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  • You are here: Blogs Directory / Devotionals / Walking in the Light Welcome Guest

          Random thoughts from someone trying to walk in His light

    Sun, Sep 23rd - 8:42PM



    I posted some Rich Mullins lyrics in the last post. Here is another of my favorite songs.

         It seems that I like him even better now that I hear that he wasn't very popular. I like the idea that there is a place in the Church for us jerks. Not that we should simply be jerks. But maybe if I am a jerk before Jesus I will still be a little one after. Knowing Jesus doesn't perfect us (in this life) it just makes us better than we were.
         This song shows his attitude a little. He is a little bit of a jerk. Like me

    Elijah
    Rich Mullins

    The Jordan is waiting for me to cross through
    My heart is aging I can tell
    So Lord, I'm begging
    For one last favor from You
    Here's my heart take it where You will
    Rich Mullins

    This life has shown me how we're mended
    And how we're torn
    How it's okay to be lonely as long as you're free
    Sometimes my ground was stoney
    And sometimes covered up with thorns
    And only You could make it what it had to be
    And now that it's done
    Well, if they dressed me like a pauper
    Or if they dined me like a prince
    If they lay me with my fathers
    Or if my ashes scatter on the wind
    I don't care

    But when I leave I want to go out like Elijah
    With a whirlwind to fuel my chariot of fire
    And when I look back on the stars
    Well, It'll be like a candlelight in Central Park
    And it won't break my heart to say goodbye

    There's people been friendly
    But they'd never be your friends
    Sometimes this has bent me to the ground
    Now that this is all ending
    I want to hear some music once again
    'Cause it's the finest thing I have ever found

    But the Jordan is waiting
    Though I ain't never seen the other side
    They say you can't take in
    The things you have here
    So on the road to salvation
    I stick out my thumb and He gives me a ride
    And His music is already falling on my ears

    There's people been talking
    They say they're worried about my soul
    Well, I'm here to tell you I'll keep rocking
    'Til I'm sure it's my time to roll
    And when I do

    But this one is his true heart. He knows that he is saved only by grace.

    Hold Me Jesus

    Well, sometimes my life
    Just don't make sense at all
    When the mountains look so big
    And my faith just seems so small

    So hold me Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
    You have been King of my glory
    Won't You be my Prince of Peace

    And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
    It's so hot inside my soul
    I swear there must be blisters on my heart

    Surrender don't come natural to me
    I'd rather fight You for something
    I don't really want
    Than to take what You give that I need
    And I've beat my head against so many walls
    Now I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees

    And this Salvation Army band
    Is playing this hymn
    And Your grace rings out so deep
    It makes my resistance seem so thin

    You have been King of my glory
    Won't You be my Prince of Peace



    Comment (5)

    Wed, Sep 19th - 11:33PM



    Rich Mullins died in an accident 10 years ago. I learned yesterday that he wasn't well liked in the music community. That he was often moody. It made me like him evenmore. He had an obvious passion for God, but (or maybe because) he didn't have all his act together.

    Rich Mullins
    If I Stand

    There's more that rises in the morning
    Than the sun
    And more that shines in the night
    Than just the moon
    It's more than just this fire here
    That keeps me warm
    In a shelter that is larger
    Than this room

    And there's a loyalty that's deeper
    Than mere sentiments
    And a music higher than the songs
    That I can sing
    The stuff of Earth competes
    For the allegiance
    I owe only to the giver
    Of all good things


    So if I stand let me stand on the promise
    That you will pull me through
    And if I can't, let me fall on the grace
    That first brought me to You
    And if I sing let me sing for the joy
    That has born in me these songs
    And if I weep let it be as a man
    Who is longing for his home

    There's more that dances on the prairies
    Than the wind
    More that pulses in the ocean
    Than the tide
    There's a love that is fiercer
    Than the love between friends
    More gentle than a mother's
    When her baby's at her side

    And there's a loyalty that's deeper
    Than mere sentiments
    And a music higher than the songs
    That I can sing
    The stuff of Earth competes
    For the allegence
    I owe only to the Giver
    Of all good things

    And if I weep let it be as a man
    Who is longing for his home



    Comment (5)

    Wed, Sep 19th - 9:53AM



    I didn't remember that James attached such significance to perserverance

    James 1:2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

     9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

     12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.



    Comment (2)

    Mon, Sep 17th - 10:31PM



    Ok, so I'm an idiot.

        Today it was finally cool enough to start walking around the golf course on my lunch again. As I started up I remmebered that it had been a long time. These walks are always prayer time for me. I always try to keep a prayerful/conversational attitude. I started thinking about how I used to walk before and pray passionately about our church and that God would help us find His will. And Unity.

