YAY!

so the other day i was singing Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus and remembered a verse which i forgot for like 6 years or so. so here's the "new" one - it goes in the middle.

come to earth to taste our sadness,
He Whose glories knew no end.
by His life He brings us gladness -
our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.
leaving riches without number,
born within a cattle stall,
this the everlasting wonder:
Christ was born the Lord of all!

the song du jour

this song is the one that is dominating my life right now. it's on that new indelible grace cd: wake thy slumbering children. i thought i'd introduce y'all.

Go to Dark Gethsemane
go to dark gethsemane, ye that fear the tempter's pow'r
your Redeemer's conflict see, watch with Him one bitter hour
turn not from His griefs away - learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
learn of Jesus Christ to pray; learn of Jesus Christ to pray

see Him at the judgment hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned
oh the wormwood and the gall! oh the pangs His soul sustained!
shun not suff'ring, shame, or loss - learn of Christ to bear the cross.
learn of Christ to bear the cross; learn of Christ to bear the cross

calv'ry's mournful mountain climb; there adoring at His feet
mark that miracle of time - God's own sacrifice complete.
"it is finished" here Him cry! learn of Jesus Christ to die.
learn of Jesus Christ to die; learn of Jesus Christ to die.

early hasten to the tomb where they laid His breathless clay.
all is solitude and gloom - "who has taken Him and where?"
Christ is ris'n, He meets our eyes; Savior, teach us so to rise!
Savior, teach us so to rise; Savior, teach us so to rise.
________________________
it would seem that my health issues are not totally put to rest, and as i deal with more tests, more weirdness, more uncertainty. this song, particularly the first two verses, really have helped me refocus.

Excellence

Justin Taylor has quoted a fabulous John Updike poem on this, the day of his death, about the resurrection of Christ. Check it out here.

The point made here is excellent: let us not behave condescendingly in considering the Bible's, trying to come up with crazy ways you could possibly say it's true. It either is true, or it is not true.

We are talking about this sort of thing a ton in my apologetics course right now. I will be posting a bit on presuppositionalism (which I want to marry) once the class ends on Friday. Get excited.

no place like home for the doctor's visits...

i am back in dallas. in december i left charlotte for greenville, nashville, dallas, charleston, and greenville. last week i took one of those condensed classes - acts-romans, which was fabulous - and i came back to texas last night for a doctor's appointment today. hopefully this guy will figure out why i have been soooooooooooooo tired.

it's really much funner to go to the doctor's office with your mother, and not just because there are two people to remember everything.

i just finished reading Rhett Butler's People, which was fun, especially since i read Gone with the Wind this summer. as much as i enjoyed them both, i must confess i totally don't get how this is the greatest love story ever. to live a life like scarlett o'hara - or rhett butler, for that matter - would be terribly sad. the one great promise that is offered, at least on some level: there is redemption and healing at every turn of life. that is a somethign we don't hear often enough.

A Tribute to My Awesome Father

taylor swift has a precious song on her new album about her father that my brother pointed out pretty well describes our dad, who is not only the greatest earthly father i know of, but also happens to be one of my best friends in the world. i have been listening to this song almost as much as i've been listening to the aforeposted "abide with me."

i wanted to share it with you. (it's been hard for me to think of stuff to say here, in case you hadn't noticed, but i have been wracking up the lyrics, so maybe that will help my brain get going with more original stuff to say.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Day

i'm five years old, it's getting cold,
i've got my big coat on.
i hear your laugh and look up smiling at you.
i run and run past
the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides -
look now! the sky is gold!
i hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home.

i don't know why all the trees change in the fall.
but i know you're not scared of anything at all.
don't know if snow white's house is near or far away,
but i know i had the best day with you today.

i'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends
could be so mean.
i come home crying and you hold me tight
and grab the keys.
and we drive and drive until we find a town
far enough away,
and we talk and window-shop till i've forgotten
all their names.

i don't know who i'm gonna talk to now at school.
but i know i'm laughing on the car ride home with you.
don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay,
but i know i had the best day with you today.

i have an excellent father;
his strength is making me stronger.
God smiles on my little brother -
inside and out, he's better than i am.
i grew up in a pretty house and i had space to run
and i had the best days with you.

there is a video i found from back
when i was three:
you set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're
talking to me.
it's the age of princesses and pirate ships
and the seven dwarves.
my daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady
in the whole wide world.

now i know why all the trees change in the fall.
i know you were on my side even when i was wrong.
and i love you for giving me your eyes, staying back and watching me shine,
and i didn't know if you knew, so i'm taking this time to say
that i had the best day with you today.

Abide with Me

abide with me; fast falls the eventide
the darkness deepens - Lord, with me abide.
when other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, abide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth did smile,
and though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, though i oft left Thee.
on to the close, Lord, abide with me.

i need Thy presence every passing hour;
what, but Thy grace, can foil the tempter's pow'r?
who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
through cloud and sunshine, abide with me.

i fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight; tears lose their bitterness.
where is thy sting, death? where, grave, thy victory?
i triumph still; abide with me.

hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes,
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
as morning breaks and earthly shadows flee,
in life and death, Lord, abide with me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
this song is my new obsession. it is definitely going to play at my funeral (hopefully like 70 years from now hehe). a delightful version is on the altogether excellent album recently put out by the kevin twit and the RUF folks at Belmont, wake Thy slumbering children.

It Would Seem That...

I come across as perky, happy, and full of energy most of the time. Sunday night the topic came up at Life Group in my half of girls (we split up to share prayer requests and pray), and then today the lady at the dry cleaners said, "Are you always this perky and happy?" I said, "Usually."

How weird. I never realized I came off that way, except when I would go visit one of my favorite college profs at office hours - he could only handle about 15 minutes of me, but he liked me a lot. As great as he is, he's not someone whose opinion about people I ever really relied on.... he's kinda odd in a hermit-ish sort of way. Absolutely brilliant, a fabulous lecturer, and really invested in the lives of his students, but not the sort of man you'd guess would be the last of those.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with my newfound power. Hehehe...

I love America

and this video reminded me of one of the many reasons why.

big props to democracy and intelligent conversation/debate.

Fascinating Fact

turns out that if the Iraqis could vote for our next President, they'd vote McCain.

Add to the Beauty

thanks to the AMJ tour i was finally introduced to the wonderful sara groves. some artists, i find, you just have to get acquainted with live before you get all ramped up about their stuff. sara seems to be one of those for me. but wow - and i mean WOW - am i ramped up about her stuff now.

great lines include:
+ "redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
calling out the best of who we are" ("add to the beauty")
+ "i see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
i see the man with a passion come and kickin' down that door" ("when the saints" - ahem, GO IJM)

i love music. i especially love music that resets my affections to be more like God's affections.