May 1, 2007 - Tuesday  | May Day! May Day!!! I do not need a bad day or a bad situation to realise I'm over my head and need help. Indeed, "I need thee every hour, oh, Precious Lord."
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I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child
By Manchester Orchestra  | 9:38 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 28, 2007 - Saturday | one small step, again This moring, I started my training for the Marine Corps Marathon, which is in the fall. I didn't know how I would do, but it wasn;t bad. Granted I didn't do the whole 26 miles this morning... more like a mile. But it was such a great morning and it felt so good getting out and running again.  | Currently listening :
Eyes Open
By Snow Patrol
Release date: 09 May, 2006  | 11:25 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 27, 2007 - Friday | Brand New at Millersville Last night was a fantastic night. My friend Brent and I went to see Brand New's only local non-sold-out show at Millersville, and it was great. I got a little crushed (Brent is so skinny he just kinda went through the press like a hot needle into wax) and felt like I was being bathed in Hollister and orbit mint gum. I am so glad I'm old enough now not to think I need to be crushed several times over to enjoy a show. Brent and I kinda hung back and watched.. it was a great show. They had an amazing backdrop totally video'd out, with great footage and lights. Pucillo is such a small gym that we had great seats wherever we stood. It was really great. I dunno if I'm gettin this through it was a great show, and I had a great time (especially watching Brent, who some of you may know as Soccer Dad, yell into some kid's ear and tell him to pick a side after standing behind him a little too long)! The ending was phenomenal... they played Welcome to Bangcock and totally tore down the stage and got it ready to go as more and more people came up and just banged and banged and strummed and yelled.. it was amazing!
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| April 24, 2007 - Tuesday | My worth Could it be that the worth of man is truly tied up in the death of Christ? Is there anything that shows the love of God any more deeply? By Christ's death, He remains with us and shows us the depth of His love. By His resurrection we are shown tthe heights. By His promises, we are shown how long. By His scars, which still remain, we are shown how wide. Awesome is the Father, and beloved are we. How He has lavished His love on us.  | Currently listening :
Memory Man
By Aqualung
Release date: 13 March, 2007  | 6:37 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 23, 2007 - Monday | my first homeless While I was driving down 22 on saturday night, I saw my first homeless guy of the year. Every year, a few make the trek from the city towards the Commons/Paxton Square area and hang out for the summer. I guess hang out is not the best phrase for it.
I have a goal for the summer... I want to meet them and try to help as they will let me help them. Take them food or something. Talk to them, maybe get to know them. Its a modest goal and its the least I can do, I think.
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Memory Man
By Aqualung
Release date: 13 March, 2007 | 5:12 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 17, 2007 - Tuesday | What I did yesterday For the third year in a row, my Evangelism team and I handed out 39cent stamps out at the local post office. I call it "Tax Relief Day", because well, we're trying to relieve some of the stress with a kind gesture. Most people are shocked and gratelfully take it (I think I made one blue head cry yeasterday, he was so moved and happy). There are others, wary of a catch; they walk by as if I was not there. There are some, a very small amount, who acknowledge and not believe, or others who acknowledge and do not want to accept something for free from the church. It's kinda wierd. I thought of it as a very practical and awesome way to express God's free gift to anyone and everyone.
However, doing it yesterday I think struck a deeper chord with some. I did not know about the shooting at VT until around noon. After someone told me about it, the comments that a few were making were beginning to make sense:
"It's so nice to see that there are still people out there who just do good for the reason of doing good."
or
"It's a nince thing to see that there are some young people out there who care".
There were moments when I wanted to get on my soap box and proclaim, "I'm not good! Only God is good. The only reason I'm doing this is because of how much God loves me!! No other reason! If I had my way, I'd be at home relaxing and not caring whether you got stamps or not!"
And while I thought these things and acted in response to God's love, an event beyond my imagination was occurring trying to undo anything 39cents could do. So, I think I need to rerflect and ask as to which has the greatest outcome: good actions done in the light of God, or calculated evil done for no other reason than destruction?
Honestly, I think I know the answer, but reflection makes it permanent.
