Meet My Friend Amy

I've been meaning to post this to my blog for weeks and weeks now. It's my dear friend Amy exhibiting her amazing memorization prowess. I laughed so hard when I saw/heard this; it's incredibly impressive!

Summer Reading

Just Finished Today:

• The Testament by John Grisham

Currently Reading:

• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster

• Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald S. Whitney

• Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus and Marie Chapian

• The Life and Diary of David Brainerd (I have actually lost count regarding the number of times I've read this since I first obtained it in 2003--I love it!)

• Men and Women in the Church by Sarah Sumner (Disclaimer: I’m reading this to understand a view different from the one I hold regarding women in church leadership).

• Building Literacy Through Classroom Discussion: Research-Based Strategies for Developing Critical Readers and Thoughtful Writers in Middle School by Mary Adler & Eija Rougle

• Tools for Teaching: Discipline, Instruction, Motivation by Fred Jones (thanks for passing this along Amy)

Hope to Read Before Fall:

• Money, Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn

• How To Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren

• What Jesus Demands from the World by John Piper

• Peace Making Women by Tara Klena Barthel & Judy Dabler

Looking over the books I am enjoying right now, I want to strongly recommend Whitney’s Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. This book is challenging, convicting and he gets right to the point (something that I greatly appreciate when I am reading multiple books). The book is framed by ten questions, they are:

1. Do you thirst for God?

2. Are you governed increasingly by God’s Word?

3. Are you more loving?

4. Are you more sensitive to God’s presence?

5. Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and temporal needs of others?

6. Do you delight in the bride of Christ?

7. Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?

8. Do you still grieve over sin?

9. Are you a quick forgiver?

10. Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?

When I came across this title I initially shied away from it because it sounded, I don’t know...gimmicky. But it isn’t at all. Each chapter is so helpful and at the end of each chapter are practical steps to help further develop the characteristic outlined. Those "practical steps" alone make this book a must-read for every Christian, in my humble opinion.
Also, the book is peppered with quotes drawn from some of my favorite men of God...Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer, C.S. Lewis, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, etc. Oh this book is so good...and I’m only halfway through it!

FA Cup Final (from last Sunday)

So I’ve struggled all week trying to find a good tribute to FA Cup winners Chelsea FC!!! I have finally settled on just a montage of the FA Cup Final itself (even though it features that wretched little Man. U goal/not goal...ahem, anyways...), but before I present to you that clip, here’s a little preview of the intensity and importance of this match for those of you who don’t know about the FA Cup.

All right, here’s the Final clip...I especially appreciate all of the talk about the new Wembley, oh I wish I could have been there! Well, here it is my friends...celebrate with me the achievements of Chelsea FC, winners this year of both the Carling Cup and the FA Cup!!!

Procrastination At Its Finest

WARNING FOR JEN: Spoiler ahead, please don't read this post if you don't yet know the score of the Liverpool v. Chelsea game.

OK, having said that, I can continue...so I'm supposed to be writing an 8-10 page paper on history and perception for my Studies in Drama class, but I decided to procrastinate a bit for a few moments. And since I was thoroughly devastated by yesterday's game, I decided to relive the glory days of my precious team and watch some clips on YouTube. I especially love this one because it highlights Lampard.



I have to say though, even though I was soooo upset about yesterday's game, I know Chelsea still has life in them. After all, we have an awesome FA Cup final coming up in a few weeks against none other than Man. U. We play Arsenal this weekend and well, basically the rest of our Prem. season promises to be amazing. OK, enough procrastinating, back to my paper I go. Enjoy the clip I have included above.

And congratulations to Liverpool on your win. Good luck in the final, you'll need it!

Reminders

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

-Philippians 4:4-7

"Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
-Isaiah 41:10

My Constant

I write tonight with a heart full of joy. Yes, you heard that right. And yes, it is the weekend before finals begin (of my final, most difficult semester of all time!). Yet, I cannot seem to stop smiling. I have been overwhelmed by God's constancy, His faithfulness today, even more so than I have been this whole past week (which is amazing!). I just finished working out and the Scripture I was reading at one point as I jogged on the treadmill was this...

