Burning Heart...In a Good way...

Luke 24:32

They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

Romans 8:38

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The apostles didn't immediately realize it was Christ, but there was something stirring within their spirit. Oh man I can relate to that.

Seeing You - Matt Redman - Songza

To Will The Good Part I...

"And to be sure it is blessed to love, to be reduced to a single desire.  What does it matter if all other desires are fulfilled or denied?  There is but one desire, the loved one; one longing, the loved one; one possession, the loved one!  We laud the happiness of love.  Oh, that the fortunate one may be steadfast in the daily thankfulness of domestic life; that he may be faithful in the continuing thankfulness of remembrance.  But, God be praised, it is not so ordered that this should be the highest thing of all.  It may be dispensed with without losing the highest thing of all.  It may be absent without having lost the highest thing of all."
Kierkegaard "Purity of Heart" Harper Torchbooks (1956):161.
S.K. has a peculiar way of looking at Christianity, but it is one that I often feel very sympathetic with.  His solitary nature and unique vision are to be admired, not because they were results of his own talent, but because his suffering was a gift from God that allowed him to perceive spiritual truths more clearly than many others have.

Hear Our Prayer - Hillsong - Songza

The Harvest...

"Then He said to them, 'The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." Luke 10:2

I've been struggling with the idea of Evangelism, among other things, and it occurred to me that there is something in this verse that I hadn't thought of before. The farmer sows the seed, he then labors to gather the harvest, but the Lord causes the growth and the seed is from God. No amount of theology is going to make the seed grow. It takes time, and plenty of rain to grow a crop. Both are natural gifts from God and part of his creation, both in the physical and in this metaphorical sense.
So the Lord sends out laborers-or at least Jesus instructs us to to pray and ask the Father to send them out- this occurs in the Father's time and it is because of His will that the harvest exists to be gathered.

White Xmas...

Looks like its going to be snowing on Christmas, well at least there will be some left over from today.
Working on Bach Well Tempered Clavier Volume one Number 2. I'm inexperienced at playing fugues. Oh what a difficulty!

b

Rusty Machines...

Why doesn't the church service flow more smoothly? After all the planning and preparation it still seems like a rusty metal machine grinding to a halt and then starting up slowly again.