He Will Not Forsake His Saints

One of my favorite passages :)  From the ESV, copied from Bible Gateway

Psalm 37

He Will Not Forsake His Saints

^[a] Of David.

^1(A) Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not^(B) envious of wrongdoers!

²For they will soon^(C) fade like^(D) the grass

and wither^(E) like the green herb. ^3(F) Trust in the LORD, and do good;

^(G) dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.^[b]

^4(H) Delight yourself in the LORD,

and he will^(I) give you the desires of your heart.

^5(J) Commit your way to the LORD;

^(K) trust in him, and he will act.

^6(L) He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as^(M) the noonday.

^7(N) Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

^(O) fret not yourself over the one who^(P) prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

^8(Q) Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

^(R) Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

^9(S) For the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the LORD shall^(T) inherit the land.

¹⁰In^(U) just a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at^(V) his place, he will not be there.

¹¹But^(W) the meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in^(X) abundant peace.

¹²The wicked^(Y) plots against the righteous

and^(Z) gnashes his teeth at him,

¹³but the Lord^(AA) laughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his^(AB) day is coming.

¹⁴The wicked draw the sword and^(AC) bend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose^(AD) way is upright;

¹⁵their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their^(AE) bows shall be broken.

^16(AF) Better is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

¹⁷For^(AG) the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the LORD^(AH) upholds the righteous.

¹⁸The LORD^(AI) knows the days of the blameless,

and their^(AJ) heritage will remain forever;

¹⁹they are not put to shame in evil times;

in^(AK) the days of famine they have abundance.

²⁰But the wicked will perish;

the enemies of the LORD are like^(AL) the glory of the pastures;

they vanish—like^(AM) smoke they vanish away.

²¹The wicked borrows but does not pay back,

but the righteous^(AN) is generous and gives;

²²for those blessed by the LORD^[c] shall^(AO) inherit the land,

but those cursed by him^(AP) shall be cut off.

²³The^(AQ) steps of a man are^(AR) established by the LORD,

when he delights in his way;

^24(AS) though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the LORD^(AT) upholds his hand.

²⁵I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children^(AU) begging for bread.

²⁶He is ever^(AV) lending generously,

and his children become a blessing.

^27(AW) Turn away from evil and do good;

so shall you^(AX) dwell forever.

²⁸For the LORD^(AY) loves justice;

he will not forsake his^(AZ) saints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be^(BA) cut off.

²⁹The righteous shall inherit the land

and^(BB) dwell upon it forever.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

^31(BC) The law of his God is in his heart;

his^(BD) steps do not slip.

³²The wicked^(BE) watches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

³³The LORD will not^(BF) abandon him to his power

or let him^(BG) be condemned when he is brought to trial.

^34(BH) Wait for the LORD and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on^(BI) when the wicked are cut off.

^35(BJ) I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,

spreading himself like^(BK) a green laurel tree.^[d]

³⁶But he passed away,^[e] and behold,^(BL) he was no more;

though I sought him, he could not be found.

³⁷Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

for there is a future for the man of^(BM) peace.

³⁸But^(BN) transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the future of the wicked^(BO) shall be cut off.

^39(BP) The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;

he is their stronghold in^(BQ) the time of trouble.

⁴⁰The LORD helps them and^(BR) delivers them;

^(BS) he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they^(BT) take refuge in him.

Heaven

Last night a friend of mine passed away after a long battle with cancer. It's always hard to know what to say at times like this. For all of us left behind there's always questions of why, and oftentimes no answers. I'm glad to know he's finally whole and gets to bask in the glory of God forever, completely uninhibited by mortal flesh. I'm a bit jealous, too. Not that I so dislike life on earth, but oh to be free from this body and its limitations, to see the most glorious thing--far beyond anything I can begin to comprehend.
When I was younger I often marveled at the apostle Paul's words when he described the battle within between wanting to depart and be with God or to stay on earth and minister to people. I understood the sentiment but it was something my mind couldn't grasp. The thought of dying was scary, as the unknown generally is. I think now I understand. Earth is beautiful like crazy. I love people and I love the smells of spring and the warm sunshine and the gentle snow or a mighty storm. Yet for all Earth's incredible beauty, it is marred with the curse of sin and the pain it brings. Selfishness and pride hang over it like an ugly black stain right in the most obvious place of an otherwise stunning painting.
Heaven, on the other hand, is filled with the glory of God! That may seem a bit of a trite catch-phrase on the surface. But when I think of it... The wonderful feeling of knowing God here on earth-- to the ten-billionth power, and so much more than we can imagine! I daresay we won't even think of silly little things like a sweet summer breeze or the fiery leaves of autumn when all around is awesomeness to end all awesomeness. We'll never tire of singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!" What a choir that will be! We will finally be where we were meant to be: in the presence of our Maker, Redeemer, Sustainer, Fortress, Strength... there are not enough words to describe it!
So yes, there are a lot of lives Greg touched that will be missing him and I know how hard it is on his family and closest loved-ones. But I can't help but think of him in that glorious place with all the saints that have gone before, and I smile through tears of joy when I think of the moment he finally got to hear those words, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my joy."
Congrats, Greg, on a life well-lived and a victorious crossing of the finish line!

