A Return to Prayer

I received an e-mail tonight from my realtor (Chad Beckwith -- he ROCKS! He's the best -- if you need a realtor, I'll get you his info!) about my condo, answering several of my questions about the resale certification.   A resale cert. is one of the last steps in buying a condo.  It lays out the dues, when they are due, what the delinquency rates are for the complex, etc.  

I realized as I was reading through his answers that I have been on auto-pilot as though I no longer need God's input on this buying decision.  Obviously since the short sale was approved and it's an awesome price and a great location (etc. etc.) it MUST be God's will for me to go through with the sale.  Honestly, it hadn't really occurred to me that I had stopped praying about it until now.  

It just hit me that God may still have another plan for me.  That I must submit this decision to HIS will.  Please pray hard with me that I will cover this decision in prayer over the remaining weeks, soon to be days, until closing.  

I didn't see anything in the inspection or resale cert. that made me want to turn tail and run, but there are a few concerns to be addressed yet.  Please pray for me for wisdom and that God would continue to mercifully pour out His guidance on my heart and through the wisdom of those around me who act as counselors! 

I'm Digging In: Who's with me?

As you all probably know, I love a good book on theology.  I've been soaking up the teachings of Piper lately and experiencing such joy and conviction at his feet.  Piper, however, is not Christ. I was reminded and somewhat convicted that I'd rather turn to a book ABOUT the Gospel than the Good News itself.  This is not new, nor is it unique to me.  In fact, what brought my excitement momentarily crashing down around my ears was this quote by Luther: 

"The writings of all the holy fathers should be read only for a time, in order that through them we may be led to the Holy Scriptures. As it is, however, we read them only to be absorbed in them and never come to the Scriptures. We are like men who study the sign-posts and never travel the road. The dear fathers wished by their writing, to lead us to the Scriptures, but we so use them as to be led away from the Scriptures, though the Scriptures alone are our vineyard in which we ought all to work and toil"

Even Luther, whom I consider one of the fathers of the church said that we should not dwell too deeply nor too often on the works of mortal man. Instead we must turn our greatest, dearest, most driven, seeking and passionate focus to the inspired word of God.  Lest you think I'm entirely giving up on theology books, I continued to read my lunchtime selection The Legacy of Sovereign Joy (if you haven't read it, put it at the TOP of your list -- it's excellent and it's FREE -- downloadable here: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/online-books/the-legacy-of-sovereign-joy -- you'll also find your reading list explode as mine did...but what drew me to this book was a recent conversation about sovereignty and joy with a newfound friend. More on that another day). 

Luther, at another time, iterates once again that"

‎"In truth you cannot read too much in Scripture; and what you read you cannot read too carefully, and what you read carefully you cannot understand too well, and what you understand well you cannot teach too well, and what you teach well you cannot live too well. . . . The devil . . .the world . . . and our flesh are raging and raving against us. Therefore...pray, read, study, be diligent. . . ."

This was specifically written to pastors, but I feel this applies to every Christian, no matter how nominal in their faith. In fact, I dare you lukewarm, so-so, sometimes devotional doing Christians to follow his words for 30 days and see if you don't see an explosion of faith, hope, and joy in your life!  Beware, though, when you begin to see God as sovereign you must also see yourself as the very antithesis of such power. Low, powerless, ugly, sinful, depraved, perverted...the list goes on. Our best efforts are but filthy rags, but oh there is SUCH HOPE! Dig into the Word and you will find that God, through the blood of His son, wants to graciously clothe us in pure white linen, so that we can be presented BLAMELESS AND RIGHTEOUS! Who doesn't desire these things? Only those too afraid of first seeing themselves as the sinners they are.  I digress. 

Back to the subject at hand and another quote, this time from John Piper: "We are not Luther and could never be, no matter how hard we tried. But the point here is: Do we work at our studies with rigor and diligence or are we slothful and casual about it, as if nothing really great is at stake?"

Wow. I am officially convicted. My action plan (and yours, should you choose to accept it) is to commit to 10 chapters a day using Professor G. Horner's reading plan. It's 10 a day, but it's 10 different books! Ten glimpses into who God is, why we are here, what the Gospel is all about. I've done this program before, but never with the commitment that comes from making a profession that I WILL follow through. It's amazing to see the intertwining and overlapping of Scripture. I won't plague you with more quotes here, but please if you think I'm nuts or you think you're interested (seriously, BOTH camps) go check out his website and his reasoning: it's solid! http://www.willowbendchurch.org/docs/ReadingPlan_HornerSystem1.pdf

So I'm taking 30 days to make a habit! My first hour of the day will be devoted to 10 chapters in the Word! If I can't get through all 10, that will be my top priority until I've completed it each day: Before tv, errands, friends, phone calls, FACEBOOK, e-mail... First priority until it's done each day. 

Let me know if you're up for the challenge and we can keep each other accountable!  I'll try to post here more often as I go through the 30 days and beyond! I plan to stick with this, but 30 days seems like a doable jumpstart to my system. I'd love to know I'm not alone in this journey. Love you all, dear friends! 

A rather rambling update for my Athens family

An update for those of you in Georgia, especially my Redeemer Family:

Tonight is one of those nights when I come home rejoicing over the fellowship of believers! What but a common faith in Jesus could so draw a diverse people to one another, lead them to open their hearts to utter strangers, confess their sins to one another, enter onto honest discussion together, be humble enough to be counseled, pray for one another?  Truly, God is present where two or more are gathered. 

