November 28, 2005

Puritan Prayers

I ran across this website of Puritan Prayers lately and I have been floored by the depth of the words and the shallowness of my own heart... Here is the first one listed... under the heading of Confession and Petition...

Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.

November 26, 2005

The Merchant of Venice

This definitely ranks in the category of one of the best pictures that I have seen this year. Although it leaves out parts of the story (as most adaptations have to), Al Pacino is great as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio and Lynn Collins as Portia. The only down side to the movie, and it is a major downer in my opinion, is that for some reason they feel the need to present Venice as the home of bare chested prostitutes... and they seem to inhabit large parts of the town... the movie would have been just fine without it... Imagine that! If you are a big fan of Shakespeare, you will enjoy the "If you prick us do we not bleed, if you tickle us do we not laugh" monologue that Pacino performs well. The scene where Portia disguises herself as the doctor is fantastic. The interplay between her and Shylock is well worth the movie. However, if you want to protect your eyes, you may want to take a pass on it.

November 20, 2005

Pics of my brother...


Here is a link to some pictures of my brother in Iraq, he told me that I could put them on here (so no worries out there!) ... my personal favorites are the car and the Hulk gloves...

November 08, 2005

Seda

My friend Seda sent me some new pictures lately and I wanted to share them... she has become a very dear friend, and I am praying that God will make a way for me to be there next summer again to see her, the other college students, the children at the orphanages and at New Life Christian School in Phnom Penh. Thank you again, Seda...














Pics of my brother...

Here is a link to some pictures of my brother in Iraq, he told me that I could put them on here (so no worries out there!) ... my personal favorites are the car and the Hulk gloves...

November 04, 2005

Things that make me laugh lately...

Here are a couple of sites to check out that have made me laugh...

John Daker... check out this stellar performance... there are so many things about this that are funny that it is hard to know where to begin. Perhaps one of the funniest things for me revolves around the song choices... as if "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and "Amore" are two perfect songs that go together...

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap... the lyrics here are better than much of George Lucas' dialogue...

The Dark Side Switch Campaign... a cartoon version of Anakin Skywalker talks about why he has left the side of good... it seems to attempt to present itself like a Monster Dot Com commercial for people looking for employment...

I have also seen a video called "Anakin Dynamite", which is a combination of, you guessed it, Anakin Skywalker and Napolean Dynamite... Very funny. Check www.atomfilms.com

November 03, 2005

Post concert ramblings...

Okay for anyone who is out there listening (or reading)... we had a band concert tonight, and really it went pretty well. I am very pleased with how the kids did. It is so easy to think this way after the concert is over, but I don't know why I ever worry. We practice the music over and over, it may not be perfect, but it is always consistent. I am rarely surprised by anything the kids do on the concert because we have already made our mistakes downstairs in the band room. (Although tonight when Jessica had a ladybug fly over and land on her nose, that did throw me for a second - got it off for her while she played!) But you really can't control the final performance in the moment that it happens any more than you can control the flight path of a ladybug... at that point it is up to the kids. I have done what I know how to do, it is up to them to finish it out... and that happened... Glad to be there to see it happen, to be a part of it, to move on to more and other things... like recognizing a 98 year old man in the middle of the concert... unexpected, unplanned, worthwhile... pictures to come.