where’s there’s a “will ya” there is a way

Or  a wedding.

Now, all that stuff about engagements and courting is really nice to talk about.  Or joke about. But it should be taken quite seriously. Especially since, no matter how surreal, annoying, amusing, et cetera, everything may seem in theory, in real life it’s…worse.

Oops. I’ll get in big trouble for that. I shouldn’t pollute this website with my own personal opinions. I should be even and balanced. That’s my goal. To be the “Fox News” of the blog world. (HA!)

But in all seriousness I am writing this solely to extend my wholehearted congratulations towards my sister Emily and Tyler Upchurch. May heaven bless you and may you live together in peace. May all your futures be pleasant ones, Not like our present ones. May you both be favoured with the future’s of your choice, may you live to see a thousand reasons to rejoice. All that good stuff.

May you be kept immovably in the love of Christ, and if I may say so, with little regard for how this may be taken, may HIS love be the one great fountain from which your love for one another springs. I love y’all both, and may God bless you.

Tyler: since I hear it is the Groom’s privilege to select groomsman, I’ll let you no that (I mean, know that) I am perfectly willing to accept such a position. Provided you and Trey and Dad have sufficient manpower to drag me there under such a threat. That’s all.

Emily:  I’ve always favoured the “Imperial March” as good wedding music.

Both: If you see the need, I would love to perform a ceremony for you. Provided, of course, that you wouldn’t be extremely offended when I could not resist the urge to say, “Mawwiage is what bwings us together today. Mawwiage, dat bwessed awwangment. That dweam, wivin a dweam.

This is for my dad:

And finally, a great summary of the marriage:

“Even In marriage, the one to look to is God. The ideal in marriage comes when each partner looks to God to meet His or her own needs and looks to the other partner with a heart to meet that partner’s need. Then they can both rejoice when God meets each of their needs through the other! This is love rather than lust.”

Clyde Cranford.

treasure of Jesus

What can I do,

How can I live?

To show my World,

The Treasure of Jesus.

What will it take,

What can I give?

So they can know,

The treasure He is

And if I can sing,

Let my songs be full of His glory,

If I can speak,

Let all my words, be full of His grace

And if I live, or die,

Let me be found pursuing this prize

The One that alone satisfies

The Treasure of Jesus

–Steven Curtis Chapman

It was with that song, along with a video (you can watch it a few posts down) that they began the Together For Adoption 2009 conference Friday night. (Worthy of note: the Church that hosted the event was Steven Curtis Chapman’s church. Also worthy of note: It had the rather unconventional name, Christ Community Church. Hmm.)

It was really rather appropriate. Not only because that particular video always makes me well up, (I’m going to watch it again now) but it asks the question that every Christian will ask; and orphan care is just one way of answering.

Of course, there are scarier questions we may ask. How much am I willing to do? How much am I willing to give? Really, in our day, where we live, we have to sacrifice a lot it seems to if we really want to present Christ, and what we say He means to us (I think of Hudson Taylor). It’s pretty easy to say we’re  Christians; nobody’s going to hurt us for that. But how do we show that, to us, it’s more than a name?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that our sufficiency is not of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of Christ.

Orphan care is an answer (not the answer, by any stretch). Like that video says, Christ’s work has freed us to reach out to the fatherless, the widow, and the greatest of all, we been given the freedom, the right, the duty, to share His Love with all people.  Let us not be content with just another conference, another pep rally, and what one man once refered to as “undigested resolutions.” Let us first treasure Jesus. If we don’t have Him, all our evangelism, all our orphan care, all our ministry will be but wood, hay and stubble in the day of the Lord. If He alone is our pearl of great price, and all other treasures (for there will be others, as He pleases) will receive their lustre from Him, then even if we break ourselves down attempting to do good, and don’t seem to get any where, our righteous King will look on the labour of love as precious gems. What a marvelous Saviour we have! Can we truly be satisfied that any should perish without calling them to come? (believe me, I speak as a fool).

testing polls (bear in mind, this is ONLY a test)

learning from the beasts

Not long ago, on a friend’s site, I made a very clear display of my enmity against felines. ( for the record, I’m actually quite fond of the domestic cat’s much larger cousins. At a distance.)

Ha ha. Silly me.

