Arguing

As a "Christian community," I think we spend too much time arguing about things that aren't really all that important.  This quote says it well...

Alexander Campbell said:
"It is not the object of our efforts to make men think alike on a thousand themes. Let them think as they like on any matters of human opinion and upon 'doctrines of religion' provided they hold to the Head, Christ, and keep His commandments. . .indeed if you wish opinionism to cease or subside you must not call up and debate everything that men think or say. You may debate anything into consequence.”

C.S. Lewis made a similar point:

"I suppose the problem arises especially in personality types for whom their opinion/interpretation is elevated to 'biblical principle' and is therefore a) beyond debate and b) likely to be a minority view which MUST therefore be evangelized to the wider church, which can only be healthy once it adopts it."

Tug of War/The Conflict Within

When it's okay to be conflicted~~~~

John Murray:

"If there is still sin to any degree in one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, then there is tension, yes, contradiction, within the heart of that person.
Indeed, the more sanctified the person is, the more conformed he is to the image of his Saviour, the more he must recoil against every lack of conformity to the holiness of God.

The deeper his apprehension of the Majesty of God, the greater the intensity of his love to God, the more persistent his yearning for the attainment of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the more cautious will he be of the gravity of the sin which remains and the more poignant will be his detestation of it. "

Redemption Accomplished and Applied, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), 145

Prayer (1)

Prayer by John Baillie in: A Diary of Private Prayer: Evening, day 17
"I bless Thee , O most holy God, for the unfathomable love whereby Thou has ordained that spirit with spirit can meet and that I, a weak and erring mortal, should have this ready access to the heart of Him who moves the stars..."

Photograph  from National Geographic:  courtesy NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



No Ordinary People

     There are no "ordinary" people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals that we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendours...

   

Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.  If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.  

C.S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory

Well, summer is over but I don't know where it went.  I would promise to post more often, but last time I tried that it didn't work out....life happens! 

Summer is flying by...

Well, posting more often just hasn't happened.  The weeds are taking over with all the rain we've have and I don't like the heat and humidity, so I have to take advantage of the cool days.  I finally got my rows of flower seeds planted in the veggie garden about 10 days ago. They are just starting to pop out. I probably won't have flowers until September!!   I don't have much blooming this early but was able to scrounge up a bouquet for the dining room table...ants included!

Lord, Teach Me To Pray

http://www.laurastorymusic.com/

I heard this song about a week ago and then forgot about it...it came up again today so I'm "marinating" in it:

Laura Story - "Blessings" Lyrics

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe


When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Eulogy for my little brother, Robert 4/3/69~4/17/11

On behalf of our family, I'd like to thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and expressions of sympathy. ROBERT~~ I don't know this "Bob" that some of you  know and love.  He will always be known as "Robert" to me and perpetually be about 7 years old, like he was when I left home.   As a kid he had a nickname, "Bear."  I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how that started.  I think it ws the year I took French in 9th grade.  His name was "Hobear" in French and  eventually it got shortened to BEAR. When I got married in mid-Dec. 33years ago, we got a card from Robert that year.  On the inside flap he had written, "Jon if you hurt my sister there ain't gonna be NOTHING (double underlined) left of you when I get done!"  That was Robert's nature, to be a protector and to care for the underdog. (I held the card up so they could see it) He came out to visit us within a year or so at Ft. Leavenworth, KS.  He and my husband bonded after the initial welcome to the family. While he was there he went camping with my husband and his x-roommate.  Imagine 8 or 9 yr. old Robert out camping with two Marines.  Now he was one of the big guys.  One of my brothers was a Boy Scout but it could not have been Robert since he didn't help Jon identify the 3-leafed green plant and Jon came home covered in poison ivy. He went on to say in the card, "Diane..."  He must of thought of me as an old, married woman then, since I was never addressed by my given name.  I was always known as "Sis."  He says, "Diane, use this pencil every time you write anything to me - it has has my name on it.  P.S.  Merry Christmas, Love ya, Bear. How convenient, his name was on the pencil so I wouldn't forget him. Since I have lived away all these past 35 years, I haven't known Robert very well as an adult.  But, I do know that when we did talk, his favorite topic was his kids, ~ Jody, Dustin and Jenny. It's natural to wonder why Robert, why now in the prime of his life?  I don't know why...but I would like to think that if there are vehicles in heaven, a top mechanic just reported for duty.  I'd like to close with Isaiah 40:28-29 "Have you not heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, The Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding.  He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless." God gave his own Son for us and He understands our grief.  I pray that He will give us who mourn the strength to carry on and may he give Robert eternal peace and rest.