train up a child

i can hardly believe that we are already ending week 2 of school for maggie.  i can't say there haven't been some bumps in the road, but i can say that the Lord has helped us.  all of us.  i walked her to school on the first day, the teacher introduced her to a girl named alice and they were off.  i watched through the window as the other girls pointed and stared and then started surrounding her.  then i watched alice take maggie's hand as she introduced her.  and i remembered that God can take care of my little girl however and by whomever He chooses.  the tears have been many and there are more ahead.  we are praying for wisdom and discernment and gospel fruit in maggie's life as well as in the lives of her friends. 

encouragement

this was very encouraging to me.

a new year's wish from 1811

"It is with the utmost sincerity, and with my whole heart, that I wish you, my love, a happy new year. May it be a year in which your walk will be close with God; your frame calm and serene; and the road that leads you to the Lamb marked with purer light. May it be a year in which you will have more largely the spirit of Christ, be raised above sublunary [earthly] things, and be willing to be disposed of in this world just as God shall please. As every moment of the year will bring you nearer the end of your pilgrimage, may it bring you nearer to God, and find you more prepared to hail the messenger of death as a deliverer and a friend. And now, since I have begun to wish, I will go on. May this be the year in which you will change your name; in which you will take a final leave of your relatives and native land; in which you will cross the wide ocean, and dwell on the other side of the world, among a heathen people. What a great change will this year probably effect in our lives!"
Adoniram Judson to Ann on New Year's Day, 1811
(My Heart in His Hands by Sharon James)

a song for today

A MAN there is, a real man,
who once on Calvary died.
His blood for guilty sinners ran
from hands and feet and side.

'Tis no wild fancy of our brains,
no metaphor we speak;
The same dear man in heaven now reigns,
that suffered for our sake.

This wondrous Man of whom we tell,
is true Almighty God;
He brought our souls from death and hell;
the price, His own heart's blood.

That human heart He still retains,
though throned in highest bliss;
and feels each tempted member's pains;
for our affliction's His.

Come then, repenting sinner, come;
approach with humble faith;
owe what you will, the total sum
is canceled by His death.

His blood can cleanse the sin-stained soul,
and wash our guilt away;
He will present us sound and whole
in that tremendous day.

Joseph Hart, 1712-1768

a welsh love song for my birthday

on saturday steve preached at an outreach for blind people in llandudno. an irish man who grew up in wales also spoke. he testified to the Lord's saving grace in his life and then sang what he called this "welsh love song." it was so moving to hear it from someone who had really tasted the Lord's salvation (and the irish accent helped). i've heard it to another tune in the states but the tune he sang is a welsh one. it was written by william rees.

Here is love, vast as the ocean,Lovingkindness as the flood,When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,Shed for us His precious blood.Who His love will not remember?Who can cease to sing His praise?He can never be forgotten,Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,Fountains opened deep and wide;Through the floodgates of God’s mercyFlowed a vast and gracious tide.Grace and love, like mighty rivers,Poured incessant from above,And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justiceKissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,Love Thee, ever all my days;Let me seek Thy kingdom onlyAnd my life be to Thy praise;Thou alone shalt be my glory,Nothing in the world I see.Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct meBy Thy Spirit through Thy Word;And Thy grace my need is meeting,As I trust in Thee, my Lord.Of Thy fullness Thou art pouringThy great love and power on me,Without measure, full and boundless,Drawing out my heart to Thee.

The Truth about you is Glorious

“Do not worry about what you feel. The truth about you is glorious. If you are in Christ, rise to it ‘o’er sin and care. Take your full salvation and triumph and prevail.”
- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 2002), 175.

new song

we are learning many new songs and new tunes to old songs these days. here's one by charles wesley that we are enjoying learning:

Jesus, the name high over all
In hell, or earth, or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.

Jesus, the name to sinners dear,
The name to sinners given.
It scatters all their guilty fear,
It turns their hell to heaven.

Jesus the prisoner's fetters breaks,
And bruises Satan's head,
Power into strengthless souls it speaks,
And life into the dead.

Oh, that the world might taste and see
The riches of his grace!
The arms of love that compass me
Would all mankind embrace.

His only righteousness I show,
His saving truth proclaim:
'Tis all my business here below,
To cry, "Behold the Lamb!"

Happy, if with my latest breath
I may but gasp his name!
Preach him to all, and cry in death,
"Behold! behold the Lamb."

from "the gospel for real life" by jerry bridges

The fact is, however, that even as believers we continue to sin even though we are no longer under its dominion. And when we sin-and even our best deeds are stained with sin- we do that which apart from Christ would call down God's curse upon us. Our consciences know that and will continually bring accusations against us. Our only safe response is to plead guilty to those accusations without trying to minimize them. Having done that, we must go back to the gospel and remind ourselves that the curse of the Law no longer has a claim against us. And then in grateful response to what God has done for us in Christ, we set ourselves to put to death by the power of the Spirit those very sins of which our consciences condemn us. Only in this way can we continually glory in the cross and enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ.