Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Waver in the window

I saw a picture on a friends site that reminded me of something i read in June of 2000. Great memories " captured and etched in the scrapbook of our hearts"-












Psalm 90 (ESV)
From Everlasting to Everlasting

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span[c] is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!








The God-Given Task
Ecclesiastes 3

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.


Saturday, September 15, 2012

Red of blood hit the dirt,Rock and Clay

I was working on a brick landscape area.The chips of red brick in the dirt reminded me of the words from a song.
" The red of blood hit the dirt
And the whole earth mourned and the whole earth shook
As we watched the nail into a tree
Oh the wretched souls of sinners like me"




















Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I (Ps. 61:1-2)

“There is none holy like the Lord:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God. (1 Sam 2:2)


“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’? (Is. 45:9)


But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (Is 64:8)
























Sequence 4

The red of blood hit the dirt
And the whole earth mourned and the whole earth shook
As we watched the nail into a tree
Oh the wretched souls of sinners like me

God you came
God you came
My God you came down

God you came
God you came
My God you came down

Faint and weary you have sought me
Oh my Saviour God through the cross you have bought me
What a love, your son for my salvation
What a cost, your wondrous incarnation

God you came
God you came
My God you came down

God you came
God you came
My God you came down

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

first the blade, then the ear,then full grain


" And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. (Mark 4:26-28)







And now we turn the current of our thoughts, and observe that ALL THE YEAR round God doth preach to man by similitudes. It was but a little while ago that we were sowing our seeds in our garden, and scattering the corn over the broad furrows. God had sent the seed time, to remind us that we too are like the ground, and that he is scattering seed in our hearts each day.



“Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” Ruth 2:2

Everybody's Sermon
Charles Spurgeon Sermon #206 excerpt

And when the seed sprang up, and the season had changed, did God cease then to preach? Ah! no. First the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, had each its homily. And when at last the harvest came, how loud the sermon which it preached to us! It said to us, "O Israel, I have set a harvest for thee. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." If you have an opportunity to journey into the country during the next three weeks, you will, if your heart is rightly attuned, find a marvellous mass of wisdom couched in a cornfield. Why I could not attempt for a moment to open the mighty mines of gabled treasure which are hidden there. Think, beloved, of the joy of thy harvest. How does it tell us of the joy of the redeemed if we, being saved, shall at last be carried like shocks of corn fully ripe into the garner. Look at the ear of corn when it is fully ripe, and see how it bendeth toward the earth! It held its head erect before, but in getting ripe how humble does it become! And how does God speak to the sinner and tell him, that if he would be fit for the great harvest he must drop his head and cry "Lord have mercy upon me a sinner." And when we see the weeds spring up amongst wheat, have we not our Master's parable over again of the tares among the wheat; and are we not reminded of the great day of division, when he shall say to the reaper, "Gather first the tares and bind them in bundles, to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." O yellow field of corn, thou preaches well to me, for thou safest to me, the minister, "Behold, the fields are ripe already to the harvest. Work thou thyself; and pray thou the Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers into the harvest." And it preaches well to thee, thou man of years, it tells thee that the sickle of death is sharp, and that thou must soon fall, but it cheers and comforts thee, for it tells thee that the wheat shall be safely housed, and it bids thee hope that thou shalt be carried to thy Master's garner to be his joy and his delight for ever. Hark, then, to the rustling eloquence of the yellow harvest.








crags and clay by gungor
Lyrics

Standing up from crags and clay
The peaks of earth
In full display
They break the lines
That break the sky
That's full of life
Full of life

The chaos of creation's dance
A tapestry, a symphony
Of life himself
Of love herself
It's written in our very skin

All praises to the one who made it all
Who made it all
All praises to the one who made it all
And finds it beautiful

Soil is spilling life to life
Stars are born
To fill the night
The ocean's score
The majesty
Of sculpted shore
Mystery

All praises to the one who made it all
Who made it all
All praises to the one who made it all
And finds it beautiful
[x2]

Fearfully and wonderfully and beautifully made [x4]

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Sparkling Diamonds on a black velvet

The black velvet causes the light overhead to radiate brilliantly through the stone, revealing its true beauty and causing it to sparkle and shine more brightly. Remove the black backdrop, and it's difficult to see the diamond's splendor. It's the darkness that causes the stone to burst forth with dazzling light.


Each of us have known times when we have had to cast ourselves on God alone.
Darkness surrounded us but hope was restored and the protection and care in God's providence in protecting us becomes known. Hope dazzling as glistening snow on a bright winter day, as stars in a pitch black sky, as diamonds on black velvet. Shining as splendid examples of God's amazing grace and redeeming power.



































And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.(Daniel 12:3)





"We must simply and entirely trust ourselves to the providence and care of God.
Happy storm that wrecks us on a rock like this."