The Gospel in Prose- Part Three

God’s Work on My Behalf

16 However, what I could not do, God did - and in doing it, He did it all, sending his own Son into the world to die on the cross for my sins, thereby showing me unfathomable love.

17 God loved me so much that he was willing to suffer the loss of his Son, and even more amazingly, he was willing to allow his Son to suffer the loss of him at the cross.

18 Jesus loved me so much that He was willing to lay down his life for me. No one could ever love me more or better than Jesus.

19 On the  third day after Jesus’ death, God raised him from the dead, thereby announcing that his death was completely sufficient to atone for every sin that I have or will commit throughout my lifetime.

20 God then exalted Christ to his own right hand, where Christ now reigns from on high, granting salvation and forgiveness to all who call on Him by faith.

(From Milton Vincent's A Gospel Primer)

The Gospel in Prose- Part Two

My Sin Against God

10 Yet I could not have failed this great God more miserably than I have.

11 Instead of giving thanks to Him and humbly submitting to His rule over my life, I have rebelled against him and have actually sought to exalt myself above him.

12 Going my own way and living according to my own wisdom, I have broken countless times either the letter or the spirit of every one of God’s Ten Commandments.

13 Thinking myself to be wise, I have shown myself to be a fool; and because of my arrogance, God has every right to damn me to the everlasting experience of his terrifying wrath in the Lake of Fire. 

14 So as for myself, apart from Christ I am bound by the guilt of my sins and also bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.

15 Apart from Christ, I am also utterly deserving of and destined for eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire, completely unable to save myself or even to make one iota of contribution to my own salvation.

(From Milton Vincent's A Gospel Primer)

The Gospel in Prose- Part One

The Glory of God

1 My God is immense beyond imagination. He measured the entire universe with merely the span of his hand.

2 He is unimaginably awesome in all of his perfections, absolutely righteous, holy, and just in all his ways,

3 He has also been unbelievably good and merciful to me as the Creator and Sustainer of my life.

4 Every breath, every heartbeat, every function of every organ in my body is a gift from him.

5 Every legitimate pleasure I experience is a gift from his loving hand to me.

6 All that I am and all that I have I owe to him and to his goodness.

7 My life in every way is, and will continue to be, utterly dependent upon him in whom I live and move and have my being. 

8 This wonderful God is the most supremely worthy Object of admiration, honor, and delight in all of the universe;

9 An he has created me with the intention that I might glorify him by finding my soul’s delight in him and by living in joyful obedience to him in all of my ways. 

(From Milton Vincent's A Gospel Primer)

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.

Cable TV and Bathroom Repair

After having a conversation yesterday w/ a good friend of mine about why we don't have cable (among other reasons, there's only one English channel), within a half an hour of returning home, Logan comes in w/ the cable box and an announcement that he's just paid for our cable through December.  The World Cup starts tomorrow, so I guess that alone makes it worth it for him.

Today I'm watching the news while catching up on housework, etc.  I've heard about the World Cup, a bust in a neighboring province on a group of people making fake money, the quality of meat and vegetables right now, a meeting Obama had w/ officials in Japan, the amount of rain the country is getting, and a meeting between Russian and Chinese officials regarding unrest in Kyrgyzstan.  (The Russians looked like the cast from The Godfather, by the way.)  

And, repair has begun on the bathroom upstairs.  :)  Two men were waiting today when I came home from class to look up above our false ceiling at the pipes.  I asked them what their method of repair would be, didn't understand, and then rephrased and asked if they would repair it from our bathroom.  He looked at me like I was stupid.  "No, it is their bathroom that is leaking down to you, so it isn't your problem."  "I know THAT," I replied.  "But from here, our bathroom, it is more convenient, right, to repair?"  He understood that and said, "No...we'll just 挖 (wa...which means dig) from up there."  So...less trouble for us, but I am currently listening to them break up the concrete upstairs.  In all honesty though, it will probably be fixed in a day or two.  Not a bad time table when you have to bust up the floor first.

--da

Around the House

Yesterday I read part of an article in the April issue of Real Simple magazine that concerned time...saving time, taking time to do things, etc.  One of the suggestions was take time to make your bed...it makes you feel like you've accomplished something almost immediately after the start of your day.  I have a friend who once told me that if nothing else got done around the house, she at least wanted the bed made.  It just makes your room look clean, even if there is a pile of clothes to be folded at the foot of the bed.  (For both of these reasons, I make our bed every day.)

Another part of the article suggested taking a week to document every mundane part of your life...from taking pictures of your half empty coffee cup to saving receipts of all the things you buy that week...and then taking some of your pictures, receipts, movie ticket stubs, etc and putting them in a scrapbook.  I don't have time to do that (not many do), and I would have to translate all of my receipts...which I guess would be good practice.  However, I did walk around the house yesterday afternoon and documented a few random things around the house.  So..here's a collection of unprofessional pictures from June 9, 2010.

Shelves hung above our bed.  Bought the brackets (braces? what are those called?) at the fake IKEA around Thanksgiving.  Got the wood at the second hand furniture store.  Books we've got up there:  Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry...I love his stuff!  Chinese Stuff, a book w/ a bunch of pictures of Chinese stuff.  The Two Towers, by Tolkien.  Two books of poetry/story on Ruth and Job, both by John Piper.  A National Geographic magazine on China, and a photo album that Karl and Liz gave us w/ a Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate in it for our wedding gift.  (Now there are pictures...we spent that money a long time ago.)

Inherited this around December.  Dish towel is from Logan's MawMaw, and the cups we randomly found here in town one evening.  It hangs above our coffee cabinet.

The wall of fame.

Got this idea from Lissa Anglin.  Nails w/ buttons super glued to them, ribbon tied and wrapped around the nails, and pictures strung along.  This is what I look at when I sit at my desk.  Lots of good friends here in front of me.

The wall behind Logan's desk in his office.

Back in my office now, meet Ger/Frances.  We inherited this lovely guinea pig in....April.  She likes green beans, cabbage, carrots, and especially cucumbers.  And toilet paper rolls on occasion.

My cookbooks...which have felt very neglected lately.....we've either been eating out, eating chicken salad sandwiches, or if Logan is gone, I have two pieces of toast or a scrambled egg and call it good.

My bamboo TEXAS cutting board!  I love this!  (Thank you, V!!!)

And lastly, a not so great shot of what our bathroom has been doing lately.  Or, rather, what the bathroom sink of our upstairs neighbors has been doing.  A slow and constant drip...which is making the area behind the tile wet (that's not a shadow) and dripping from our ceiling as well.  We have told our apt. management about it, and they've come to check it out.  The beauty of the situation:  it will be easier for them to tear out our false ceiling to get to the leaking pipes instead of busting up their concrete floor to reach the pipes.......we'll see what happens.

--da

Coffee Trip Round One

Last week I took out a group of dubious ruffians out to 'the mountain' to do a little coffee planting. Below are some pictures and a video of our travels. I think it was a good experience for everyone and I believe will be helpful for the work to continue in this village.

Above is a picture of coffee seedlings that were successfully (hopefully) transplanted into individual grow bags, 2500 in all. Below are bags that were filled and ready to be planted into, 12000 in all. All together there are about 20000 coffee seedlings that need to be transplanted. A lot of work is yet to be done.

On our way home the public bus was full. The next obvious solution was to call a private bus driver in. Only one problem... No electricity for over eight days, and the cell phone towers were out of service. Next logical option... Tractor... Enjoy the quick video... We were on the tractor for around two and a half hours. A ride that should have taken us 45 minutes.

We are going back next week for a few days. Maybe enough will happen to give me new material to write Coffee Trip Round Two...