Thanksgiving
Posted: November 24, 2011 Filed under: Gospel, Life Leave a comment »Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Hope you enjoy these quotes as much as I have!
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
“When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?”
- G.K. Chesterton
“A thankful heart cannot be cynical.”
- A.W. Tozer
“Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. I can choose to grateful when I am criticized, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly.”
- Henri Nouwen
“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?”
- Bonhoeffer
Lunch Special
Posted: November 22, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »
It’s not everyday I get to have lunch with this gal. :) blessed.
Covenantal Faithfulness
Posted: November 12, 2011 Filed under: Books, Gospel Leave a comment »God’s relationship to Israel is most commonly described as a covenant. The word ‘convenant’ conveys the permaence, steadfastness, and mutuality rather than the personal depth of that relationship. Is the covenant a tether, a chain, or is it a living intercourse?
In the domain of imagination the most powerful reality is love between man and woman. Man is even in love with an image of that love, but it is the image of a love spiced with temptation rather than a love phrased in service and depth-understanding; a love that happens rather than a love that continues; the image of the tension rather than of peace; the image of a moment rather than of permanence; the image of fire rather than of light. But God said, “Let there be light.”
- A.J. Heschel The Prophets
Acts 3 – The Lame Beggar Healed – Questions
Posted: November 8, 2011 Filed under: Gospel Leave a comment »Every Wednesday, I get the privilege to sit with some friends and discuss a portion of text for that week. This week we’re going to be looking at Acts 3. Our time usually consist of us sharing questions about the text with each other. I thought, why not post some that I had about the beginning of Acts 3, where Peter and John heal the lame beggar. Here’s the text:
[3:1] Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. [2] And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. [3] Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. [4] And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” [5] And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. [6] But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” [7] And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. [8] And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. [9] And all the people saw him walking and praising God, [10] and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Here are some questions and thoughts I have…
- Peter and John were going to the temple. The more I read the new testament, the more confused I get on how today we think the early church had nothing to do with that…
- Why is this the first healing that was written about in detail? (The end of Acts 2 mentions the apostles doing many signs, so this wasn’t the first?)
- Is the author trying to draw connections to any of Jesus’s healings?
- Why was it so important to look at the apostles?
- Why is it called the Beautiful Gate?
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to share these questions, and I’ll write a follow up post about our discussion on them.
Shalom!
Shake It Out – Florence+The Machine
Posted: November 3, 2011 Filed under: Music Leave a comment »Obsessed right now…
