post 18

I found this to be a very, very well-worded and inspiring poem.
(And for me to stay focused reading that "long" a poem... is saying something.)

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings-nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And -which is more- you'll be a Man, my son!

-Rudyard Kipling

Or woman :D

(thank you Josh Harris)

post 17

exodus 3 

[God to Moses] 

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people,

have heard their cry. 

I know their sufferings, 

and I have come down to deliver them,

 to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, 

and...I will be with you” 

[Moses to God]

“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them,

 ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ 

and they ask me, 

‘What is his name?’ 

what shall I say to them?”  

[God to Moses]

Tell them “I AM WHO I AM.” 

meaning: 

He will be, eternal, 

to be, to exist, 

and always is. 

Unchangeable. 

This name is unique to God alone. 

The covenant-keeping God. 

El Shaddai shows God as covenant maker. 

I AM/Yahweh shows God as covenant keeper.

[God continues to Moses]

Say this to the people of Israel, 

‘The LORD, 

the God of your fathers, 

the God of Abraham, 

the God of Isaac, 

and the God of Jacob, 

has sent me to you.’ 

This is my name forever, 

and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations."

//

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise

post 16

I want to know why?

Why did "this" happen this way?

If I knew WHY then maybe I could bear it.

If I saw what You, God, saw, maybe I could handle this better.

I've thought that ^ before.

My mom had a miscarriage.

"Why God?"

Through the post-miscarriage doctors appointments mom found out she had cancer.

The miscarriage was used to help save her life!

I felt like I knew "why."

But I've learned this answer to Can I just know why? is rare.

We usually don't know why.

Or sometimes we want to know how.

How can this be good?

How could you possibly turn this into something good?

How?

If I just knew "how" I could endure this.

Even rarer is it that we get to know "how" God is going to work.

Turns out that we don't get to know very much.
Just kidding.

"And you shall know the Lord." Hosea 2:20

It isn't promised that we will know why.

It isn't promised that we will know how.

But it is promised that we shall know the Lord.

That is what we know.

The privilege, the honor, the joy, the safety, the blessing of knowing the Lord,

even when - no! - especially when you know nothing else.

//

Now my heart's desire is to know You more,
To be found in You and known as Yours, 
To possess by faith what I could not earn,
All-surpassing gift of righteousness.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You.
T

here is no greater thing.

graham kendrick