Summer!

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Happy summer :)

Musings on Music

Recently I've been thinking alot about music. Taking a good look at the stuff we Christians listen to, and what the world listens to. And sadly, they're often the same. This ought not to be! Shouldn't we be different from the world? Isn't that the only way we can be a light? There are a few things I'd like to discuss regarding music:

(1) Firstly, regarding ungodly music. Or rather, ungodly lyrics. Lyrics that obviously go against everything Christ taught. Lyrics promoting, laughing at, and enjoying those sins that Christ died for. I've found this is a great filter through which to run music. My dad tells the story of a couple that decided when they got married, that they weren't going to be entertained by anything that Christ was crucified for. Just think about that for 2 seconds. It's a good principle, isn't it? And surely that's the very least we can do, after all the Christ gave up for us! What is a couple of songs compared to the fulfilling joy of glorifying and honoring Christ, and having a better relationship with Him?! The question isn't, how close can we get to the edge and still be "Christian"; but rather, how far will we retreat from the edge in order to portray Christ more?

(2) Now, not all music is strictly "sinful" Some music seems on the surface, OK. But is it really? I don't know about you girls, but I am sick and tired of all these tweeny-bopper Barbie dolls telling us that all we need is "that perfect guy" and we'll be "complete". Or, my "favorite" Hannah Montana song, and I quote - "I know I've found the piece I've missing - I'm looking at him" speaking of her latest crush. Surely we can do better than this! And I include myself. How many times have I put on some fun music, not knowing how these subtle messages really affect ones life.

(3) Well, we can't just sit around listening to nothing, can we? Actually, yes :) Do we really need music as a background to everything we do? Now, I love music and am not saying never put on some Steven Curtis Chapman while you're washing dishes. But it seems to me that maybe the reason why there is such a "vacuum of thinking people" :) is because, we don't think! How can we think, if we have music playing 24/7? Just imagine how we would grow, if instead of playing music while doing chores, exercising, etc. we, for example, meditated on God's Word? Prayed? Worked on memorizing the Scriptures? Had a good conversation with our family? Let's be different from the people who walk around everywhere with their Ipod in their ears. Let's take dominion of music, and not let it take dominion over us.

(4) That being said, why not write your own music? If there isn't a worship song out there that says what you wanna say, why not write your own? It's easier than you think it is. I believe that everyone is capable of singing and making music to God. He did command it in His Word (Col. 3:16), so surely He will provide the means to doing it.

Let's remember our theme verse, Col. 3:17, and include our music and singing in doing everything to the glory of God!

Moving On....

This morning, Lydia went to observe a social worker from ABBA adoptions. This social worker was the woman who handled our lil Jessie's adoption. So we were able to recieve an update, along with some photies and birthday gifts from the family. Well, I've been thinking about how quickly we are able to move on with our lives. When we said good-bye to Jessie (who now goes by her given name, Negenia), I wondered when it would stop hurting, when we would be able to get through the day without tears from missing Jess. And then, that day came and went without our even realizing it. Now, a year and a half later, having Jessie with us seems so far away, like a dream (a great dream!).

Of course, that doesn't mean we love her any less, or that she somehow doesn't mean as much to us as before. It just means that life changes. Do you have relationships like that? Dreams that haven't come to bear? I can name many! I have friendships that have been so important to me, that I would wonder how I would get by if I had to live without them. But things happen, people move on, life keeps going! And we can live with those changes.
But we cannot live without our Saviour! I've learnt something today while pondering (for many hours driving in the car!) 'moving on' without Jessie. The only Person we need to hang onto for life is God Almighty. Yes, this is nothing new, but it did strike me today anew. I need to learn to live without needing people.
Needing people less, loving them more. And needing God more than needing His people!

Here's to a great weekend! Enjoy all of it my friends! Because life is moving on, and we'll never have this moment again.

The Agony of the Cross

So…An update at last! :)

I've been learning much the past month, and I hope that this post is an encouragement to all!

As many of you are members of BBC, you know that my dad has spent many weeks preaching on “A Promise to Live By”, with Matthew 1:21 being his text:

²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Together with two books by CJ Mahaney, these sermons have made a profound impact on how I view the cross, my salvation, and the mysteries of Christ’s atoning death. Last week as I was preparing my Sunday School lesson, I was reminded and moved by a segment I read in Mahaney’s book, Christ: Our Mediator. Mahaney writes regarding the infinite suffering that God the Father and God the Son experienced for our eternal sake. Christ thought of us in His darkest hour. The Father abandoned His Son for us. I don’t know about you, but such thoughts should bring us to utter humility, gratitude, and obedience.

Mark 14:34-35 says:
³⁴And [Jesus] saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. ³⁵And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.

Christ’s suffering was so great that the burden staggered Him, the weight of it brings Him close to dying. Jesus faces the ultimate agony, the reality of becoming sin. He faces the ultimate agony of the wrath of God. He who knew no sin, must become sin.

