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I have an experiment for you to try.

Next time you are worshiping God, instead of what you normally do, Pray for those around you. Whether you are singing, or what ever you do when you worship God pray for every one around you.

It's a funny thing how we are the only one that can save ourselves, yet as others draw closer to God around us then we too grow closer to God.

I don't know about you but I like to give, and when in worship I like to bang on the doors of heaven for those around me not because I am any better but because I would give it to them. I find myself caught up and receiving the same things I prayed for others.

I believe that is how God works. As we pour ourselves (prayers, effort, time, money) into others God pours back into us. 

It's funny how things work like that.

Anyways that is my challenge.

God Bless you
God fill you up with his spirit
and give you peace.

God reign in us.

Psalm 146

 ¹ Praise the LORD.^[a]    Praise the LORD, my soul.
 ² I will praise the LORD all my life;
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³ Do not put your trust in princes,
   in human beings, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
   on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
   whose hope is in the LORD their God.
 ⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
   the sea, and everything in them—
   he remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
   and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
 ⁸ the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
   the LORD loves the righteous.
⁹ The LORD watches over the foreigner
   and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
   but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
 ¹⁰ The LORD reigns forever,
   your God, O Zion, for all generations.
   Praise the LORD.

It's crazy how God set the moon and the stars and determined their orbits.  They continue to move through the heavens like clock work. Actually better then clock work since the clocks themselves are imperfect models of the sky. 

Maybe that's it, as hard as we try to create our own light, our own way, we are just reflections, just examples of what God is.

God reign in us.
God live in us.
God fill us.

Reading

"Son, son it must be one way or the other. Either th day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it; or else fo ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves. I know it has a grand sound to say ye'll accept no salvation which leaves even one creature in the dark outside. But watch that sophistry or ye'll make a Dog in a Manger the tyrant of the universe."

C. S. Lewis the Great Divorce

I just read this book again. I find it's a book that I like to read ever so often. Hope your day's are good.

God Bless us
God lead us
God give us everything we need.
God speak to us

Sky Light

So I decided again to give my blog another direction. Mostly because it doesn't look like I will hit my last year numbers for posts.

I have decided to make this more personal. So here we go!

This summer when lots of things where changed (and still are) I believe God was talking to me. I had a new Job, a new apartment to live in, and a new car (along which came debt). 

I was worried about how if I could take all this change. Will I be able to pay for my car, keep my Job ... It would have been so much easier to keep things the same. It was difficult at times. Then one morning when I drove early to work to spend time reading the bible God showed me a picture of myself. He showed my face half rotting, and being eaten by a crow. It scared me ... but then God explained. That's what you life was, and I have came to change you. This change is hard but it is from me.

It's funny because I thought the opposite.

It's funny if you read Daniel you see that even when Daniel is in charge of one third of the kingdom, he still faces challenges that risk his life yet he chooses God every time. God the living God is there for him every time.

Doing things right isn't easy but God is there with us and he is there to show us amazing things.

God show us all that you are the living God
God lead us into a deeper relationship with you
God bless us in every part of life
God be with us

Snow

Sometimes it's a cold day outside. Sometimes it's hard to get by. Sometimes things are difficult. Why? is what we all ask.

I think this is where Jesus smiles.
I believe it's because humans where never meant to live there life alone. They were meant to ask all there worries and fears on God. To help each other.

It's funny how God works. Even in the old Testament we find the following words. "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" Isaiah 1:18b

My bible mentions "Scarlet was the most permanent of ancient dyes, one that no laundering could remove. Isaiah says God can do the impossible and cleanse sinners, even though the stain of their sin is as fixed as scarlet dye."

2 Ch 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I well hear form heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." NKJV

I was struck by this verse when a preacher pointed out the order of things in this verse. The first thing is to humble ourselves, pray and seek God's face. Then we turn from our wicked ways. Then God from heaven will hear us and forgive us and heal our land.

Sometimes we get get caught up in being pure before God, but here it is the reverse. Humble ourselves before God and seek his face first. Pray to the almighty and turn from our wicked ways. Then God reaches from the almighty heaven and touches our lives.

Wherever

I am struck by the story of Daniel. How he trusts in God through out all the circumstances in his life. It would be so easy to follow the King's orders, to bow down an worship idols. But even in his position of control and success he continues to trust God.

I am also struck by Joseph. The same thing happens with him. He could have easily conformed with the culture around him but he says no. He serves God even in the prison and even as second to Pharaoh.

It's like they are saying with their life that no matter what I serve God first. The rest it doesn't matter where I am and what I am doing. I serve God. I love God.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (2) And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

God you rule above everything,
God you are my God.
God lead us
God bless us
God speak to us

Daniel

Today I am struck by Daniel's words before he is thrown into the blazing furnace

Daniel 3:17+18
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Daniel a Faith that was tried and tried but never failed.

The hope of God

More and more I am convinced that we humans are driven by hope.  Our hope is what gives our lives direction.

Romans 5
{3} And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; {4} and perseverance, character; and character, hope. {5} Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

The problem with this it seems is that this world is really very cold. The rain, the sun, the earth are mechanisms that do not offer any reassurance. The physical world has world has no concern over the human being.

John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Eugène N. Marais stated in his book "The Soul of the White Ant" that the most convincing argument that there is a God is that humans in a world of death and fighting we humans look for peace, justice, and love.

(NIV, John 13:34-35)
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

One of the most amazing things I find in the book "The boy who came back to heaven" is that anyone who depends on God even a 6 year old has power to overcome the devil through the power of Jesus.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

It's better than that yet. This awesome Jesus is available to anyone who trusts in him. Jesus understands that we are imperfect people. We fail and that is the grace of God even though we want to do right and we fail God will still be there for us. He is there for our every need.

Psalm 107:1 (NIV)
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Sorry I have been without internet and have been fairly busy the past few weeks.

God Bless us,
God Lead us,
God show us your grace
God destroy the fortifications of evil.

Battle over the Hearts and Minds

One reason why I admire Mohamed Gandhi, and Marten Luther King Junior is that they they choose not to fight the evil that was present with violence, but choose to fight the evil in our minds.

I heard a speaker talk about his interpretation of the last battle that John talks about in revelation and he interprets it as a figurative language. The battle as mentioned in revelation takes place at the centre of the world. A crucial strategic point that would control the world. He understood John to be saying that the last battle is over the hearts and minds of people. Where we all take a place.

Now I don't know if he is right but I think he makes some good points. The battle is not against people but it's one step deeper. The battle is over the hearts and minds of people.

We find this through out scripture.
King Hezekiah when he faces an overwhelming force of Assyrian coming to destroy him and Jerusalem prays to God "Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you along, O Lord, are God."  Isaiah 37:20

Where would the western world be with out the battle over the hearts and minds of the people in the enlightenment age. No matter how hard rulers tried to snuff out revolutionaries the printing press proved the better weapon.

God is God

I have been struck lately how we humans seem to think it's all about us.
It is so easy to start thinking that God's blesses those that obey him, and doesn't bless those that don't but we find something else in the bible

Ecclesiastes 8:14
righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve.

I believe because God is calling us to something deeper, something more important that physical blessing. God is calling us into a relationship with him no matter what happens.

I have just finished a book called "The boy who came back from Heaven" and really liked this book. This is the words that the father Kevin received from an Angel in the nonfiction book

"Speak of Me,forMe, and about Me
Use Alex to show who I am
I have chesen him as a screen upon which to show Myself
I am unity, the trinity, a complete circle,
Your story will lead to praise an worship, ther willbe alter calls
Your bills are the least of My worries
I will be with you all the days of your life
I will speak to you
I will guide you
I am in you
I am about you, you be about Me
My love is unconditional
My vengeance is restricted for the holy
My apostles died for Me, will you die for Me?
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last."

What I learnt most while reading this book is that it's not about us. Miracles are not to save a person from death but for God's power to be shown to the world.

Read the book If you can!

God lead us,
God protect us,
God lead us to your green pastures,
God lead us to believe and trust in you
God I love you!

Job

I'm reading a book on Job and I find a striking story of loss and through all of the loss we find Job response.

Job 1:20-21 (The Message)

20 Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:

21 Naked I came from my mother's womb,
naked I'll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God's name be ever blessed.

I find this is a beautiful response. He strikes the truth and shows his true love for God.

All is God's anyways, it's all on loan, so if you will to take it all away, I trust you and love you God. Job is a man of heroic endurance.

I think when ever reading this story we have to remember the end of the story. That God has more to his plan than what it seems in the moment.

East is from the West

New Living Translation (2007) Psalm 103:12
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

It's funny how God works. I wonder how the author choose east and west, and not north and south. In a world that you believe is flat, there would be no difference. Yet us in the 21st century understand the world as round. So we can mark the distance between the south pole and the north but can you mark the distance from east to west.

I find God sometimes uses the subtle hints to show his power, his leading in peoples lives such as this author. It's like a treasure that is buried until we discover the truth but the world.

