Tag: scripture

Love Unyielding

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A glorious morning is mine. It is but a simple Sunday morning, but already I feel the grace of the Lord this day as I have enjoyed so many fine little pleasures. Woke up at a nice and leisurely hour (comparatively to my normal) and as the sun was already peeking over the horizon, decided to get out of bed and enjoy a long pre-church time of rest and meditation. Well, I say that – but I also decided that a little errand run was important. Dashed off to bakery and got a fresh loaf of sourdough for the week and then went to grocery store for a few little items for macaroni salad contribution for tomorrow’s Monday Night dinner. Back home again, and back to reading and meditating.

How sweet have been these past few minutes. A good cup of strong black coffee. Listening to the ever lovely Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Reading in the Word – words of lamentation and of hope as I continue reading through Lamentations and relish the joy-streaked melancholy of Chapter 3 – surely one of the most beautiful chapters of Scripture there is. And then in Luke – onwards we march as we witness the continuing ministry of Jesus as he calls all to repentance. And then what an overwhelming story of love and compassion as he teaches in the synagogue and then notices a woman afflicted with a grievous ailment. She doesn’t say a word, she doesn’t cry out to him, she doesn’t put herself forward. Jesus looks, Jesus notices, Jesus calls to her to come. She comes to him and what does he do? Jesus places his hands on her and pronounces her free from her pain and suffering, free from the chains with which she was bound by Satan. Glory glory – hallelujah and all praise to Jesus King of kings and Lord of lords who is our Sovereign who also has the hands that heals. It is almost too much to consider this Jesus who looks to us and sees us suffering and calls us to him that we might know his healing hands. See those hands marked by the scars of mercy? Look upon Jesus, the one who calls to us to come to him and be forever free from our chains. I love to ponder and meditate on such. Balm for my soul this Sunday to consider the Jesus who has saved me from all my sins and called me into communion with God.

A Day Which Shall Live in Infamy

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A few random notes that I didn’t have time to write this morning (because I took all my time writing about my book!!)

Firstly – and I’m mostly sharing this so I can link it to Laura later, since she’s the only one who will appreciate! (Hi Laura!!) – last night had a dream about being at a Nightwish concert with Laura. It was a very weird concert apparently since…we were sitting somewhere up high and all the aisles sloped down to the stage at the bottom of the concert hall. Felt more like a concert hall for a symphony and not a metal show! And we were sitting, not rocking out in front. Terrible! As in the way of dreams, it started in the middle…at the point where we realized another singer was walking out for the next song and it turned out to be Tarja! We all started going crazy and chanting her name (or maybe I was the only one?) She sang one song with the band (and it apparently was a song that had been written after her departure, which I remember being slightly disappointed about…since she wasn’t singing a song that I knew with her voice!) and as soon as the song kicked into gear, I remember being simply thrilled. Just her voice made the song even more awesome than it already was. Hearing her sing a Nightwish song (even though I can’t remember which one?! I seem to remember it was one of their harder more recent songs…maybe Shudder Before the Beautiful?) was amazing and it was stunningly beautiful and I’m sad this can’t happen for real. After the song was over, the concert apparently had an intermission, which I didn’t know was a thing for metal shows. But again – dream! I decided I should walk down and say hi to Tarja, because. Laura and me walked down the sloping aisle to where she was chilling next to the stage, sitting on a monitor / speaker / box thing. Somehow no one else had the same idea to see her. It was just Tarja, Laura and I! I sheepishly said hello and she replied, “Hey you! Come here!” in that Tarja voice we all know and love. Gave me a hug and I asked her if I could get a picture with her. She of course said yes and I handed Laura my camera and we got a picture together…and then we went back to our seats to enjoy the rest of the show. Yes, that was literally my dream. It was a really fun dream. Pardon me sharing my dream here…but hey, couldn’t resist.

Secondly…I started reading Isaiah today. So excited!!! Simply love this book. It shall be truly wonderful these next weeks. Here are a few words that encouraged my soul this day:

“Come now, and let us reason together,”
says the Lord,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
they will be white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they will be like wool.
If you consent and obey,
you will eat the best of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God speaks. Shall we listen? My heart is bound up in the love of my God.

Now it is lunch time…I shall write no more. Time to chomp down on some chicken and spinach wraps with my favorite Nando’s hot sauce. A wonderful lunch, yes? Yes.