Please be in prayer for those we talked to on monday. And pray for us... may God encourage us.
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A Strange Education
By The Cinematics
Release date: 06 March, 2007  | 8:29 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 16, 2007 - Monday | Woah Is it too harsh to think God is sovreign?
Is it too harsh to think God good?
How can a sovreign God not be good?
How can a good God not be sovreign?
Darkness has a face and it's own depths, and there are those who will fall headlong into it. And when they rise, they are sinking, brandishing hot metal teeth that tear, and words that curse, and claws that draw blood. I am amazed and stand in terror of such people.
I stand in awe of God, alone.
I wonder if anything I did today was worth 39 cents?
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Cassadaga
By Bright Eyes
Release date: 10 April, 2007  | 9:20 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 12, 2007 - Thursday | psalm 29 Can you define the Lord by anything He is not? Can you ever glorify His name more than He deserves? We hear His words and tremble. We give because He gave; we love because He first loved us. Can we honor Him more than He deserves?
All power and honor, strength and glory are His alone. Hallelujah.
Amen
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Neon Bible
By Arcade Fire
Release date: 06 March, 2007  | 10:52 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 11, 2007 - Wednesday | little oak trees As I was walking around school yesterday I notcied all these little oak saplings just popping up all over the lawns. They haven't mowed yet becuase it's still winter here in PA for the next couple months (stupid Canada and their jet stream). But, once they mow the lawn, it will be over for them. They've just sprouted but they do not stand a chance thanks to the planned upkeep. The school could make room for them, but then they'd have to plan for these unexpected growths.
Which is better: to plan around the unexpected growths when they pop-up, or to plan with them in mind? But they're unexpected so how do you really plan for that? My heart wants to plan for them and help them grow - but then I am not talking about people, just trees.
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Under the Iron Sea
By Keane
Release date: 20 June, 2006  | 10:47 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 10, 2007 - Tuesday | Jesus "Jesus, be the center"
Jesus, be
Psalm 25:4-5
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| April 9, 2007 - Monday | An Easter Monday thought supplied by another ..>..>
| John Donne
..> ..>
| HOLY SONNETS.
X.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.
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| April 8, 2007 - Sunday | Easter Sunrise Matt 28:1-9 Every year, on December 31st, people gather to watch the coming of the New Year. The start of the New Year is starting fresh, as if the passing of time has to do with starting over, it is heralded with humanity getting dressed up, the clanking of crystal, and explosions off in the distance. As if time can heal wounds, we make lists to start again, to start things right. If we're up late enough, the morning is lost to noon, and we awake, tired to start again. As if the passing of time could lead to anything beyond dull scars and dull memories. If we, as Christians, had a New Year it would be today, if not everyday! We are told that God's promises are new each morning. The passing of time does not matter to us and we put no stock in resolutions. Our resolve hinged on the extent of three days, from the death of a man until His resurrection. I am greatly inspired and reminded of this in a song by Jennifer Knapp in which she says, "I'll be ready for the sun to rise so I can start again." Every new dawn brings the hope and joy of repentance, the possibility of beginning afresh. Not as if yesterday didn't happen, but as if my God cared more about me today than He did yesterday. Today is the reminder that a new day has dawned – the world would never be the same again. The setting sun had cast itself around Adam and his wife. There were bright glimmers and deep nights, but there had not been a new day in a very long time. The invasion of heaven had seemed to end. The cross looked less like a victory – more like a staggering defeat. Promises seemed empty, if not forgotten. Two Marys went to put the finishing touches, their last offering, on their dead rabbi. They were on their way to mark his death with fragrance, and perhaps to remember who He had been and what He had done. Maybe as they dressed the body, they would tell of the time he had raised Lazarus. Or of how he had fed so many people. Were they afraid of seeing his body still bruised and torn? Could they have imagined the garish sight of a crucified and beaten man now two days in a dark, damp tomb? Instead, an earthquake and angels woke them. "Don't be afraid! Come and see! Go and tell!" Christ appears to them and says: I'm wide awake, it's morning! Now the tomb is not just empty, but borrowed, he'll never have need of it or another again. And Christ is not just alive, but more alive than any one man has ever been alive before! The