All our being through the Cross

Way back a long time ago when such establishments existed, my dad and I were walking around Blockbuster. Looking down the rows of movies, I saw a one about the life of Christ and yelled, "JESUS!" My dad spun around, this incredible look of excitement on his face, and asked, "Where!"

A number of years later, though still a while from today, there were sounds of loud explosions outside our house. My mother ran outside looking up into the heavens. When I ran out after her, she said, "I thought it could be Jesus coming back!"

Well in fact it was just a movie called 'Jesus' that I had seen, not my Savior. And it was not the second coming making explosive noises; it was the neighborhood's grand opening of the pool house, celebrating with fireworks (which happened to be echoing off the houses in a strange end-of-the-world way). 

These moments could have easily have been lost in my mind. Or vaguely remembered with a little laugh. Recently though, I have thought on the treasure each of these moments holds. 

Oh to be so in love with the God of All...

What would you have thought? I can ashamedly say that I am not sure if my immediate thought would have gone to my Lord in either of these cases. Of course with the "JESUS" one, maybe, but still....

Do I expect my Lord to come at any moment? Am I ready to bow before the Glorified Son? When I am at a Redbox (to draw a parallel with modern application) going about my weekend, am I preparing my heart for Him to come at any moment? 

I am of course in no way going to start preaching that the world is ending in approximately a month and a half. As Christ himself speaks, only the Father knows the exact time He shall come back to Earth. I do however want to grab the beauty that comes with living in the certainty that Christ WILL come again. That could be soon. Relatively speaking, soon could be 4 years or 45 years (relatively to God that is...I guess if we're gonna go there we could say 45 THOUSAND years!) 

I think the most practical application is this: Christ is the forefront of our thought every minute, second, instant. Then when He does come, we don't waste a second getting our thoughts to HIM. They are already there. 

Him as the forefront of our mind is not a burden, though it does take some adjusting to. I could understand how it may be difficult to see how one thinks about every day life when also considering the magnitude of the Cross. That's why we work for the Cross to become the lens in which we live all our life through. All our being through the Cross. 

All our being through the Cross. 

This is my prayer. 

All our being through the Cross. 

Introducing.....VOGUEMIND!

Very soon, Voguemind from www.voguemind.blogspot.com is going to become a guest blogger on here. Even though Voguemind is my only official follower, I think there are some more of you guys who just occasionally glance at this page and haven't had the chance to follow me. (Now is your chance! )

Look forward to that. Voguemind will rock your socks off.
In other news, my finger hurts. And it's good to have friends

Daily Recitation

Today is the very first day of the rest of my life.

I have been given this day to use as I will.

I can waste it...or use it for good.

But what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it!

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. 

I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.

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In 7th grade, I had a teacher who had us memorize this recitation.  

What Is a Man?

Exposition III.  Coming soon.  Don't think I've forgotten!

Psalm 69 (the parts in bold are what resonate with me right now)

Psalm 69

English Standard Version (ESV)

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.

69 Save me, O God!
    For the waters have come up to my neck.^[a]
2 I sink in deep mire,
    where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying out;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
    with waiting for my God.

⁴ More in number than the hairs of my head
    are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
    those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
⁵ O God, you know my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

⁶ Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
    O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
    O God of Israel.
⁷ For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
    that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my mother's sons.

⁹ For zeal for your house has consumed me,
    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I wept and humbled^[b] my soul with fasting,
    it became my reproach.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing,
    I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make songs about me.

¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
    At an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
¹⁴ Deliver me
    from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from the deep waters.
¹⁵ Let not the flood sweep over me,
    or the deep swallow me up,
    or the pit close its mouth over me.

¹⁶ Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
    according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
¹⁷ Hide not your face from your servant;
    for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
¹⁸ Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
    ransom me because of my enemies!

¹⁹ You know my reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
²⁰ Reproaches have broken my heart,
    so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
    and for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They gave me poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

²² Let their own table before them become a snare;
    and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.^[c]
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
    and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴ Pour out your indignation upon them,
    and let your burning anger overtake them.
²⁵ May their camp be a desolation;
    let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
    and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
²⁷ Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from you.^[d]
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain;
    let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
³¹ This will please the Lord more than an ox
    or a bull with horns and hoofs.
³² When the humble see it they will be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
³³ For the Lord hears the needy
    and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵ For God will save Zion
    and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
³⁶     the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Emotional Crisis

Alas, my friends.  I am not feeling so good.

  

Have you ever been in a car and the driver slams on the brakes?  You fly forward and crash into the seat in front of you, or into the windshield.  That jolt, that shock, that BOOM is what I'm feeling right now.

This weekend was really busy for me.  On top of that, I was kind of disconnected from the rest of the world.  

So, on Friday, I was to meet an old friend from high school, and it was a nice reunion, but it was cut very short due to my friend being sick.

Then, Saturday, all I did was practice and practice--Next Sunday, I'll be playing the piano accompaniment to "Healing is in you hands" while someone sings it.  Also, I went out to do a lot of errands.  Saturday was super busy.

Finally, on Sunday, everything is going very well.  There's church, then there's lunch, then I go back to the church to practice the before mentioned song with the singer.  It was close to perfect!  But soonafter, upon learning that the preacher was sick, I decided to help the Youth Pastor set up to teach that night.  

So far, this weekend has been pretty good, aside from exhaustion and business.  But then, at the end of the service, I finally checked my Facebook on my phone. I had a message from my Chemistry lab partner telling me not to worry about doing anything as far as our lab report went.  

Then the brakes were slammed and I flew through the windshield....

ACK! WE HAD A LAB REPORT DUE AND I TOTALLY JUST LEFT MY PARTNER HANGING!!!

This morning, I received an email in which my partner explained that everything was done and that she would see me in lab today.  Woe is me.  I need to find a way to apologize.   

Intellectual Crisis

Answer...

Which is more reactive toward water, sodium or potassium? Based on your observations, what might you predict about the relative reactivity of lithium, sodium, potassium and rubidium toward water?

Identify...

Ebionism- Docetism- kenosis- cosmology- cosmogony- Sea/ Sea Monster- Leviathan/dragon-Enuma Elish- Torah-composite narrative- Post Mosaica- Julius Wellhausen- Documentary Hypothesis- JEDP- polytheism- henotheism- monotheism

Explain...

Relationship between Truth and History

Theological significance of the Sea in Ancient Israel

Satan and the Sea as opponents of God in the Hebrew Scriptures

Evidence in the Hebrew Scriptures for belief in multiple gods

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It's been awhile.  Even after the optimism and promise of the last post!  A promise broken... It's a real good thing I'm not God!

So anyway, above is what I've been dealing with.... And since tomorrow's the beginning of my midterm exams on these things, I guess I should be studying rather than blogging about them.  But that's ok.  Just goes to show you how important you are to me.

The first question has to do with Chemistry.  Should any chemically-minded reader of mine feel the desire to help me out, I welcome you!

The other two are for my Biblical Perspectives class.  It's all pretty heavy.  I might talk about it some other time.

Ok. Gotta go. 

P.S. I added new pages to this blog here.  You should check them out. 

K. Bye.