[yeunggabriel]

Proverbs 18:1

An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends and against all sound judgment starts quarrels. (NIV) 

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (ESV) 

[yeunggabriel]

Prayer by Thomas Merton, the Cistercian Monk:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and that I think I am following your will does not mean I am actually doing so. But I believe the desire to please you does, in fact, please you. And I hope I have that desire in all I am doing. I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

[yeunggabriel]

Song from Prince of Egypt

A-shir-ra la-do-nai ki ga-oh ga-ah (I will sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously) A-shir-ra la-do-nai ki ga-oh ga-ah (I will sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously) Mi-cha-mo-cha ba-e-lim adonai (Who is like You, oh Lord, among the celestials) Mi-cha-mo-cha ne-dar-ba-ko-desh (Who is like You, majestic in holiness) Na-chi-tah v'-chas-d'-cha am zu ga-al-ta (In Your love, You lead the people You redeemed) Na-chi-tah v'-chas-d'-cha am zu ga-al-ta (In Your love, You lead the people You redeemed) A-shi-ra, a-shi-ra, A-shi-ra

[yeunggabriel]

Richard Stearn's paraphrase of Jesus’ words Matthew 25:42-43

I was hungry while you had more than you needed. I was thirsty and you drank bottled water. I was a stranger and you deported me. I needed clothes but you needed more clothes. I was sick and you pointed out behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison and you said I was getting what I deserved.

[yeunggabriel]

What is our motivation for maturity?

“. . . we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” 

-Ephesians 4:15-16

[yeunggabriel]

Two Bible passages are written on our front door, and this drawing is taped in the middle.

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.” (Gen 22)

31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c]32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.   (Eph 5:13-33;6:1)

[yeunggabriel]

The only thing that goes with the flow is a dead fish

I forgot

[yeunggabriel]

Summation Dance Company - Excerpt from “Tock”

[yeunggabriel]

Europe and America had evolved profoundly different cultures and values in everything from education to table manners. American culture focused on the technical. An American boy would tinker with a a car, whereas a well-born European boy might study the classics. The European would regard the American as a tradesman at best

George Friedman about the WWII, Flashpoints

Am I an unsophisticated American? 

[yeunggabriel]

Coveting (envying) others is the flip side of scorning (looking down on) others. One appears on the 10 commandments. Both are wrong.

[yeunggabriel]

“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone. “I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment; or as the Nazi liked to say, ‘of Blood and Soil.’ I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers [emphasis added].”

Dr. Viktor Frankl, former Auschwitz inmate   

Got this from an essay by a Chem professor James M Tour - (Note to self - read in-text links to papers about the micro->macroevolution jump) <http://www.jmtour.com/personal-topics/the-scientist-and-his-%E2%80%9Ctheory%E2%80%9D-and-the-christian-creationist-and-his-%E2%80%9Cscience%E2%80%9D/> 

I like the way Dr.Tour publicly admits his agnosticism regarding intelligent design and macroevolution, but nevertheless bluntly states his faith. 

[yeunggabriel]

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other.

Ecclesiastes 3:18-19

Been meditating on evolution’s possibility. We’re made in the image of God right? But God tests us. He is the only good science teacher

[just1isten]

What if instead of asking, “God, what is your will for my life?” our question should be, “God what is your will for human history and how can I align my life with your will?” Now that changes everything.

David Platt (via just1isten)

[yeunggabriel]

This article was written because Wheaton College’s former faculty Larycia Hawkins had put a picture of herself in a hijab on facebook, with this status: “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.”

Interfaith dialogue is going to increase, we need to keep seeking understanding.

[yeunggabriel]

Conjecture

“ Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. “                     - John 21:25 

I once heard a preacher say that conjecture about the eternal fate of those unreached by the gospel is criminal neglect. Rather, he said, we should take the most conservative conclusion reached by John 14:6, that no one comes to the Father except through Him.

I make no opinion here about the preacher’s topic. But meditating a week ago on the last verse in the book of John really encouraged me. It makes me wonder about the good God is doing all over the world, if he’s done this much in my life already. 

[yeunggabriel]

Jesus & straddling the issues

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Surely, at this point we must make up our minds once and for all whether Jesus means his precepts to be taken literally or only figuratively, for here it is a matter of life or death. But the question is answered by the reaction of the disciples. Our natural inclination is to avoid a definite decision over this apparently crucial question. But the question is itself both wrong and wicked, and it does not admit of an answer. If we decided not to take it literally, we should at once reveal the absurdity of the Christian position, and thereby invalidate the commandment. The fact that we receive no answer to the question only makes the commandment even more inescapable. We cannot evade the issue either way; we are placed in a position where there is not alternative but to obey. Jesus does not impose intolerable restrictions on his disciples, he does not forbid them to look at anything, but bids them look on him” (From The Cost of Discipleship Chp 10)

[yeunggabriel]

Pilgrim - refining my life vision

That is my identity, but in a spiritual sense. I don’t want to extend the family legacy of fleeing conflict and looking for a dreamland. The legacy of building great businesses is a nice one, but not mine. I don’t need to build a school or start a new outreach thing or help influence something groundbreaking. Don’t need to feel pressured to be inspired and create. God’s Spirit is the true creative genius in this world.

There is no untouchable black left to illuminate. I am one candle of many, kindled by the Spirit that has already burned down the fortress of the world. No other structure or place will hold as the mustard seed spreads like yeast. Everything else fades, because this world is fading (and globalizing). 

My progeny and legacy will not be in my earthly family, friends, teaching, or contacts. Rather, it will the honor and glory of the Body as, clothed in white, it is greeted by Christ the head.