Greetings, Earthinglings

wow. i can't believe it's been 20 days since i last posted. they have been a pretty crazy 20 days, so i suppose it's justified, but holy smokes. sorry about that.

college is wrapping up pretty quickly - one more day of class for me (3 for everyone else), one ten page paper, five discussion questions, and two exams are all that stand between me and the end of the academic year. then it's off to ruf summer conference, then back for graduation and moving, then settling into charlotte before classes start on june 11. i promise to update further and talk about the kingdom as promised, but i am completely at the end of my rope and there's no way i can write more now.

so sorry for being a slacker. :)

The Natural Result of the Supernatural Love of God

so we just partied hearty because of the radical meeting of love and mercy in the Person of Jesus Christ. what's next? falling head over heels in love with Him again. i mean, we all love cinderella for a reason: the prince falls for the servant girl and marries her; Jesus sees us in our squalor and sin (wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more of a disadvantageous match than cinderella for the prince) and loves us, choosing to unite Himself to us in an irreversible way. the basic fairy tale is the story of our lives as christians. (no wonder cs lewis and jrr tolkien and george macdonald and stephen lawhead and their ilk weave such fabulous stories - they are echoes of truth!)

so that's why this last installment is appropriate i think.

next we'll talk about the kingdom of God. i think twill be fun. :)
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Be Thou My Vision
be Thou my Vision, o Lord of my heart.
naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
waking or sleeping, Thy presence my Light.

be Thou my Wisdom and Thou my true Word,
i ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father; i Thy true son.
Thou in me dwelling, and i with Thee one.

be Thou my Battleshield, Sword for my fight.
be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight,
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high Tower.
raise Thou me heavenward, o Power of my power.

riches i heed not, nor man's empty praise.
Thou mine inheritance now and always.
Thou and Thou only first in my heart.
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won!
may i reach heaven's joys, o bright heaven's Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
still be my Vision, o Ruler of all.
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interesting thought, isn't it, to ask God to be not just what we see ("fix your eyes on Jesus") but how we see what we see...
stanza 1 - ok, so we start with the basics: very lovey-dovey language about God being the "Lord of my heart" and nothing else mattering except Him and thoughts of Him being the best thoughts we have ever and all that. it's really quite superb, actually, and all entirely called for. but then we get this funky twist - "waking or sleeping, Thy presence my Light." i think what we're seeing here is the lyricist's attempt at demonstrating to us the constancy of God to hold our hand and lead us down the way we are going, whether we are awake to appreciate it or not (i'm thinking abraham and the whole convenant thing a la genesis 15). while clearly metaphorical, i don't think it's purely metaphorical, and for those of us who have awful dreams, it certainly is reassuring to know God is present and shedding His Light on us.
stanza 2 - four aspects of my relationship with God: a) what He brings to the way i think about things comes from the second part - His Word; b) God has eternally bound Himself to me - we are now inseparable (but not indistinguishable - it's more like best friends and less like hinduism); c) i am adopted into the family. i don't just get treated like His child - i am one; and d) the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my heart (close connection to b, particularly in the form of manner and means).
stanza 3 - i think it's interesting that we never sing this one in churches anymore. i guess it's too militant for most people's comfort levels to allow. still, i think it's beautiful. not only is God here depicted as our defense and our offense, not only as a place to run and hide when we are routed or defeated or need to rejuvenate and rebuild, but also as our "Dignity" and "Delight." are there two more misunderstood concepts in contemporary american society? i guess "love." anyway, when God is my Dignity - when Jesus is my Righteousness, in other words - that makes me radically confident. when God is my Delight (in piper-speak, when God is my joy), i am radically unshakeable because my hopes to be fulfilled rest on Him. and the last line? i think we're asking about God bringing us closer to His heart and acknowledging Him as the Source of our power.
stanza 4 - with a God Who is our Dignity and our Delight, who needs to freak about cashflow or street cred? especially when He is also our Inheritance. (check out the whole "levites get God as their portion" thing in numbers and deuteronomy. seeing as we are now priests before God, that would be foreshadowing the same relationship between God and us!) with all this laid out before us, it is easy to see the progression - that God is my treasure, and that mammon doesn't even take a backseat to God (it's freaking hitchhiking at this point) - makes perfect sense.
stanza 5 - thanks to stephen lawhead, now i think of king arthur every time i think of the "high King of heaven" because his arthurian novels talk in that language. given that this song came from that sort of gaelic culture, i'm assuming that there is a valid connection: the high King was the absolute head guy - his the first and last word on every issue; his the heart that bleeds for all the people under his care; his the responsibility for shepherding them in every aspect of human life. sounds an awful lot like Jesus, eh? and then to think that this Person Who is so important and responsible would be the One to obtain victory for me... blows the mind to say the least.

