Let’s be reminded that Jesus was motivated by compassion …
Matthew 9.36 - “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Matthew 14.14 - “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
Matthew 15.32 - “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.”
Matthew 20.34 - “Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.”
Compassion drove Jesus to care for others’ physical, spiritual and emotional needs. Without compassion we can never see people as God sees them.
I believe compassion is cultivated by pain. The most compassionate people I know are those that have endured great personal loss. Experiencing pain enables them to take pause, consider others’ pain, and respond with mercy.
And a merciful response is what is required of us in Micah 6:8 - “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."
Lord, may you deal with us as you spoke to Israel in Ezekiel 36:26 - “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Grant us compassion Lord.
English papers, meet blog. Blog, meet english papers. Enjoy! ;)
Victory in silence..
Victory can sometimes be silent.
A lot of people these days refer to victory as the loud noise of fulfillment. Oftentimes, we're unable to see the things behind the success of the noise. Some people may have sacrificed their pride in hope of bringing fulfillment to one's success. Being humble, that is.
How funny it is that reality beats what's supposed-to-be. People are really ambitious, i can see. And it is so sad that not few are willing to stepped on someone's pride and dignity to reach their goals. Not few took away someone's self-esteem to boast themselves.
I know the feeling, i've once lost my self-esteem for someone else's goal.
Yes, I get to write about Jesus in my English class. :)
Lamentation Before Celebration
It seems that American Christians are all about celebration. In fact, some churches have intentionally chosen the adjective “celebratory” to describe their worship style. Everything has to be upbeat, positive, encouraging. After all, life itself is discouraging, depressing, and difficult enough; shouldn’t church be uplifting?
The Bible does indeed encourage us to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). However, true celebration takes into account the gravity of mourning and suffering. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that lamentation is good for us: “The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure” (Ecc. 7:4). And the Apostle Peter reminds us that suffering is crucial to proper rejoicing: “To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:13). To put it another way: Redemption and Consummation ring hollow without a realistic assessment of the Fall.
For example: We want to celebrate exuberantly on Easter Sunday. To that end, we gather first for a somber and melancholy observance of Good Friday. Our Good Friday worship gathering will indeed be worshipful, just not in a celebratory way. We’ll reflect on the gravity of sin, the seriousness of God’s wrath, and the dark reality of that beautiful, scandalous night.
So, do not attempt to muster up a joyful spirit on Easter Sunday, or any time for that matter without embracing the fear, darkness, and lamentation of life in general.
The Centralization Of Authority: Part 1
Let's start at the beginning of Acts 5.. The church has been growing super fast, people were being healed, the gospel was spreading. Then God decides to freak everyone out by killing someone who gave money to the church.
I should be clear here, Ananias and Sapphira conspired together to gain favor in the fledgling church by appearing spiritual in an act of giving. They decided together to sell some land and give part of the money to the apostles and make seem as though they had given all the money they received. Peter being full of the Spirit knew they were attempting to deceive the body of believers and, more importantly, God himself. Peter called them out and both were struck dead.
This strikes fear in my own life because I feel I've committed equally, if not worse, sins against God my savior. God clearly is the author of life and is sovereign over all, so he can at any point exact his wrath or demonstrate his mercy. That said, I believe God used this event as an example rather than a norm to establish and centralize the leadership of the early church and further build the church's foundation. Jesus says to Peter and the rest of the twelve that on them he'll build his church. If Ananias and Sapphira were able to get away with this, you'd have seen enemies of the church weasel their way into leadership and disintegrate its foundation and credibility.
What God did worked. People were hesitant to join the believers out of fear, but still received the gospel in droves. The Sanhedrin, naturally, became jealous and sought to prevent the apostles from preaching more. A respected leader wisely prevented them from carrying out any capital punishment on the apostles by arguing that if these men were not aided by God himself their movement would die. God in his wisdom used the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira to ensure that the movement would in fact be completely led by his Spirit.
As we'll see later on in Acts, this is one of many events that God used to ensure the fidelity of this new movement.
Victory can sometimes be silent.
A lot of people these days refer to victory as the loud noise of fulfillment. Oftentimes, we're unable to see the things behind the success of the noise. Some people may have sacrificed their pride in hope of bringing fulfillment to one's success. Being humble, that is.
How funny it is that reality beats what's supposed-to-be. People are really ambitious, i can see. And it is so sad that not few are willing to stepped on someone's pride and dignity to reach their goals. Not few took away someone's self-esteem to boast themselves.
