To be full of Christ alone

“Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared ineffably excellent with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception… and I continued in this state near as I can judge an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be full of Christ alone, to love him with a holy and pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve and follow him; and to be perfectly made pure with a divine and heavenly purity. I have, several other times, had views very much of the same nature, and which have had the same affects.” Jonathan Edwards

Relax in simple trust

There was once a fellow who, with his father, farmed a little piece of land. Several times a year they'd load up the ox-cart with vegetables and drive to the nearest city.

Except for their name and the patch of ground, father and son had little in common. The old man believed in taking it easy... and the son was the go-getter type.

One morning, they loaded the cart, hitched up the ox and set out. The young fellow figured that if they kept going all day and night, they'd get to the market by next morning. He walked alongside the ox and kept prodding it with a stick.

'Take it easy,' said the old man. 'You'll last longer.'

'If we get to market ahead of the others,' said his son, 'we have a better chance of getting good prices.'

The old man pulled his hat down over his eyes and went to sleep on the seat. Four miles and four hours down the road, they came to a little house. 'Here's your uncle's place,' said the father, waking up. 'Let's stop in and say hello.'

'We've lost an hour already,' complained the go-getter.

'Then a few minutes more won't matter,' said his father. 'My brother and I live so close, yet we see each other so seldom.'

The young man fidgeted while the two old gentlemen gossiped away an hour. On the move again, the father took his turn leading the ox. By and by, they came to a fork in the road. The old man directed the ox to the right. 'The left is the shorter way,' said the boy.

'I know it,' said the old man, 'but this way is prettier.'

'Have you no respect for time?' asked the impatient young man.

'I respect it very much,' said the old fellow. 'That's why I like to use it for looking at pretty things.' The right-hand path let through woodland and wild flowers. The young man was so busy watching the sun sink he didn't notice how lovely the sunset was. Twilight found them in what looked like one big garden. 'Let's sleep here,' said the old man.

'This is the last trip I take with you,' snapped the his son.

'You're more interested in flowers than in making money.'

'That's the nicest thing you've said in a long time,' smiled the old fellow. A minute later he was asleep.

A little before sunrise, the young man shook his father awake. They hitched up and went on. A mile and an hour away they came upon a farmer trying to pull his cart out of a ditch. 'Let's give him a hand,' said the father.

'And lose more time?' exploded the son.

'Relax,' said the old man. 'You might be in a ditch some time yourself.'

By the time the other cart was back on the road, it was almost eight o'clock. Suddenly a great flash of lightening split the sky. Then there was thunder. Beyond the hills, the heavens grew dark. 'Looks like a big rain in the city,' said the old man.

'If we had been on time, we'd be sold out by now,' grumbled his son.

'Take it easy,' said the old gentleman, 'you'll last longer.'

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that they got to the top of the hill overlooking the town. They looked down at it for a long time. Neither of them spoke. Finally the young man who had been in such a hurry said, 'I see what you mean, father.'

They turned their cart around and drove away from what had once been the city of Hiroshima.

Billy Rose

* When I reached the end of this story, I was shocked. I had served in Hiroshima for 3 years.

The question I ask myself is, am I too busy for true communion with my Lord, to busy to really love those around me and to busy to enjoy His creation?

The following e-mail was sent to me today. "Americans are so busy they don't seem to have time to listen to a challenge from the Lord." True also of Japanese.

And this is love

“His all-sufficient glory is honored and displayed most by His working for us rather than our working for Him. And this is love.” John Piper

Laughter....

The heat is getting to us!!! Help!

Pict: My family~ Naho & I, Joshua, Hosahna and Shane.

Feelings of affectionate love to Him

"The perfect freeness with which the pardon of all our guilt is offered in God's book drew forth feelings of affectionate love to Him who bought us with his blood, and a sense of deep obligation to Him for His mercy has influenced... my conduct ever since." David Livingstone

It is enough.....