And whenever you think of it, friend, do pray God's special blessing and comfort over the Wallace and Hemmer families and all the lives Greg touched.

What about the change?

So I'm still working on reading "The Pursuit of God" and I keep running across stuff that's just so good I want to share it with everybody; I don't always follow through with that because my brain is going a billion miles an hour trying to keep up with everything. However, I just read a paragraph that really stuck out to me that I feel very well illustrates one of the points I am trying to make in my book.
"A fairly accurate description of the human race might be furnished [to] one unacquainted with it by taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong-side-out and saying, 'Here is your human race.' For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct."
In other words, the holy, righteous life we are called to when we come to Christ is so completely opposite from the natural man that we cannot be the same. This oppositeness of character would account for the "difference" people often attest to seeing in Christians. The problem is when we as Christians claim to be different but, in fact, are not different. Why are we not different? Because we allow our flesh to guide us. We do what we like and what gratifies our flesh rather than decidedly, conscientiously, and continuously submitting our desires to the Spirit of God within us.
Often our solution is to look at Scriptural lists such as the Beatitudes or the Fruits of the Spirit and try to pick at those characteristics in our own lives; we try to achieve them in our own power. However, all this serves to do is frustrate us and cause us to condemn ourselves because we know that we do not measure up to God's standard. In reality, the only way to measure up to the standard is to look to the standard. As Hebrews says "Looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." When we look to Jesus for our righteousness then He can fill us with His righteousness.
Let me quote here another part from "The Pursuit of God" which very well illustrates what I'm getting at.
"The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do."
So then, what can we conclude? Well, it is just as He has said all along "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." When you boil everything down, that's what it all comes down to. Seek God first, and you will find that turning your life inside-out and living that distinct, set-apart life will be the automatic by-product. No more beatin' up on yourself.

The Word was God

 I've been reading "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer lately. Very slowly, mind you, so I can take it all in (aside from that I don't exactly have a lot of time to just sit and read :P ) And I do highly recommend the book. So far it's reeeaaally good. Anyway, I just started chapter 6 and thought the first paragraph was really good so I wanna share it with whoever wants to read it here:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. --John 1:1
An intelligent plain man, untaught in the truths of Christianity, coming upon this text, would likely conclude that John meant to teach that it is the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others. And he would be right. A word is a medium by which thoughts are expressed, and the application of the term to the Eternal Son leads us to believe that self-expressoin is inherent in the Godhead, that God is forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The whole Bible supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is speaking. He is by nature continuously articulate. He fills the wordl with His speaking Voice."

Sorta reminds me of an illustration I heard once. Just as a radio station is always broadcasting, but we can't hear it unless we tune in, so it is with God: He is always speaking, but we aren't always hearing. And don't we find in the Bible that all creation is crying out His praise? Yet so many in the world close their ears to the chorus. So much of the time God is speaking to us through His written word and through people and events around us--even to our own hearts. We just need to be still and hear His voice.