I know the feeling, i've once lost my self-esteem for someone else's goal.
Yes, I get to write about Jesus in my English class. :)
Lamentation Before Celebration
It seems that American Christians are all about celebration. In fact, some churches have intentionally chosen the adjective “celebratory” to describe their worship style. Everything has to be upbeat, positive, encouraging. After all, life itself is discouraging, depressing, and difficult enough; shouldn’t church be uplifting?
The Bible does indeed encourage us to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). However, true celebration takes into account the gravity of mourning and suffering. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that lamentation is good for us: “The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure” (Ecc. 7:4). And the Apostle Peter reminds us that suffering is crucial to proper rejoicing: “To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:13). To put it another way: Redemption and Consummation ring hollow without a realistic assessment of the Fall.
For example: We want to celebrate exuberantly on Easter Sunday. To that end, we gather first for a somber and melancholy observance of Good Friday. Our Good Friday worship gathering will indeed be worshipful, just not in a celebratory way. We’ll reflect on the gravity of sin, the seriousness of God’s wrath, and the dark reality of that beautiful, scandalous night.
So, do not attempt to muster up a joyful spirit on Easter Sunday, or any time for that matter without embracing the fear, darkness, and lamentation of life in general.
The Centralization Of Authority: Part 1
Let's start at the beginning of Acts 5.. The church has been growing super fast, people were being healed, the gospel was spreading. Then God decides to freak everyone out by killing someone who gave money to the church.
I should be clear here, Ananias and Sapphira conspired together to gain favor in the fledgling church by appearing spiritual in an act of giving. They decided together to sell some land and give part of the money to the apostles and make seem as though they had given all the money they received. Peter being full of the Spirit knew they were attempting to deceive the body of believers and, more importantly, God himself. Peter called them out and both were struck dead.
This strikes fear in my own life because I feel I've committed equally, if not worse, sins against God my savior. God clearly is the author of life and is sovereign over all, so he can at any point exact his wrath or demonstrate his mercy. That said, I believe God used this event as an example rather than a norm to establish and centralize the leadership of the early church and further build the church's foundation. Jesus says to Peter and the rest of the twelve that on them he'll build his church. If Ananias and Sapphira were able to get away with this, you'd have seen enemies of the church weasel their way into leadership and disintegrate its foundation and credibility.
What God did worked. People were hesitant to join the believers out of fear, but still received the gospel in droves. The Sanhedrin, naturally, became jealous and sought to prevent the apostles from preaching more. A respected leader wisely prevented them from carrying out any capital punishment on the apostles by arguing that if these men were not aided by God himself their movement would die. God in his wisdom used the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira to ensure that the movement would in fact be completely led by his Spirit.
As we'll see later on in Acts, this is one of many events that God used to ensure the fidelity of this new movement.
"You are my everything, and I will adore You."
I saw a person's facebook status today that was a song about Jesus. I thought to myself, aww I love that song! And then I kept scrolling, and at the bottom it said "I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND, JAKE" Hmmm.. Jesus, Jake, Jesus, Jake... Different people, right? Then I decided to creep and I saw a pattern.. She had about 5 different posts, all "Jesus music" quotes, directed to her boyfriend. Messed up? Yeah...
Ever just lost it?
Have you ever just been sitting around with your friends having a good time, and then all of a sudden you just feel the need to scream. To jump up and down, throw something and cry.. ever happen to you? Have you ever just lost it?
If you're like me, you hate to cry in front of other people. It's your biggest fear, your biggest insecurity. And when the moment comes where you just can't hold back your tears anymore, you get that awkward lip twitch and your chin starts to shake. You get short of breath and your vision becomes blurry because of the tears forming, and all you can do is fake sneeze and pretend like that produced little baby tears..
It was nothing like that this time. I couldn't help it. I just cried. Burst out into tears when someone asked me about Hunter, and that has NEVER happened before. I don't know why it happened this time, but it did. I think it's one of those "break downs" that I have every so often, but now it won't go away. It's like this never- ending heart break.. Like, no matter what I do to cover up my hurt I will never really be ok. On Novemeber 16th, 2009 I didn't expect this to hurt me this bad. It didn't hurt me this bad, at all actually. And for some reason, almost a year later..I'm struggling like I never have before. I've hit rock bottom....