Stamp out All the Fires, let Not a Spark escape

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Listen to this, O Job,
Stand and consider the wonders of God.
Do you know how God establishes them,
And makes the lightning of His cloud to shine?
Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds,
The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,
You whose garments are hot,
When the land is still because of the south wind?
Can you, with Him, spread out the skies,
Strong as a molten mirror?
Teach us what we shall say to Him;
We cannot arrange our case because of darkness.
Shall it be told Him that I would speak?
Or should a man say that he would be swallowed up?

Now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies;
But the wind has passed and cleared them.
Out of the north comes golden splendour;
Around God is awesome majesty.
The Almighty – we cannot find Him;
He is exalted in power
And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.
Therefore men fear Him;
He does not regard any who are wise of heart.
-Job 37:14-24

Art Deco

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It is a most glorious day. This morning – finally! – is sitting at sub-60 temperature and it is drippy and wet and slightly cold and it is beautiful. I forget how much I love the “winter” (quotation marks most definitely required) here in Houston. And it is here at long last! So now I get to enjoy my hot coffee inside after having walked in from the (marginally) cold outside and I am happy. Another reason for happiness – I got quite a good long reading time this morning…woke up (reasonably) on time and thus was able to luxuriate in reading through sections of Psalm 119, some Proverbs, 1 Kings 19-20(1 Kings 19 – will always be one of my very favourites after preaching through it in Scotland…oh how encouraging are those words! God indeed takes care of our needs and encourages us with his presence and reminds us of the truths we ought to know…and gives us good works to do. May I remember that this day) and then finally Galatians (yes, I had time to read all of it – which truly is necessary as Galatians is such a lovely book and needs to be read straight through!). So I am ever more aware of how truly blessed I am. Might I constantly be reminded today of how I ought not boast in anything else other than the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Always.

Bread and Wine

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“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like
the covenant which I made with their fathers in
the day I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which
they broke, although I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“But this is the covenant which I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,”
declares the Lord,
“I will put My law within them and
on their heart I will write it;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
They will not teach again, each man
his neighbor and each man his brother, saying,
‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them,”
declares the Lord,
“for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more.”

Snooze

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This is definitely one of those sleepy mornings, I have decided. Firstly I’m behind schedule – definitely slept a bit longer than I would have liked! – then I roll up to Starbucks and see Jake there…who is also very much behind his own schedule…then I talk to Emily & Deniz at the counter and they tell me they barely opened on time since one of them(who shall remain nameless…but his name starts with D) slept in and didn’t get to Starbucks until 15 min before open. So yeah, it’s one of those days apparently!! I am about to take my first sip of coffee all morning and it shall be glorious. Since I didn’t have much time this morning, decided not to even heat up my coffee so no – I am currently decaffeinated. I am grateful that I was granted a bare few minutes to read though – Psalm 101 & 102. Encouraging to read the Word of the Lord this morning, that I cannot deny. Now…figured I’d post a poem I’ve been working on. It’s a bit rare for me to post one that I’ve worked on for multiple days – a slow burn of a creative process on this one, to be sure. Honestly, I’m still not really happy with it, but…I may very well never be? So going to post it now, maybe I’ll tweak it later, who knows. Also posting because I did get someone else’s somewhat positive feedback. Meagan read it and enjoyed…but she also freely confessed that she doesn’t know poetry well…still though, I much appreciated her even reading it!! I asked what emotional response it provoked and her response was, “numbness and then longing that comes from a pensive evening walk.” You know what? I’ll take that. But let me stop my rambling discourse…and post this mess of a poem. Thanks for reading, friends.

What to do and what to say
Hear now grim creation’s lay
Dripping of doom and triumph both
The sneering triumph too hollow
to make up for the sure doom to follow.

And as the whirring gears
and humming motors
and all the churning, teeming
waves of faceless voices
create a most delightful dissonance,

a break in time and space does rupture
and in that moment
for a moment
the screens go black,
and red blinking lights go dim
and all the glories
of half told stories
tumble to the dust.

for I soft gasp in sorrow
as I stand atop the silent cliff,
starkly still,
and cold I shiver
but outward and upward and onward I look
and shaking I see
the singing sea
and the
star strewn skies
shock my shattered soul.

Flesh and blood and skin and bones,
now creation waits and groans
and with in-drawn breath and
widened, frightened eyes
softly, oh so softly
cries.

Mirror Universe

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Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,
and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the
sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading
away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the
reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted,
because it is removed in Christ.
But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;
but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
But we all,
with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image
from glory to glory,
just as from the Lord,
the Spirit.

