Lifehouse

I was reminded by a friend the other day of a very special video, and there are not many. This one does justice to the rescue and the Love that Jesus has for us.

Adventure or inconvenience ?

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.


An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.



GK Chesterton
(1874 - 1936)

A few more from GK...
I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

Where is the other penny?

A penny for your thoughts.
Here is my two cents worth.... Where is the other penny?

Could this the answer to the riddle?
It is taken by the one who asked the question, and turned into 30 other questions, answers and flow of ideas and relationships. (Jn 12:24, Matthew 13:23)
If so, it is better not to get both your pennies back.

Nehemiah's Compassionate God brings them home

A brother offerred to fast for me, to set the captives free....this is what he found: a compassionate God that returns his love, time after time despite the treachery of his people. He does not abandon them, but delivers them to their neighbors. And when they are oppressed and call out to him, he delivers them. Upon their return to from exile, they declare to not neglect the house of the Lord, bringing oil, wine and bread to those who serve.

What does this mean? Being created in the image of God I am to Love those that rebel against me. Not abandoning yet yeilding my desires, and handing them over to their neighbors. Making ready for the day of rescue, as with a salted conversation, when they choose to listen.

Being on both ends of that gift, I owe a debt of gratitude to God who has rescued me, of grain wine and oil, especially to the ministering priests, gatekeepers and singers. Don't we all?

Nehemiah 9:17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles
you performed
among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion
appointed a leader
in order to return to their slavery. But you are a
forgiving God, gracious and
compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in
love. Therefore you did not desert
them,

19 "Because of your great
compassion you did not abandon them in the
desert..

27 So you handed them over to their enemies, who oppressed
them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you.
From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them
deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.

31 But in
your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a
gracious and merciful God.31 But in your great mercy you did not put an end to
them or abandon them, for you are a gracious
and merciful God.

28 "But as soon as they were at rest, they again did
what was evil in your sight. Then you abandoned them to the hand of their
enemies so that they ruled over them. And when they cried out to
you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered
them time after time.

31 But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

33 In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.

36 "But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. 37 Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.


Then Nehemiah 10....
.......39 The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and oil to the storerooms where the articles for the sanctuary are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the singers stay. "We will not neglect the house of our God."

Chris Hammer-Hodges writes ...the thing that spoke to me from the [Joel 2] was the great promise of abundant blessing: "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully." Grain speaks of financial or material blessing (Lk 17:35 Lk 12:18, 2Co 9:10, 1Ti 5:18 etc) Wine speaks of the joy of life (Ps 4:7, Jer 48:33, Ecc9:7 etc) and oil speaks of the anointing of the Spirit (1Sa 16:13, Isa 61:1 etc, etc) It is thus a reflection of God's will to abundantly bless every area of our lives: materially, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Journey Together

The Road goes ever on and onDown from the door where it began.Now far ahead the Road has gone,And I must follow, if I can,Pursuing it with eager feet,Until it joins some larger wayWhere many paths and errands meetAnd whither then? I cannot say.
- J. R. R. Tolkien


There is so much more to discover in this journey we are
taking. More of the beauty of the Gospel to unveil. More of your own story
to uncover and understand. More wisdom for the road. More cunning for the
Battle.

Shamelessly "borrowed" from the John Elderidge site about the ransomed heart, but so appropriate after a day on a hike at Eagle Creek with my family, where we wandered off the trail, but then found where others had been, then off the trail again, until we came to a mystical place where the river was frozen and we could hear the ice give under our feet, but not break. The snow glistened iridescently in the sun, and the none of the paths and creeks followed the line of sight(the way a man builds a road), but the line of the land. A place where one could simply be....and be together with others, marveling over His creation and the journey.

For a friend who is struggling

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.

Victor Frankl

John 6:29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

Col 1:25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave
me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26the mystery that has
been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.
27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of
this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. 28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all
wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I
labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in
me.

Its not about the shoes.

Its knowing where youre going,

not forgetting where you started.
...

Its about having the courage to fail.

Not breaking when you are broken,

taking what you are given, and making something better.

...

Its about work before glory,

and whats inside of you.

Its doing what they say you cant.

Its not about the shoes, its what you do in them.

....

Its about being who you were born to be.