“What’s a pierogi?”
“It’s a dough. Wrapped around meat.”
“oh.”
“What’s a gwumpkey?”
“It’s a cabbage. Wrapped around meat.”
“oh.”
“Now, what is a paprika?”
“It’s a bell pepper. Stuffed with meat.”
“I see.”
“What’s a kielbasa?”
“It’s pretty much just meat.”
“oh”
“The seventh Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,Seven pitted prunes…”
“I don’t like prunes!”
“With this food, you’ll need ’em son.”
a Quote:
“. . . somehow he [Paul] had the faith to believe that these “things” – surely not good in themselves – could nevertheless be used by God to accomplish good.
Confidence like that can go a long way towards solving discouragement over a ministry that never quite works out in the way we wish.”
Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim
Church: Why Bother?
by Philip Yancey
my Prayer:
Lord, help me to see through your eyes. Through your perspective. I struggle with myopic vision every. single. day. Please help me to see objectively and to remember that you can do anything, without limitation.
Please help me to remember that when you ask me to put my weight against a boulder, it doesn’t mean I’ve failed if I don’t move it even one inch. It may be that Your will is for me to hold it steady, which from my point of view feels and looks like inaction. Please help me to be content in my obedience even when you don’t allow me to see the results of that obedience. Please help me to remember that you can take any offering I bring – no matter how flawed or weak or small – and use it to accomplish your purposes.
the Word:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39 (NIV)
the lyric.
“And this is my prayer in the battle, when triumph is still on it’s way. I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ, so firm on His promise I’ll stand.”
Desert Song
by Hillsong United (Live)
This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.
a Quote:
“Over the years Moses has learned something so sweet and strange and mysterious that only one word can begin to capture it: grace, God’s free, undeserved gift. He has learned that God loves him despite his failures, with a pure, stubborn, everlasting love. After more than a century of life, Moses has given up trying to figure out what God sees in him. Or sees in the rest of the Hebrews for that matter. He just accepts it and gives thanks.”
The Bible Jesus Read
by Philip Yancey
my Prayer:
Lord, thank you for Your grace. Thank you for showing me a small glimpse of Your unconditional love through the blessing of my children. My gratitude overwhelms me and I’m compelled to respond in the only ways I know how: Through praise and service and faithful stewardship of these and all the undeserved gifts you’ve given me.
Thank you for the joy of praise. Please equip me for Your service and illuminate the next step you want me to take. And please Lord, help me to be consistent as I strive to be a good steward; with my finances, the use of my time and talents, the nurturing of my family and most of all, my relationship with You.
the Word:
He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:7-12 (NIV)
the lyric.
“I know You’ve cast my sin as far as the east is from the west, and I stand before You now as though I’ve never sinned”
East to West
by Casting Crowns
This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.
a Quote:
“You are a guardian of the human spirit. You have the power to manipulate and coerce if you want to. You can avoid and ignore if you choose. But can also ennoble and inspire. You can lift up and appeal to all that is good and honorable and holy. You can remind fallible and finite people around you that they hold their lives and calling as a sacred trust, that their best efforts matter, that their worst failures will be one day redeemed.”
Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them
by John Ortberg
my Prayer:
Lord, please allow me to deliver messages of truth from you. Please send me to lift up those who are being discouraged and lied to by the enemy. Please use me right where I am to trample those lies. I pray for discernment so that I will be confident in the prompting of your Holy Spirit. Please equip me for this service and bless my intentions by keeping me out of your way. I pray not only for opportunities to deliver your messages, but I pray that I will get the messages right and not contaminate them by my own finite reasoning and self-focused will.
Lord, please bring faith-filled encouragers into my own life when I falter and get confused, sidetracked or paralyzed for fear of taking steps outside your will.
the Word:
The right word spoken at the right time is as beautiful as gold apples in a silver bowl.
Proverbs 25:11 (NCV)
the lyric.
“But the voice of truth tells me a different story. The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!” The voice of truth says, “This is for My glory” Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.”
The Voice of Truth
by Casting Crowns
This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.
For such a simple song, this has been wiping the floor with me all week. Then I watched Kari Jobe sing it. She’s amazing. But I figured out why this song is so challenging for me. She breathes much more often than I do. I’m trying to get through the first two lines on one breath and the third line on one breath. It’s taken me all week, but I think I might finally have it. We’ll find out tomorrow. I’m not going to work at it tomorrow, I’m just going to praise, so it’ll be in God’s hands.
For more beautiful music, check out Then Sings My Soul Saturday every Saturday hosted by Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.
Stumbled across this on youtube and now it’s stuck in my head. I don’t mind it there at all.
