may the One who died be our reason for thanks

"Cling to the Crucified...cling in your grief."

1. Cling to the Mighty One, Cling in thy grief
Cling to the Holy One, He gives relief
Cling to the Gracious One, Cling in thy pain
Cling to the Faithful One, He will sustain

Chorus: Cling to the crucified, Jesus the Lamb who died
Cling to the crucified, Jesus the King
Cling to the crucified, Jesus the Lamb who died
Cling to the crucified, Jesus the King

2. Cling to the Living One, Cling in thy woe
Cling to the Loving One, Through all below
Cling to the Pardoning One, He speaketh peace
Cling to the Healing One, Anguish will cease

3. Cling to the Bleeding One, Cling to His side
Cling to the Rising One, In Him abide
Cling to the Coming One, Hope shall arise
Cling to the Reigning One, Joy lights thine eyes

-anonymous

He Drank Damnation Dry!

He Drank Damnation Dry!

I love this…I need to hear this preached to my soul.

“At one tremendous draught of love,” leaving not so much as a single drop of wormwood or gall for any of his people to drink.

The whole of the tremendous debt!
The whole of the tremendous debt
was put upon his shoulders.
The whole weight of the sins of all
his people was placed upon him.

Once he seemed to stagger under it–
“Father, if it is possible…”

But then he stood upright–
“Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.”

The whole of the punishment of his people was distilled into one cup– no mortal lip might give it so much as a solitary sip.

When he put it to his own lips, it was so bitter, that he well nigh spurned it– “Let this cup pass from me…”

But his love for his people was so strong, that he took the cup in both his hands, and “At one tremendous draught of love he drank damnation dry,”for all of his people.

He drank it all, he endured it all, he suffered it all; so that now forever there are no flames of hell; no racks of torment; and no eternal woes for them.

Jesus has suffered all that they ought to have suffered, and they must, they shall go free!” –Charles Spurgeon

"The Pleasures of Eating" part III

"The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy and remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating. The knowledge of the good health of the garden relieves and frees and comforts the eater. The same goes for eating meat. The thought of the good pasture and of the calf contentedly grazing flavors the steak. Some, I know, will think of it as bloodthirsty or worse to eat a fellow creature you have known all its life. On the contrary, I think it means that you eat with understanding and with gratitude. A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes. The pleasure of eating, then, may be the best available standard of our health. And this pleasure, I think, is pretty fully available to the urban consumer who will make the necessary effort."

"The Pleasures of Eating" part II

""Life is not very interesting," we seem to have decided. "Let its satisfactions be minimal, perfunctory, and fast." We hurry through our meals to go to work and hurry through our work in order to "recreate" ourselves in the evenings and on weekends and vacations. And then we hurry, with the greatest possible speed and noise and violence, through our recreation — for what? To eat the billionth hamburger at some fast-food joint hellbent on increasing the "quality" of our life? And all this is carried out in a remarkable obliviousness to the causes and effects, the possibilities and the purposes, of the life of the body in this world."

"The Pleasures of Eating"

"There is, then, a politics of food that, like any politics, involves our freedom. We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices are controlled by someone else. But we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else. The condition of the passive consumer of food is not a democratic condition. One reason to eat responsibly is to live free."

see Wendell Berry's essay "The Pleasures of Eating" at http://www.ecoliteracy.org/essays/pleasures-eating

Tú lo sabes

Y me dijo: Hijo de hombre, ¿vivirán estos huesos? Y dije: Señor Jehová, tú lo sabes."(Ezekiel, being asked whether the dry bones will live. He replies, "Lord God, you know." Oh such faith, not to say, "of course not!" but rather, recognizing the Creator. :) )

The dying dream

What can I say, but that my God is good?

I dreamt a few nights ago that I was in a large gathering of people getting ready to be sent to the mission field. People were applying, were in training, and various other stages of the process. But I walked in, and God told me what to do, and apparently, told the others about me as well, since they did not question.

I was told to go to Africa, and that I would die there. No discussion. Go.
I remember fear in my dream. And the first thought I remember waking up to was "I'm glad that wasn't real..."

But it only took a few seconds for me to realize, my non-dream life was less scary than the dream. Not because going to Africa to serve and die was not required of me, but because I feel like it always has been required of me, and that God is faithful.

"And our questions grow in number
And their answers loom with fear
But still we ask and we trust you
Because you've held us here
With chains of grace and longing
Longing to be loved
And longing to be known

And we go on...

(All this reaching, still no grasping
Faith is there but time is passing
Are the answers in the asking
Where the weak become the strong?)"


Africa? maybe not.
My life? My death? Yes.