"The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb. " -Psalm 19:7-10

As I read this over and over again, I was overcome by the realization of all that God is doing in my life right now and not only that, but primarily the constancy with which He loves and sustains us. I have experienced first hand today what it feels like to have my soul revived through His Word, and how He has filled my heart with rejoicing as I reveled in His presence all day long and worked in the strength He provided to get all of this work done. What an amazing God we have!

Also, as I was working out tonight I had Snow Patrol's Eyes Open CD playing in the background and I was reading yet another Scripture card. The verses were from 1 Peter 2:9-10 which say,

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession..."

and before I could go further in my reading I became conscious of the lyrics playing there in the background;

(from Snow Patrol's "Make This Go On Forever")
"And I don't know where to look / My words just break and melt / Please just save me from this darkness."

I was arrested and held there for a moment contemplating the heartbreaking honesty of those lyrics, that cry to be saved from a consuming darkness. Oh man have I been there before! That cry, "Please just save me from this darkness," echoed in my mind over and over again. Then I resumed my reading of the verses before me and what were they, but,

"...that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

How awesome is that?! Yet another reason to be just overflowing with joy. We have been "called out of darkness into his marvelous light," we've received mercy upon mercy! What a great and awesome God we have!

OK, I'm bubbling over right now, I know, but I love these encounters with God, where I feel His presence soooo closely. Not only are these fun to reflect on just after they happen, but they are also incredibly helpful reminders when God seems distant, times that invariably come, where my trust in Him is deepened. These help to remind me of His constancy and faithfulness in those times.

Well, I had better get back to preparing my heart for worship. I'll probably write again at the end of the week after finals are over.

"At the Foot of the Cross"

"At the Foot of the Cross"
by Steve & Vikki Cook
Sovereign Grace Worship

"Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Lord I would spend my days
In the shadow of the One
Who ransomed me
May I not become familiar
With its marvelous good news
But live my life with it
Always in my view

At the foot of the Cross
Lord I bow down and worship
Overcome by so great a love
At the foot of the Cross
I will cherish all Your mercy
All Your goodness Your wisdom
Your power
At the foot of the Cross

Upon the Cross of Jesus
Lord I would fix my eyes
For it always will remind me
Of these truths
My iniquity seems endless
Yet greater still Your grace
And I will glory in the Cross
Throughout the ages."

Feeding the Flesh (OR NOT)

So…while I’ve been sick, God has been teaching me A LOT, and today He’s been teaching me about not feeding the flesh, in light of Romans 13:14 which says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” I’ve been asking myself what this looks like practically on a daily basis in my life (forcing myself to get very specific) and wow, there are a lot of areas for God to work on me regarding this. Here is a really great blog post on this topic, complete with awesome sketches by Joshua Harris. They are hilarious! I especially like that “the flesh” is made to look like a cross between Jabba the Hut and a WWF wrestler. The pictures alone are worth a visit to the site. OK, more to come on this later, I need to get back in bed.

http://www.joshharris.com/2007/02/feeding_the_flesh.php#more

Pride

Originally, I wanted to entitle this post “Stress and Anxiousness,” but after rereading what I have written, I've decided “Pride” is much more fitting. Here is why…

“Where there’s worry, where there’s anxiousness, pride is at the root of it. When I am experiencing anxiety, the root issue is that I’m trying to be self-sufficient. I’m acting independent of God.”-C.J. Mahaney Humility: True Greatness (p. 75)

OK, before I delve into all that quote means to me right now, it is important that I first provide some background. Here we go. This week has been really rough. It’s the week before spring break (i.e. midterms) and I have had more to accomplish than I thought was humanly possible. In the midst of all of my frantic activity of writing papers, cramming for exams, as well as trying to get my regular homework done and what seemed like a million and one other tasks, I started feeling stressed. Really stressed. I haven’t felt stressed all semester and then this week it hit me like a freight train. To top it all, I physically didn’t feel right. My head seemed fuzzy, my whole body ached, and I was struggling with ordering my thoughts—basically I didn’t feel myself, but I kept pressing forward, getting more and more stressed as each hour passed.