For more beautiful music, check out Then Sings My Soul Saturday every Saturday hosted by Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.
a Quote:
“. . . joining the church is supposed to make us automatically god-centered and not self-centered people. Consequently, our modern church is filled with many people who look pure, sound pure, and are inwardly sick of themselves, their weaknesses, their frustration, and the lack of reality around them in church. Our non-Christian friends feel either ‘that bunch of nice untroubled people would never understand my problems’ or the more perceptive pagans who know us socially or professionally feel that we Christians are either grossly protected and ignorant about the human situation or are out-and-out hypocrites who will not confess the sins and weaknesses our pagan friends know intuitively to be universal.
. . . by recognizing that all our efforts and enterprises both in and out of the church are tainted to the core with self-centered desires for recognition, power or social acceptance, we can come to God . . . in honest confession and acceptance of His perception and power . . .
The Taste of New Wine
by Keith Miller
my Prayer: Lord, please help me to be humble and authentic, especially in the church. It would be so easy to only allow part of me to be seen by the members of the body of Christ. To allow the few moments I stand on stage every week and sing praises to you to be seen as defining moments of my relationship with you. It would be so easy to allow people to believe that I am aware of your Holy Spirit much more than I really am. But I know how quickly I forget you – time and time again. I know how many times I come back to you, just in the course of one single day. Please, Lord, help me to remember that the church is filled with people who come seeking and striving, not with people who are “done and saved.”
Please help me to serve you – right where I am. Please help me to encourage your saints through humble service, authentic transparency and an awareness that the people right in front of me need you just as much as the people I encounter outside the church.
the Word:
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:1-4(NIV)
the lyric.
“Take my voice and pour it out. Let it sing the songs of mercy I have found, for I have nothing, I have nothing without You . . . So all the world will see, that I have nothing without You
Nothing Without You
by Bebo Norman
This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.
Absolutely LOVE the bridge on this new praise song this week: Stronger
“You are stronger, You are stronger, Sin is broken, You have saved me, It is written Christ is risen, Jesus you are Lord of all. Let your name be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higher.”
For more beautiful music, check out Then Sings My Soul Saturday every Saturday hosted by Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.
a Quote:
“And just like Abraham, we may not know where we are going or what the journey may bring, but we do know that God is with us. He is permitting our self-determining actions, guiding the events and circumstances around us in order to woo us in choosing His ways. God is also active in overruling us when we’re completely out of line or when our poor choices need to be made good by His divine intervention. The choice is now ours: are we going to keep searching for a hidden will, or are we willing to do what we already know we should do, and then step out in faith?
Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life
by Cheri Cowell
my Prayer:
Lord, just when I think I’ve figured out what I’m supposed to be doing, I hit a roadblock that fills me with doubt. Is this problem I can’t solve just a problem I can’t solve TODAY? Is this one of those times where you will be glorified because you will accomplish something beyond my limited abilities? If I can’t solve the problem, but I’m supposed to move forward anyway, how do I do it? Who do I do it with? Do I know them already? Will you bring someone new into my life to help me accomplish your will? Is this the right time? Or is this obstacle a sign that the timing is not right? Are you teaching me patience? Again? Is this the closed door I pray for as I beg you to block my way when I start to veer off course in my effort to follow your will for my life?
I pray so often for your guidance and I commit to taking action and moving forward while at the same time, I plead with you to do something – ANYthing to prevent me from being unintentionally disobedient by blocking my way when I act out of self focused, short sighted motivation instead of focusing completely on you and your will. Do you want me to follow you around this roadblock? Or stop and go another direction?
the Word:
. . . turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding . . . for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
Proverbs 2:2-3, 8-9 (NIV)
the lyric.
“Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee. Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine.
Here am I, all of me. Take my life, it’s all for Thee.”
Take My Life
by Chris Tomlin
This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.
a Quote:
“Christian Hedonism is aware that self-consciousness kills joy and therefore kills worship. As soon as you turn your eyes in on yourself and become conscious of experiencing joy, it is gone . . . the secret of joy is self-forgetfulness. Yes, we go to the art museum for the joy of seeing the paintings. But . . . set your whole attention on the paintings, and not on your emotions, or you will ruin the whole experience. Therefore, in worship there must be a radical orientation on God, not ourselves.”
from Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
by John Piper
my Prayer:
Lord, thank you for worship last Sunday. I don’t remember any of the details. I don’t remember any distractions. I don’t remember all the songs we sang, if the praise team sang the “right” notes, if we were in sync, if we blended well, if the congregation was singing with us or even what anyone was wearing. I was oblivious. I remember worshiping you. I remember singing to you, being completely lost in music and praise. I came with the simple offering of my voice and what I received filled me to the extent that there was no room for anything else.
Lord, as I thank you for this blessing, I desperately pray that my worship would never distance me from those we are there to to lead. I pray that they would come with me as I enter into your presence.
the Word:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
Psalm 63:1-4(NIV)
the lyric.
“May my prayer like incense rise before You, the lifting of my hands a sacrifice . . . So Your Word is my joy and meditation, from the rising to the setting of the sun.
Oh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You. Oh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You.”
Like Incense/Sometimes By Step
by Hillsong
This was dual published on my Pragmatic Communion blog.
