A Driscoll thought

I was listening to a sermon by Mark Driscoll and he made a statement that I thought was very good.

For those who don't know the Lord, this life is all the heaven they will experience. For those who do, this life is all the hell we will experience.
(this is a paraphrase, since my mind doesn't remember work perfect)

Rom. 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us.

His Lovingkindness is Everlasting

I am going though a book called "The Soul at Rest" subtitled A Journey into Contemplative Prayer, by Tricia McCary Rhodes.

Today's "assignment" was to read and pray through Ps. 136 and then write my own Ps. 136. This was a very good way to spend my morning and let to a good time of worship. I won't bore you with my Psalm, but would encourage you to do the same thing.

He is the God of all, the great I AM, and
His lovingkindness is everlasting!

Love

"If you see your brother in fault, be patient with him, pray for him, try to help him, be sorry for him, instead of feeling it is something that is hurting you. See it as something that is hurting him terrible and doing him great harm and robbing him of so much joy in his Christian life.
That is what love means—that you somehow detach yourself from the problem and do not think of it in terms of that which is hurting you, but look upon it as Christ did, and have compassion for that person, take hold of him, love him out of it."
The Love of God, studies in I John by Martin Lloyd-Jones

I found this quote while studying Phil. 2:1-11. How different our churches and families would be if we believed this and practiced it.

Christ in me, yes!

Jesus not only teaches us Christian life; He creates it in our souls by the action of His Spirit. Our life in Him is not a matter of mere ethical goodwill. It is not a mere moral perfection. It is an entirely new spiritual reality, an inner transformation. Thomas Merton

United to Christ—new creation! By the indwelling Spirit God begins to unleash in us the same power that brought the universe into being.

Rebirth is not simply a change of religious parties, but a radical reordering of our whole understanding of life, the world, and our place in it.

These are a few quotes I found in "The Dance of Hope" by William C. Frey. They have given me much to think about.

I found the following a bit mind-bending too:

He shares a story of a particularly discouraging time in his life when someone called and asked him, "Do you believe in the resurrection?" Of course he does, it's what his faith is based on. Again she asked him, "Do you believe in the resurrection?" Again he assured her he did. And then she had the gall to ask him again! He shouted "I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD!" And something about speaking it so forcefully caused him to realize the importance of it in his life and he has never been the same since, in a good way.

I believe in the resurrection, but do I daily live like I believe it?

Blessings

Last week at this time I was enjoying the visit with my daughter and anticipating a normal week,but God had other plans, as He often does. My mom had stoke symptoms on Thursday, so I had the paramedics check her out. They said she'd had a TIA but was find and I should call the doctor in the morning. I went to work and called the doctor and left a message and waited, and waited, and waited. Then mom's home called and said she couldn't hold her fork at lunch, so I went and got her and took her to the ER. They thought it was a stroke, but took lots of tests and found out it was bleeding in her brain from a fall 6 weeks ago. We sat around on Saturday and waited to hear what they were going to do and at 5:00 the neurosurgeon came in and said they were going to drill into her brain to remove the blood. Mom wasn't even anxious. She listened to the risks and said "lets just do it, I'm not getting any younger."
Sunday she had brain surgery and Monday morning they sent her home! I am amazed at how quickly this all took place.
Mom had many people praying for her through all of this and I am sure that her calm was the result of all of the prayer. She is a classic worrier and it's not like her to be so calm about something so major.
Tuesday Owen, the pastor that leads her Sunday School class, came to visit with her and prayed with her to receive the Lord! I knew this would come at some time because Lillian, a prayer warrior at our church, had claimed mom for the Lord. I was pretty amazed at how quickly it all occurred.
In one week my mom had surgery on her brain and became a new creature in Christ. My how our God works :)

Jenny, my daughter, shared a great story of God's amazing work too. A friend of hers from So. Cal was shopping with her unbelieving mom. They were at a shoe store and the salesman was talking about heaven and mentioned how great it was going to be and said to Jenny's friend, "aren't you excited about heaven." She responded that she was but her mother hadn't made the decision that would put her there. He asked her mom why and she said she was close. He asked what it would take for her to decide and she wasn't sure. He followed them out of the store and got on his knees and begged her to pray with him and she did!
She is in the Word and growing and her daughter is overjoyed.

What a blessing.