That reminds me of something I heard from someone I look up to. We live in a world that is a fine line.
We live in a world where it is possible to believe that there is no God, but it is impossible to do so.

This verse highlights that. It could be just chance that the author picked east and west.

God lead us to green pastures
God bless us with your presence
God help us shine for you
God protect us from all who oppose you

Born Again

It seems to me over and over again that Jesus is about rebirth.

John 3:5-7
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'

Jesus calls us to give up our flesh. A rebirth from the old to the new. I dislike rebirth, it seems that I like the old familiar ways but everything I see in our world is about destruction and rebirth. It's written into every part of our lives.

Jesus I believes calls into all parts of our life wanting to create a new life. He wants to be so much more than just an addition to us humans. He wants to create new life a rebirth.

It seems that sometimes I would rather drag the whole world into how I believe the world should be rather than transform myself into what God calls me to be.

It's been summer!

Sorry I've taken so long to send a post, but well ... it's been summer.

Recently at a bible study we go to we watched a video about samson. He pointed out a few interesting points that I'd like to pass along.

Background:
Philistines had control over the Israel. They were called sea people who had immigrated from the north. They had advanced culture, science, and buildings. Israel was still in tents, and it appears that philistine culture was invading the culture of Israel.

God blesses a son and he is told to be a Nazirite. Someone who doesn't shave, doesn't drink, and doesn't touch anything dead and so on (appears very rough and backwards to me when compared with the Philistines). Samson is very strong, he steals the gates from the philistine city and carried them a long distance, kill many Philistines.

But then Samson breaks the commands of the Nazirite, is caught and held and eventual dies. You can read the full story in Judges 13-16.

It seems to me God was painting a picture. God's people then and today are like Samson. We are not the most cultured, smart, artistic ... people but we are like Samson with God's power we can and do great things.

But once we start fitting God into our life instead of giving God rule our life we fall apart.

I wonder sometimes if I am trying to be cultured, smart, ... instead of letting God rule my life. I believe if I do what God he calls me to do whether it's culture, science, art ... and so on no one can stand in the way of God as Samson shows us.

In the Beginning God Created Freedom

I think one of the marvelous creations by God is the creation of freedom. If God is in everything and created everything imagine trying to create something that can do something separate from God. In a sense ignore the God that created it. He gave this freedom to many things not just humans, He gave it to the angels.

But the trouble with freedom is that it comes with responsibility. If you are free to do what you want, you are now free to cause pain. Free to limit other peoples freedom. Free to cause other people pain. God isn't going to limit this ability all the time because then we wouldn't be free.

So what does God do about this tragic situation was not his intention when he created freedom. He doesn't change the rules of freedom, but rather He gives every believer the ability to overcome. He gives every believer everything that they will need.

I believe God had in his mind, beings that out of there own free will would trust God, Worship God, and serve God. I believe He is still intent on seeing His plan through.

Those are my thoughts for today!

God bless us,
God lead us,
God protect us,
God lead us to green pastures.

Footprints in the Sand

Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

Mary Stevenson, 1936

Sorry I have no pictures of steps in the sand

I pray your having a great week!!

Recently I have been re-introduced to the concept of chaos.

Lets go back many years right to genesis 1:1+2
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

Once I was told that people in the middle east, especially in the past didn't understand water as we do. We go to the beach, jump in the water. But people in the past thought about water as chaos. That is where boats where lost, and things disappeared beneath the water line.

So God hovered above this chaos. This destructive unlivable environment and created life.

We are the anomaly, we are the divine inspiration that God breathed into existence from the deep waters.

How great how awesome is our God.

God you are creator and ruler of this world.
God help us,
God lead us
God be with us.

Many Members

1 Corinthians 12
 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

I find this is the hardest thing for us to do. Many times I think the hands are saying to the feet why don't you be more like a hand. I guess the trouble comes from how do we determine that is an action that is lead by God and one that isn't. Is it possible for a hand to know what a ear should be and shouldn't be doing?

I guess this is where we have to read verse 18, and pray to God for guidance that he we exalt what he has planned and stop everything else before it gets started.

Transforming

I've been amazed recently at several old testament stories. How Abraham was promised to be the father of many nations yet didn't have a child till he was much older. How Joseph had dreams about his brothers bowing down to him yet he spent many years as a slave and in jail. David promised king of Israel spent many years as a hunted rebel.

It's as if God in control finds putting people in important places is the easy part. It's the transforming people that takes time.

I find a common them amoug all those people is that they tried their best to serve God wherever they were (though they all had short commings).