Then I woke up this morning with a 102 degree temperature and I just collapsed. I give up Lord, I whispered as I crumpled back into my bed. As I laid in bed praying, I came face-to-face with the reality of my sin this week. And that sin is pride. The real issue is I get some incredibly sick high off of this fast-paced schedule, that I glory in my ‘to-do’ lists and bulldozing through each task in this frantic, mad-dash of a week, as well as reveling in the sense of MY accomplishment I feel at the end of the week. What is so tragically awful about this is how I push God aside, how “I’m trying to be self-sufficient. I’m acting independent of God” (Mahaney 75). It is pride, in all its wretched ugliness. Self-reliance. And that is the source of where all my stress and anxiousness comes from. So, as God reminded me so gently this morning, I don't need to carry this burden of stress and anxiety; I am not self-sufficient. I need God for everything I do.

Then, reading a Piper sermon tonight (http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/ 1988/625_Let_Him_Who_Boasts_Boast_in_the_Lord/), I gleaned a few good reminders concerning this issue of pride. And ultimately I was pointed back to God’s Word which is the ultimate authority in my life. Here are some passages I will be meditating on for the next few days.

Galatians 6:14, "Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

2 Cor. 3:5 - "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God."

2 Cor. 4:7 - "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us."

2 Cor. 12:9 - "I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ might rest upon me."

Oh I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit's gentle conviction and that I have God's Word to chew on all day long and that God transforms my life through the time spent in His Word! Especially that He doesn't allow me to walk away from Him unchanged!!!

And before I end this post, I want to include this exhortation from John Piper which has been so encouraging to me tonight, once again taken from his sermon “Let Him Who Boasts Boast in the Lord” which is linked above.

“The purpose of God in the creation of man and the salvation of sinners is that we might boast in HIM. This is God's will for you this morning. God is speaking in these words very clearly. And what he is saying is this: turn this very moment from all boasting in your self. Don't seek your pleasure any more in your own wisdom, or your own strength, or your own looks, or your own achievements. Look to Christ crucified and see what becomes of it all.

Paul said in Galatians 6:14, "Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

So I call you to come to Christ and die this morning—and to live. And the promise of God is this: there is no greater life, no greater joy than to boast in Him!”

Trying Out Some New Stuff

Sorry, this is a boring post. I'm just experimenting with embedding video into my posts. Hopefully it works. This is my current favorite Chelsea tribute, one which is very timely since it speaks of the 6 point gap between us and Man. United. But sadly, there is no Prem. action this weekend, we have FA Cup action instead. Probably a good thing, since I really should be spending tomorrow in the library writing papers. Even so, GO BLUES!

"Before the Throne of God Above"

Some mornings like this morning I am just overwhelmed by all that God is for me in Christ. I am entirely captivated by Him and don't wish to move a single muscle out of of His precious presence. This morning is just such a morning and this song, a song I learned in my days at Five Points keeps coming to mind. I wish more of my hours and my days could be spent in the way this morning has. Oh for more grace to keep on in this fight of faith!

"Before the Throne of God Above"
by Charitie Bancroft

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me
My name is graven on His hands
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there the risen Lamb
My perfect spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of glory and of grace
One with Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God.

Wordsworth Comes to Mind

"Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun, above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife..."

-An excerpt from William Wordsworth's "The Tables Turned"

Ah my dear Wordsworth, this poem of yours keeps coming to mind. So after a wearying week, I've shoved my books aside here at almost 8 o'clock at night and have taken myself vicariously to the "long green fields" , not as you meant it, but to my soccer pitches in England. After all, it's dark and the fields and woods are blanketed with snow, so it's hardly fitting for me to go traipsing about at this hour. So to my soccer pitches I have went via the oh so convenient internet. Hehe, I kinda just rhymed there, but in doing so my grammar has become a bit atrocious. Anyway, I digress.

FA Cup action is going on this weekend and Chelsea doesn't play until tomorrow, so I just briefly checked out the Prem. previews and I have to admit I'm still bumming about this six point gap between us and Man. U., but I found a rather interesting tribute to Chelsea (on YouTube) regarding this very issue. It's a bit dramatic in its opening seconds, but then it gets to the real soccer action eventually.

In other news, today has been a pretty uneventful Saturday. I did get new tires for my car this morning which is a big deal, especially after almost killing myself on the way to Garrett's last Sunday afternoon in the snow. I discovered, almost too late, what happens when you wait too long to replace tires that have next to no tread.