torn flesh is no longer there. He bears witness to the torment of Friday only in his hands, feet, and side; scars that show the extent of His love. In those scars we can see the full extent of our worth. He loved us dearly, and bears the marks of that love. If in His death we see the depth of our sin and His love, it is in the resurrection we find the true height of his power. This morning, the Son of God became the first of the renaissance of humanity. The longest Saturday, as the world waited with bated breath, was and is over forever – the dawn has come and the Lord has arrived. I'm wide awake, its morning! Paul echoes in Ephesians: Wake up, sleeper! Rise from the dead And Christ will shine on you! In our Communion we remember His sacrifice and death until He returns. By our actions and by our words… by our lives, we show and celebrate Christ resurrected. We who greet each other with the words, "He is risen indeed" are witnesses to this power by the transformation of our lives. We have tasted and seen that he is good, we are fully alive. We are fully awake! By the power of the Spirit, who testifies to the workings of God, we have the ability to tell others who have not realized that Saturday has ended, that Sunday has come, those who come to the grave looking for a dead man, "Don't be afraid, Come and see, go and tell. Wake up." We're wide awake, it's morning! Revel in the light of the new day. Latch onto.. the faithfulness of God. Enjoy the Light of the Son. I'm wide awake, it's morning! 8:10 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove | |
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| April 5, 2007 - Thursday | I can't take credit for this one... There are few people out there I love whom I've never met. I twice had the oppurtunity to meet and talk to Andrew Peterson back in my days at Messiah. I even watched his kids and played with a lot of the Happy Meal toys that used to be such a part of that office. Well, he is amazing and I am never surprised by what he writes, becuase he is quite brilliant. This is what he posted today on his blog:
Resurrection: Day Five Remember, you told them.
With a loaf of tough bread and a flagon of grape wine, you gave us all the gift of remembrance. You know how malleable our memories are, how prone we are to rationalize the spectacular and also to sensationalize the mundane, and so you set in motion a ritual that would tether our fancies to earth and history and truth. You broke the bread, and in another act of staggering humility you thanked the Father for it; the tongue whose word set afire the burning suns of the galaxies gave thanks for bread. You called it your body, and the apostles stared at you dumbfounded for a moment before they ate of it.
You took the cup and offered it to them, and you told them it was the blood of a new covenant, poured out for many. With the bits of bread still in their teeth and crumbs in their beards they looked at one another with questions on their faces. The cup was passed around and the apostles drank. You told them it was for remembering, but what they were to remember hadn't yet happened and so it would be at least another week before they began to understand what you were telling them on this night in this borrowed room. I'm sure they wanted to know what you were talking about, but something in the look on your face stayed their tongues.
It's been two thousand years now, more or less. We kneel with contrite hearts and accept the gift of remembrance. We call it communion, the sharing of intimate thoughts and feelings. We accept the gift of your flesh and blood, and we offer you the gift of our helplessness. We bask in mercy and rise from the table blessed, full of joy, because we have remembered.
Because we have been remembered.
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| March 31, 2007 - Saturday | my daughter, the moon catcher the other day I was in the kitchen when I heard my oldest, Claire, yelling my name and saying moon over and over again, and trying to open the gate to get up our stairs. I had no idea what was going on, but she wanted desperately to get up the stairs, and she just kept saying moon. So, I opened the gate, and watched her trundle up the stairs. When she got to the window at the top of our stairs, she started to reach her hands up and strained as far as she could. What I could not see becasue I am much taller than my daughter was a full moon that was placed perfectly in the window. She thought that if she had climbed up the stairs to the window, she would be able to reach it. So, there she stood in her nightgown and reached out her little hands trying to grasp the moon.
Amazing.
Maybe I'm too tall to see things properly, or just some things period. Maybe thats why Christ called for us to be like children, so we would notice them as well as part of the world we are missing.
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| March 27, 2007 - Tuesday | someonne else's blog Seriously, go here and read this:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/40617-the-soundtrack-of-our-lives
a fantastic (my opinnion) article about music and how it plays into our lives.
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