Psalm 13

23 11 2008

As I started praying for Elise (refer to a couple of posts back if you want to know what happened) a couple of days ago, I was reminded of the song Psalm 13 (How Long O Lord) by Brian Doerksen:

How long O Lord will You forget me
How long O Lord will You look the other way
How long O Lord must I wrestle with my thoughts
And every day have such sorrow in my heart

Look on me and answer, O God my Father
Bring light to my darkness before they see me fall

But I trust in Your unfailing love
Yes my heart will rejoice
Still I sing of Your unfailing love
You have been good, You will be good to me

When I got to the last bit of the song (v. 5-6), I wept.

It’s beautiful, isn’t it.

This is the meaning of prayer.  Not that God answers our requests in a certain way, but that we come to the foot of the cross and see that amidst all our sufferings and despair and hopelessness, God is a faithful and loving God who has already long since conquered it all for us.

Yes, my heart will rejoice.

The battle is already won.

This has officially replaced “You Will Carry Me” by Mark Schultz as my go-to song for times of hardship, because I quite honestly think that Mark needs to pick a lower key for his song.





completely speechless

18 11 2008

I am left completely speechless.

There is this couple at my church. Great Christians. The husband is a great leader. The wife is a sweet lady.

She was pregnant with their baby. But some complications arose, and they had a miscarriage.

And to take a break from all that, they went on a cruise.

And the wife got into an accident. She has a head injury. Internal bleeding. In a coma. And now in critical condition.

I don’t know what else to say other than “How can this be happening?”

“You give and take away……”

Pray for her. Her name is Elise.





That big, big question

27 10 2008

“So, what do you look for in a wife-candidate?”

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Those of you who know me would know that I have always had the reputation of being a wife-hunter, and with that often came this question above.

I never really gave anyone a firm answer, because, quite frankly, I didn’t believe in coming up with a list.

Coming up with a list seemed to me more like a practice needed for getting the right car, getting the right laptop, getting the right soft-synth for your recording studio, etc.

However, when it comes to finding a wife, I thought I could just rely on that instinctual feeling – that feeling you get when the person you meet is the right one.  Only problem is, this would mean risky business because I hypothetically could have that very same feeling for 3 people at once.

And so I thought about it some more.

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If I really were to give you the list say, back 2-3 years ago, it would probably look something like this:

- worships Jesus as God;

- tries to love people;

- leads a couple of youth groups and what not at her home church;

- loves kids;

- has at least 2 siblings;

- supports a football team;

- knows what a flat9 13 chord is;

- reads her Bible daily, prays daily;

- knows her 20th century world history

- is not overly girly (does not wear makeup, does not stand still and expect the guys to do all the lifting, etc.);

- likes me;

There were some other things, too.  But I think you get my point.

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Today, I still have not come up with a list.  In fact, I still do not believe in coming up with a list.  BUT, I have come to become very attracted to one big attribute: being able to sing Mark Schultz’s song, “He Will Carry Me”.

Before I go on to explain what I mean by this (and I obviously do not mean being physically able to sing it), here are the words to the song:

I call, You hear me
I’ve lost it all
And it’s more than I can bear
I feel so empty

You’re strong
I’m weary
I’m holdin’ on
But I feel like givin’ in
But still You’re with me

And even though I’m walkin’ through
The valley of the shadow
I will hold tight to the hand of Him
Whose love will comfort me
And when all hope is gone
And I’ve been wounded in the battle
He is all the strength
That I will ever need
And He will carry me

I know I’m broken
But You alone can mend this heart of mine
You’re always with me

And even though I feel so lonely
Like I’ve never been before
You never said it would be easy
But You said you’d see me through the storm

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Now ain’t that a beautiful song.

You see, I think many random people can somehow fit into the list I have up there.  I mean, I just need to move to England or something like that, then I’m sure there would be plenty of Christian gals who support a football club and serve at church and what not.

But I only know of a handful of gals who can really sing the words of this song out from the bottom of their hearts.  I only know of a handful who can really say that they are not afraid of walking through the valley of the shadow and darkness because they know that God is right there along with them.

Now isn’t that kind of faith and strength (which comes only from Him above) seriously attractive?

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I must admit though that much of this definitely comes from all the Mark Driscoll talks I have been listening to.

The common theme throughout all his talks is simply this: how can we claim to follow after Jesus Christ – God who became man, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, who suffered the kind of death and betrayal that got Him sweating drops of blood simply thinking about it – and then at the same time pray for an easy way out of life?

“I am a Christian.  I place all my faith in Jesus Christ, so that I don’t have to live like Him.”

How ridiculous does that sound?

So, anyways, this is what I find most attractive right now.

That’s a woman with character.

I should host an audition and get the ladies to sing this song.

Vicky Beeching would probably sing it very well…….HAHAHA just kidding there.

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Romans 5 (NIV)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.





The Szechuan Earthquake

15 05 2008

16,000 dead is the latest figure I heard on the news.

I don’t think I can ever wrap my mind around figures such as this.

And then you watch the more in-depth reports and see on your TV screens that these people are all the children, relatives or even parents of the hundreds of thousands around, and your heart just aches.