Becoming New

every day a little more revealed surprise.

What's left

but to love and trust?

Return

                                         

                                                         

Looking at old pictures makes me want to make new, better ones.  I guess that means continually newer, better life.
That's only possible one way.

Plans are nothing certain
God is everything, forever.
We may lean how we like.

little leaves

seasons are for changing
change is for seasoning
seasoning is for change
changing is for seasons
everything's still the same
so it goes

Wholly Spirited

I hope to play a song so sweet you can't help but dance;
to know your pain so well we cry together,
to lift your spiritso high it does so Itself.

Micrography

If your (really high quality) microscope could take pictures.
All the following: Crystals.
Note compatibility between purpose and appearance. Further, note the significances and implications that might come to mind as you consider this!


n-Butyl-p-Aminobenzoate
Experimented with as a local anesthetic.

Resorcinol
Used to treat acne, eczema, psoriasis and other skin conditions.

Caffeine
Well..

L-Arginine
Involved in the production of urea, or the product of the breakdown of nitrogen in our blood. Nitrogen and our body cells don't really react, so I'm not sure what this means. Lately, popular claim identifies L-Arginine as the 'anti-aging magic bullet' (take the advert-ising hype for what it's worth,) supposedly boosting the immune system, improving athletic performance and speeding recovery time after surgery.

Thioacetamide
An organic solvent. From the Latin solvere, "loosen." Sulfuric.



What to do with this new understanding?

"I'm actually dying for something to live for..."

This was spoken by a 23 year old oxycontin addict, who, despite multiple treatments, has failed to see any alternative.
No other option.
No better hope.

If there is anything I have learned about myself in the last year or so, it is that I hate what the devil is doing to destroy all the potential the Lord has made, the waste he is successfully making of beautiful lives.

I

hate

.pride.
.apathy.
.laziness.
.addiction.
.loneliness.
.selfishness.
.depression.
.hopelessness.
.self-destruction.

I hate what it does to people.

I hate the destruction it brings.

I hate when confusion, neglect, anger, hurt, pain and self-hatred drive people to all of the wrong solutions.

And the devil wins.

There's so much more, though. There is SO much more to life.
God, help us.

Help us to see
Help us to know
Help us to love others
to life
to truth
to you.

This morning

I told mom "I feel like something cool is going to happen today."

As I came downstairs to start some laundry, I had a thought.

What if the end of the world happened today?

Whoa!

At first I felt excited, but then a little guilty... a little burdened, kinda. If this life of mine were to end today, I can't say I'd be too disappointed! I love what 'life' is, what it has come to mean for me where I am right now; the people in it, this new stage I'm exploring... but I know that what I have to look forward to -- the sights, the sounds, (or whatever perceptions we might come to know)-- is much more fantastic than even the sweetest scene I could ever imagine witnessing, the most beautiful song I could ever hear. To praise God and celebrate His Kingdom perpetually with others of that same focus! [Isn't that the way we're supposed to live our lives now, anyway?] I know people say they can only imagine, but I admit I have a hard time doing even that! There is everything to look forward to.

But what about for people that have no idea what that feels like? No fantastic picture of hope, much less any reception of that concept, at all? That's the clincher. The thing that always gets me when I start to think about this world pulling its end cover shut. According to what I believe, what the Word of God tells me about these things, the outlook for them isn't nearly as hopeful.
There is absolutely nothing to look forward to.

That hurts to think about. It kind of provides a better understanding about why a lot of people live the way they do, though. But it still hurts.

There is a lot more that needs to be explored and said about this, but I've got some showering and malt-o-mealing to do in time to head to church.

I'll end with a couple things for now --

1) How should we best respond to this? Street corner preaching? Is it enough to live in a
God-pleasing way with our 'everyday' jobs, so long as we're sincerely focused on bringing glory to Him?

2) This morning's devotion (which came after the laundry got started) listed Isaiah 35:2, and then proceeded with this message.
"Yes or no. I like these kinds of answers -- black and white responses to questions that I can neatly
fit into two distinct categories. Most of the time, God's answer to us isn't so clean cut. In the thick of
our problems, we forget that our chief purpose is not to get a yes or no from God but to glorify Him
in whatever kind of answer we receive.
Remember, it isn't about us. It's easy to be caught up in how we will fair at the end of our respective
storms, but in the end God is always sovereign, and our situations provide the perfect opportunity
for His sovereignty to be displayed. Look at what He did for Peter. God didn't immediately remove
him from persecution; instead God allowed the situation to develop so Peter's life would be a
testimony of God's love and provision for His people."