The Statuette

On my bookshelf in the corner stands a little statuette. Upon first glance the small white horse doesn't appear to be anything special. But just like untold numbers of things in life, when you look deeper there is a story to be told and a lesson to be learned.
May 2003. It was a cool spring day when I had my 15th birthday party. I had invited several friends, though I still didn't know a lot of people since we had just moved to Missouri a few months before. Among those in attendance was a girl just a few months older than myself. For a present she gave me a statuette of a white horse that she had painted up. Being quite the horse-lover, I was always happy to have something horse-related (this was before I went on my first minimalist rampage... :P). Little did I know what this statuette would come to symbolize for me. After all, who ever knows the future?
Three years and two months later I attended this same girl's funeral. She died in a car accident at 18. Funny how things like that make you catch your breath. That day so long ago now, nobody could have known, and I'm sure of all people she never guessed she only had 3 years left to live. Had she known, might she have lived differently? What if you or I knew we only had 3 years or 3 months left to live? Would we do things differently than we are doing now? We don't even know if we have 3 minutes left to live.
In the back of everyone's mind is the knowledge that we do not know how long we have to live. Every once in a while the reality hits us, such as when someone young and healthy dies unexpectedly. But we shake our heads sadly and push the notion to the back of our minds and go on assuming we have many many years left to live. If at some time or another one has reason (whether real or imagined) to believe that his days are coming to an end, often that person changes the way they do things--being more kind and generous or whatnot. But shouldn't we live ready to die? Now, I'm not suggesting we should live like paranoid schizophrenics and be worried about dying any minute. Rather, I am saying that we should be mindful of everything we say and do. How is it going to effect us and those around us? How is it going to effect our worlds after we are gone? You may not have a chance to fix things.
If you've ever seen the movie "The Young Victoria" you may have been struck by the scene where Victoria and Albert were having a spat... right before he got shot with the bullet intended for her. I surely was. What if he had died? Imagine the guilt she would have lived with. You just never know. That's why we are called to "walk circumspectly--not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil."
This is what the white horse statuette has come to symbolize for me. Whenever I look at it I am reminded of the uncertainties of life and the importance of every single moment, because I don't know how many moments I have left. Is what I am doing now important, good, and right? Am I ready for tomorrow or the lack thereof?

Speak up, I can't hear you! (xpost)

Also posted at http://1extraordinarylifetime.blogspot.com/

“Preach the Gospel to every nation and if necessary, use words.”  This has become a very commonly-heard quote in the Christian world today. It was a wise thing for St Francis of Assisi to say, but I wonder if he ever realized how detrimental it would become to Christianity. Rather than being a call to live out what you believe, it has become a sort of scapegoat for complacency. People take it as a reason to be silent about their faith. They say “oh, I’ll just preach by the way I live and people will come to know God.” But is that true? Where is that found in the Bible? I highly doubt you would ever see Jesus take on that sort of attitude. Or could you imagine Peter saying that?  Oh how quickly the fire of the gospel would have gone out, had the early church leaders taken on that sort of attitude.

As I posted earlier, words are extremely important in communication. It would be very true to say that actions and body language are extremely important in communication as well¾the saying “actions speak louder than words” is very true. HOWEVER, that does not negate the power and importance of words. There are some people in the world who, from the outside, may appear to be very happy, wise, generous, loving, or a thousand other virtues… What’s to distinguish them from those who live such lives genuinely through Christ? Their words do! Those who are living a virtuous life because they are allowing CHRIST to live through them are going to be telling people the real reason for their joy etc.  Human eyes are all-too-easily deceived. How are they to see the real Christ in you if they don’t know what the real Christ looks like? It is up to you to tell them!

How could anyone be silent after receiving so great a gift as salvation? As Jesus said, that’s like lightning a candle and putting it under a basket. Or nowadays he might say that’s like turning on your lamp and then putting it into a box where nobody can see it. What good is it to anybody? If we have a light fixture, we’re going to put it out where it sheds light for everybody so they can see where they’re going! In practical application that means you go out and teach people the truth¾you show them that on their own they are going to hell. You don’t be rude or condemning about it, you merely shine the light of truth on the facts that are present. 

You know why more people don’t do that? It is out of fear. Nobody likes to be disliked and when you present truth, it hurts like a bright light being turned on after pitch darkness and unfortunately a lot of times that makes people dislike you. But why should fear of being disliked keep you from saving lives? Why should that fear steal the joy that a life in Christ gives you? Unfortunately it is true that some people will hate you. In fact, no matter what you do some people will hate you. Hello, Jesus promised people would hate you! So why should that stop you from doing what He told you to do? Let us not forget it is also true that some people will love you for taking the time to love them and show them the error of their ways and help them to be healed and turned toward the Son.