A Generation Gone

So last week my grandmother passed away. Though I still have a grandmother on my mom's side, but for the most part the children of the pioneers here in Manitoba are fast disappearing. The world is changing once again.

I spent allot of time with her when I was younger. She was my babysitter, she feed me supper every day after school.

It's funny how this world works. Death though painful and destructive creates new life. This cycle of life that keeps on going. At her funeral I could not help but feel happy. I know she is going to heaven and is enjoying life ever after with Jesus.

God lead us.
God bless us.
God be with us
God bring us to green pastures.

Non-Violent Action

So I am reading "I have a dream". The best part of the book for me is "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

Here are some of the things that stick out for me.

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.

We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with.

One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will.

Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.

Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators."' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated."

For modern day examples check out Christian Peacemaker Teams

God's Blessings

God has blessed me these day's and I don't know how I could every thank him.

I am so thankful for my girl friend and I am thankful for what God has also blessed me with what I believe is a good job.

I thank God for everything that he has given me.

God help us
God lead us
God give us grace
God be on our lives and speak through us

Catch Up

James 1:17 (The Message)
"So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle."

This is a verse I read recently. It strikes home these days when so many things for me are changing God doesn't change. He is always there and he is always the same.

Sorry about the long gap. I've been really busy these day's I had a large project due and it took most of my time.

God bless us
God lead us
God help us

Eastor

Today I had a discussion about the Eastor story, and I was struck by the way God works.

As Jesus was entering Jerusalem people were expecting him to take the leadership role. The human way of understanding victory.

But instead we see he was crucified, and all seemed to be lost. It seems that all could be done is to give him a proper burial.

Contrary to human understanding his death and resurrection was actually his victory.

I wonder how many times we are looking for the conquering victor, when rather God works in very different ways.

God lead us,
God bless us,
God be with us.

Ice Breaks into Water

I am amazed by you God,
We are small, and needy.
I need you God.

We have furnaces to keep out the cold.
We have lights to keep out the darkness.
We have entertainment to keep us occupied.

But the furnaces gives us a sense of security
the lights drown out the stars
and the entertainment makes us forget about sunsets

Not that stars and sunsets mean anything with you God.

Come let us desire God!
Come let us give thanks to God!
Come let us ask for grace from Jesus!
Come let us see in the light!

Oh God thank you for who you are,
Oh God thank you for your mercy,
Oh God lead us
Oh God touch us
Oh God bless us

It's Melting in Manitoba

Today I'm going to try to explain a simple concept. I saw some one trying to explain this before and I believe it's a good concept to learn. I call it the bath tub concept and it's simple.

Imagine you have a bath tub and you have water pouring in and also water going down the drain and so if you want to fill the bath tub you put more water in the bath tub then what goes down the drain. If you want to empty the bath tub you simple put less in the bath tub then what goes down the drain. Now you can temporarily stop putting water in the tub and the water in the tub will continue pouring out until you add more or the bath tub runs out.

I think this has many applications and the one people understand the best is money. The money that goes down the drain is the money you use to buy things and the money that you pour in is the money you make. If you don't make money you will slowly "drain" your resources until you can't pay for things anymore.

The real problem is when you start dealing with a bath tube that every one draws out of and puts into because people want to put in less and take out more which doesn't work for any extended periods of time i.e. goverments. So we pretend that we can just draw out and hope someone else will pay for it.

Now did I really write a blog about money, well that was not the intent. I planned to write it about service, and helping others. You see generally if people are generous to you, you are likely to be generous to other people. But if people arn't generous to you then you really arn't generous to others and so imagine peoples good will as a giant bath tub. This could also be the institutions we have to help people in need such as relief work, salvation army, MCC, Red Cross ... and the list goes on.

This bath tube you can choose to just drain from or you can add to and the level in the tub will change according to what you do. So we can just draw out and someone else will pay for it, or decided to put in and it could be that everyone is taking out.

Why? ... well everyone has their reasons but well for me it's because of my faith.

That seems like a bit of a stretch :(. Well for comical relief check out The Jolly Banker by Wilco on myspace.

Free Promotion for Reinstate

So yesterday one of my friends from high school said his band was playing in the city. So I decided to go and they were amazing.

So here's a promotion for Reinstate
http://www.myspace.com/reinstatemusic
Take a listen and buy some music from iTunes or buy the cd from them if you can.

According to the sound man they were f'n good. lol

So that's right I know the guy on the far right Dan. He's a solid guy!

A broken and a contrite heart

I find sometimes we try to be good,
Sometimes we try to follow moral rules.

But I find that God wants us to search out him,
not for any other reason than to wanting to be close to him.