“June 18^th, 1735, being in secret prayer, I felt suddenly my heart melting within me, like wax before the fire, with love to God my Savior. I felt not only love and peace, but also a longing to be dissolved and to be with Christ; and there was a cry in my inmost soul, with which I was totally unacquainted before, it was this- Abba, Father! Abba Father! I could not help calling God my Father; I knew now that I was his child, and that he loved me; my soul being filled and satiated, crying, ‘It is enough- it is enough- I am satisfied; give me strength and I will follow thee through fire and water.’ …there was in me ‘the love of God shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost’ (Rom. 5:5)” Howell Harris

The LIfe and Times of Howell Harris, Edward Morgan

Gospel-centered sanctification

“By ‘gospel-centered sanctification’ we mean that we are not simply justified by Christ’s work alone, but we are sanctified by it as well. We do not grow in Christ simply by trying harder to be good. Remaining sin is always a result of our affections- our hearts’ most enjoyed-beauties and most committed-loves- being set on saviors other than Christ. These things bind the heart into service. Change happens not as we attain greater favor with God so much as when we rejoice in our favor with God so false saviors lose their power, necessity, attractiveness. Affective prayer is to fill the heart with love for Christ and offer up the heart to him in service.” Timothy Keller

Weep for the quenchers

LAMENT

Weep, weep for those

Who do the work of the Lord

With a high look

And a proud heart.

Their voice is lifted up

In the streets, and their cry is heard.

The bruised reed they break

By their great strength, and the smoking flax

They trample.

Weep not for the quenched

(For their God will hear their cry

And the Lord will come to save them)

But weep, weep for the quenchers

For when the Day of the Lord

Is come, and the vales sing

And the hills clap their hands

And the light shines

Then their eyes shall be opened

On a waste place,

Smouldering,

The smoke of the flax bitter

In their nostrils,

Their feet pierced

By broken reed-stems...

Wood, hay, and stubble,

And no grass springing,

And all the birds flown.

Weep, weep for those

Who have made a desert

In the name of the Lord.

Evangeline Paterson

I am solely responsible for them.

One night a friend questioned him [Peter Marshall] about whether he really thought we shall ever have to stand before God on a Judgment Day and hear the roll call of our sins.

"Yes, the Bible makes it quite clear," Peter answered promptly. "Some day somewhere, somehow, there will be an accounting for each of us."

He paused and seemed lost in thought as he stirred his third cup of tea. "I think I may have to go through the agony of hearing all my sins recited in the presence of God.

"But I believe it will be like this- Jesus will come over and lay His hand across my shoulders and say to God, 'Yes, all these things are true, but I'm here to cover up for Peter. He is sorry for all his sins, and by a transaction made between us, I am solely responsible for them.'"

A Man Called Peter

There's plenty of room

Pict: Lincoln's pew.

"Because Mr. Abraham Lincoln had such long, ungainly legs, he was forced to sit at the end of his pew sidewise, with his legs partly in the aisle. One Sunday, just as the service began at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C., a forlorn, bedraggled-looking man came wandering down the center aisle looking for a seat. The President noticed him. Instantly, out shot a long arm, and the President whispered, 'Come right in beside me, brother, there's plenty of room...'" A Man Called Peter

James 5:2 "Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"

Temptation is an opportunity to conquer.

Because Peter [Marshall] often seemed to his secretaries and his friends to be so naive about "designing women," they were forever marveling that he emerged unscathed and unspoiled from this period of his [single] life. "God must have had a special battalion of guardian angels watching over Peter," one Westminster friend commented. "I never saw one man surrounded by so much temptation."

"But it's no sin to be tempted," Peter loved to say. "It isn't the fact of having temptations that should cause us shame, but what we do with them. Temptation is an opportunity to conquer. When we eventually reach the goal to which we are all striving, God will look us over, not for diplomas, but for scars...." Catherine Marshall, wife of Peter Marshall

A Interesting Fact about the 4th of July

Peter de Bolla, a professor of cultural history of King's College at Cambridge University and author of the recently published "The Fourth of July and the Founding of America" wrote the following about the first celebration of the fourth of July: "In 1777, the members of the Continental Congress did decide to note July 4 by not meeting. A small and very low-key celebration was mounted, and everyone went to church." This sounds like a great way to celebrate the birth of our nation. (Los Angeles Times, July 4 2009, Opinion)

The tale of God's tender wooing...

"To the preacher, all human history was but the tale of God's tender wooing of the self-willed, stubborn hearts of men and women- a drama that culminated in the Cross." Catherine Marshall, A Man Called Peter

* The 'preacher' Catherine Marshall in the quote above was nonother than Peter Marshall, her husband to be. At this time of the quote, Peter Marshall was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Georgia, but would in time become the Chaplain for the U.S. Senate. At times he was called 'conscience of the Senate.'