If you're like me, you hate to cry in front of other people. It's your biggest fear, your biggest insecurity. And when the moment comes where you just can't hold back your tears anymore, you get that awkward lip twitch and your chin starts to shake. You get short of breath and your vision becomes blurry because of the tears forming, and all you can do is fake sneeze and pretend like that produced little baby tears..
It was nothing like that this time. I couldn't help it. I just cried. Burst out into tears when someone asked me about Hunter, and that has NEVER happened before. I don't know why it happened this time, but it did. I think it's one of those "break downs" that I have every so often, but now it won't go away. It's like this never- ending heart break.. Like, no matter what I do to cover up my hurt I will never really be ok. On Novemeber 16th, 2009 I didn't expect this to hurt me this bad. It didn't hurt me this bad, at all actually. And for some reason, almost a year later..I'm struggling like I never have before. I've hit rock bottom....
Woke up to this song as my alarm..
Made me think of Nanny and Hunter.
I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You're beautiful
I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It's all proclaiming who You are
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You're beautiful, you're beautiful
When we arrive at eternity's shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we'll sing
You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You're beautiful
I see Your power in the moonlit night
Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright
We are amazed in the light of the stars
It's all proclaiming who You are
You're beautiful, You're beautiful
I see you there hanging on a tree
You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me
Now you are sitting on Your heavenly throne
Soon we will be coming home
You're beautiful, you're beautiful
When we arrive at eternity's shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we'll sing
You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful
Just one of those days.
I've always said that my Nanny taught me how to act, I just haven't figured out how to do it. But after a long, long morning of acting the way I know my Nanny would frown upon.. I've finally figured it out.
I always try to turn everything around back to me. I try to put blame on someone for my mistakes or flaws. I always try to push buttons just to see how far I can get with a person before they break. Today I realized that I'm not the person that my Nanny would want me to be. I desperately wish that she could still be here to help me out with the change that (starting today) I'm going to try to make. I know that she isn't here in person, but she's here in spirit. And I have everything that she ever taught me and everything that I ever observed and looked up to from her in my heart. I guess you could say that I want to have a heart like my Nanny's.
Recently, I've felt as though everything I say or do is wrong. When really, I just don't think before I speak or act. Why? I don't know. Sometimes I just say things to say it, and Nanny always said to not do that. She also said to never put bottles in the trash compressor, but we still do that too.. ;)
Out of all the people who have died in my life, this is the one death that I've been able to deal with in a healthy way.. For some reason that scares me. Everything has fallen apart, yes. But I'm not running to drugs or alcohol or boys to make me feel better. I'm just, dealing with it. I think it's because this time, the one that died was family. Close family. And I know that if she knew how I acted before, she wouldn't be too happy. But even in that mood, she still would have had her big "Nanny smile" on.
I talk about her smile often, but if you would have been at that funeral.. Every single person who spoke mentioned it. Seriously. It's her smile that I'll miss most, honestly. She had one of those smiles that you'd never forget, one of those that would always be on her face no matter what.
Thank you, Nanny. For teaching me how to act and for teaching me what kind of person I should. I haven't put it in action the past 16 years, but now I am. I love you and I miss you, Nanny.
I always try to turn everything around back to me. I try to put blame on someone for my mistakes or flaws. I always try to push buttons just to see how far I can get with a person before they break. Today I realized that I'm not the person that my Nanny would want me to be. I desperately wish that she could still be here to help me out with the change that (starting today) I'm going to try to make. I know that she isn't here in person, but she's here in spirit. And I have everything that she ever taught me and everything that I ever observed and looked up to from her in my heart. I guess you could say that I want to have a heart like my Nanny's.
Recently, I've felt as though everything I say or do is wrong. When really, I just don't think before I speak or act. Why? I don't know. Sometimes I just say things to say it, and Nanny always said to not do that. She also said to never put bottles in the trash compressor, but we still do that too.. ;)
Out of all the people who have died in my life, this is the one death that I've been able to deal with in a healthy way.. For some reason that scares me. Everything has fallen apart, yes. But I'm not running to drugs or alcohol or boys to make me feel better. I'm just, dealing with it. I think it's because this time, the one that died was family. Close family. And I know that if she knew how I acted before, she wouldn't be too happy. But even in that mood, she still would have had her big "Nanny smile" on.