Don’t let complacency or fear get in the way of the furtherance of the Kingdom. Yes, do go and preach the gospel to every nation and use words when necessary. But never forget, words ARE necessary. Always.

Just Words?

Going through school growing up, the particular curriculum we used often went over the importance of words for communication (in case you ever thought to whine over your English assignments :P ). To me it made perfect sense. I mean, have you ever made the rash vow as a child "I'm not going to talk to you for the rest of the day!" And then have you tried to carry it out? It's not easy, grunting [in syllables of the words we want to say, no less] and gesturing like some sort of ape, trying to get our message across. Words are rather important to our everyday life!
Yet in spite of the importance of words, I think they have been grossly devalued in our society. Our vocabulary as a whole has declined and seems to be continuing to do so. To the point where when I talk to the average 8th grader I find myself having to define half the words I use which to me seem like everyday-usage words. (thank you homeschooling LOL)  And I wasn't even word-nerdy enough to read the whole dictionary! (well maybe I was but I never got around to finishing it. :P)
I was pondering this issue this morning, trying to figure it out. I was thinking about a comedian I heard who was making a routine out of substituting the word "rose" for "fart". He was saying that it was silly when people got embarrassed over the latter word. "It's just a word!" he crowed. "Just a word"? What does that mean? Yeah, it is a word, but words happen to have this little thing called a meaning that make it more than just a random object. With words we can paint a picture or give instructions... or write blogs to share our opinions and insights. But even more than that, with words we can build up or tear down; we can kill or we can heal. Even with the absence of words we can have a great effect upon other peoples' lives.
Here's an illustration that forever engraved the power of words on my mind. My pastor called a random person from the audience up on the stage to help illustrate the point. He had the man put his arms straight out from his sides. Pastor then pushed down lightly on his arms to show the amount of pressure he was using--it was not enough to overpower the man's outstretched arms. He had the man put his arms down, then said, "repeat these six things after me," at which point he said six negative phrases in the first-person (i.e. I'm a loser, I'll never amount to much, I hate my job, etc). The man put his arms back out as before, and with no trouble the pastor was able to push them down  using the same amount of pressure as previously. Then he said "repeat these six things after me," and said six positive phrases in the first person (i.e. I'm handsome, I'm a great husband/father, I love my job, etc) then had him put his arms back out. He again applied the same amount of pressure and the man was able to hold his arms up again.
Skeptical? Try it on some unsuspecting victim. He tried this on my brother when he came to the college my brother was attending. He said it was absolutely amazing, he could NOT hold his arms up after saying those negative things.
Think they're just words? Think again. Why do you think they have the old saying "The pen is mightier than the sword" ? Why do you think the Bible warns us so many times to be careful what we say? Even when you're just joking around, be careful what you say! (guilty :oops:) It doesn't matter if you really believe what you're saying, the words themselves are that powerful. They can even eventually change how you really believe. Sometimes even making a simple, small compliment will brighten someone's entire day. Don't just take my word for it, try it!
So next time you hear someone say words aren't important, give them a reality check! Erase that rhyme about sticks and stones from your arsenal. Remember to keep your words uplifting and positive. Use them for healing rather than hate. You'd be amazed at what a difference it will make! You might even save a life. :)
~ L.E. Neighbour

Peep peep! Life as I know it...

Yesterday morning we got a call from the post office--our baby chicks arrived! So I rushed down to pick them up, as well as some chick starter and wood shavings. Now the little peepers are happily peeping in a corner of our dining room, just as cute as can be! Ahhh I love chickens :)
Yesterday afternoon we went to the commencement ceremony for Central Bible College to watch my brother walk through the graduation line :cue applause: and after we got home we had a little celebration bonfire/wiener roast complete with cake and ice cream (which diminished our appetite for s'mores :P)
In other news, I am getting accustomed to my NEW LAPTOP (post coming on that soon ;) ) and learning the cool features of Windows 7.... Fun schtuff. Also today I am locking myself in my room (except to go get some water every once in a while cuz it's hot out lately!) and doing some serious drafting and editing (I know I promised me no more first-draft editing till the drafting is done but this is rather necessary I'm afraid... I'm not editing content so much as order ;) ) so hopefully I will still be able to meet my goal :D
And last item for the day which is really irrelevant to the majority of my readers, but I CAN'T keep it to myself! I'm getting uber excited about the TN get together starting May 23!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's just barely over 2 weeks away and I'm so excited I can hardly concentrate so that's gonna make life a little difficult I'm afraid :-/  But life ain't always easy so I just hafta deal with it. At least life is GOOD, right? And I have God to thank for that :D  woohooo!
ok off to get my water (and I hafta start lunch soon :( ) then BACK TO WORK B-)  Have a totally awesome day, peoples!

