. May this week be blessed of the Lord – only for His glory. Always. Now, I take my leave. Before I do…might as well write out a few of my favorite words from my latest chapter of MLJ:

What hope is there for the world? There is none. There is no comfort for the world now. But for the Christian man
who mourns because of sin and because of the state of the world, there is this comfort – the comfort of the blessed hope,
the glory that yet remains. So that even here, though he is groaning, he is happy at the same time because of the hope
that is set before him. There is this ultimate hope in eternity. In that eternal state we shall be wholly and entirely
blessed, there will be nothing to mar life, nothing to detract from it, nothing to spoil it. Sorrow and sighing shall
be no more; all tears shall be wiped away; and we shall bask for ever and ever in the eternal sunshine, and experience
joy and bliss and glory unmixed and unspoiled. ‘Happy are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.’ How true it is.
Unless we know that, we are not Christian. If we are Christian, we do know it, this joy of sins forgiven and the knowledge
of it; the joy of reconciliation; the joy of knowing that God takes us back when we have fallen away from Him; the joy
and contemplation of the glory that is set before us; the joy that comes from anticipation of the eternal state.
-Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, page 50

Thus sings my soul.

An Old Kind of Music

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Hello friends…and happy Saturday! I have but a few minutes to write, as my steak is currently sitting on my counter and it will be time to cook it in less than 15 minutes! So I fly. Just thought I’d briefly chronicle the events of today, as it truly has been a most lovely day. Started out the day with a nice cup of coffee(warmed and heartened by honey and milk!) and some Psalm-reading. Fortified in both body and spirit, I then got some errands done – haircut and car wash, check! Following, had a nice lunch with John, Camille and Julie…good food, good chat, good friends. Thanks be to God. After that, I needed to give Julie her last birthday present, so she came by briefly…but it was such a gorgeous day(and it still is!) that we decided to go for a walk and soak in the sunlight a bit. We had a fantastic walk and even better talk…but eventually further errands demanded my attention. Did various shopping and then came back here, cleaned a bit…and now it’s almost dinner time! I decided I craved steak…so steak, mashed potatoes and asparagus is on the menu for tonight. Mmm…

Now, thought I’d leave you with a poem from last night’s Lord of the Rings reading. I do love it so, how each time I read this book, I find new favourite chapters…and so last night, shockingly enough, I discovered how much I loved the chapter “The Old Forest”. Who knew? Certainly not I. But reading Tolkien’s lovely prose and poetry…oh was my heart warmed and spirit thrilled.

Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon and mist, rain and cloudy weather,
Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,
Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,
Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water:
Old Tom Bombadil and the River-daughter!

So yes, I think it is safe to say that this is still a book that brings joy to my heart. Now – time to create something that will bring joy to my stomach. Before I do – just know again how thankful I am for this day my God has made. My heart is overflowing with thankfulness. Peace and love.

Dawn, it Comes

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But You, O LORD, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance.
Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth; from the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.
I will tell of Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him; all you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel.

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried to Him for help,
He heard.

From You comes my praise in the great assembly;
I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him.
The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
Those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations will worship before You.

For the kingdom is the LORD’s
And He rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth
will eat and worship,
All those who go down to the
dust will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.
Posterity will serve Him;
It will be told of the Lord
to the coming generation.
They will come and will declare
His righteousness
To a people who will be born,
That He has performed it.
-Psalm 22:19-31

Shadow of the Past

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So last night I started two books that I’m most excited about. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones per my post below. Already it is most magnificently encouraging and lovely. And Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. First time I’ve read LotR since it was my reading-in-the-garden book in Scotland, so rest assured many nostalgic memories will surface throughout.

These next few months are going to be splendid.

Not So Trivial

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From my latest book that I have just(very eager and most excited am I!!!) begun…Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones…

There was a time when the designation applied to the Christian was that he was a ‘God-fearing’ man. I do not think you can ever improve on that – a ‘God-fearing’ man. It does not mean craven fear, it does not mean ‘the fear that hath torment’, but it is a wonderful description of the true Christian. He is of necessity, as we are reminded very forcibly in the seventh chapter of this Gospel, a man who lives in the fear of God. We can say of our blessed Lord Himself that His life was a God-fearing life. You see how important that view of the Christian is. So often, as I have been pointing out, modern Christians, who may be able to give very bright and apparently thrilling testimonies of some experience they have had, do not suggest they are God-fearing people, but give the impression of being men of the world, both in dress and appearance, and in a kind of boisterousness and easy confidence.

So we must not only take the injunctions of the Sermon seriously. We must also check our particular interpretation in the light of the principles I have given. Beware of the spirit of arguing against them; beware of making them ridiculous; and beware of so interpreting them as to regard any one of them as impossible. Here is the life to which we were called, and I maintain again that if only every Christian in the Church today were living the Sermon on the Mount, the great revival for which we are praying and longing would already have started. Amazing and astounding things would happen; the world would be shocked, and men and women would be drawn and attracted to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

May God give us grace to consider this Sermon on the Mount and to remember that we are not to sit in judgment on it, but that we ourselves are under judgment, and that the building we are erecting in this world and in this life will have to face His final test and the ultimate scrutiny of the eye of the Lamb of God that once was slain.
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, page 23

May I be known as a God-fearing man. This is my prayer this night. All glory to God – the Author of my salvation and the Lord of my life. My song rises to the heavens – sing ye to the Lord, all ye His saints!