#benjamin robinson

[the-house-on-ash-tree-lane]

i turned my ocs into little guys (alone and alignment chart things below cut)

[mrjhilburn-blog]

J. Hilburn Partnerning with B. Robinson for Men's Eyewear

THIS JUST IN .....

I am SO EXCITED to announce that J. Hilburn has partnered with Benjamin Robinson for Eyewear. If you haven't heard of Benjamin Robinson, they have been in business since 1926 and provide designer eyewear for David Yurman, Purcell, Cole Haan, Isaac Mizrahi, etc. These designer glasses start around $500.00 in retail stores. As only J. Hilburn can provide by taking out the middle mark-up, we are providing the same quality glasses starting at $149.00                                            J. Hilburn Glasses Prescription, Essilor CR-39 Lenses, High Index Lenses, Digital Free Form Lenses, Transition Lenses, Progressive Lenses, Astigmatism, etc.                                                  Sunglasses Prescription, SOLA CR-39 Lenses, Polarized Sun Lenses, etc. Reading Glasses Coming to you September 1!!

[livingwaterconfessions-blog]

Interrogating God

 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4)

I know it’s been a while since my last post.  My bad.  I sometimes feel guilty taking up space and time to chronicle experiences that are mundane or insignificant.  Not that every time I post something it should be earth-shattering, but I’d like to think that my confessions at the very least evoke a response- positive or negative.  While life seems stuck in ‘normal’ there has definitely been a shifting in my spiritual journey.  The best word I can think of to fit my mood is anticipatory.  If you asked me to identify a tipping point for this shift, I’d say things began just after our 21 Days of Prayer ended in early April. 

I’ve now been praying more over the past seven weeks than I have in the past seven years.  I’m not bragging.  On the contrary, some of these recent prayers seem empty and fruitless most of the time.  I say this to suggest that I’m looking for something more (or for revelation of what’s already there, but I’m too blind to see and deaf to hear).  ‘More’ is relative, I guess, in that I’m not sure where more would put me, based on my anxiety of where I am currently.  Sometimes it all feels like I’m about to burst at the seams, Bruce Banner-like, while at other times I feel like a spiritual infant.  My prayers are in many ways similar to those that my mother taught us to pray as children.  This isn’t bad.  My mother set a strong foundation of praying consistently and genuinely, but as an adult it is now up to me to pray fervently.  And, I’m slowly but surely moving into a dispensation where my prayer life is increasing, but I must admit that my journey often feels like being at the base of Mount Olympus.  I’m not saying I don’t encounter something powerful during prayer on occasions or that my requests return void, but there are times I wonder if my interactions with Christ are simply a relationship of exchange (I ask, You give) or if God is merely relenting out of obligation.  Then there are times when I just hear this awkward silence.  This breeds lots of my spiritual anxiety.  At this point, I think about how one of the patriarchs of the faith would counsel me.  The author of the Book of James says “you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-3).  My conclusion: our prayers going seemingly unheard is not a God-giving problem, it’s an ‘us receiving’ problem. 

God sometimes gives us what we want, even when we don’t need it.  This is at times a concession.  I’m not suggesting that God gives us gifts out of pity, but like giving a five year old a piece of candy, it is often an act of loving kindness.  After teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus recites a parable that suggests a good Father gives his children good gifts (Luke 11:11-13).  Conversely, we serve a God who gives us what we need, even if it’s not something that we want.  This idea employs the same parenthood analogy.  It’s like giving that same five year old broccoli even though she’d prefer Skittles.  But, neither of these ways of receiving is fully trusting in God as a provider because in both situations our will and God’s will for us are inconsistent and, some might argue, incompatible. The problem is that God is not at fault in either situation because he is the one who’s providing.  Both circumstances- wanting what we don’t need and not wanting what we do need- are a problem with the desires of my heart.  The first is a sign of my immaturity while the second is a sign of my spiritual rebelliousness. 

Like a person in the natural who falls prey to congestive heart failure, the heart is not working consistently with the rest of the body.  I’ve come to realize that my heart seems to operate that way spiritually.  My heart wants one thing, but God wants something different for me.  In the 27th Psalm, David states “one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek…”.  David’s only desire from God is to dwell in His house all the days of his life.  What am I suggesting?  David wants from God what God wants from David: to be in relationship forever.  Amazing. 

Do I seek to be like David?  No.  I seek to be like Christ.  But, to be like Christ I first must ask God to shift my priorities to be consistent with God’s will.  I’m often skeptical when I hear Christians saying, “Lord, I want [insert request], but God your will, not my will be done.”  I understand that that Word is biblical as spoken directly by Jesus to His Father (Matthew 26:39).  But, I don’t want my will to contradict God, just to always have my will suppressed and usurped.  While allowing God’s will to supersede my will is a great exercise in humility and surrender, it doesn’t put me in communion with Jesus, only in subjection.  But, my question is ‘doesn’t fully surrendering mean not struggling against God?’  I don’t want to struggle against God, I want my will to be an exact replication of God’s will. 

Pastor Benjamin Robinson talks about a child having the DNA of her/his parent.  For example, after my in-laws spend two days with my mother, my father-in-law commented to my wife that my mannerisms were frighteningly similar to my mother’s- eye movement, speech cadence, posture, etc.  That’s because I have my mother’s biological (genetic) DNA and social (learned) DNA.   What I do in many ways is a reflection of my mother.  My heart’s desire is for my life to be a direct reflection of my heavenly Father’s heart.  So, my new prayer is “Lord, let the desires of my heart be the desires of Your heart for me.”  King David sang to “delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4)  Imagine that.  We can have our cake (delighting ourselves in Him) and eat it too (receiving the desires of our hearts).  That should be what we desire of the Lord.

“Everything I have, He’s already given me.  It’s in me.  It’s in my hand, it’s in our house, it’s in our midst.” – Benjamin Robinson (The New Creation Mentality)