The Gospel in Prose

Today I am starting a four part blog series that is extracted verbatim (no apologies) from a book I recently received called A Gospel Primer, by Milton Vincent. In this book Vincent does a wonderful job of applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all of life. I warmly commend it to you and I warn you to not be surprised if next time you see me, I give you a copy of this helpful little book. It is probably best not to rely on me, so and go ahead and do your soul a favor and buy yourself a copy.

Within his book, Vincent has beautifully written 'A Gospel Narrative' in both prose and in poem as a means to help Christians better preach the Gospel to themselves daily. I will be dividing this prose up into four different blog posts that will be posted three days apart. My prayer is that you are blessed and helped by the Gospel articulated in a form that you do not hear too often (if ever).

Read slowly and make sure you stop to marvel at what God has done.

Part one will be posted tomorrow.

Buy the book here.

All Will Be Well- a lesson on hope

Through the love of God our Savior, All will be well
Free and changeless is His favor, All is well
Precious is the blood that healed us
Perfect is the grace that sealed us
Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us 
All must be well

Though we pass through tribulation, All will be well
Ours is such a full salvation, All is well
Happy still in God confiding
Fruitful if in Christ abiding
Steadfast through the Spirit's guiding 
All must be well

We expect a bright tomorrow, All will be well
Faith can sing through days of sorrow, All is well
On our Father's love relying
Jesus every need supplying
Yes in living or in dying 
All must be well

_______________________

I am deeply encouraged by this hymn. It teaches me how to understand the hope Christ secured for me through the cross. It shows me that the hope I have for tomorrow, "all will be well," is not a shakeable hope. Nor is it a hope that only exists in the future. It is a hope that was perfectly secured over two thousand years ago, and because of this hope I can rise up with the hymnist, look at the work of Jesus and boldly say, "precious is the blood that healed us, perfect is the grace that sealed us, strong the hand stretched forth to shield us, all must be well." So when I cannot find it within myself to "sing through days of sorrow", I can boldly proclaim, "all is well"!

In the Gospel all must be, all is, and all will be well because of the God who loved us and gave himself for us. Praise be to him.

- LH


You can listen to the song here for free. I do recommend buying the whole album. 

Dam!

The title got your attention, and that's what I was going for.  Now go here to read about how layers of trash in the Yangtze River are 'thick enough to walk on' and could potentially block the Three Gorges Dam.

--da

An Opportunity to Complain about the Heat

Oh dear, we have really neglected the blog.  I hope those of you who actually come here weekly/daily to see if there's a post (opposed to just relying on your feeder to update) are not too disappointed in our lack of writing.  We really started the year off well, w/ a considerable amount of posts in the spring..but summer happened, and updating the blog was the last thing on my mind.

I'll try to commit to write some later about what we've been doing the past month (most of July was spent in Thailand..however, no pictures).  This morning, though, as I was folding clothes and sweating, and faking complete despair as I opened the curtains that separate the rest of our house from our kitchen/patio area (and therefore also the blazing sun) to hang up clothes to dry, I was reminded of an Andrew Peterson song.  It was one of those moments when you say to yourself, "Gosh, you really do complain a lot, don't you?"  Here's the first verse:

Little Elba how's the sun in South America
Does it shine upon the faces of the poor?
Do they see in it the brilliance of the place that's been prepared
And dwell upon the hope of what's in store?
Or are they just like me, do they only see
An opportunity to complain about the heat?  

So....thank you God, for the sun today.  I repent of my complaining heart.  Thank you for the sun and the rain that you have shine/fall on the righteous and unrighteous.

--da

go here for more Andrew Peterson music and books.