This Life.

I can't believe heaven is going to be even better than this life. I find myself rejoicing more and more about God's careful restoration of his Creation. This life is such a blessing to be a part of, and to know that heaven is going to be the fullest realization of life as it was went to be is very hard to conceptualize, especially when you begin to fail to keep track of your blessings, because you can't count that high. We are showered with love and beauty each day, as Creation screams of a Designer who is intimately interested in what He has made. We are exposed to the incomprehensible intricacy of human life every day when we talk to other people, whose lives have been carefully shaped to bless, teach, and experience the most wonderful event of being alive. The Church, with the love of God birthed in her chest, will never cease to amaze me. The story of redemption will always fascinate me and bring me such hope and joy. 

The beauty of this life is incomparable with the life to come. And that is what blows my mind. Because this life is so beautiful.

"The Winter of Hebrew", Or "You Are Now Entering The Wilderness For Forty Years", or "Feel The Pain As My Lamed-Heh Weak Verb Ruins Your Life!"

So, this past week I've completed a month of Intermediate Hebrew in four days. Talk about a brain overload. Seriously, I have dreams about Pe-Nun verbs and where to put my dagesh fortes. It's taking over my life, and I'm not sure if I like it. It has gotten to the point where I can't think of anything else to post about besides the Hebrew language. Sad. 

The high point of my studies occurred approximately forty-five minutes ago when I came across yet another vocabulary word to write down on yet another flashcard. When I sounded this one out, I knew immediately that I had seen it before and heard it mentioned in many sermons - I knew the definition before I even had to look at the page. Hesed = faithfulness/steadfast love/devotion/lovingkindness. What a word! That word brought me encouragement and helped me take heart. While I may struggle in Hebrew II for good marks, I know that God's lovingkindness has saved me from much worse troubles and certain doom. 

Salvation

He saves us from us.

There is no other name,

That I would rather know,

Than the name of Him who washed me, 

Whiter than the snow.

A Prayer

"save me from myself.

save me from myself.

help me.

save me from myself.

save me from myself."

-dismantle.repair.

"the heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure. who can understand it?"

-jeremiah 17:9

only when we begin to recognize our need for a Saviour, can we even begin to understand the depth and beauty of a loving God, who is mighty to save, and who has broken into time and space, into human history for the sake of restoring what had willingly gone astray.

Barth & The Incarnation

This is how Karl Barth, describes the Incarnate Immanuel (God with us) in his Church Dogmatics:

"God was with us, with us His enemies, with us who were visited and smitten by His wrath. God was with us in all the reality and fulness with which He does what He does. He was with us as one of us. His Word became flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood. His glory was seen here in the depths of our situation, and the full depths of our situation were disclosed for the first time when illumined then and there by the Lord's glory, when in His Word He came down to the lowest parts of the earth, in order that there and in that way He might rob death of its power and bring life and immortality to light."

Amen.

God's Work

"God hath a work to do; and not to help Him is to oppose Him."

-John Owen

We are part of a divine plan of redemption. It will be carried through. It has already been accomplished in Christ. But as the Church, we have the important duty of reverberating His Call to the lost and the perishing. How can we neglect such a great work? Indeed, we cannot. For we have not been called to disobedience, but to obedience. We have not been called to hatred and indifference, but to love. We have not been called to ourselves, but to Christ. Heed His Word, and answer His Call!

Luke 15:8-10

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Luke 15:8-10

God leaves us not to our own self-destructive ways, but instead pursues His children in steadfast love and mercy. And what is the result? Repentance on earth, and joy in heaven.