        It suddenly occurred to me that I had asked passionately for those things, and I meant it. Maybe God was giving them to me. If, while I was praying for "my" church more than a year ago, God had said "Sure I'll fix it. But I'll need you to loose a little face and be in a position to start over. From the beginning. So I can use you." What would I have said?

        I would have said, "Great. Do it. I can take it." And I would have meant it. But since God didn't tell me first what He was doing, I'm ready to quit. He didn't consult with me. Tell me the plan. 

       I'm not saying that I'm ready now to be the hero. I probably would have expected that before my humbling year but not so much now. But maybe this was part of the big plan. Maybe I am just a small trigger that makes someone else act but maybe this was simply a necessary part of the answer to my prayer.

       Of course all that could be true. Now all I need to figure out is what is my next part in this, if any?



    Comment (4)

    Sat, Sep 8th - 12:28PM



    Hey,

    After 16 years of service to our present church, we are trying a new church tomorrow. What are the chances that we will find a unified, loving church? 

    "I know several pastors who are seriously struggling deeply with the church and as a result their faith. I know even more people who are just walking away from the whole church and Christian enterprise. Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to inflate a balloon with a huge hole in it. Often I feel like we’re still putting on a poor show, a tragedy. Scratch it all and start over. That’s what I think.

    I recently received a thoughtful comment from another blogger. I checked out her blog and discovered that she had begun as a devout Christian, but through a series of attempts at running a kind of chat-room for Christians, she decided that she just couldn’t be a part of all that crap and eventually became agnostic and now a kind of universalist. Whatever she is doesn’t matter to me. What matters is how she got there: beaten and wounded by the church and the people in it. I’ve been thinking about the story of the Good Samaritan: in sermons we hear different angles on who represents us in the story. Sometimes we are the different people who pass the wounded man by. Sometimes we represent the inn-keeper who will take care of the wounded man. Sometimes we identify with the wounded man himself. Sometimes we are compared to the Samaritan who actually helps the man. I have an idea: how about we compare ourselves with the people who beat him up and robbed him and left him for dead? I’m seeing it all over the map. Not just strangers, but friends and family of mine. I know more people wounded and damaged by the church than those who have benefited from it. And the people who seem to benefit from it are mostly the brutal beaters."

    (Quoted by Bill Kinnon. See the link below)



    Comment (5)

    Thu, Sep 6th - 9:39AM



    Hey

        I have been busy. We dropped C'Anne off at Azusa this weekend and have been helping our two"adopted" kids get moved to Orange. Things seem to be going great for all of them. We will miss them. A lot. Thank God Joel is around still for us to parent. We also took a couple of days off and relaxed.
       I was a little discouraged with the writing stuff here so I am just reading for a while. The very minor critiques weren't a problem. The encouragement was great. Its that it inadvertantly caused some strife and I CANNOT deal with causing more strife right now. It feels to much like church. I know it wasn't the writing. It just lost a lot of the fun for a while. I'm not offended or angry. It will be Ok. 
       Instead, here's a post from Erica Haub (see links below)

    I was thinking about this issue as a Christian, and I realized, wow, what a perfect act of service, what a perfect expression of our gospel it is to give blood. It is anonymous: okay, maybe you get a special little sticker to wear after you do it, but for the most part it is certainly not about any glory or recognition! It is good stewardship: it is a sharing of your resources; a new way to live simply, even, by not hoarding more than you need! It is most likely a cross-cultural act: lines of race and ethnicity, gender and economics are crossed! And ultimately, it is an act of mercy, compassion, and generosity that allows for us to enter into an individual’s pain and suffering, and provide care and healing and relief. It is quite simply a way for us to choose the path of the Good Samaritan rather than the avoid/evade option of the Priest and the Levite.

    So, here is my challenge: wherever you live, please consider taking the time to make a donation of blood, or better yet, consider how you can help mobilize others to do so as well. Churches should be the first place that people are active in giving this gift, should they not? As I prepare to give birth again in a matter of weeks, the issue remains quite present for me in my mind. So please, go and give blood and think of me and my sweet little girl who still has a mommy around, and the many others whose lives are saved by this “missional” act.



    Comment (2)

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    About Me

    Name: Jon Johnson
    ChristiansUnite ID: parakleter
    Member Since: 2005-07-27
    Location: , California, United States
    Denomination: Christian
    About Me: God seems to always be taking me someplace new. I want to praise and whine about that and share what I have learned along the way.

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