how can we not prize Him more highly than anything? how can we not be utterly loyal to Him? how can we not willingly follow Him anywhere, in awe that He's still walking with us, hand in hand, leading us where He wants us to go?

this is the call of the gospel - be bound to God forever in the most epic of romances and battles and adventure stories.

Christ Is Risen! The Lord Is Risen Indeed!

From the Squalor of a Borrowed Stable
from the squalor of a borrowed stable,
by the Spirit and a virgin's faith;
to the anguish and the shame of scandal
came the Savior of the human race.
but the skies were filled with the praise of heav'n,
shepherds listen as the angels tell
of the Gift of God come down to man
at the dawning of Immanuel.

King of heaven now the Friend of sinners,
humble servant inn te Father's hands,
filled with power and the Holy Spirit,
filled with mercy for the broken man.
yes, He walked my road, and He felt my pain,
joys and sorrows that i know so well;
yet His righteous steps give me hope again:
i will follow my Immanuel.

through the kisses of a friend's betrayal,
He was lifted on a cruel cross;
He was punished for a world's transgressions;
He was suffering to save the lost.
He fights for breath; He fights for me!
loosing sinners from the claims of hell;
and with a shout our souls set free:
death defeated by Immanuel.

now he's standing in the place of honor,
crowned with glory on the highest throne,
interceding for His own beloved
till His Father calls to bring them home!
then the skies will part as the trumpet sounds -
hope of heaven or the fear of hell;
but the Bride will run to her Lover's arms,
giving glory to Immanuel.
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this is a newish one for me - and not surprisingly, i love it. i love the way it covers Jesus' life and death both as aspects of our justification: that His righteousness is imputed to us and our punishment is borne by Him. i love the triumphant Hero language of revelation. i love the vividness of words like "scandal" and phrases like "loosing sinners from the claims of hell."

has everybody read piper's 50 reasons why Jesus came to die? i'm working on it right now - read 10 chapters last night - and so far it's fantastic. now i just have to wrestle it away from daddy before i hop on a plane to go back to school tomorrow.

ok, one more today... and then a bonus one tomorrow. :)

note the similarities between this song and the one above, both thematically and in terms of the types of language used
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Rise and Shine (by andrew peterson)
i remember how the snow fell in december,
the angels flew in pageants and in dreams.
and i came in at 6 o'clock from a long, hard day of playing
to the warmth of mama's cooking,
or was it the warmth of mama's love?

there were cardboard pirate ships and mud-puddle seas
and the backyard was a battleground for cowboys.
when daddy drug me out of bed on early sunday morning,
i remember how he smiled at me and said,

he said, "rise, rise and shine.
the day is coming on
and you know the night is gone
so rise."

i remember how the shepherds lay in slumber
and the angels came and broke them from their dreams;
and mary raised her weary head
and joseph stood there grinning
when the world awoke to the coming of a King

but there were haystacks in His palace,
and a manger was His throne
as a hush fell on the little town of david.
the hillside never shined so bright
as early christmas morning -
you could almost hear the very heavens sing.

they sang, "rise, rise and shine.
the sun is coming in
and the morning light is shining in
your eyes; o, rise and shine.
the day is coming on
and you know the night is gone
so rise."

i remember how the sunlight turned to thunder
and people ran for shelter from the rain;
and the curtain tore and the saints awoke
and the whole earth seemed to tremble
from the fury of God's anger,
or was it the fury of His love?

there were shadows on the tomb there in the garden
and the mist was rising slowly through the trees;
and when mary saw the silhouette on early easter morning
i remember how He smiled at her and said,

He said, "rise, rise and shine.
the sun is coming in
and the morning light is shining in
your eyes; o, rise and shine.
the day is coming on
and you know the night is gone
so rise."
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y'all, the night is gone. hallelujah!

