Something I wrote in my Journal on thursday.

I cannot get away from the ridiculousness of the Gospel. It’s something I cannot shake. It haunts me. I feel like any true believer with a new regenerated heart should be ever baffled by the absurdity of the sacifice of a spotless high priest for those who were enemies to him. For a good man someone might die but would you die for him that caused your pain?  Would you seek to save him that called for your blood?

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

The second installment of Andrew Peterson’s meditations on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, entitled “Resurrection Letters”.

You steer the donkey through the gates of Jerusalem. Centuries before, in this same city, King David wrote his songs and sang your praises. You think of the timbre of his voice, the earnest heart, the long nights on the roof of the palace when the great king remembered how to be a shepherd boy again, alone in the dark pasture but for the sheep in his keeping and the quiet stars.

In your mind you can see him:

King David, barefoot on the airy roof, sitting on the edge of a kingly chair, his harp like a woman in his arms, his mind bending heavenward as he prays with that boyish frankness you delighted in.

Would even David have known what you came to do? If David had been alive on the day of your coming, would he have known the kingdom you were bringing would be of a holy matter, stronger than stone and sharper than steel?

Even David would have been wrong. No man can fathom your ways. No mind could’ve alone foreseen the Kingdom as you would make it.

Andrew peterson just released his meditations for passion week and I wanted to share them with you all. I’ll be posting one each day this week except for today. I’ll post two today since I forgot to post yesterday’s. I hope you enjoy them!

Lord, forgive us.

We welcome you in because we think you’ll give us what we want. We act as if our true motives are hidden from you—you who made the world with a word. We spread our coats and wave our hands and cry “Save us!” and you ride with your back straight and your face drawn, accepting our hosannas because you know that even if the heart is false the words are true, and for now, that is enough.

You come in the name of the Lord. Son of David, you come to save us. You come to save a fickle people, who one minute cry for help and the next cry for blood, and it is both help and blood that you give us.

The sun shines hot on the city gate, and you feel the air move with the palm branches. You hear the hearts pumping in their chests. Their mouths cry “save us” while their hearts cry “give us what we want.” But because you are God you hear even deeper in the spirits of men and women and even children the silence of our profound loneliness. You hear the trickle of need we scarcely know ourselves.

You come to us though you know we’re praying to you for the wrong reasons, singing to you without the faintest notion of how powerful and just and holy you really are.

We don’t even realize the danger we’re in, crying for salvation from Caesar when the Devil himself is battering the door—crying like a baby for its bottle when a wolf is loose in the nursery.

And yet, you come. You set your iron gaze on Jerusalem, and because the Father wants you to, you come. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

-Andrew Peterson

“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know.  Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time.  But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned,she would have read there a different incantation.  She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward”

- C.S. Lewis TLTWATW (163)

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What joy it is, believer, to think that thou has such a perfect atonement to rest upon! If there were one sin Christ did not suffer for on the cross, or one evil thought of one of His people that He did not bear, we could not be saved. But He has “finished” the whole of His people’s transgression, He has made an end of all their sins, He has obeyed all the jots and the tittles, as well as the great and weighty things, of the law of God, He has magnified it, and made it honourable. He has gone to “the end of the law for righteousness” — not half-way, but all the way; not near to its boundary, but even to its very end. He has not merely sipped from the cup of wrath, not merely tasted a portion of its bitter draught, but He has drained it to the very dregs. Ere He died, He turned the cup of wrath bottom upwards, for He had taken all it contained; and when He saw that there was not a single black drop trembling on its brim, He exclaimed, with the loud voice of triumph, “It is finished!” He had drunk the whole. Glory in this, ye living people of the living Christ! He hath offered for you a complete sacrifice, acceptable unto His Father. Glory in this, ye chosen people of the living God, that “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

- Charles Spurgeon

A sailor hired on as the first mate to a merchant ship back in the days of the pirates. After a few days on the open seas the crew spied a pirate ship on the horizon. The captain shouted to the first mate, “Hurry, go to my cabin and get me my red shirt!” The first mate did as he was told and the captain donned the red shirt. A furious battled ensued, but the pirates were driven back and the merchant ship cruised on victorious. Two days later they again spotted a pirate ship cruising toward them and the captain shouted, “Quick! Go to my cabin and get me my red shirt!” The first mate got him the red shirt and a terrible battle was underway with the pirates. The merchant ship won the battle and sailed on into the night. Two days went by and they saw two pirate ships on the horizon. The captain shouted to the first mate, “Hurry! Go get me my red shirt!” - and the first mate quickly obeyed. Again, the merchant ship valiantly fought off the two pirate vessels and sailed away victorious. Finally the first mate could no longer mask his curiosity and he asked the captain, “What is there about that shirt that makes you win your battles? Does it bring you simple luck? Is it a mystical shirt?” The captain laughed and said, “Oh, nothing as unusual as that - I simply wear my red shirt so that if I am cut in the heat of battle my enemies and my own sailors won’t see that I am wounded. It gives the impression that I am in a stronger position.” A week later they spied TEN pirate ships cruising toward them. The captain turned to the first mate and shouted, “Quick! Go to my cabin and get me my brown pants!”

Sandra McCracken performing an acoustic version of “Justice Will Roll Down” from the upcoming album, In Feast Or Fallow.

I have followed my friend Chris Hubb’s posts on the comparisons between our National Anthem and Canada’s. I will respond to each of his points.

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I just got in a Monergism Books order that I placed last week. Super stoked to read these!

I finally got the DSLR kit i’ve been wanting for a while.

So excited to start using it!

I got:
- Nikon D90 (body)
- Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
- Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR
- Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR
- Battery Grip and extra battery
- Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote
- Kata KT DR-466 DPS Digital Rucksack
- Aperture 3

I have had so much fun already as I’ve been testing it out.
I can’t wait to see the images this baby will help me create!

I mainly got it for pics of our son so I can show him off! ;0)

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Over the last few days since Apple announced their new tablet device, opinions have been mixed but most folks are being critical of the device and it’s apparent “shortcomings.” I believe that the main reason that most people aren’t meshing with the idea of the iPad (I hate the name, for the record) is that they fail to understand what Jobs tried to stress in his presentation on Tuesday. The iPad is not meant to REPLACE your iPhone or REPLACE your MacBook/iMac. It is a new, third category of device. Apple has been developing this device for years. I’m sure they have thought of most of the issues folks are complaining about but I think they have intentionally developed a product that compliments the Apple product line rather than making any of it redundant. Apple still wants folks to want/need a MacBook Pro or an iMac. It makes no sense for them to do otherwise.

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