Snapshot…

I’m holding a MacArthur Study Bible in the Russian language. We are enjoying so many great interactions with people from all over the world at this conference. Our heads are ready to explode from what we are learning.

Besides a packed program with so many great speakers we have been treated to some beautiful music from a men’s choir and the chorale from Master’s College. Jubilant Sykes sang Blessed Assurance…amazing! Violin and piano arrangement of Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus was exceptional, too.

The campus of Grace Community Church in Panorama City has many food stations, water stations, coffee stations, ice cream stations, kettle corn stations. We get breakfast and lunch as part of the program and then they bring in 12 different food trucks for dinner options that we pay for. Yesterday’s lunch was brought in by a local restaurant/caterer and they served burrito bowls with all the fixins. Today I believe we get a choice of Chick-fil-A or Deluxe Hot Dogs. Several people have commented that the food offerings make them feel like they are on a cruise.

There is an amazing book tent with prices 40% below cost on many books. One group in the book tent is offering leather Bible restoration.

So much to digest brain wise and food wise!

Eye Has Not Seen…

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)

⁹But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

It’s time for me to forewarn that ellen b. will be away from the computer and all reading material for a time. On Monday I am scheduled for Vitrectomy Surgery in Spokane. My right eye has enough floaters to form my own galaxy. They affect my vision in my right eye. The surgery will involve removing the vitreous (the clear jelly like substance that fills the middle of the eye). They will replace it with saline (a saltwater solution). I’ll be under Dear’s care who will have to instill 3 different eye drop medications in my eye at different intervals for days. I don’t really know how long it will be before I feel like typing or reading so when you don’t see anything on my blog you will know why. I hope some of you will pray for me when God reminds you by His Spirit. Thank you in advance!

This is the latest devotional book that I am reading along with my daily Bible passages.

It’s proving to be a book I copy quotes from into my journal. Piper shares this quote from C.S. Lewis and then I’ll share a subsequent paragraph from Piper.

In the middle of the last century the British writer C.S. Lewis got it shockingly right:

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His fee and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Mere Christianity)

Then Piper goes on to say:

In other words, Jesus will not be domesticated. But people still try. There seems to be something about this man for everybody. So we pick and choose in a way that shows he is on our side. All over the world, having Jesus on your side is a good thing. But not the original, undomesticated, unadjusted Jesus. Just the revised Jesus who fits our religion or political platform or lifestyle.

These quotes are just from the preface. I’ll be jotting down many more thoughts to ponder as I continue to slowly read through this one.

Happy Monday to you all. Hope to have Dear add an update on this post on Wednesday to let you know how things are going.

Thoughtful Thursday ~ The Door

John 10:9 (ESV)

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

James 5:9

Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Rev 3:20

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and eat with him. and he with me.”

Matthew 7:7 (NIV)

“Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and we have entered into the season of Lent. Are you doing anything to observe Lent for the days leading up to Easter?

Lent can be a time to open the doors of our hearts (eyes of our heart) a little wider and understand our Lord a little deeper.

Could I suggest a course on Lent in Art, a visual devotional that our sister-in-law, Kelly, has prepared. She’s an educator with many years of experience. You can view the first visual Lent in Art course here.

Looking forward to this course and all the new things that Spring will bring…

Psalm 19 (ESV)

The Law of the Lord is Perfect

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
²Day to day pours out speech,
    and night to night reveals knowledge.
³There is no speech, nor are there words,
    whose voice is not heard.
⁴Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
⁵    which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
⁸the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
⁹the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
¹¹Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.

¹²Who can discern his errors?
    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
¹³Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Break Thou the Bread of Life

Break Thou the Bread of Life

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!

Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.

Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me,
Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me;
Give me to eat and live with Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love.

O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.

Words: Mary A. Lathbury, 1877. Verses 3-4, Alexander Groves

Waiting…

A season of waiting makes for introspection. Some is good and some is not so good. In the world of blogging right now I’m not so good at getting around to many participants in my favorite weekly memes. I will cut down on some so I can do better with others. It doesn’t sit well with my brain and my comfort to be a “hit and run participant”.