I was re-listening to one of my dad’s sermons on this subject this morning, and heard something explosive that I had missed during its original delivery. As my dad was explaining, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day as is the Jewish custom. As an eight day old infant, the Saviour was subjecting Himself to a life under the Law. His life would be a life in which he would live and fulfil that Law with perfection, a life in which he would be blameless. And He died for my immeasurable offenses against that Law, that Law which he lived spotlessly under for 33 years.

I pray that this would never become blasé to us, His children. Our salvation cost Him so greatly, and all I hope to accomplish in this post, is to encourage myself and my friends to never forget the agony of the cross!

My newest favorite quote:

‘Let the cross always be the treasure of your heart, your best and highest thought…and your passionate preoccupation’ CJ Mahaney

I am amazed at the depths of the wonders of the cross! And I am praying that we will always search more and more into His incredible work at Calvary! Let the cross color your every thought and deed.

Simple In Essence

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to a guy give his testimony of how he got saved. He grew up in a religious home, and during his teen and early young adult years he was a young man of conviction, being greatly disturbed by the message he was being taught that one can earn his salvation.As a result of his restlessness, he started studying the Bible more in-depth, mainly the book of Romans, looking for some peace of mind about this whole issue of earning one's own salvation, because he came to realize that if that was indeed the case, he was failing miserably and on his way to hell.He became even more confused the more he read Romans and the more he consulted all the different interpretations of the book.He worked hard to piece all that he was reading together in his mind, but he was struggling. Until one day when he heard the gospel being preached, and clicked!Now surely, after having studied the Bible so much himself, namely Romans which literally screams the gospel message in almost every word, he must have read the message of the gospel a hundred times over!How come the lights only turned on the one hundred and first time he heard the gospel?Obviously because it is God who gives us understanding and opens our eyes to the truth when He sees fit.I was struck by that powerful thought while listening to this guy's story.In all our intelligence and means to study all the doctrines of the Bible, understanding will only ultimately come through God's unveiling our eyes to the simple message of the gospel!What struck me about this guy's testimony was how he was so "intelligently" digging into the Bible looking for answers, but when it came to his moment of salvation, his ability to understand such a simple message did not come from his own abilities to understand.It must have come from God.Praise God for the simplicity of the gospel--the Good News of God sending His Son to "be a propitiation for the remission of sins", and then showing His Power to save us out of our helpless states of sinfullness by raising His Son from the dead!(Romans 3:23-25)

It was so exciting to listen to this guy speak with such enthusiasm about how God opened his eyes to the truth after so many years of struggling within himself.I thought about how glorious it must have been for him to go back to Romans and read with new eyes what he had read so many times before and now see how all the doctrines of the Word fit do indeed fit together.While all of that studying that he did before he could understand it all may have seemed in vain, it wasn't, because after he understood the gospel, his appreciation of it was greater I think because he understood all the underlying doctrines of the gospel from his studies.So, while in-depth understanding of the doctrines of God, such as the doctrine of Total Depravity, the doctrine of Grace, the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, are not necessary to be saved, even though anyone who is saved is essentially acknowledging a belief in these doctrines, it has to be necessary for any Christian who earnestly desires to grow spiritualy as much as possible, doesn't it?Of course, we have to be careful not to get so caught up in the doctrines of grace that we actually take the grace out of the doctrines.

I think that most of you reading this can say along with me that we have boundless resources available to us to aid us in growing in our knowledge of the Bible.Why don't we take advantage of all of these resources more?I think it's easy for us who have grown up in homes in which we have always been taught the gospel, to become complacent with the knowledge that we do already have of the Bible.But I have found that when I truly examine my understanding of God's Word, I realize how little I actually do know.How I rob myself of great riches, mainly because of my laziness!

One of my favourite quotes comes from A.W. Tozer; he said, "Complacency is a most deadly foe of all spiritual growth."

And those of us who go to BBC have just the right opportunity to grow in our knowledge of the underlying doctrines of the gospel through the study of Romans that we've just started in Family Bible Hour.Let's take Neil's advice to heart and be willing to do that extra work of studying Romans on our own outside of FBH.I'm sure we won't regret doing so!

I found this joke, and loved it! And of course, I had to share it!

An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician are staying in a hotel while attending a technical seminar. The engineer wakes up and smells smoke. He goes out into the hallway and sees a fire, so he fills a trashcan from his room with water and douses the fire. He goes back to bed.
Later, the physicist wakes up and smells smoke. He opens his doorand sees a fire in the hallway. He walks down the hall to a fire hose andafter calculating the flame velocity, distance, water pressure, trajectory,etc. extinguishes the fire with the minimum amount of water and energyneeded.
Later, the mathematician wakes up and smells smoke. He goes to the hall, sees the fire and then the fire hose. He thinks for a moment and then exclaims, "Ah, a solution exists!" and then goes back to bed.

I hope I am not the only one who enjoyed that! :)