Now I know in part...

Tenth Avenue North – Times

November 3rd, 2011 at 8:24 pm | Posted in Thinking biblical | No Comments

This songs blessed me over the last few weeks. Watch it on YouTube

God loves for us is amazing.

I hear You say,
“My love is over. It’s underneath.
It’s inside. It’s in between.
The times you doubt Me, when you can’t feel.
The times that you question, ‘Is this for real? ‘
The times you’re broken.
The times that you mend.
The times that you hate Me, and the times that you bend.
Well, My love is over, it’s underneath.
It’s inside, it’s in between.
These times you’re healing, and when your heart breaks.
The times that you feel like you’re falling from grace.
The times you’re hurting.
The times that you heal.
The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal.
The times of confusion, in chaos and pain.
I’m there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame.
I’m there through your heartache.
I’m there in the storm.
My love I will keep you, by My pow’r alone.
I don’t care where you fall, where you have been.
I’ll never forsake you, My love never ends.
It never ends.”

(Tenth Avenue North – “Times”)


Peacemaking will cost

October 29th, 2011 at 2:18 pm | Posted in Thinking biblical | No Comments

(I wrote this for church a few weeks ago)

Matthew 5:9

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”

Peacemaking isn’t easy. Often its hard. It means forgiving, extending grace to each other. Letting things go when we’d rather not. Deliberately and intentionally, no strings attached.

Peacemaking done properly will cost us, pride at the very least. It leaves no room for retaliation, no space for self-pity. Peacemaking calls us to radical other-centered-ness. It’ll mean holding our tongues, and taking the initiative in reconciliation. Like I said, its hard.

It leaves the onus on us… to defend the rights of others without any consideration for our own. Peacemaking calls us to be wise, to know our blind-spots and weak points, aware of the moments when we’re tempted to all too easily react with less grace than we should.

On that day when we stand before God, he’s not going to ask us whose fault it was. He’s not interested in blame. His question to us will center soley around how we responded…

Feeling hard done by? Ever been misunderstood? Ever felt at the wrong end of an injustice?

You’re not the first. Jesus was misunderstood. Hideously. There’s no better definition of injustice. He’d done nothing wrong. At the cross, the great Peacemaker gave up his life. Willingly. For you. For me. For us. That we might have peace with God and be saved from our sins. Jesus went before us and now beckons us to follow.

Where can you be a peacemaker today? Where might you be tempted to defend yourself?

Who are you likely to need to be patient with today? Pray for them! Ask God to bless them.

Being a peacemaker isn’t just about being a doormat, there’s a reward. Its huge, a wonderful promise, don’t miss it! As we adopt the spirit of a peacemaker, as we follow in the footprints of our Saviour we enjoy walking as children of God.

Could there be anything more rewarding…?


Impossible? Yes. But no less worth it.

October 5th, 2011 at 10:16 am | Posted in Cover posts, Dreams, Things that make me me, Thinking biblical | No Comments

Keep going. Never stop. Dream. Always. Travel light. Take nothing.

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong
To be better far than you are
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest, to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far
To be willing to give when there’s no more to give
To be willing to die so that honor and justice may live

And I know if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I’m laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star.

(Andy Williams – The Impossible Dream)

One day… we’ll reach it. Heaven waits for us.

But for now we pursue the impossible… unto the glory of God.


Getting cultured

August 6th, 2011 at 11:55 pm | Posted in Things that make me me | No Comments

Went to the national galleries again today. The portraits are a bit lost on me, but some of the stuffs fairly epic. I especially love this one. The light, the clouds, the shadows, the colours. Very cool.


6/6/2011

June 16th, 2011 at 1:35 pm | Posted in Cover posts, Tales of the unwed | No Comments

Congratulations brother


Acceptable?

May 17th, 2011 at 5:40 pm | Posted in Books, Things that make me me, Thinking biblical | No Comments

Finished reading Blue Like Jazz last week. It was great. Honest. Authentic. Spiritually it felt like taking a very deep breath. It left me feeling proud to be me and excited about Jesus. I can be quirky and awkward with people sometimes. It reminded me that thats ok though. God made me the way he did. He loves me outrageously just as I am. He’s immensely proud of me. I know that. What about other people though… will they ever be as accepting…?

This bit made me smile:

I don’t want to get married right away. I think it will take me a while after I meet the right girl. I like being single. I am one of the few who like it. I want to marry a girl who, when I am with her, makes me feel alone. I guess what i’m saying is, I want to marry a girl whom I feel completely comfortable with, comfortable being myself. I can be very immature and awkward in moments, and I want to be able to be like that with her and not have her walk away or be embarrassed.