And I'm also eagerly anticipating a call that I am supposed to get tomorrow morning from Jen & co. in Chicago. They are supposed to call me from a "special place" and I think I know what that special place is after chatting with Shannon about it this afternoon. Still eagerly anticipating the call though. :-) Well, nothing too much else to write about except daily stuff that God is teaching me, what I'm learning in class and how much I enjoyed TNT Thursday night, but that can wait for another day. It's getting late and I still want some quality time with the Lord tonight before it gets too late and I can't keep my eyes open. So I will end here.

Broadway!

Oh how I love Broadway musicals! I stayed up really late last night singing to my new favorite musical, Wicked. As I listened I found myself being filled with questions which caused me to hop online and dig up a synopsis, complete with spoilers. [Yea for spoilers!] My attraction to this play began with a duet entitled “For Good” and that’s basically the entire reason I asked for this CD for Christmas. As I have listened to the entire CD over the past few weeks, the questions it caused me to ask drew me deeper into the story and now that I’ve read the synopsis AND spoilers, I love this play on more than just a couple levels. I love a play that plays off of an audience’s prior knowledge and assumptions and I love when a play fills in gaps that a person didn’t originally know even existed. This musical is primarily the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Now as a child I never like The Wizard of Oz, actually I loathed it. But after falling in love with this musical, it makes me want to give it another chance. Wicked is filled with questions of free will and destiny and all that fun stuff, which only serves to heighten my enjoyment (whether I agree or not). It’s also saturated with some cool political themes, which makes me love it even more. I am finding myself really caring about Elphaba (i.e. the Wicked Witch) and it makes me realize that there is often so much more to each person we meet than what we see at face value. OK, I know this is a silly post, but I had to post on something other than Prem. today and all that God is teaching me right now is a bit too personal for a blog, so here’s my fun commentary on a Broadway musical.

OK, so I’ve also been trying to rank my top ten favorite Broadway musicals in my head all this morning as I am cleaning house and singing to Wicked. And I think this is what I have come up with...

1. Wicked (at present)
2. The Light in the Piazza
3. Ragtime
4. Scarlet Pimpernel
5. Les Miserables
6. Phantom of the Opera
7. Jane Eyre
8. Little Women
9. Beauty and the Beast (I know that this should be higher on my list, since Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie of all time, but the musical just doesn’t hold up as well as the movie did.)
10. Side Show (Miss Saigon should really be here, but I really only like it because of four songs, so I couldn’t justify putting it as #10 because of just four songs).

All right, there are a few thoughts on my love of Broadway musicals!

WHO IS CHELSEA?!?!

Yikes, that’s an alarming question. I have been asked quite a few times in the past few days about my blogging on Chelsea. People honestly are telling me they have no idea who they are…one person asked me if Chelsea Football Club is a new NFL team (oh how I pray they were joking!!!). But I guess maybe I should be a bit more understanding…especially after what happened last night at Garrett’s when Nikki was telling us about her brief encounter recently with Peyton Manning on an elevator (I didn’t know who Peyton Manning was…I have been told to pack my bags and move to England post-haste, as a result of that lack of knowledge). But still, I think Chelsea is a worthwhile club to know about, so it’s time for a refresher course or an introductory course, if you care to learn, but Chelsea’s so wonderful, I think it’s worth the time, at least that’s my humble opinion (sheepish smile).

OK, so check this link out, it’s a good starting point showing all the players, manager, owner, Stamford Bridge, etc. So without further ado…meet my beloved Chelsea…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh0fiFdub0Q

And if there are any more questions about Chelsea, please let me know because I really do love blogging about them! :-) And since I only recently defected from Newcastle to Chelsea (World Cup did it, watching Lampard, Terry, Joe and Ashley Cole, as well as Drogba and a handful of others made me want to watch them all season long), hence my switching to this club in August (much to the chagrin of some dear friends of mine who also love Prem., but can’t stand Chelsea, primarily because of the Russian billionaire who owns them)….I really do still have a lot to learn about this club, so blogging will help me research and learn what I don’t know yet. All right, that’s enough for now about Chelsea. And I promise, my next post will be about something else, but I really had to get this off my chest first. Oh ya and if anyone is looking for Newcastle gear, let me know, because I have quite a bit I’m more than willing to part with now. Especially two jerseys in particular (one official jersey and the other a training jersey, I think they both are from 2003 or 2004)! No takers?! I didn’t think so. I don’t blame you. Just kidding. :-)

