Posts
Slowly but surely!
14 years ago
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Just some pics I took that remind me...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
A friend posted this on his facebook and so I share it with you.
You wrote a letter and You signed Your nameI read ever word read it page by page
You said that You’d be comingComing for me soon
Oh my God I’ll be ready for You
(‘Cause) I want to run on greener pastures
I want to dance on higher hills
I want to drink from sweeter waters
In the misty morning chill
And my soul is getting restless
For the place where I belong
I can’t wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song
I hear Your voice and I catch my breath
Well done my child enter in, in rest
As tears of joy roll down my cheek
Oh it’s beautiful beyond my wildest dreams
-Phil Wickham "Heaven Song"
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Probably the best explanation of what sin is and does (in laymens terms). I have met a lot of people in my life that think it is something that Christians just point out in people or its just someone being a "debby downer". Here is the real answer in a nutshell.
"I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.
17-20But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different."
-Romans 714-25 (msg)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
There are many times in one's life that God allows them to look deep into who they are. It is usually when He has knocked the walls down and they have taken off the boxing gloves. That's is when growth begins, when we see the real "me". This is when we truly begin to live. He breathes life into us daily and we embrace His freedom.
-- Post From Cham's Phone
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
George Washington praying...
Because I believe in being transparent, then what you read is what you get with me. In saying this, I am learning something (though I have a long way to go).
I am learning that the things we cherish such as freedom, luxury, vacation, comfortability, money, enjoyment, etc, are just vehicles for God to use to take us to a place closer with Him. You may totally disagree with me, and I am totally ok with that. Think of this though, 9 times out of 10 when our life is altered, violated, messed up, or destroyed..what do we do? We become super dependent of God. Eventually, even the ones who do not know Him or want to know Him more than likely begin to pray or say things like "keep me in your prayers" or "I pray". It is how we are wired. We have a dependence wiring deep in us put there by a Creator.
The things in our life: material, immaterial, luxurious, and vile are all tools, vehicles, spiritual adrenaline shots, to take us to a place closer to God. The human side of me says, "this sucks", but then the humble, broken side of me says, "Ok God, I have depended on me more than You. I have gotten comfortable. I have lived without you or lived like you were just a friend or neighbor and not my God." I am always amazed how God brings or allows things to come in and out of our lives' that are purposed to draw us closer to Him.
Its frustrating, but worth it. I feel like Charlie Brown with the frustration squiggle constantly above my head. I hate to love it, and love to hate it. At the end of the day, I am thankful. I am thankful that He loves me enough to take me through it to bring me into a closer relationship with Him. It is all worth it.
I sound like a madman at times, but its in the furnace where the purest for of metal. Its in the furnace of life, where God brings out the purest forms of Himself in us.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
- Romans 5:3-5 (msg)
Monday, November 9, 2009
David Crowder Band - How He Loves
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all
He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Friday, November 6, 2009
"Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ."
- Romans 3 (msg)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
- cham
Monday, November 2, 2009
"everybody wants a revolution but nobody wants to do the dishes." - Claiborne
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