Just the other day, as I was staying up in the garage, the small feline came and sat next to me on my blanket. I rolled over, and being, as I suppose, in a state of late-night delirium, I actually and began stoking it. It was so nice as to alter its position for the sake of its own comfort, rather then lick my hand or do anything to show its humble appreciation.So much for kittens. But somehow, I wasn’t deterred from stroking it.

Well, in any case, that feline is a created thing. I couldn’t help remembering that whilst sharing my floorspace with it. We like to say, in songs and such, that creation sings God’s praises. Well, it’s true (though we don’t always hear it singing). Funny thing is, the cats don’t even know that there singing. Neither, for that matter, do the amoeba, the blue whales, the giraffes, the Komodo Dragons, (two of my personal favourites), or any other animals you can imagine.

So, in a way, Christians, and indeed, human beings in general, have been granted a distinct advantage over the beasts: we can know God is there in a more real way: we can think about Him in a way which they cannot (and no, I do not believe that they will evolve the trait anytime soon): we can even know Him personally, in a way that is infinitely more close than lying next to a pre-adolescent feline. Are we taking advantage of that?

So, even the creatures who to us seem lowest are singing the praises of their maker.  Not to brag or anything, but we humans are greatly above even the best in the kingdom (Animalia),even the lovely dolphins. And we’ve got voices to sing and speak His praises in what seems a deeper way.Why aren’t we?

Well, again, there’s the old problem of sin. It’s is the impediment that plagues all of us, even the beasts,(perhaps in a different way). But Christ has freed us, and He is even now working a second Creation in the hearts of His children. So, for Christians, and those whom He hasn’t yet brought in to the Kingdom (yet, though, I pray for you that He will), the only way that we can offer any praise that is better than that of the beasts is to come to Christ. May He draw us.

So, in contradistinction to my dislike of domesticated cats, I must offer that they, like dolphins, cockroaches, and all those other pleasant and seemingly unpleasant inhabitants of our planet that popular science has the audacity to call our relatives (“Oh no! I just stepped on my eighteen millionth cousin quadruple removed on his mothers side!”), we can learn a lot from them.

What I said was, We can learn a lot from cats. I’m not sure that run-on sentence made much sense.

Picture the unasked courtesy of Micaiah R. Davis photography. No rights reserved.

t4a

Who’s going with me?

allured into the desert

I think, right here and write now, it would be best to let someone else speak for me, till my own ideas are translated into type, and I don’t recklessly go making people mad.

If you read this, please don’t just skim it over:

Allured into a desert,

With God alone, apart,

There spirit meeteth spirit,

There speaketh heart to heart.

Far, far on that untrodden shore,

God’s secret place I find;

Alone I pass the golden door,

The dearest left behind.

There God and I-none other;

Oh far from men to be!*

Nay, midst the crowd and tumult,

Still Lord alone with Thee.

Still folded close upon Thy breast,

In field and mart and street,

Untroubled in that perfect rest,

That isolation sweet.

Oh God, thou art far other,

That men have dreamed or taught,

Unspoken in all language,

Unpictured in  all thought.

Thou God art God- he only learns

What that great name must be,

Whose raptured heart within him burns,

Because he walks with Thee.

Stilled by that wondrous presence,

That tenderest embrace,

The years of longing over,

Do we behold Thy face.

We seek no more than Thou hast given,

With ask no vision fair,

The precious blood has opened heaven,

And we have found Thee there.

O weary souls, draw near to Him,

To you I can but bring,

One drop of that great ocean,

One blossom of that spring,

Sealed with His kiss, my lips are dumb

My soul in awe is still,

Let him that is athirst but come,

And freely drink his fill.

–Gerhard Tersteegen, 1697-1769

*Now I’m not at all advocating a “flight from humanity” at this point. But that’s not what this poem is speaking of here. It talks of abiding in God. God help us to be more like Christ, by remaining with Him. He commanded us to “abide in Him.” Sinner, none of us can do this apart from Christ. Not even the Christian, if He doesn’t come with the blood of Christ. Let us thank Him.

Good poem, by the way. (But I highly doubt I’m going to add “Gerhard” to my future kid’s name list.)

talks from a pastor’s study (orsomethinglikethat)

Before our pastor preaches or teaches a class of any sort, the pressure that is on him is almost visible. And understandably so. I haven’t ever preached, but I somehow know how he feels. sortakinda.

