Brian in BG

 

 

It Probably Doesn't Mean That

Moderately Confused - Jeff Stahler

Beauty and Temptation

“Sin is the enchanting allure of what is going to kill you... I can’t help but jump into the water of sin and get slammed against the rocks of judgment and hell and death. I have no willpower to stop. I cannot stop myself. I need a higher loveliness, a more compelling beauty. I am only going to do what I love to do, and I will be that way forever. I cannot function any other way. I have a beauty-thirst that must be quenched, no matter what.

The sixty year old who leaves his wife for a younger woman, the teen looking at porn, the banker checking his personal accounts every hour, the pastor feeding his soul on the nicotine of congregational approval — all of these are taking a doll, putting makeup on it, treating it like a spouse, and expecting it to love you like a spouse, when the real person is in the next room wanting to love you truly.”

“The Christian life does not run properly without joy”

- Dane Ortlund

First Time on the Bus!

 

First Day of Kindergarten!

 

 

 

 

At church

On Complaining and Gratitude

Why has it taken 44 years to truly understand that the antidote to complaining is gratitude?

A Beautiful Tiger Lilly

I Asked The Lord That I Might Grow - John Newton

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.

‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“‘Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

A Handsome Young Man

God's Hands Made All These Things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 43:5

Why are you in despair O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again Praise Him, the help of my countenance, and my God.

Zoo Day 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughts at 3:00 in the Morning

If you are unwilling to repent of your sins, you can not presume to have the forgiveness of God. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Love, Truth, and Judgment

"If you never know truth then you never know love." - The Black Eyed Peas

"True love does not exist in the absence of judgment, but in the presence of it." - Michael Ramsden

(Which is basically the same thing)

Will Heaven Be Boring?

"Since God is infinite, He is also infinitely interesting."

- Robert Godfrey (answering a question on whether Heaven will be boring)

"You look at the gamut of feelings that people have to encounters with God in the Bible - some people are driven to their knees,  some repent in sack cloth and ashes, some people just weep endlessly, some people are paralyzed or you see Balshazzar with his knees knocking - you see all these different human emotional responses to people encountering God - I've never seen anywhere in the Bible where God appears (and) somebody is bored."

- R.C. Sproul  (same question)

Cirque du Soliel: Toruk - The First Flight

Seda Tries Escargot

After Church on Mother's Day