I'll add more to this post later, but thought I could show a picture of our new house!!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
sold!!
Acts 17:26-27
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
The delightful house we have been living in for the past 9 years sold last night!! We are praying God will direct us to that exact place He has determined for us to live, so we may be a witness to others of who He is.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
The delightful house we have been living in for the past 9 years sold last night!! We are praying God will direct us to that exact place He has determined for us to live, so we may be a witness to others of who He is.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
wind
Nahum 1:3b
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
Ps. 135:7
He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning and rain and brings the wind from his storehouses.
As I listen to the wind whip its way around Central IL this morning, it brings me back to the thoughts I had on a windy day last fall.
A.W. Tozer wrote "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God." So today I ask, "How big is God?" I need to ask this often if I am to rightly align my life to who God really is. Today's answer came in the wind. Not a whispering breeze today--it roars through the tops of the trees and breaks limbs, flinging them to the ground without regard for where they fall. If I took a breath and blew upward, would it make even one leaf tremble? Yet God's wind tears across the expanse of the world and shakes every leaf in its path. How big are the storehouses He uses to hold the wind? Now, is there anything I am facing today that is too big for this God?
No complaining about the wind today. It reminds me of the great God I serve!!
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
Ps. 135:7
He makes the clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning and rain and brings the wind from his storehouses.
As I listen to the wind whip its way around Central IL this morning, it brings me back to the thoughts I had on a windy day last fall.
A.W. Tozer wrote "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God." So today I ask, "How big is God?" I need to ask this often if I am to rightly align my life to who God really is. Today's answer came in the wind. Not a whispering breeze today--it roars through the tops of the trees and breaks limbs, flinging them to the ground without regard for where they fall. If I took a breath and blew upward, would it make even one leaf tremble? Yet God's wind tears across the expanse of the world and shakes every leaf in its path. How big are the storehouses He uses to hold the wind? Now, is there anything I am facing today that is too big for this God?
No complaining about the wind today. It reminds me of the great God I serve!!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
threshing grain
Once in a great while I stumble across a song and think, "Now that exactly describes what I have been living." After a recent aquisition of a Cherri Keaggy CD I found just that sort of song. From it I finally came up with the title for a blog I've wanted to start for some time. (At first I wanted to call it "Living Against the Grindstone" but think Practicing Joy is much better and less likely to be misunderstood as just plain weird.)
The events of the past few years (i.e. simply living life!) have caused me to gladly take my place against the grindstone, where God's purposes are revealed and I am made more like Christ.
Restored (The Grindstone Song) by Cherri Keaggy:
I've been living against the grindstone
Where nothing is sure but the Lord
For He gives us the treasures of darkness
Where faith's greatest riches are stored
And in ways that are quite unexpected
I have learned a most humbling truth
That a faith that has never been tested
Is just growth that is long overdue
Chorus
So I'm practicing joy
Choosing it daily
Putting it on like a favorite cologne
And when life breaks me down
It won't even phase me
Some call me crazy
But I'm just in love with the Lord
For He has been faithful
Enough just to fill me
And take me to heights I have never explored
If I'm never broken
How can I be restored?
So I'm trading these comfortable choices
For living that's much more alive
And the more that my spirit rejoices
The more that I grow and I thrive
If surrender is seen as a weakness
Then the lowliest beggar I'll be
I'll embrace every struggle with meekness
'Cause I know that it's making me free
Restore me, Lord
And make me new again
I want nothing more than to soar
Chorus
I've been living against the grindstone...
Isaiah 28:23-26, 28a, 29
Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
His God instructs him and teaches him the right way...
Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever...All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.
The events of the past few years (i.e. simply living life!) have caused me to gladly take my place against the grindstone, where God's purposes are revealed and I am made more like Christ.
Restored (The Grindstone Song) by Cherri Keaggy:
I've been living against the grindstone
Where nothing is sure but the Lord
For He gives us the treasures of darkness
Where faith's greatest riches are stored
And in ways that are quite unexpected
I have learned a most humbling truth
That a faith that has never been tested
Is just growth that is long overdue
Chorus
So I'm practicing joy
Choosing it daily
Putting it on like a favorite cologne
And when life breaks me down
It won't even phase me
Some call me crazy
But I'm just in love with the Lord
For He has been faithful
Enough just to fill me
And take me to heights I have never explored
If I'm never broken
How can I be restored?
So I'm trading these comfortable choices
For living that's much more alive
And the more that my spirit rejoices
The more that I grow and I thrive
If surrender is seen as a weakness
Then the lowliest beggar I'll be
I'll embrace every struggle with meekness
'Cause I know that it's making me free
Restore me, Lord
And make me new again
I want nothing more than to soar
Chorus
I've been living against the grindstone...
Isaiah 28:23-26, 28a, 29
Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
His God instructs him and teaches him the right way...
Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever...All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.
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