:-D

my favorite smell right now is smoke from burning wood. it's all in my hair right now and it's the most wonderfully comforting smell i can think of. :)

Amazing Grace
amazing grace! how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
i once was lost but now am found; was blind but now i see.

twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.
how precious did that grace appear the hour i first believed!

through many dangers, toils, and snares i have already come,
tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.

and when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease,
i shall possess within the veil a life of health and peace.

when we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun
we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.
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can't believe i waited this long to get to such a song!
ok, so everyone needs to see the movie amazing grace. it's awesome. :)
i won't dwell on what most people do - "wretch like me," the supremacy of grace throughout the christian life, etc - because instead i want to focus on the last stanza. it totally blows my mind. this was the first exercise in thinking about eternity i ever had - singing this song in like 4th grade i started thinking about what it would mean to have time be something so endless. i mean, think about it this way: what if you went labor day weekend to the beach. you left on friday, got there friday night, and saturday morning you got up and went for a jog on the board walk, had breakfast with your friends or whoever you were with, went to the beach to play volleyball, jump waves, and sunbathe, and then went home to shower and change before dinner out. you went to dinner, and then went back to the hotel/house to play cards and laugh till 1 am... and then when you woke up the next morning, labor day had been moved to tuesday and you had off monday also! and what if that happened every day?! i mean, it's a childish example, but it works... and it's soooooooooooo weird, but quite relieving at the same time to know that at some point we'll stop counting days because they won't run out!
[lots of exclamation points today, sorry about that.]
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Saved By Grace (shane & shane)
just a'singing a gospel song today
getting ready to send the years of guilt and shame away
years of failing, years of nailing of yourself to a cross you can't bear
that's why He's there

what a beautiful day
when He washed our sins away
what a beautiful day

by grace you have been saved
by grace you have been saved
by grace you have been saved
by grace, through faith, through faith

and even the faith i have to sing
'alle, alle, allelujah" to my King
is freely given, that i might not boast in myself
but Him

what a beautiful day
when He washed our sins away
what a beautiful day

by grace you have been saved
by grace you have been saved
by grace you have been saved
by grace, through faith, through faith

i can't sing it enough, say it enough, play it enough, when will i get it?
o, i can't earn it, and Lord i don't deserve it
i can't say it enough

by grace you have been saved
by grace you have been saved
by grace you have been saved
by grace, through faith, through faith
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this song is a good way to say it more often - these guys are right: this is a hard thing to remember. i can't help but think about what martin luther said when he was approached by a parishoner. "pastor," the guy said to luther, "why do you keep preaching to us, sunday after sunday, about justification by faith alone?" luther replied, "because every sunday, you've forgotten it again." that's me.
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How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
how sweet the Name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear!
it soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.

it makes the wounded spirit whole and calms the troubled breast;
tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary, rest.

dear Name, the rock on which i build, my shield and hiding place,
my never-failing treasury, filled wiht boundless stores of grace!

by Thee, my prayers acceptance gain, although with sin defiled.
satan accuses me in vain, and i am owned a child.

Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, my Prophet, Priest, and King,
my Lord, my life, my way, my end - accept the praise i bring.

weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought,
but when i see Thee as Thou art, i'll praise Thee as i ought.

till then i would Thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath,
and may the music of Thy Name refresh my soul in death.
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why is all that true? how is it possible that a just God should be our hope and balm and joy?

ladies and gentlemen, happy resurrection sunday!

How Firm a Foundation

how firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
what more can He say than to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus hath fled?