Soccer Commentary During the Storm

OK, I'm well aware that it is after 2:30AM, but it's storming out and for those of you who didn't know this about me...I'm incredibly scared of storms. I know that I should trust Christ more and not be scared of nature ( in all its wrath) as I am. But I cannot seem to convince my body to listen to what I know to be true in my head. Hence the trembling and the inability to sleep. So I thought instead of laying in bed shaking like a leaf, I would come and share some thoughts on soccer to distract me and cheer myself up [yikes, a gust of wind just shook my back door...freaky!].

SO... Chelsea had a rough weekend in the 2-2 draw against Fulham. They played on FSC Saturday at 10am and at noon I received my official jersey in the mail (no I didn’t get Lampard’s name and number plastered on the back of it….it would have been too expensive…hehe). And although since 2001 I have shifted support from two teams (i.e. Liverpool from 2001-2003, Newcastle 2003-2006)…I am now entirely devoted to Chelsea (hence my jersey…the Newcastle gear is being shoved to the very back of my closet, we’ll pretend it doesn’t exist any longer). Ahem...(Awkward pause), I was saying in reference to my devotion to Chelsea that it will remain rock solid…as long as they stay on the up and up (I’m a little nervous about that Russian billionaire who owns them, hehe, just kidding) and Lampard, Terry, and Drogba don’t leave for another club. Hmmm...I guess I am a bit of a fair-weather supporter, aren’t I?!

Well, anyway…the disappointing 2-2 draw against Fulham has led me to want to garner some excitement for my new dear club. They are just in a bit of a slump, what with Terry out because of surgery (he was back in training yesterday though!), Cech out on injury (think surgery on a fractured skull…ya it’s going to be awhile before we see him) along with Joe Cole and Arjen Robben out on injury and our wonderful (please note just the smallest bit of sarcasm here) £30million signing, Andriy Shevchenko, not performing.

OK, about Shevchenko, I’ve been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt for the past few months, even going so far as to pointedly defend him when some friends critiqued his performance this season, but I’m sorry, I can’t keep it up much longer…he just isn’t producing for all the money we signed him for!!! He’ll pull through yet though, I know it (this is optimism at it’s finest people). :-) I am happy to announce though, in the midst of this sadness, that Lampard (who’s having his go at being skipper in the absence of Terry) was instrumental in both Chelsea goals!!! Yea Lampard! One goal was a nice deflection off of a Fulham player (can’t remember his name, that’s how inconsequential Fulham is to me) and the next was an absolutely gorgeous assist to Drogba who had no problem finding the back of the net after such a beautiful feed from my man Lampard. So, even though it was a disappointing result for me as these two West London clubs went up against each other, I am still hopeful for what will come throughout the remainder of the season. And to pay my respects to my beloved club and to garner a little excitement as I had mentioned earlier, here is a great tribute…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_rgoOOH_UE

Oh and almost to the end of the clip is an aerial shot of Stamford Bridge (oh Jen, when I finally get you to defect from Liverpool, we’re going to go there and enjoy a wonderful game at the Bridge together! Someday, that is, and I’m looking forward to it!)

All right, so the wind and the rain outside are still raging (at least the thunder has stopped), so I am off to use this time awake to spend with the Lord, but before I go, I leave you with these words...

Blue is the colour, football is the game
We're all together, and winning is our aim
So cheer us on through the sun and rain
'cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name

Here at the Bridge whether rain or fine
We can shine all the time
Home or away, come and see us play
You're welcome any day

Blue is the colour, football is the game
We're all together, and winning is our aim
So cheer us on through the sun and rain
'cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name

Come to the Shed and we'll welcome you
Wear your blue and see us through
Sing loud and clear until the game is done
Sing Chelsea everyone.