Honey on the Horizon

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Read some sweet words this morning that encouraged my soul. Thought I’d briefly share. 1 Samuel 30…reading about David’s continued adventures. He decides to spend some time living in the Philistine territory because it’s not exactly fun being chased around by Saul all the time, right?? He’s there for a year and a bit, going on raids with his men to fight the enemies of Israel(even though he’s not entirely forthright to the Philistine king about this!). Anyway, the Philistines gear up for a big campaign against Israel and David and his men get recruited for the cause. David puts on a good face (I do honestly wonder what his backup plan was…? Would he have betrayed the Philistines mid-battle? I am most curious) but the Philistine high command ends up kicking him out, fearing his possibly inevitable betrayal. So that’s all the backstory. David and his men trudge back to the city the Philistines had given them…only to see smoke rising high, the city in ruins. The cursed Amalekites had raided the city and taken all the inhabitants captive. At this point…David and his men can do nothing but cry – indeed, the text says they “lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep.” But following that…David’s men were pretty upset with him and decided to blame David for the loss of their families so they started talking about stoning David!! Now this is where David was at. His city that he’d lived in for the past year was destroyed. His men were turning on him and talking about killing him for something that surely wasn’t his fault. And last but certainly not least…David’s family had been taken too. So it makes sense that the text says “David was greatly distressed.” I think I would be pretty distressed as well. So what was David’s response to all this? He had spent time crying, yes. Emotions are good and proper and part of what it is to be human, yes? But…what did David do next? Well – “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” And following that line, he sought to communicate with God and ascertain what his next steps should be.

I think this is a good lesson for us all. Surely we are in dire straits at times (maybe our whole city hasn’t burned down and our closest companions aren’t talking about killing us and our family hasn’t been kidnapped by our worst enemies…but well…we still suffer, right?) and surely we feel as if there is nothing we can do to make things better and surely all is just crumbling around us. Yet. Let us remember that our strength does not come from our circumstances or our surroundings or our friends (who may turn against us!) or even within us (because really – what strength do we have…? We are oh so weak at times). No – our strength comes from the Lord. So let us strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God when all else seems dim. Let us remember that no matter how greatly distressed we are in the moment, we can find strength and comfort in our God. Let us flee to him. We may weep first, yes. But then, let us turn to God and rejoice in the love and strength He has to offer. Strengthen yourself in the Lord this day, dear friends.

A somewhat Odd phenomenon In this Early morning

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So very quickly I write!! Just wanted to comment briefly on some words I read this morning in 1 Samuel 2. Sobering words, but God’s Word nonetheless. Was reading about the sons of Eli, who were…not nice men. As is made abundantly clear. The text describes some of their sins against God, against the people who brought sacrifices, and against women. I shall not go into all that here. But we do see these lines, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord.” And again a few verses later, “Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord”. Chilling words. Now eventually their father Eli heard about his sons’ reputation. Why he didn’t already know about their wicked behaviour and terrible sins, I know not. I don’t think Eli can be held up as a model father, that is for sure. But we see that he learned through various rumors and reports about what his sons were up to and we see that he (finally!!) talked to his sons and chastised them and made it clear that what they were doing was “evil” and that they were sinning “against the Lord”. But what does the text say next? “But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death.” Right then. This is a hard verse to understand…could not the Lord show mercy and give them a chance to repent? But it seems clear that their hearts were hardened and God had judged them for their sins and now despite the warning of their father…they could not hear nor could they repent, nor desired they to repent – because God’s judgment was incoming and could not be turned away. These are fearsome words. At the end of the day, we do not understand all of God’s ways, but we must rest in His sovereignty and His goodness. God is just in all His ways, so do we all confess. So do I confess.

And so what can we learn from these words? Firstly, to sin against the Lord and to disobey His commands is most grievous indeed and worthy of all judgment, worthy of eternal horror and death. Do not take lightly the commands of God. Holiness is greatly prized by God, for God is holy and He desires that we all be holy before Him. Secondly, be warned that to reject God and His commands is a very serious thing, for as you reject God, so shall God reject you. Thirdly and finally – I must end on a note of hope, so the hope that I offer is that because we are all utterly wicked apart from God, so does God offer a pure and perfect sacrifice of His only Son, who can make us right before God. Only through Jesus can we find peace with God. And peace with God…there is nothing greater than that. Flee to Christ this day. Before it is too late and before the words of this passage could be applied to you – “for the Lord desired to put them to death”. Flee to Christ, cry out for your salvation. For God is truly merciful and compassionate and desires that you would come to Him. And God does most surely offer you rest for your souls.

The Dying Light of 6 O’Clock

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Praise the LORD!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD!

Remember this. Forever and always.

Praise the Lord, oh my soul.