Jesus took Uncle Mike home this morning at about 7:30.


He's gone! The spotless soul is gone,
Triumphant to his place above;
The prison walls are broken down
The angels speed his swift remove;
And shouting on their wings he flies;
And gains his rest in paradise.


Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna to the Lamb of God!

Glory, Glory let us sing! Grateful honors to our King!

Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna to the Lamb of God!

Saved by the merit of his Lord,
Glory and praise to Christ he gives;
He now enjoys the full reward,
The joys of heaven he now receives;
The life he lived while here below
Is proof that he's at rest, we know.

Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna to the Lamb of God!

Glory, Glory let us sing! Grateful honors to our King!

Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna to the Lamb of God!



you can hear it here: http://www.sacredchoralmusic.net/altarofpraise.html
(It's #12 on This Is My Father's World)

....my prayer.........

Show pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive,
Let a repenting rebel live;
Are not thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in thee?

My crimes are great, but don’t surpass
The power and glory of the grace;
Great God! thy nature has no bound.
So let thy pardoning love be found.

O wash my soul from every sin,
And make my guilty conscience clean;
Here on my heart the burden lies,
And past offences pain my eyes.

My lips with shame my sins confess,
Against thy law, against thy grace;
Lord, should thy judgements grow severe,
I am condemned, but thou art clear.

Should sudden vengeance seize my breath,
I must pronounce thee just in death;
And if my soul were sent to hell,
Thy righteous law approves it well.

Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord,
Whose hope, still hovering round thy word,
Would light on some sweet promise there,
Some sure support against despair.

Gadsby #761 Watts

....live well

1 ¶ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
4 ¶ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

....from Job 22...........

21 ¶ “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.

......wow! It's been a long time.

Now that I figured out how to log back in----I'll have to think of something to say.

Check back tomorrow! Or leave me an idea today!

sns

An Evening in December.....

This will, no doubt, appear on blogs more important than this one---but you can say with confidence that you read it here first! .....and it only happened last night.

(If you'd like to read more about double dactyls, look here.)





Lippity Clippity
wannabe architect
dashed out to Lubbock his
craft to unfurl.
Whilst apprehending a
great deal of knowledge he
coincidentally
got him a girl.

Greekamus Latinus
Jenny, west Texas gal,
reading her ancients and
drinking her milk,
liked watching movies and
going to baseball games
homogeneity--
two of one ilk.

Whippety Nippety
on this December night
Eric knelt down and
the rest you can guess--
plighted his troth to her,
proffered a gem to wear--
anticipatiously
Jenny said, "Yes!"

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

...to bring you my thoughts on a post titled "The Shaping of the Things to Come" from Redeemed, Reformed & Relevant.

The church could be divided into two groups on this type issue–the outwards and the inwards. One may seem more spiritual to you at first, but hang on to your hat. Some folks need everything to be orderly and beautiful around them and cannot concentrate or even breathe deeply unless they are. Others can find peace even in spite of their surroundings. God created both kinds of people and he created them to exist together in harmony in the church. Each must give way to the other because God is honored by both; and because trappings, or no trappings is not even the point.

One statement here can be ratified by both types: "Everything in the service needs to preach." The Scripture tells us that the prayers of the saints are like incense–whenever we smell a candle that will come to mind. The light of a candle reminds us that we are to be lights in a dark world. I guess a musty smelling church building might remind us to throw open the windows of our soul and let heavenly breezes blow in.

Christ was completely human. Surely, as a man, he took pleasure in good things that touched his senses. He made better wine than the father of the bride. He appreciated being anointed with costly perfume. He washed his disciples’ feet. He showed us that the perfect man cared about pleasant physical parts of life.

The principles seem to be these:

• Think about everything you do. Don’t do anything because that’s the way it’s done. Make decisions about all of life based on your relationship with Christ and never see anything as unattached to that union.
• Love the brethren. Be ready with your reason for everything you do or suggest, but be more ready to yield to your brother for whom Christ died. Trappings, just like meat sacrificed to idols, are not the issue really–just the proving ground.
• Give your brother the freedom to express his delight in God with his whole soul and personality. Some things you may want to emulate–others you may want to forget.

One of the greatest gifts God has given us as members of his body is the dynamic resonance of glory that reflects and flashes from one believer to another. (That’s why we should never forsake our own assembling together.) Like Moses, we couldn’t bear looking on it full in the face–yet; but these foretastes are his gift, within the bounds of our senses, to make us thirst for heaven.

If my brother, for whom Christ died, needs candles to help him toward God; light ‘em up. I will pray that my sneezing will not distract him. And he, in turn, will consider that true worship of God takes place in many places with far less freedom--and no candles. Yes, everything must preach; but everything--especially believers--must preach Christ.