I talk about her smile often, but if you would have been at that funeral.. Every single person who spoke mentioned it. Seriously. It's her smile that I'll miss most, honestly. She had one of those smiles that you'd never forget, one of those that would always be on her face no matter what.
Thank you, Nanny. For teaching me how to act and for teaching me what kind of person I should. I haven't put it in action the past 16 years, but now I am. I love you and I miss you, Nanny.
"our fingerprints don't...
..Fade from the lives we've touched"
Nanny, I love you. Always have and I will. You were the most positive woman that I had ever met and I'm so happy that I got to call YOU my Nanny. I miss you a lot and i'm happy to know that you're in a better place.
Hunter, it just hit me that you're really gone..... I love you.
Nanny, I love you. Always have and I will. You were the most positive woman that I had ever met and I'm so happy that I got to call YOU my Nanny. I miss you a lot and i'm happy to know that you're in a better place.
Hunter, it just hit me that you're really gone..... I love you.
"The sky looked beautiful today..
and it's all because I know you're up there.."
I watched as the family I've always seem be so crazy and happy, fall apart into tears. All of us together in one church, worshipping and praising the God that our Nanny loved with her whole heart. Never in my life did I ever once think about how a death of a loved one could bring so many people together.. I always thought that when someone in our family died, it would just piss us all off and push us all away from each other becuase we didn't wanna talk about our feelings.. since we're all like that.. But, through this past week.. I realize how blessed I am to have the family that I have..
I watched as my Peepaw got up in front of everyone and cried. He cried through the words that he shared about our Nanny, and he cried when we worshipped all together. Surprisingly, that was the first time I ever saw my Peepaw cry. Through his brain tumor and throughout the whole 16 years of my life, today was the first time I ever saw him cry. And it absolutely broke my heart.
I finally saw that it really is ok to cry. It's ok to feel. It's ok to open up.
I realize now that I can't change what happens in my life. I just have to accept it for what it is and know that God has a reason behind everything. Now Nanny is up in heaven with the Lord. I'm jealous! What makes me really happy though.. Is she gets to be with my Hunter bug.
Nanny taught us all so much. I will never EVER forget her
I watched as the family I've always seem be so crazy and happy, fall apart into tears. All of us together in one church, worshipping and praising the God that our Nanny loved with her whole heart. Never in my life did I ever once think about how a death of a loved one could bring so many people together.. I always thought that when someone in our family died, it would just piss us all off and push us all away from each other becuase we didn't wanna talk about our feelings.. since we're all like that.. But, through this past week.. I realize how blessed I am to have the family that I have..
I watched as my Peepaw got up in front of everyone and cried. He cried through the words that he shared about our Nanny, and he cried when we worshipped all together. Surprisingly, that was the first time I ever saw my Peepaw cry. Through his brain tumor and throughout the whole 16 years of my life, today was the first time I ever saw him cry. And it absolutely broke my heart.
I finally saw that it really is ok to cry. It's ok to feel. It's ok to open up.
I realize now that I can't change what happens in my life. I just have to accept it for what it is and know that God has a reason behind everything. Now Nanny is up in heaven with the Lord. I'm jealous! What makes me really happy though.. Is she gets to be with my Hunter bug.
Nanny taught us all so much. I will never EVER forget her
It's funny, ya know...
Seeing my family all together. You'd think it was a holiday. The only time you ever see the whole entire family together is on the holidays and now we're all together for what my Mimi said is a "family tragedy." scary to think of it that way. It's weird seeing Papa speak up and talk. He's always told his one or two stories a night, and we all love those. But Nanny usually did the talking for him, and now that she's gone..he's talking more than ever. I don't like this. I don't like how Papa can seem so ok, and just so chill.. Funny looking at him hiding it, and then looking at how I hide everything.. Runs in the family I guess?
It's that smile I'll miss most.
Who's gonna call on my birthday and sing me happy birthday every single year? Who's gonna randomly give me $100 dollars when I see them? Who's gonna let me dress up in their clothes? Who's gonna let me slide down their stairs, no matter how old I am?
So many things Ill miss about Nanny. I can't even begin to explain what an impact she had on my life.. She was a positive influence on everyone.. With that smile and how positive she was about absolutely everything.
What am I gonna do?...
I'm already missing that smile...
So many things Ill miss about Nanny. I can't even begin to explain what an impact she had on my life.. She was a positive influence on everyone.. With that smile and how positive she was about absolutely everything.
What am I gonna do?...
I'm already missing that smile...
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