Blue is the colour, football is the game
We're all together, and winning is our aim
So cheer us on through the sun and rain
'cause Chelsea, Chelsea is our name

Looking Forward to 2007

Tonight is a night of time alone with the Lord and of course posting to my blog. :-) 2006 has been eye-opening and wonderful and it’s been good to take the time to pause and reflect on where God has brought me this year. Since 2007 will (Lord-willing) include my final semester of college (I know, I know, it’s about time you all are saying), graduating mid-May, getting my first full-time job, possibly moving out on my own and possibly far from home, I have felt an intense need to get alone with Him and commit this next year entirely to Him. As I have been spending time with the Lord, I’ve been thinking about songs that have been my theme song this year. I think MercyMe’s “Crazy” has been this year’s theme as well as the old hymn “Be Thou My Vision.” I think my new theme song is this song called “Divine Romance" by Phil Wickham (for audio see http://www.purevolume.com/philwickham) Here are the lyrics courtesy of that site. Thanks Jen for getting me the link to this!

"Divine Romance

verse 1:
The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied

chorus:
For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love, to show my love

verse 2:
A deep deep flood, an Ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life
In Your presence God I’m completely satisfied"

As I think about this next year and wherever God is going to take me and whatever my life is going to look like a year from now, I rest assured and deeply satisfied in all God is for me in Christ. I know that wherever He leads me, I will be all right, just as long as I have Him…because “In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied.”

New Year's Resolutions

As I do every year on New Year’s Eve, I am prayerfully contemplating what my resolutions for this upcoming year should be. For the past three years I have been influenced greatly by Jonathan Edwards’s 70 resolutions (http://www.reformed.org/documents/Edwards/index.html?mainframe=/documents/Edwards/j_edwards_resolutions.html ) and this year is no different, but since 2006 was a bit of an eye-opening year with regards to the brevity of life, I have decided to include some other random, but very important resolutions. [I have marked the Jonathan Edwards’s resolutions with quotes and “JE” is placed after them] Now my resolution list is actually a tad bit longer than what I have included here, but two resolutions are a little more deeply personal than normal and only my dear mother and closest girlfriends will know of those two specific resolutions. :-)

All right, without further ado, here they are, my 2007 New Year Resolutions!

“BEING SENSIBLE THAT I AM UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING WITHOUT GOD'S HELP, I DO HUMBLY ENTREAT HIM BY HIS GRACE TO ENABLE ME TO KEEP THESE RESOLUTIONS, SO FAR AS THEY ARE AGREEABLE TO HIS WILL, FOR CHRIST' S SAKE.” -Jonathan Edwards

1. Resolved, to pursue God with all I have within me, so that each night as I lay down to go to sleep I can honestly say, 'I am more in love with Christ today than I had been the day before.'
2. “Resolved, To live with all my might while I do live.” -JE
3. “Resolved, Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.” -JE
4. Resolved, To continue to immerse myself daily in Scripture with the help of the DJ Bible Reading Plan (http://www.navpress.com/Assets/PDF/Product/Sample/1576839745.pdf).
5. Resolved, To devote myself to memorizing a minimum of one Bible verse a week, and to meditate and chew on that verse as much as possible throughout the week.
6. Resolved, to sing at the top of my lungs each and every day.
7. Resolved, to learn one new hymn on the piano each and every week.
8. Resolved, to renew my commitment to good health by engaging in some form of cardio a minimum of three times a week, strength training two days a week, as well as monitoring/increasing water intake to prevent kidney stones and allowing myself 7-8 hours of sleep a night, as much as it is in my power to do so.
9. “Resolved, never to say any thing at all against any body, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.” –JE
10. “Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness and benignity.” –JE
11. “Resolved, Never to do anything which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.” -JE
12. “Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then, both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.” -JE
13. “Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion” [i.e. my relationship with Christ], “and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.” –JE
14. “Resolved, never, henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God' s.” –JE

Missing Grandpa

[WARNING—This is a bit more personal of a post than normal, skip to another post if you feel you shouldn’t read.]

Well Christmas is winding to a close and my thoughts are drifting to Grandpa again. This was our second Christmas without him and although rarely does a day go by without me thinking about him, it’s still the holidays that seem to be excessively difficult. I love my family so much and getting together with them is always a blast, but there is still this massive, gaping hole without Grandpa there. I miss him greeting me at the door with a kiss on the head, a quick rub on the shoulder and the predictable, “How’s Mouse doing?” with that awesome twinkle in his eye. [I am my grandpa’s “mouse” for those who didn’t know] :-) I miss curling up on the couch next to him after I am stuffed from dinner and getting drowsy and experiencing that awesome warm, safe feeling that always flooded my body whenever I was near him. I miss him joking with my uncles around the table and his adoration of the dogs and his delight at any of the tricks Uncle Brian could have his dogs perform for him. I miss him coming down on Christmas morning to be with us as we opened our presents, particularly when Benjamin “opened” his.

