song: I will rise, artist: Chris Tomlin
The best Chris Tomlin song out there. Amen.
No Choice.
As part of Lent, our church has been doing daily “Overflow” devotionals from NT Wright. Today’s really struck me. It was on Mark 10:46-52. The blind man to whom Jesus restores sight.
The “oh that’s so good; help me remember that Jesus” moment was in the exposition of what the man asked was the “big” thing - the thing we shy away from sometimes in my prayers. The thing that I’m not sure if God can really do.
The end of the devotional says this, “Bartimaeus follows Jesus, Mark says, on the way: well, of course he would. ‘The way’ is one of the slogans the early Christians used for their new movement. Bartimaeus was already on it; once you really tell Jesus what you really want, and he really does it for you, you don’t have a choice.”
Amen.
JJ Heller, Who You Are
Where have you been all my life JJ Heller? Beautiful, beautiful song.
The surest way to find out if you can trust God? Is just trust Him. The freefall of faith is what makes you free.
— Ann V., A Holy Experience
Posted March 1, 2013 at 5:10pm
Genuine hope comes only amidst hopelessness. If there is “a way out” obtainable through our own power, we don’t need hope. Hopelessness has no choice but to abide within shalom. Hopelessness must abide within a sense of well-being that comes from the vast mystery of God’s story. From within shalom there is hope, not despite our sad chapters but because of them…How can we be reminded of the goodness of God’s story despite the sadness of our current chapter? We tell…stories that reflect and embody God’s story - stories of oppression, liberation and redemption.
— book: Psalmist’s Cry
does it snow in bangladesh?
— what I just Google’d while writing our first letter to Sorifa, our Compassion child. it made everything that happened yesterday be OK, even for a moment.
We are shocked at what happened yesterday. Innocents slaughtered. Tomorrow we are to light the pink candle – the Joy candle. Really? Peace. Hope. Joy. Love. These words seem so distant, like a memory of when we were little.
It is the Lord who speaks in today’s text – Rachel’s voice is heard. When we lament, God listens and acts toward us in perfect love. And God hears the cries of children everywhere – Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan. Just after today’s story in Matthew 2, John the Baptist appears and Jesus’ ministry begins – the hope bringer. These huge words of Advent don’t always happen for us; sometimes they happen through us. We carry hope to someone who needs it. Who can you bring hope to today?
—
- David Burroughs
(from an Advent devotional today re: Matthew 2 and Herod killing all the two year olds; i pray the reminder of hope in Christ blesses you as it blessed me)
I’m about to get deep on a Brad Paisley song. Ready? Go.
I saw this video pop on my FB feed this morning, and I had to watch. Why? Because last night, on my way to the local grocery store, I heard the opening line: “Not everybody drinks sweet tea…Not everybody knows the words to “Ring of Fire” or “Amazing Grace.” Especially that part about sweet tea; it rang true for me, leaving Florida (not really the south, but still) and going to Chicago - a place where tea was just tea - not sweet. And SEC football was an afterthought - Big 10 was more their style.
Intrigued by those opening lines, I watched the whole video - shot in eight countries, showing scenery that was different than the U.S. and beautiful. And the rest of the lyrics really captured why I love other cultures, why I love traveling, why I love living in other places. And why, even with that traveling (or maybe because of it), I am able to come back to the states and have a love for it that I don’t think I would have without being away.
I believe in getting out of your comfort zone. It is what God has used to give me a bigger view of the world - one where I know everyone doesn’t drink sweet tea - and it has humbled me, as another part of the song goes, “I know what it’s like to talk and no one understand.” When I’m not comfortable, I rely on God; I can really see the world. I pray, as God sees it. Unique, loved and His.
So, I leave with these lines that I love: “And I miss my Tennessee home but I can see the ways that I’ve grown. I can’t see this world unless go…”
Amen to that.
for the greatest, most profound, tenderest things in the world, we must wait.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from his “God is in the manger” Advent devotional. Blessed.