The Bloggosphere: I Love Customized Backgrounds :D

Hey check it out! I overhauled this blog too now.  Emily Ann Benedict of Blog Cargo and I have been working on it for a while now. Well I say we but I mean she. I was just the ruthless taskmaster, she was the mastermind/slave/artist ;) haa ha :P  So d'ya like it? Hmmm?  I do B-)  I just can't see the whole thing on this screen because I'm still using this tiny secondary screen rather than  my normal laptop screen :'(  *sadness in a box*  BTW, Emily's also my campaign manager for my "buy me a real computer of my own" fund cuz she's cool like that B-)  So anyway if you like it, stand up and cheer. If you don't, sit and whine... either way, it's here to stay for a while.  I hope... (And Emily probably does too :P )
Now all I gotta do is get the buttons to put on my website and hopefully I can quit playing geek for a while :-B
G'day!

The Bloggosphere: Clutter and Cleanliness

In case I hadn't mentioned it before, I am OCD. Not severely like Monk or anything, but I like to have things very orderly and clean, organized and easy-to-find, etc.  (and yes, symmetrical is always a bonus xD )  Blogs are no exception. I like to see a good, clean-looking blog. But this can be a frustrating point because sometimes I want to put a lot of info in sidebars and such... It's just hard to do without looking like a circus. Fortunately on these my two public blogs I don't have a whole lot of info at this time that I want posted in my sidebars so I haven't had to fight with it. Anyway I don't have time to fight with it because I'd rather focus on either posting a good blog or just writing some more in my book. However, this preference of mine does make a difference in the blogs I read, and I'm sure I'm not the only one (am I?).
If I go to a blog and it's all cluttery and hard to find what I'm looking for, I don't waste my time looking for it. Even if the article is really interesting, it just bugs my subconscious that there is all this stuff in the sidebar. Most of it, I understand why it's there, but it still messes with my mind. Unless the blogger has managed to find a way to make it look neat and orderly. Oh how much I appreciate that. And you know, I can't even really explain the difference, but I do notice it. One thing I do know that makes a difference is only having the sidebar content on one side. Of course, when one has a lot of sidebar content, this makes it hard to get to the bottom of the page... which wouldn't be such a big deal except that sometimes people put things I want to find like follower/tag lists or playlists at the bottom. Which brings me to my next point: Playlists
Let me start by saying I'm all for having a playlist of cool music on your blog. I have one on several of my blogs. It's cool because you can tell a lot about people by their playlist (BTW the one on here doesn't seem to be working properly which totally stinks). HOWEVER  my HUGE PET PEEVE with playlists is auto-playing playlists. Like, I'm a huge multitasker and I pretty much always listen to music on WMP or grooveshark while I'm working... it helps drown out background noise and such. But so many times I will open a blog and all of a sudden my ears are insulted by something that totally clashes with the music I'm listening to. And what's the absolute worst is when I don't know WHERE the bloomin' music is coming from!!!!!  ARGH  ok sorry it just bugs me LOL  one day I spent like 10 minutes trying to find the stupid playlist and turn it off b/c I didn't like the song and it was ruining the awesome song I was listening to which I couldn't pause since it was on an entirely different browser and I was too busy looking for that wretched song. (BTW it took me so long b/c I had like 20 tabs up, each with a different blog I was reading. Yes, as I said, I am a multitasker :P).
So no offense to anybody who has their blog set up like this, but I'm just sayin' it bugs me. You can just ignore me if you want and I'll keep living with it, but now you can't say you don't know, right? Right ;)
Anyway all that to say, Congrats to those of you who have been able to maximize sidebar content AND make it look good. You deserve an award and I wish you could teach me how to do it. ;)  As for me, I'm keeping my sidebar content to a minimum b/c I really am a minimalist at heart, no matter how much pack-ratting I do (we won't go there today) and I love things to be neat and orderly.
Who's with me? :D