the new day

At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it. All the darkness and distracion of the dreams of night retreat before the clear light of Jesus Christ and his wakening Word. All unrest, all impurity, all care and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, at the beginning of the day let all drstraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our whole life belongs.

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light"
(Eph. 5:14).

Deitrich Bonhoffer,
Life Together

21 June. 21 faith.

check out facebook for photos from our adventure:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3992&l=f582c&id=516991966

NEED
more from bonhoffer

this is what i wanted to post earlier when i didn't have my book with me. listen to what bonhoffer has to say about why we need relationships with others. it's lengthy, but worth it:

we belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.

What does this mean? It means, first, that a Christian needs others because of Jesus Christ. It means, second, that a Christian comes to others only thru Jesus Christ. It means, third, that in Jesus Christ we have been chosen from eternity, accepted in time, and united for eternity. . . .

(first) God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belaying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother soley because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure. . . .

(second) Without Christ we would not know our brother, nor could we come to him. The way is blocked by our own ego. Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother. Now Christians can live with one another in peace; they can love ad serve one another; they can become one. . . . Only in Jesus Christ are we one, only through him are we bound together. . . .

(third) When God was merciful, when He revealed Jesus Christ to us as our Brother, when He won our hearts by His love, this was the beginning of our instruction in divine love. . . . God Himself taught us to meet one another as God has met us in Christ . . .

What determines our brotherhood is what man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. This is true not merely at the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity. . . . The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one thing that is vital between us.

this is only a portion of the richness in this short little book. i highly recommend giving it a whirl.

the law as a mirror

i was listening to a series on the 10 commandments on my way home from philadelphia. my friend becky (shout out!) copied them for me a year ago, and i'm still making my way thru them.

one of the messages was on the purpose of the Law. the following was quoted of d.g. barnhouse:

The law of God is like a mirror. The purpose of a mirror is to reveal that you face is dirty, but the purpose of a mirror is NOT to wash your face. When you look into a mirror and find that your face is dirty, you do not then reach to take the mirror off the wall and attempt to rub it on your face as a cleansing agent. The purpose of the mirror is to drive us to the water. This is how the Law helps us: not by saving us, but by showing us our need for a Savior.

floating above the city

i rode in a hot air balloon today! granted, it was tethered to the ground so we couldn't go anywhere except up and down, but still . . .

i rode in a hot air balloon today!

daddy and i went to the zoo hoping to get to spend some time there . . . unfortunately they were closing in an hour. but the zoo has a hot air balloon that they let people ride in - go up, see the city for a bit, come down. kinda like an amusement park ride i suppose, but we jumped on the opportunity! it was well worth it - spectacular view and simply FUN to be up in a hot air balloon!

In the house I lived in during college, my roommates and I had a running debate surrounding this question:

“do we NEED people?”

For the first year I was adamant that the answer was “No”. God is all that we need. If there were no humans on this earth, I would be just fine and dandy.

Thru many conversations and surely thru divine means, my answer has changed on the matter. We do need people. Not because God is not enough, but simply because he has ordained that we be in fellowship with others.

I am reading a book now that speaks to just that. Bonhoffer’s Life Together speaks volumes into the heart of true fellowship.

Dang . . . I don’t have the book with me now and thus I can’t quote you the portion that I really want to; however, I will leave you with these tiny portions that I found on the web - take some time with them if you can - they are weighty. they may even need to be read in context to really grasp. Incredible truths about the community that we are called to be in with other believers. It is much deeper and richer than most of us seek after or even, sadly, care to experience.

"Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ" (21).

“Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man . . . Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother.” (p. 23).

“God Himself taught us to meet one another as God has met us in Christ.” p. 25.

"Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients. We thank God for what He has done for us" (28).

"Within spiritual community there is never, nor in any way, any “immediate” relationship of one to another, whereas human community expresses a profound, elemental, human desire for community, for immediate contact with other human souls. . . . Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake."

"Because Christ stands between me and others, I dare not desire direct fellowship with them. . . . This means that I must release the other person from every attempt of mine to regulate, coerce, and dominate him with my love. The other person needs to retain his independence of me; to be loved for what he is, as one for whom Christ became man, died, and rose again. . . . Because Christ has long since acted decisively for my brother, before I could begin to act, I must leave him his freedom to be Christ’s. This is the meaning of the proposition that we can meet others only through the mediation of Christ."

“By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a dream. God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both.” p. 27.

“He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” p. 27.

“Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.” p. 30.

“He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone.” p. 110.

“When I go to my brother to confess, I am going to God.” p. 112.

this entry is dedicated to all of my younger friends who have yet to choose a place of higher learning. the following comes highly recommended. enjoy your tour.

may i have the pleasure of introducing you to . . .

James Madison University

friends of mine: THIS is JMU.

nestled in the valley of the shenandoah mountains, it is wonderfully green and hilly.

behind me you see the bluestone area. this is the main part of campus where our quad and many of our academic buildings are located. this is the most beautiful part of campus (argueably i suppose - the whole things is pretty dang wonderful).

this is the kissing rock. rumor has it that if you kiss a guy here, that's who you'll end up marrying. i never kissed anyone there while i was in college. guess that solves it.

behind you see wilson hall - the hallmark building of JMU. the quad is in front of that. students spend hours out on the quad - between classes, during meals, just to play. lots of good running room for frisbee, green grass for laying and studying, etc.

we like to have fun at our school. here are a few evidences. the library really IS that way - not sure why the sign is printed upside down.

here you notice there is a ping pong table . . . outside. this is new since i left. but apparently it's part of the art garden these days. looks fully functional to me. i suppose students play here. seriously.

campus is under construction these days. they are building a tunnel under main street to increase safety of pedestrian traffic. should be interesting.

we are the Duke Dogs. here's our mascot. this statue stands outside of our brand-spankin-new athletic center.
he's the new man on campus. Mr. Madison himself. his statue stands outside of D-Hall (one of the most ejoyable dining experiences you'll have on this earth - especially when sharing it with some of your closest friends). fyi: the food at JMU is fantastic. no joke.

wilson hall at sunset. beautiful.

subliminal message: Go to school here. Go to school here. Go to school here.

please look closely at this child.

this is bryce. we used to live across the street from him and his family in VA. when i went to visit my mother several weeks ago, our neighbors all had a picnic for us.



this is how bryce showed up. and he stayed this way the whole party. please notice the bluetooth in addition to the sunglasses, goggles, mardi gras beads and anklet.



that's his older brother alexander. he has a bit more style-sense. but not as much humor.

these pictures make me laugh to no end.

ahh . . . i have unlimited internet for the next 24 hours, so i will be catching up on some postings. these may be events or thoughts from the past month or two, so please be long-suffering as i post all of them. when i get internet i tend to post a LOT all at once. and then nothing for a long time. that's just the way it has to be at this stage in my life. perhaps there will be a time when i will never have time to post. so we'll take what we can get now, eh? here comes some of my deep and certainly not-so-deep thoughts from the past few months.

p.s. i thought no one had bee commenting and i was all bummed. only to find out that i had turned on the comment moderater. blah blah blah. so thank you for posting everyone. comments may now flow freely once again.