"fear not, I am with thee; o, be not dismayed, for I am thy health and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

"when through the deep waters I call thee to go, the rivers of grief will not thee overthrow,
for i will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

"when through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee - I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

"the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes.
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to break, i'll never, no never, no never forsake."
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this song is so amazing when its words are contrasted with the passion. God says all these things to us because He did not do them for His own Son that day when the fury of God's wrath was visited upon the only Person Who didn't deserve it. and because of that event almost 2000 years, we are safe in the arms of a just and merciful God Who has sworn by Himself and the death of His Son never to forsake us as He did Him.

Arise, My Soul, Arise

arise, my soul, arise - shake off your guilty fears.
the bleeding Sacrifice in my behalf appears.
before the throne my Surety stands
before the throne my Surety stands:
my Name is written on His hands.

arise! arise! arise, arise my soul arise!
arise! arise! arise, arise my soul, arise!
shake off your guilty fears and rise!

He ever lives above for me to intercede,
His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to plead.
His blood atones for every race
His blood atones for every race
and sprinkles now the throne of grace.

arise! arise! arise, arise my soul arise!
arise! arise! arise, arise my soul, arise!
shake off your guilty fears and rise!

five bleeding wounds He bears, received on calvary;
they pour effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me.
"forgive her, o forgive!" they cry.
"forgive her, o forgive!" they cry,
"nor let that ransomed sinner die!"

arise! arise! arise, arise my soul arise!
arise! arise! arise, arise my soul, arise!
shake off your guilty fears and rise!

my God is reconciled; His pardoning voice i hear.
He owns me for His child - i can no longer fear.
with confidence i now draw nigh
with confidence i now draw nigh
and "Abba, Father, Abba" cry.

arise! arise! arise, arise my soul arise!
arise! arise! arise, arise my soul, arise!
shake off your guilty fears and rise!
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so this goes nicely with "and can it be," especially given the "with confidence i now draw nigh." that was an unintended parallel, but it works really well, which is cool. :)
i love all the hebrews language, focusing on Jesus' constancy as our mediator, who "ever lives above for me to intercede."
i put in the "her" instead of "him" because i sing it that way unless i'm leading. it makes it more personal for me. and the truth of the matter is, i need the gospel to soak into me as much as possible. it is so helpful to be reminded so richly of what Christ's sacrifice means for us. :-D

A Couple More Hymns

sorry that this will be brief, but i am quite ill.

And Can It Be
and can it be that i should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
died He for me, who caused His pain? for me, who Him to death pursued?
amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

He left His Father's throne above, so free, so infinite His grace,
emptied Himself of all but love and bled for adam's helpless race.
tis mercy all immense and free, for, o my God, it found out me!

amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

long my imprisoned spirit lay, fastbound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; i woke; the dungeon flamed with light!
my chains fell off; my heart was free; i rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

no condemnation now i dread - Jesus and all in Him is mine!
alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold i approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own!

amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
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love this song. highlights include the monergism shout out in verse 3 and the idea that we can approach the throne of God Almighty "bold" and wearing the righteousness of Christ.
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My Jesus, I Love Thee
my Jesus, i love Thee, i know Thou art mine.
for Thee all the follies of sin i resign.
my gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou -
if ever i loved Thee, my Jesus, tis now.

i love Thee because Thou hast first loved me
and purchased my pardon on calvary's tree.
i love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow.
if ever i loved Thee, my Jesus, tis now.

i love Thee in life and i'll love Thee in death;
i'll love Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
and say when the death-dew lies cold on my brow:
"if ever i loved Thee, my Jesus, tis now."

in mansions of glory and endless delight
i'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
and sing with a glittering crown on my brow
"if ever i loved Thee, my Jesus, tis now."
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ok, so i'm completely dead. i have nothing to say. we're lucky these are actually complete sentences... i hope my essays for my exam this afternoon had mostly complete sentences.

