Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Greg Sykes - Reverse (Official Music Video)

Longing For Zion

1 Chronicles 29:15 New Living Translation (NLT)

15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

Hebrews 11:13 English Standard Version (ESV)

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

1 John 3:2 English Standard Version (ESV)

2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Psalm 137:1-4  New King James Version (NKJV)
Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land
137 By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?

Our granddog is continuing his quest to get back to the university where his master resides.   Last night he stood at our front door with an open can of dog food in his mouth waiting to be let out.  "What's he doing?" my husband asked.

"I think he's packing his bags," I answered.  Sure enough, when my husband took him outside, he went straight to the car and climbed in waiting for his ride.  We all have a longing for Zion.  It may be for my granddog a dorm room, but for the rest of us it is that place where Christ reigns. 

Isaiah 35:10 English Standard Version (ESV)

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Rivers of Babylon - Bill & Gloria Gaither 

Sunday, April 23, 2017

He's a Good Dog

Ephesians 1:16 New English Translation (NET Bible)

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers.

Genesis 31:49 English Standard Version (ESV)

49 and Mizpah,[a] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight.

Our Easter weekend was spent with the young man who used to live at our house but now lives at the university, and it was a lovely Easter.  This Sunday I found myself spending a great deal of couch time time wrapped up in heavy fur collar, my granddog so to speak, seems to be missing his master.  He asked to be let out the door leading outside from my son's room and didn't return.  I searched and found him on the steps to the garage staring at the door as if to will my son to walk through (my son being the one who parks his car in that garage).  I considered crying, but instead scooped him up and carried him to the couch where he snuggled up just as close as he could, hence the fur collar.  We might as well be missing him together, out of sight but never out of mind.  He's a good dog.

A Southern Gospel Revival: Courtney Patton - Take Your Shoes Off Moses

It's Sunday!

What's my only one thing?  
Forgive me, Father, for all the foolish things I want and lead me to You and You only.  
I Confess - Tenth Avenue North

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

He Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed!

Edward Middleton Manigault : Christ Appearing to Mary 1910

John 20:1-18 New International Version (NIV)

The Empty Tomb
20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Easter Medley | Anthem Lights

"Oh Mercy" Lyric Video - Stu Garrard, Matt Maher and Audrey Assad

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Phil Wickham - My All In All (Official Lyric Video)

We Are the Never Shaken...

...and the never forgotten

And So I Shall Go to Work

Colossians 3:23-24 New English Translation (NET Bible)

23 Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not for people, 24 because you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as the reward. Serve the Lord Christ.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Look Forward, Keep Walking

Lot's wife

Ecclesiastes 7:10 New English Translation (NET Bible)

10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these days?”
for it is not wise to ask that.

Luke 17:32 English Standard Version (ESV)

32 Remember Lot's wife.

Philippians 1:6 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3:14 English Standard Version (ESV)

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 New English Translation (NET Bible)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.


Like Lot's wife I can long for the good old days forgetting that those days weren't always good.  Yes, there is suffering that comes simply from living in a fallen world; but there is also suffering that comes from self-inflicted pain, the consequences of my own sins.  I can look back on many "if only's" and "should have's" in my life and long for "do over's" of past regrets, when I should be looking forward to the transforming power of my Lord and Savior.  I've been redeemed, my sins forgiven at the cross!   Look forward, child of the King!
Desire to look more like Jesus and less like the world and always walk with God.

Dear Younger Me - MercyMe


HOSANNA - Phil Driscoll

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Never Old Enough...

Romans 11:33-34 English Standard Version (ESV)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”

Job 5:9New English Translation (NET Bible)

9 He does great and unsearchable things,
marvelous things without number;

But we'll understand it better by and by.

By and By - Selah