A friend in need

The best of friends is not the one
Who would do whatever you asked
Who knows your entire past
Whom loving is never a chore


This friend, though he cares,
Is no good if he's not there
So the best friend I suggest
Is the one at your door


God cares for roses, thistles, and weeds
Flowers have thorns; flowers know pain
People e'en more are in pain's dark domain
A friend in need needs a friend in deed

Beautiful...

This has been a beautiful weekend. Its been a tough weekend, but a beautiful one. God has given strength and relief exactly where and when it was needed. This next week will be full of really big decisions, but I know that God is with me and I'm not afraid. :-)

Food for angry thoughts

Dear friends,

I have been seeing the reactions to the news that the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas is planning to protest at the funeral for one of the Chardon shooting victims, and I thought that I would add some needed perspective.  First off, I think you *should* be angry.  I too was physically furious when I read the news.  Anyone in their right mind would and should feel anger in regards to the proposed actions of WBC.  If you did *not* react strongly, I would be worried.  Here are some things to think about:

The Westboro Baptist Church is not connected to or supported by any of the major Baptist denominations.  The Southern Baptist Convention has the following answer to an FAQ on their website:

20. Is Fred Phelps (the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and leader of those who protest under the slogan "God Hates Fags") or his church affiliated with the SBC?

We share concern over the unbiblical views and offensive tactics of Fred Phelps and his followers at Westboro (Independent) Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro does not have now, nor has ever had, any relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention. His extreme positions not only stand in contrast to the SBC, more importantly, they stand in contrast to God's Word. (http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/faqs.asp#20)

Westboro Baptist Church is an unfortunate misnomer.  Its hateful beliefs and actions are not representative of the word “Baptist” in any way and are in fact contrary to and generally condemned by both Baptists and Christians at large.  Evil is evil no matter what it calls itself.  

So in your anger, please be careful not to vilify Baptists or Christianity as a whole as a result of the actions of one church. 

Pick Up and Live

An experiment:
http://tollevive.blogspot.com/

Thanks

I thank God for pain.  I know that seems really odd, or maybe downright crazy.  I thank Him for it none the less.    We have the capacity to create worlds.  Worlds so deceptively perfect that we forget what's real.  Pain wakes us up.  It calls us back to God.  It faces us - kicks us in face - with the question of how a good God could be sovereign over a world so evil.  In the face of pain, one cannot ignore God.

I thank God for a rainy day.  You think I jest or lie to myself, but I do...thank him, that is.  Gloomy, Eeyore days are days "that the Lord has made" no different than the sunny ones.  Rain, thunder, clouds, and snow all work to make the flowers grow.  Hardship is the wildfire that prepares our hearts for growth.

I thank God for silence.  I find myself trying to fill it whenever I meet it.  I try to silence silence.  You know, God speaks in silence.  I spend my time crying to God for wisdom and clarity, and I don't even listen to his whispers. After witnessing the strength and faithfulness of God in dispelling the prophets of baal with fire from heaven, Elijah ran to the mountains in fear of his life from Queen Jezebel. He was hiding in a cave.  God told Elijah that he would pass by the cave and talk to him.  There was an earthquake, a fire, and a tornado, but the presence and word of God was not in those.  After all these things, there "came a gentle whisper."  God spoke to Elijah in the silence.  After deafening, devastating noise,  the voice of the Lord came in a whisper.  Listen to it, will you?

I thank God for everything.  I thank Him for good, bad, A, and D.  I thank Him for euphoria and dysphoria alike. Height and depth are His.  The vast expanse of human emotion is in his hands, and it is Good.

 I thank God that He is faithful.  He is faithful no matter what.  Believe it or not, God is greater than my ability to screw things up.  There is nowhere I can go, nothing I can do that is beyond the reach of His grace.  He promises never to leave or forsake me.  He keeps His promises. 


Now thank we all our God!
Rock, star, and atom
Sing praises when we do not.
His faithfulness no one can fathom.


Earth, fire, and wind obey
My prayer is that we too may
So thank our God above
For His unfailing Love.

College

This is how college feels sometimes...

And Round Me Rings...

Late or early, take your pick
Disheartening any way defined
Clouds of grey then overwhelmed
My soul, my heart, my mind

All which could go wrong just did
Long lost to stress was 'la fin'
Blindness of the heart o'er comes
The weather without reflects within

Suddenly like a flash of grace
I remembered all the stars in place
Hidden behind perpetual grey
Always shining, there they stay

Spinning in their orbits odd
The stars obey the word of God
Not gravity as we all are fed
But that a word from God was said.

Our God above is always with you
Wondrous love he's always bringing
Such love, His Holy Word says He
Will rejoice o'er you with singing

The stars they sing in harmony
With God's rejoicing tune
And with the music of the spheres
The stars, they sing for you.

All that weighs upon your soul
Is tiny in the whole cosmos
When the love of God in song
Sweetly through the universe echoes.

Song

Haven't been writing in a while. I took Physics over the summer which hoarded focus time. Here's a song that my brother sent me. It's called: Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise. It's by the Avett Brothers.