A year of being thrifty

journals restocked.

tempted

to falsely date a blog entry for December, so I have my consecutive months running. But alas, I won't. This will go down as the first time in this blog's history where I missed a month. Bummer.

A year of being thrifty

Books: four free ebooks by Beth Moore

Never forget

In the hustle and bustle of just daily life, I remember to pause and not forget.

Never forgotten, always missed, and I'm thankful for witnesses who have gone before.

Christian...

Christian, are you living like this is true? Does this truth cause a stir? If no, question yourself why and pursue that answer to the fullest extent, to its root.

What would it look like for you to "come awake, come awake!" or "fix your eyes on the cross" or "run to him who showed great love" and "stand in the light".

Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
We fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely you bled, for us

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bow to none but heavens will
No scheme of hell, no scoffer's crown
No burden great can hold you down
In strength you reign
Forever let your church proclaim

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
The glory of God has defeated the night!

Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light!
Our God is not dead, he's alive! he's alive!

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave

Rise up from the grave...

by Matt Maher

This day

will come:

And the ransomed of the LORD shall
return
and come to Zion with signing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee
away.

Isaiah 51:11

Why business travelers drive me nuts

• We take business calls from rental car shuttle buses. 
• We take business calls from restroom stalls. 
• We take business calls going through security lines. 
• We take business calls when we're boarding planes. 
• We think our schedule is 10x more important than the other 1000 business travelers in the same airport. 
• We will use the priority security line even if it's longer than the normal security line. 
• We can't handle when the little grey TSA bins run out at the beginning of the security line. We expect the TSA to run like a well-oiled machine. Wha?
• We walk through the airport staring at our phones and wonder why people can't watch where they are going. 
• We carry one phone for work, one for personal use, an iPad, and a computer. And we wonder why our luggage is so heavy. 
• Speaking of luggage, we couldn't possibly check our bags. Out of the question. We much prefer to cram them into the puzzles we create every. time. we. board. a. plane. 
• We cannot believe someone would bring a baby or a kid onto the plane. Don't they know we have important work to do? 
• We complain and gripe about the internet speed on the plane and we expect to have our VPN and Netflicks and Pandora streaming. Seriously.
• We've heard the "safety features" speech so many times we could say it from memory. But we would have absolutely no idea how to use any of the safety features if we really had to. 
• Our phones have an off button?

Arms we cannot see

The saving God is the good Creator, who made creation in certain ways but is never bound by those ways. The only thing he is bound by is his own consistent nature. Consistent, yes. Predictable, never. To us fearful humans, frantic to control our little worlds, such a picture is frightening. It means letting go of the familiar and casting ourselves into arms we cannot see, yet believing on the basis of the Word of God and the testimony of those who have gone before that the arms are there, stronger and more loving than anything we could ever imagine on our own.

by John Oswalt, from his Isaiah (the NIV Application Commentary)

Belief and obedience

"The Word of God is meant to do more than penetrate. It's meant to activate. It can bore holes through obstacles. It can tumble defenses. It can plant wandering feet of clay in places of divine purpose. It can sanctify the sin sick and steady the aimless and confused. It can light a blazing torch in a black hole. Simply put, the Word was meant to work."

"It's not until the hearing turns into doing that believing leads to blessing. Our 'doing' may not always show up in physical activity. The initial act of obedience might be waiting upon the Lord or setting our minds zealously upon His faithfulness."

I'll add that obedience looks like this: believing His promises are true; living daily life in the conviction that they are true.

excerpts from Beth Moore's Bible study on James

This face