If we try to be good, or follow moral rules to be acceptable or more "holy" it's not what God wants. God wants us to come to him in our broken state and say that we need him, not for any other reason but that we understand that we realize that we really do!

Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart; these, O God, You will not despise.

I find I have to be careful is easy to get caught up in doing the right things because that's what is expected and not because we are servants of God.

So God I am broken before you
I am hungry for you
Have complete control over me
God bless us
God lead us

Another Reason Why Blogs May be Slow these Days

So I've been having fun with my new Beaver Creek guitar.

Hungry Falling On My Knees Chords by Kathryn Scott

Verse 1:
C                Am7
Hungry, I come to You
G            F
For I know You satisfy
C              Am7
I am empty, but   I know
G                 F
Your love does not run dry.
G       F/A
And so I wait for You,
G/B       F
So I wait for You.
Chorus:
C               Fmaj7
I'm falling on my knees,
C            Fmaj7
Offering all of me.
C                Fmaj7             C
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for.
Verse 2:
C                Am7
Broken, I run to You,
G             F
For Your arms are open wide;
C              Am7
I am weary, but I know
G                 F
Your touch restores my life.
G       F/A
And so I wait for You.
G/B        F
So I wait for You,
So I wait for You.

Chords Used:
C - 032010
Am7 - 002010
F - 133211 (bar)
F/A - X03211 (bar)
G/B - X20033
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G - 320003

God Bless Us
God Lead Us

Redirect

Today is going to be another redirecting link. This is a blog that I read sometimes. Most of the time they have interesting things to say.

http://blog.goshen.edu/devotions/

I recently read Feb. 18 and liked it. (yes I know I am a couple of days behind)

Have a great week!

God bless us
God lead us

Four Years

Four Years now that is crazy.
Four years ago I started rambling, and I haven't stopped. lol

I was thinking the other day about how the phrases like. It was fate, random chance, the right place at the right time, God's will, will of the god's ... and how they are really all trying to describe one thing. How sometimes extraordinary things happen, which shouldn't happen, yet do.

I've been amazed how God works like that. Somehow out of all of the chaos of our lives he brings stability.

We really are unworthy.

God bless us,
God lead us,
God be with us.

Pointing

So things are busier these days so I will again give you a link to check out.

Willems Antique

For me Willem Antique poses many questions.
Why would somebody be self sacrificial?
What is he trying to say with his actions?
Would I do the same thing?
Are we posed with the same dilemma, though not in the same way?
Or was should he have just thought about himself?

God bless us,
God lead us.

Interesting Clip

Here is an interesting audio clip. If you have time I recommend that you listen to it.

Patrick Dodson:Centrifugal-Creativity

Have a great week.

God bless us
God lead us

Humm ...

Recently I've been puzzled by how God works in our lives. I've been amazed. I guess as humans we expect the thunder and lightning of zeus. But many times we see the opposite. It's as if God is saying, that he is so powerful that he doesn't need the thunder and the lightning to do what he wants? Or is it because the thunder and lightning of zeus is ineffective? Do big guns and large forces actually lose the war? Is it maybe that a show of power shows weakness?

John 19:11 NKJV
"Jesus answered, 'You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.'"

"Czars, Soviets & Mennonites"

So I'm sorry for the delay in posting. I took a break in posting for the Christmas season. I figured since I had posted 80 posts this year that was plenty and a nice round number to end on.

So this Christmas season I read "Czars, Soviets & Mennonites. By John B. Toews" it is a historical book on Mennonites in Russia. Most of the book focuses on the years 1915+. My roots comes from Russia though both of my Grandparents families came from the migration to the new world in the late 18th century due to land issues. Regardless there where many interesting things that I found from the book.

The Russian Mennonites did not know their roots and hardly knew who Menno Simons was. Through slow additions from the few Mennonites who studied abroad, and inside influences the beliefs changed. Though this was not apparent to them.

The prosperous Mennonite culture and lifestyle was destroyed rather quickly. The weath was simply erased by the revolutionary period and then sealed by the communists.

There was problems with separation of church and state. Everyone that was born Mennonite was assumed a pacifist and a christian.

Faith pillars such as non-resistance and pacifism which had been in existence for nearly 100 years where turned down in the matter of a few years. This might tie into the fact that every one was assumed a pacifist.

For me this poses interesting questions about faith, culture, and education. I strongly disagree with assuming someone is a christian because he is born into a culture. It also shows that how prosperity can be quickly turned into famine by war. Also it shows how we are changed by lots of things even though we are not aware of it.

God Bless us
God Lead us

PS (This is my interpretation of the book)