I use feedly to keep track of the blogs I don’t want to miss any new posts from. I hope to add more blogs to this site as I search out more faithful bloggers out there.

We are in the season of Lent and Dear and I have set aside something together that we enjoy on a regular basis for this season. So maybe this is a kind of Spring cleaning time in my life.

We are on the alert for the arrival of our little Addy. God knows the timing on this and we will be hitting the road post haste when we get that phone call.

If you don’t see anything new here for a stretch of days don’t get the wrong idea. Blogging and bloggers are near and dear to me. I’m not giving up. Here are some verses from God’s Word on waiting in the English Standard Version.

Isaiah 40:31:

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 27: 13-14

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Psalm 33: 20-22

Our soul waits for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
    because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.

Psalm 130: 5-6

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

Isaiah 64: 4

From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.

1 Kings 2: 3

and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,

Let Your Light Shine…

“Det ljusnar en smula för den som tänder ljus för andra “

The literal translation from google is:

“It brightens slightly for those who light candles for others”

I’m hoping that a Scandinavian blogger might be able to correct this translation if it’s off or wrong.

This came down to us from Dear’s mother’s people who are all Swedish. I’m sorry to say I don’t know which relative or friend painted it and who it was painted for. It has the year 1950 painted on the back. I enjoy seeing it on the wall and I appreciate the sentiment on it, too.

I did my own little word study on light from the Bible. Here are some of the verses I found from the English Standard Version of the Bible.

For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. Psalm 18:28

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Psalm 43:3

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”John 8: 12

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. John 12:46

It was a good exercise to look up these references about light on a dark winter’s day. Good to remember the source of my light and my salvation.

I Hold You in my Heart…

Philippians 1:3-11 (ESV)

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. ⁷It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. ⁹And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

HT: Bible Gateway

I love this prayer of Paul’s and wanted to pair it with the collage of my bleeding hearts.

We are enjoying a fine stretch of dry sunshiny days here in the Seattle area. I’m getting ready to head outdoors to work alongside Dear who is cleaning out the rain gutters. I’ll be doing some weeding and maybe even wash my car! Hope you have a nice first weekend of April!

New Gifts for the whole Year!

I was gifted two new devotionals on Christmas from our daughter in love Laura and our niece Debbee. The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller with his wife Kathy Keller is a year of daily devotions in the Psalms. Savor by Shauna Niequist 365 devotions with recipes interspersed. The description reads, living Abundantly where you are, as you are. These two devotionals are different in style and I’ll enjoy each one.

Our daughter gave me a calendar with Bible Verses illustrated for each month of the year.

True words illustrated beautifully. I won’t get tired of the visuals.

We bought our favorite waitress at the Mexican Restaurant we frequent the devotional by Sarah Young called Jesus Calling in Spanish called Jesús te llama for Christmas. When we went in last week she mentioned that she had started reading it already but was wondering about the references, wanting to read them, too. We realized she doesn’t own a Bible so we went to the Bible bookstore and bought her a Bible in Spanish so she could look up the references. (The most important part…yes?) We will give her the Bible this week and show her how to find the references. Her first language and the language she still excels in is Spanish. We have fun trying to communicate with her in English.

Do you read devotionals? Are you trying to read the Bible through in one year? Do you have a favorite devotional? For years my favorite was Daily Light. Over the years I’ve preferred reading verses right from the Bible with the same theme as opposed to someone’s thoughts with a verse tacked on. But…I’m not a legalist about it! I do believe wholeheartedly that the Scripture, God’s Word, the Bible is the one book that holds all authority. Period. God’s light and truth will shine!

Eternal Father, Strong to Save ~ Hymn

Eternal Father, Strong to Save

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked upon the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoe’er we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Words: William Whiting, 1860.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Bible