Hi

after friday night's campus-wide dance party, i was incapable of developed thought. then i went to raleigh with a friend to visit her family. so i'm now resuming the hymn series. can't believe easter is so close! this is my favorite time of year.

oh, btw, check out psalm 112, particularly vs. 6-8.
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Beneath the Cross of Jesus
beneath the cross of Jesus i feign would take my stand,
the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land,
a Home within the wilderness, a Rest upon the way
from the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day.

upon the cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
the very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;
and from my stricken heart with tears two wonders i confess:
the wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.

i take, o cross, thy shadow for my abiding place.
i ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face,
content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss.
my sinful self my only shame; my glory all the cross.
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isn't that just so beautiful? i love that we are confessing the "two wonders" together: that is so healthy! it's not "boy do i suck" or "yay i'm a child of the King, holy and dearly loved" - it's BOTH. at the same time. always. isn't that cool?
i also love the line "i ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face," because that kind of solidarity and joy in the Lord is what i want. so precious to be so deeply rooted in the "rich and free" love of Christ.
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Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
come, Thou Fount of every blessing - tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
praise the mount, i'm fixed upon it, mount of God's redeeming love.

here i raise my ebenezer; hither by Thy help i've come.
and i hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.

o, to grace how great a debtor daily i'm constrained to be!
let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
prone to wander, Lord i feel it; prone to leave the God i love.
here's my heart, o, take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
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another gorgeous hymn and one my RUF minister is pretty much obsessed with, so we sing it alot. i love the cause and effect connections drawn in this song: the never-ceasing "streams of mercy" veritably shout out, "you need to praise God for this!"
and we (the Church) should totally be "fixed upon" the "mount of God's redeeming love," which is wayyyyy bigger than mount everest and wayyyyyyyyyy cooler than mount rushmore. reminds me of "Thy Mercy" - "Thy mercy, my God, is theme of my song, the joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue."
in case we don't all know what ebenezers are, they are monuments constructed in the old testament to memorialize a time God powerfully showed up and provided what was needed. i believe the first time that word appears in the bible is when the israelites cross the jordan into the land of canaan and God has them build an ebenezer to remind them for all time how far and through what He'd brought them. what's interesting is that this was intended to prompt children to ask their parents about the big heap of rocks... the story was meant to be told over and over again. no hiding what God has done under a bushel or anything like that...
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this last one is an andy peterson song (again, i know). it's a cool one: Jesus is the cowboy-gunslinger-hero and who gets kicked the heck outta dodge? the "wages of sin," of course! (added my notes in brackets cause with this song it's easier that way)
High Noon
high noon in the valley of the shadow, [battle/dueling time; psalm 23: '...of death']
when the deep of the valley was bright, [because of Who's there]
when the mouth of the tomb shouted, "Glory!
the Groom is alive!"
go on, you wages of sin;
go on, don't you come back again:
i've been raised and redeemed;
you've lost all your steam to the Victor of the battle
at high noon in the valley,
in the valley of the shadow.

now the demons, they danced in the darkness
when that last ragged breath left his lungs,
and they reveled and howled at the war that they thought they had won.
but then, in the dark of the grave, the stone rolled away,
in the still of the dawn on the greatest of days

it was high noon in the valley of the shadow,
when the shadows were shot through with light.
Jesus took in that breath and shattered all death with His life. [how cool is that!!!!]
go on, you wages of sin! go on, don't you come back again:
i've been raised and redeemed;
you've lost all your steam to the Victor of the battle
at high noon in the valley
in the valley of the shadow.

let the people rejoice.
let the heavens resound.
let the Name of Jesus, Who sought us
and freed us forever ring out.
all praise to the Fighter of the night
Who rides on the light
Whose gun is the grace of the God of the sky.

high noon in the valley of the shadow
when the shadows were shot through with light
when the mouth of the tomb shouted, 'glory!
the Groom is alive!"
go on, you wages of sin,
i said, go on, don't you come back again:
i've been raised and redeemed,
all praise to the King,
the Victor of the battle
at high noon in the valley,
in the valley of the shadow.

all hail the power of Jesus' Name...