I’ve had about fifty people tell me that I fear intimacy. And it is true. I fear what people will think of me, and that is the reason I don’t date very often. People really like me a lot when they only know me a little, but I have this great fear that if they knew me a lot they wouldn’t like me. That is the number one thing that scares me about having a wife because she would have to know me pretty well in order to marry me and I think if she got to know me pretty well she wouldn’t like me anymore.

Donald Miller – Blue Like Jazz (p142)


Flying umbrellas

May 13th, 2011 at 4:45 pm | Posted in Books, Things that make me me, Thinking biblical | No Comments

Disney’s old school robin hood. Its a special special film. Seriously. 83 minutes cuteness and carnage. Love it. Anyways, in the middle of one of the more carnage moments (above) Little John chips in with “Who’s driving this flying umbrella?”. I’ve adopted it and made it synonymous with God’s sovereignty over my life. When things seem out of control and I feel pressure to keep up, it gives me a light-hearted way of remembering that Gods got a far firmer grip on my life than i’m able to appreciate. I may make certain active choices in my life but its God who determines my every step. Continuing along these lines, i’ve been read this recently. I thought it was interesting.

Even before his birth, Jacob’s future had already been determined by God. There was nothing conditional about the promise. God simply decided that he would bless Jacob. No matter what he did, no mater where he roamed, no matter how hard he hustled, the blessing was waiting for him. As simple as that promise was, Jacob could never understand it. That is because he kept thinking the future was determined by the decisions of the present. The blessing claims, however, that the present is determined by the future.

We live in a society that bombards us with choices. We can choose whom we will love, where we will live, what we believe and how we will spend our time. Our government lets us choose our leaders and our politics. Our churches let us choose our worship styles. Our families let us choose what we will do for a living. It is easy for us to think that all of these choices are critical for determining our future. If we make good choices, then our lives will turn out fine. And if our lives have not turned out as we dreamed, we have only ourselves to blame. That is why Jacob hustled through every day of his life. He was certain that the only way he could get the future he wanted was to make the choices today that would lead him there.

The bible claims that is exactly wrong: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” God has already written the end of your story. By grace it ends wonderfully. There isn’t anything you can choose to do that will make it end any better. If you know that story ends well, then the only choice that is really left is to enjoy the mystery as it slowly unfolds. That is the path called faith.

M. Craig Barnes – Hustling God (p21/22)


We are very small

May 2nd, 2011 at 7:29 pm | Posted in Things that make me me, Thinking biblical | No Comments

The Carina Nebula from the Hubble telescope. Although part of the milky way like us (aka our relative back yard) its estimated at being between 6,500 and 10,000 light years away (light travels at 186,282 miles per second-ish incase you’re interested). That seems quite far. To put it in context though, the region of the universe visible from Earth is a sphere with a radius of about 46 billion light years, and the universe itself is quite possibly infinite apparently! That’s fairly insane…  and makes me feel pretty small in comparison.

Psalm 8:3-4

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?


Morning glory

April 28th, 2011 at 1:29 pm | Posted in Books, Cover posts, O God, Thinking biblical | No Comments

The Puritans can get stick for being legalistic and judgemental killjoys. But they were deeply reverent, sincere in their spiritual piety and committed to biblical doctrine. They sound pretty intense and probably didn’t play quite enough football, but i’ve much respect for their commitment toward God.

Here’s a prayer from back in the day. More intense than we’re used to yes, but I love the sentiment behind it.

Almighty God,

As I cross the threshold of this day
I commit myself, soul, body, affairs, friends to thy care;
Watch over, keep, guide, direct, sanctify, bless me.
Incline my heart to thy ways;
Mould me wholly into the image of Jesus, as a potter forms clay;
May my lips be a well-tuned harp to sound thy praise;
Let those around me see me living by thy Spirit,
trampling the world underfoot,
unconformed to lying vanities,
transformed by a renewed mind,
clad in the entire armour of God,
shining as a never-dimmed light,
showing holiness in all my doings.

Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands.
May I travel miry paths with a life pure from spot or stain.
In needful transactions let my affection be in heaven,
and my love soar upwards in flames of fire,
my gaze fixed on unseen things,
my eyes open to the emptiness, fragility,
mockery of earth and its vanities.

May I view all things through the mirror of eternity,
waiting for the coming of my Lord,
listening for the last trumpet call,
hastening unto the new heaven and earth.

Order this day all my communications according to thy wisdom, and to the gain of mutual good.
Forbid that I should not be profited or made profitable.
May I speak each word as if my last word, and walk each step as my final one.

If my life should end today, let this be my best day.

(“Morning Dedication”, The Valley of Vision)


Its all a bit sketchy

April 21st, 2011 at 7:03 pm | Posted in Things that make me me | No Comments

Every now again I attempt creativity. Chills me out when I get fed up of thinking. I’m calling this attempt “Arthur’s seat from Blackford hill”. Cryptic. I know.