Friday, February 26, 2010

All or nothing

Read this quote by C.S. Lewis and post a comment on what your initial reactions are after reading it =)
.............................................................................................................

The Christian way is different: harder, and easier.

Christ says, "Give me ALL. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I WANT YOU. I have not come to torture your natural self, but TO KILL IT.

No half-measures are any good.

I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there. I want to have the whole tree down.
I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out.
Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked- the whole outfit.

I will give you a new self instead.

In fact, I will give you MYSELF. MY OWN SHALL BECOME YOURS."

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Friday, February 19, 2010

Jesus in the Bible

GENESIS Ram at Abraham’s Altar
EXODUS Passover Lamb
LEVITICUS High Priest
NUMBERS Cloud by Day, Pillar of Fire by Night
DEUTERONOMY City of Our Refuge
JOSHUA Scarlet Thread out Rahab’s Window
JUDGES Our Judge
RUTH Our Kinsman-Redeemer
1 & 2 SAMUEL Our Trusted Prophet
1 & 2 KINGS & 1 & 2 CHRONICLES Our Reigning King
EZRA Our Faithful Scribe
NEHEMIAH Rebuilder of Everything that is Broken
ESTHER Mordecai Sitting Faithful at the Gate
JOB Our Redeemer that Ever Liveth
PSALMS My Shepherd and I Shall Not Want
PROVERBS & ECCELSIASTES Our Wisdom
SONG OF SONGS Beautiful Bridegroom
ISAIAH Suffering Servant
JEREMIAH & LAMENTATIONS Weeping Prophet
EZEKIEL Wonderful Four-Faced Man
DANIEL Fourth Man in the Midst of the Fiery Furnace
HOSEA My Love that is Forever Faithful
JOEL Baptizes Us with the Holy Spirit
AMOS Our Burden-Bearer
OBADIAH Our Savior
JONAH Great Foreign Missionary that takes the Word of God to All the World
MICAH Messenger with Beautiful Feet
NAHUM Avenger
HABAKKUK Watchman Ever Praying for Revival
ZEPHANIAH Lord, Mighty to Save
HAGGAI Restorer of Our Lost Heritage
ZECHARIAH Our Fountain
MALACHI Son of Righteousness with Healing in His Wings

MATTHEW Thou Art the Christ, the Son of the Living God
MARK Miracle Worker
LUKE Son of Man
JOHN Door by Which Every One of Us Must Enter
ACTS Shining Light that Appeared to Saul on the Road to Damascus
ROMANS Our Justifier
1 Corinthians Our Resurrection
2 CORINTHIANS Our Sin-Bearer
GALATIANS Redeems Us from the Law
EPHESIANS Our Unsearchable Riches
PHILIPPIANS Supplies Our Every Need
COLOSSIANS Fullness of the Godhead Father
1 & 2 THESSALONIANS Soon Coming King
1 & 2 TIMOTHY Mediator between God & Man
TITUS Our Blessed Hope
PHILEMON Friend that Sticks Closer than a Brother
HEBREWS Blood of the Everlasting Covenant
JAMES Heals the Sick
1 & 2 PETER Chief Shepherd
1, 2 & 3 JOHN Has Tenderness of Love
JUDE Lord, Coming with Ten Thousand Saints
REVELATION King of kings & Lord of lords

~Not sure to whom the credit for this insight belongs, so...

there is nothing

A beautiful song by Laura Story: [LISTEN HERE]

"There is Nothing"

Lord, I come before You to honor and adore You
For who You are and all that You have done
Lord, I am not worthy, my heart is dark and dirty
Still somehow You bid for me to come

May our time be sweeter
May I be a keeper of the promises I make to You in song
Lord, may I remember these moments of surrender
And live my life this way from this day on

So clothe me in humility
Remind me that I come before the King

And there is nothing
There is nothing more precious, more worthy
May I gaze deeper, may I stay longer
May I press onward to know You, Lord

law of grace

Yet the duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves.
Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ.
We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks.
This is a Law of Grace.
When we recognize it is impossible to perform a duty in our own strength,
we will discover the secret of its accomplishment.
But alas, this is a secret we often fail to discover.

~John Owen, Sin & Temptation

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

salmons

One of my sisters sent me this...

Salmon, anyone?
Busy life... Going with the flow...Most of you might already know about it... I admire the strength of salmon, going against the flow with all of their strength. It is a life or death event. It returns to the birth place, where their life has started. On the way back to their birth place, 50% gets eaten by their predators (killer whale, salmon shark, bear, birds...) ...Speak of having many enemies... and even more do not make it back if they encounter unfavorable circumstances. Those who makes it back, their appearance are disfigured and skins damaged by rocks in the low water leveled areas. They do not eat or even drink water, even when they are traveling in the water in their journey back... Even when they are traveling in the water... When they finally reach their birth place, they lay eggs and die... Oh, how do they know to travel back from wide pacific ocean to its birth place, a specific river head? It is said that they have extreme sensitivity to the smell that they could distinguish smell of a drop of water from the rest of the ocean... Interesting, huh?

Very...