God forbid...

i'm not a big fan of their musical style, but there is a song that point of grace (or as my dad would say, "point of grease") sings that haunts my thoughts and has never left me. it floats back into my memory at times to remind me of Who i am dealing with...when i so flippantly handle my relationship with God Almighty.

God forbid that i find You so familiar that i think of You as less than who You are...

Our God is a God to be feared. reading the accounts given in the old testament make it pretty clear. but admittedly, my mind tends to run back to my giant "teddy-bear in the sky" image of the God that i worship.

God forbid...

now in a conversation like this, it would not be "evangelically correct" to end the discussion on this note (like you could ever end the discussion on God). it's best to run back to, but He's good and loving and kind and compassionate and forgiving... and am i ever thankful that He is!!! but when's the last time that i reflected on the wrath and holiness and awesomeness of God in a way that made me fall to my knees shaking?

God forbid that i would speak of You at all without a humble reverence in my heart...

snow glitters in the sun

we have welcomed winter in indiana with our first snow of the season. the first snow is, at least for me, one of the most exciting times of the year. i absolutely love the change of the seasons, and each season fascinates me with such a different beauty. the spring resonates with life and the color green. the sun suddenly radiates warmth and water beckons you to jump in when summer arrives. fall brings the cool wind that rustles the leaves on the trees that explode with vibrant colors. and winter...wouldn't be winter without snow.

i love looking out my second-story window and enjoying the white blanket that covers the roof of the porch.

snow is a timeless metaphor.

i can't help thinking of that so-familiar psalm, "wash me, and i shall be whiter than snow...". i've spent a great deal of my life in psalm 51. a contrite sinner's prayer for pardon. how many times i've prayed that prayer! but the best part is:

He listens.

what a forgiving God we have! and i instantly hear the words of john newton echoing in my head, "although my memory's fading, i remember two things very clearly. i'm a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior."

then i look out the window again. i can't help but notice the glittering reflection of the sun as it bounces off the pure white snow. snow reflects light so well. and it glitters!

what a testimony to a watching world. forgiven sinners, washed white as snow, reflect the light of the Son. it's so beautiful!

what a great Savior!

all here when i am

almost two months. wow, it's been a long time since i've sat down to formulate some thoughts and send them out into blog-world. a lot has happened. too much to try and relate here...but it's at a time like this (after a long neglect of journaling) that i have to stop and just ask, what's the biggest thing i've learned lately. have i grown at all?

see, for me, journaling or blogging or whatever is a way to reflect, meditate, analyze and spit my thoughts back out in a way that allows me to look back and remember circumstances and my response to them...and to life.

so without taking the time to suffer through the process...i just end up coasting.

have you ever been driving on the highway and you start to day-dream or think about something that's going on...and then all of a sudden you kinda wake up and realize...woah! where am i? i remember seeing signs for a mcdonalds and a ramada inn like a second ago...and now i'm in the middle of cornfields?!?!

that's a crazy feeling.

so to look back on the highway i've apparently just passed over with little thought or realization...it saddens me to think how much i've missed out on because i wouldn't take the time to reflect, think and spew out my response to what i'm experiencing. i've heard it said, wherever you are, be there.

lesson learned. (unfortunately, it will likely take multiple offenses for me to truly learn from this mistake)

don't coast.

life's too short. and i certainly don't want to be looking back on it all thinking, man, i wish i just woulda been all there when i was.