And thinking about any other day in the year that isn’t a holiday…I miss Grandpa’s hugs, I miss the unconditional love he always poured out on me, I miss being able to just sit at his house with him for hours and not have to talk, to just sit and be there beside him. Or to prattle on about anything and everything going on in my life when I was stressed or nervous and him just letting me get it all out...and not judging me for anything that was said. I miss being able to call him when I’m alone in a thunderstorm and him driving down to be with me. I miss his laugh. I miss him teasing me or teasing the dogs or cats. I miss feeding all the animals with him. I miss eating Snickers with him, or ice cream, or any form of chocolate. I miss being out in the barn with him or walking back to the pond with him with a dog close at our heels (Abby or Ben). I miss watching Casablanca with him. I miss sitting at the picnic table with him on an early summer evening, drinking in the smell of lilacs and looking out around the farm. And I had to pause just now because my mind went blank and that scares me to no end because I think that one of my greatest fears is I’m going to begin to forget, forget what he smelled like, forget what it was like to have him hug me, forget all the sweet and funny and absolutely wonderful things that made him my grandpa. One of the sure and stable, and thoroughly dependable presences in my life.

So tonight, as I’m missing Grandpa so much that my body hurts, I am pointed Godward, to Christ, my Rock, the eternally dependable presence in my life. Christ who IS my life. I am comforted by the fact that my relationship with Him will extend into eternity, that there will never be a time when I have to be separated from Him because I just couldn’t bear that. Having to keep going without Grandpa is trying enough, a life without my God would be unbearable!!!

Christmas Eve Thoughts

I love Christmas! Sure I love spending time with family, baking cookies with my mom, watching Irving Berlin's White Christmas, wrapping presents, singing Christmas carols, etc., but what I really love is the time for reflecting on the birth of Christ. Tonight though I’ve been thinking a lot about what our world would be like if Christ had NOT been born. I have been aided in these thoughts by a letter from Sam Crabtree to the congregation at Bethlehem Baptist (Piper’s church). It's entitled, "What Would Not Be If Jesus Had Not Been" available at desiringgod.org. [Sorry I'm not linking directly to it, I'm having problems tonight inserting links.]

If Christ had not come to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for my sins, rose victoriously from the grave, triumphing over death...I would not be able to come before our most holy God, I wouldn’t have the Holy Spirit to rely on day in and day out, I would not have a church family, I would not have the wonderful encouraging missionary biographies to read, the apostle Paul who is such a great inspiration to me would never have penned the epistles. There would be no verses that serve as my lifelines, like…

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” -Colossians 3:1-4

Or Philippians 3:7-10, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Or verses that send waves of excitement through me and cause me to want to burst out singing at the top of my lungs…

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” –Ephesians 2:4-10

Ultimately, if Christ had not come to this earth, I would have no hope of heaven. Such sobering thoughts on Christmas Eve, but oh how they make me love and adore my Lord all the more! Because the truth of the matter is He DID come to earth, He DID live a perfect life, He DID die on the cross and was resurrected and I am now clothed in His perfect righteousness and have full access to a perfect, holy God through Christ alone. Oh how I love this!!!

Sam Crabtree says at the beginning of his letter “I pray that during this Christmas season and at all times God would enable you to treasure his incarnate and risen son above all else.” And I must thank this man, although I don’t know him, because his letter posted on Desiring God, has done just that for me. Oh how I love my Lord more tonight, thinking of what my life would look like if He had never come. It causes me to celebrate His birth with a more joyful and grateful heart than I have ever before!!!

A Tribute to Frank Lampard

I am sad to announce that in the past few weeks I have been assaulted with various critiques of Frank Lampard's level of skill as a midfielder. Now in defense of my favorite midfielder in the world, I went in search of something to justify my opinion of him and I found it, on YouTube, a great source of fun clips which I am quickly becoming a bit addicted to. Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEHh4WxWYyw

Or how about this goal from Dec. 17th....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UBCdi89n78