I prayed for a church community that would be my family as Redeemer was (and still is across the distance!) and I found it.  I went to Mars Hill - West Seattle for the first time with a friend from high school.  Now this alone shows God’s sovereignty in my life: She is the only person I can think of that I knew in high school that I still am friends with today (apart from family).  She was a senior when I was a freshman at Seattle Christian.  She brought me in and introduced me and together with everyone I met made me feel truly welcomed and loved.  The service structure and style was very different for me, but this church, unlike the others I’d visited answered a need I’d been praying about: they take communion weekly.  By the time I left there, I knew I’d found my new church home. 

I was so convinced of this that I actually went to a community group that week.  If you know me at all you know it practically takes an act of God for me to take those first few steps, but here I was willingly, excitedly jumping in with both feet!  I don’t think they knew quite what to do with me when I said I’d been to MH once. They welcomed me, knew my name when I came to church the next Sunday, and listened to my story (the whole long Georgia saga version) and seemed to truly be excited about me being there. 

Fast forward two weeks and we’re back to tonight. It was a different configuration of people there tonight, and as I looked around and saw two other brand new people visiting for the first time I saw again what a vibrant, living church this is. Then the leader was led to say that we are commanded in scripture to confess our sins to one another, and that this will draw us closer together and in repentance, draw us nearer to our Lord. He wasn’t suggesting we all bare our souls, but he did say that this was something that has made Mars Hill prosper and grow the way it has: that new Christians can come right into a group and know that across the board we are sinners saved by grace and that’s what holds us together and gives us love for one another: only by grace. (Hmmm...sounding familiar, RPC peeps?) 

We went around the room to introduce ourselves and many of us revealed areas of sin we’re struggling against. Tom, our leader, both drilled down on it, to truly reveal why and put it into perspective of how we view God as well as lovingly exhorting us to meditate on the cross, repent and draw closer to Christ. What a beautiful way to get to know others in the body, by sharing our weakness and communally drawing nearer to Christ in encouragement and under exhortation.  

We talked about God’s sovereignty, and what we TRULY believe He is Sovereign (a subject that has more and more led me to worship and joy and seeing His faithful Sovereign hands in our world).  What an amazing topic of conversation to spurn us to faith and belief and JOY! What joy knowing HE is in control always. 

So with that, I will bring this epistle to a close. I hope you are encouraged. I know that I am, knowing that God sovereignly drew me to Mars Hill. Now the challenge is to live out the Gospel accordingly. 

Oh, one last closing thought on which I will ponder more and likely blog about at a point in the near future. We also discussed the sermon and spent time working out what it looks like to truly live out CHRIST and the Gospel in each of our workplaces (and homes/lives). Think of concrete examples large and small...are you convicted by your lack of living for Christ? I am. So my prayer this week (and beyond) is that I will put aside the selfishness that plagues me like a millstone around my neck, dragging me down and keeping me from pursuing Christ as I ought; and putting Him first, choosing joy, how will I work and interact differently in my relationships both in and outside of work?  How will Christ shine through me dimly as through a dirty mirror? 

On Sovereign Joy

How sweet all at once it was for me
to be rid of those fruitless joys
which I had once feared to lose. . . .
You drove them from me,
you who are the true, the sovereign joy.
You drove them from me and took their place,
you who are sweeter than all pleasure,
though not to flesh and blood,
you who outshine all light,
yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts,
you who surpass all honor,
though not in the eyes of men who see
all honor in themselves. . . .
O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.

St. Augustine
Confessions, IX, 1

A Girl and Her Lens: A Cautionary Tale

The blog...oh yeah...

In case you didn't already know, I'm rather accident-prone. Accidents find me out. It's not that I'm not careful...it's just that I seem to have this klutz-gene or is it something in my DNA that attracts mishaps to me like a duck to water. 

And so, my friends, I present you this cautionary tale.  It started innocently enough: I was going to capture the sunset front a vantage point over the Sound in Normandy Park, so I had my D80 carefully slung over my shoulder and tucked behind my back to keep it safe from swinging into anything. And then it happened: I bent down to pick up my snack bag of apples and before I could say "Oh golly!" my camera is careening to the pavement, a sickening shattering sound aaaand my heart in my throat! I am positively SICK!

I just know that my camera is gone. Ruined. Irreparable.

I picked up my camera and see that my UV filter is in pieces.  I need to get this off, but it's wedged on tightly. I finally, gingerly unscrew it and survey the damage.  Well, I tried to survey the damage, but there doesn't seem to be any. I. am. shocked. My UV filter is shattered, but my camera lens is perfect: just a little glass dust and one small shard of glass embedded in the plastic around the rim of my lens. Whew! THANK YOU, LORD! (and thank you little filter for your sacrifice!)

And here I thought this filter was just there to ward off small scratches and finger oils!

Ava the money savvy!

Saturday night we had a family dinner to send off my parents in style to Arizona for the winter (rough, I know!). My cousin Morgan was with us and asked me how the condo buying process was progressing. I responded that it's going through bank approval right now to approve the offer I gave the seller since it's a short sale.

In the midst of this Ava pipes in with "do you have the money to buy it?"

I couldn't help but laugh! They're teaching her financial responsibility at a young age!  I answered "yes, well, me and the bank!"

Adobe Lightroom

I am having ENTIRELY too much fun trying out Adobe LightRoom. I think I'm hooked!

And sorry, I still haven't figured out how to use tables to put pics side by side *sigh*.