11.09.2005
Powerful Kyle Lake Quote
It is amazing to think of how short life is and how fast time flies. It really brings into perspective the importance of focusing on what matters and living to the fullest of every day for that with reckless abandon. Though everything else in life is fleeting- jobs, relationships; even good ones, money, vacations, books, music, wine - God never changes. He is always faithful and wants us to experience the fullness of life and joy in something that will never leave us wanting more.
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. - James 4:14
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." - Isaiah 40:6,8
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Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.
If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.
And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."
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Write your woman a personal poem proclaming your love. Leave work early and take your kids to the park. Sacrifice your comfort for others who have less. Love God so boldly and wildly that you never look back with regrets. Find endless wealth and pleasure in the maker of life and lover of your soul.
What will be your next chapter? LIVE . . .
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. - James 4:14
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." - Isaiah 40:6,8
_______________________________________
Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.
If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.
And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."
____________________________________
Write your woman a personal poem proclaming your love. Leave work early and take your kids to the park. Sacrifice your comfort for others who have less. Love God so boldly and wildly that you never look back with regrets. Find endless wealth and pleasure in the maker of life and lover of your soul.
What will be your next chapter? LIVE . . .
Augustine's Sovereign Joy
I love hanging out with the great men of faith who held the banner of God long before me. Every time I take the time to interact on personal level with the works of these giants of the development of how I see God I am humbled by both their lifestyles, devotion, sacrifice, suffering, and ultimately their gripping view of God. Their lives drip with how great, magnificent and sovereign God is and how we disappear in contrast with Christ.
John Piper wrote a wonderful biography that he presented to a bunch of pastors that I was reading through and he highlighted this specific passage below. The topic that Augustine talks about in this section of Confessions is Sovereign Joy. He takes our view of God and kills it. I find myself a little too often taking my salvation for granted. I love God but I also love other things. I love my wife, my children, my time, my rewards and many other things for their sake alone. Augustine tells us that to love anything, not for the sake of God, is to not fully love God. The measure of our what is truly valuable is the pleasure that we find in it. I am so self-righteous to think that I can hold things as valuable without making the end of my love or enjoyment of them love of God. Augustine on the other hand calls his salvation Sovereign Joy. Finding life, love and ultimate joy only in the Sovereign Joy in Jesus. I pray that this blesses your life like it has mine:
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During all those years [of rebellion], where was my free will? What was the hidden, secret place from which it was summoned in a moment, so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke . . .? How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose . . ! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. [There's the key phrase and the key reality for understanding the heart of Augustinianism.] You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. . . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.
This is Augustine's understanding of grace. Grace is God's giving us sovereign joy in God that triumphs over joy in sin. In other words, God works deep in the human heart to transform the springs of joy so that we love God more than sex or anything else. Loving God, in Augustine's mind, is never reduced to deeds of obedience or acts of willpower. It is always a delighting in God, and in other things only for God's sake. He defines it clearly in On Christian Doctrine (III, x, 16). "I call 'charity' [i.e., love for God] the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of God for His own sake, and the enjoyment of one's self and of one's neighbor for the sake of God." Loving God is always conceived of essentially as delighting in God and in anything else for his sake.
Augustine analyzed his own motives down to this root. Everything springs from delight. He saw this as a universal: "Every man, whatsoever his condition, desires to be happy. There is no man who does not desire this, and each one desires it with such earnestness that he prefers it to all other things; whoever, in fact, desires other things, desires them for this end alone." This is what guides and governs the will, namely, what we consider to be our delight.
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What do you think about this? How has it challenged you? Do you agree or disagree with Augustine?
John Piper wrote a wonderful biography that he presented to a bunch of pastors that I was reading through and he highlighted this specific passage below. The topic that Augustine talks about in this section of Confessions is Sovereign Joy. He takes our view of God and kills it. I find myself a little too often taking my salvation for granted. I love God but I also love other things. I love my wife, my children, my time, my rewards and many other things for their sake alone. Augustine tells us that to love anything, not for the sake of God, is to not fully love God. The measure of our what is truly valuable is the pleasure that we find in it. I am so self-righteous to think that I can hold things as valuable without making the end of my love or enjoyment of them love of God. Augustine on the other hand calls his salvation Sovereign Joy. Finding life, love and ultimate joy only in the Sovereign Joy in Jesus. I pray that this blesses your life like it has mine:
______________________________________
During all those years [of rebellion], where was my free will? What was the hidden, secret place from which it was summoned in a moment, so that I might bend my neck to your easy yoke . . .? How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose . . ! You drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. [There's the key phrase and the key reality for understanding the heart of Augustinianism.] You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves. . . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.
This is Augustine's understanding of grace. Grace is God's giving us sovereign joy in God that triumphs over joy in sin. In other words, God works deep in the human heart to transform the springs of joy so that we love God more than sex or anything else. Loving God, in Augustine's mind, is never reduced to deeds of obedience or acts of willpower. It is always a delighting in God, and in other things only for God's sake. He defines it clearly in On Christian Doctrine (III, x, 16). "I call 'charity' [i.e., love for God] the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of God for His own sake, and the enjoyment of one's self and of one's neighbor for the sake of God." Loving God is always conceived of essentially as delighting in God and in anything else for his sake.
Augustine analyzed his own motives down to this root. Everything springs from delight. He saw this as a universal: "Every man, whatsoever his condition, desires to be happy. There is no man who does not desire this, and each one desires it with such earnestness that he prefers it to all other things; whoever, in fact, desires other things, desires them for this end alone." This is what guides and governs the will, namely, what we consider to be our delight.
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What do you think about this? How has it challenged you? Do you agree or disagree with Augustine?
11.03.2005
BSB-I want it that way - Google Video
In light of the tragedy over the weekend . . . here is a little Monday morning fun to lighten the mood.
BSB-I want it that way - Google Video
BSB-I want it that way - Google Video
Pray For This Church - Pastor electrocuted while performing baptism - Oct 31, 2005
Yesterday Kyle Lake was about to lead his church in baptism when he was electrocuted by his microphone.
Please be in prayer for his wife and children, the church that he lead, and the hearts of those who may hear this story and do not yet know Christ.
CNN.com - Pastor electrocuted while performing baptism - Oct 31, 2005
Please be in prayer for his wife and children, the church that he lead, and the hearts of those who may hear this story and do not yet know Christ.
CNN.com - Pastor electrocuted while performing baptism - Oct 31, 2005