But after whatever he’s teaching has drawn to a close, and some of that pressure is gone, he takes on a new…form. ifyoucanputitthatway. He tends to be very good-humoured, or at least as long as he remains in public. And at least he seems good humoured, to everyone but the “victim.” That’snotafunposition.

Well, to bring guilt against myself, I remember quite well some things he had to say about blogs. Let’s see if I can remember… (I’ll have to paraphrase).

The subject of blogs had somehow come up after a study. “He thinks it’s ridiculous to have a blog. He doesn’t read them.”

Myself, and the only other girl there who had a blog at that time, began to fear lest he should name us as guilty parties. Atleast,Idid.I’mnotsureabouther.

“People who have blogs should turn off the computer monitor while they type, so they can look at their reflection. It’s like they’ve got to publish their most private thoughts for the whole world to see, like an online journal of everything that’s going on in their life.”

“They can set up a mirror next to the computer, and type while they look at themselves, ‘I had a thought today, as I sat gazing at myself….’”

It went on, but my memory banks are leaky. But you saw his point. He thinks blogs are stupid.

He’sprobablyright…..

Ofcoursethat’sratherself-comdemningwhenithinkaboutit….

Imustbeexemptforsomereason…..

OrImaybei’mjuststupid.

more to this life

Whatever time we have, it’s only here for a moment. How much can we see of Christ in one lifetime? How much will we have seen?

Do we really think we’ll have some magical feeling that causes to seek God earnestly tomorrow, while we don’t discipline ourselves today? Are we thinking we’ll be more pious a year from now, if we don’t strive today? (I speak as a fool). Thank God (those words are thrown about pretty easily without really being contemplated), but thank God for His mercy that it is Him that builds us; it is His power and mercy in which we hope. In Christ we can pray for God to do with our hearts that which we can’t on our own.

But, even though we can’t, do we want what we can’t give ourselves? We constantly eat up on false fillers, but do we want to be emptied?

If the time of our lives is but a vapour, does that mean our lives themselves have to be like vapours? That we have to be blown about by every wind until we die? Or is there more to this life, than “just living and dying”?

read this before the other two posts

  Okay, before you delve into any of the other new things I’ve written, I’ll need to clarify something: today, my Pawpaw came to go visit my dad’s new work and ride around with him for a while; I went along. After an hour driving there, and another hour driving to a training session thing dad had to attend at two o’clock (we arrived at the ripe hour of twelve thirty) after waiting around for a while, the meeting commenced. “It will be about an hour.” my dad said. My grandfather and I were dismayed. We hadn’t planned for this.

  The hour long meeting lasted for two hours at least: my grandfather and I sat in a boring breakroom like two jailmates. But, having procured a pen and notebook, I produced the following two posts, (against my own standards of writing, I might add).

was i bored when i wrote this?

  

 One subject which has, to my great alarm, become more and more prominently discussed in casual conversation within my house of late, is that of arranged marriage. It is for no particular purpose, as far as I know, save for the testing of that unproven theory that obscure controversial subjects provoke deep discussion. I find no personal enjoyment in either the concept or the discussion thereof. It does, however, go a great way toward revealing a person’s goals, their attitude toward certain pertinent subjects, and the depth of their personal study.

  I do not pretend to have looked at the topic overmuch; I can make no defense for this; and I will make no promises as to my looking into it in the near future, unless I feel earnestly led in that direction.

  However, to make a few trifling remarks, I offer that it might be helpful to look at our view of marraige. Once a good friend of mine, whom I attempt to paraphrase, with fear of misrepresentation, made the remark that she could not be led to marry unless she were very much in love. I appreciated her statement, for I believe I would not marry with less. Not for purposes of the will, but because by today’s standards it happens pretty easily.

   Have our views of marital bliss been propagated by romance?

   Perhaps where the slip comes, and I speak as  a fool, is in our idea that marriage was made for our happiness. While that is perhaps an element of necessity, it is my belief that the main pupose is holiness, and conformity to the image of Christ. It may even be more looked forward to with such a view, especially for young people. Yet, i would not take this to the extreme that our dear Wesley did; and I would be the first to say the I have much to learn. But I think it’s beautiful nonetheless, and I trust that as Christians, by grace, in sickness and in health, might in some small measure live to fulfill all the good pleasure of God through this institution.  

  *click on the name and scroll to the bottom. You can now rate posts on this site*