King of Glory

A friend recently wrote of how she is facing opposition at work as she tries to stand for what is right. I'm posting here to say, "you're not alone." While your coworkers may be compromising to the will of the prince of darkness in this world, remember that the King of Glory is by your side. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) Think about the saints who have gone before us, of Jeremiah who stood alone against Jezebel and the prophets of Ba'al. The Lord was with him and reminded him that even though he felt alone, yet the Lord had reserved seven thousand who had not bowed the knee.

Stand firm, my friend. Though the storms rage, we have a Savior who is Lord over all. He gives rest to His beloved, and He will not abandon you. Furthermore, you have both a heavenly and an earthly "cloud of witnesses" who have traversed the road of righteousness before you and walk beside you now.*

Switching topics but in the same vane, the Lord is truly faithful. His mercies are new at both sunset and sunrise. I cannot see much of the road ahead, but He has given me some checkpoints, glimmering through the fog. Some will definitely challenge me beyond anything I've ever known, but He has brought me too far to turn back. In the words of an old Steven Curtis Chapman song, it's time to "burn the ships". A chapter of my life closed this month and I pray that the Lord will seal it so that I will focus on the pages ahead. Sometimes the title of the book is missing from the top of the page (Mark, act it out for me, will ya? :), but I know the Author and He has a perfect record with ink and pen.

Who is this King of Glory with strength and majesty

And wisdom beyond measure, the gracious King of kings

The Lord of Earth and Heaven, the Creator of all things

Who is this King of Glory, He's everything to me

~King of Glory by Third Day / Psalm 24 by David

*Listen to Cloud of Witnesses by Mark Schultz -- great song

Break me

Father, I begged You to take my heart, but I didn't realize You would need to break it for that to happen. How it hurts! Yet, dear Father, I would ask that You break it again daily if it is the only way for me to cling desperately to You. I don't know where to turn, but You have shown me glimpses of doors I've overlooked in the past. You've called them to mind, made them as beacons in my mind, leaving me restless until I follow. Lord, be the lamp to my path and the light to my feet -- direct my way, grant me wisdom and understanding that I might worship You with every step. Give me an opportunity to be poured out as a drink offering for You! Let me hold nothing back. Great God and Father, hold me according to Your Word (Psalm 91), make my feet like hinds' feet that I might declare Your Word from high places (Psalm 18), and do not, I pray, give my heart a moment's peace until I surrender to Your call and ignite for Your glory.

Heart & Vow

O God, please take my heart from me! I have tried to lift it up and let it go, but I am too weak and I'm clinging too tightly. God, You know my desires and how I want them to be from pure motives -- Your glory. And I'm crying to You, great Refiner, Knower of every heart, Transformer of my life: take ALL that I am and use me, spend me wholly for You! I can't be who I've been and I don't want to become comfortable again in the life I had. Though the conflict rends me, I want it to last until You change me and give me a purpose worth more than dying for -- worth living and breathing for! Lord, take me to far away place, strip me of all the material that surrounds me, and make me completely dependent on You! My God, please take this vow and never release me from it...

I could make a promise to You,

But that would be too easy to do.

You see I've made them before,

And broken them and they're no good anymore.

So I'll dig a little bit deeper,

Give You something You can keep

I will make a vow to You,

And it will never change no matter what I do.

Right here, right now,

In the midst of the crowd,

I stand alone and make my vow.

Whatever it takes I will be faithful

This is my vow.

As the words fall from my lips,

We both know the life I live,

How I stumble and fall,

How many times I land short of the call.

I will confess my inadequacy,

Throw myself into the mystery.

That somehow in the depth of Your love,

You will help me do what I'm not capable of.

Right here, right now,

In the midst of the crowd,

I stand alone and make my vow.

Whatever it takes I will be faithful.

Right here, right now,

Let there be no doubt.

Let every whisper, with every shout,

Let the whole world know I will be faithful,

This is my vow.

"The Vow", by Geoff Moore

Listen To Our Hearts

In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

Let me never be ashamed.

In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

Incline Your ear to me and save me.

Be to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come;

You have given commandment to save me,

For You are my rock and my fortress.

For You are my hope;

O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth.

By You I have been sustained from my birth;

You are He who took me from my mother's womb;

My praise is continually of You.

My mouth is filled with Your praise

And with Your glory all day long.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

O God, do not be far from me;

O my God, hasten to my help!

But as for me, I will hope continually,

And will praise You yet more and more.

My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness

And of Your salvation all day long;

For I do not know the sum of them.

I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD;

I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.

O God, You have taught me from my youth,

And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.

And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,

Until I declare Your strength to this generation,

Your power to all who are to come.

For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens,

You who have done great things;

O God, who is like You?

You who have shown me many troubles and distresses

Will revive me again,

And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

I will also praise You with a harp,

Even Your truth, O my God;

To You I will sing praises with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You;

And my soul, which You have redeemed.

My tongue also will utter Your righteousness all day long;

Psalm 71:1-3,5-6,8-9,12,14-20,22-24 (NASB)

Like a wave tossed by the sea

Though I try not be
A wave tossed by the sea
Yet there go I
To Xanga I fly...

With the discovery of a new and refreshing theme, I'm returning to Xanga to build upon three years of history there. I know, why the flip-flop? Well, I'd forgotten what it was like to put the thoughts of the day into words until a friend of late reminded me. Then the question was, "where?" So I tried here, but have no ties and hence no readers. Since I wish to encourage people, even through recitations of the journeys through which the Lord takes me, this poses a problem. And so I return.

My thoughts are somewhat confused, but I think that's the late hour talking. So I could be back here eventually, but we'll see. Until then, if anyone has happened upon this, find me at www.xanga.com/veritasroad. Thanks.

Friday: S'mores, French Vanilla, and Fun

Fridays have an aura all their own. The day is normal in the sense that, for the most part, a normal day's work is required to go home, and that work can easily entail woes equal to or surpassing other days of the week. Yet as we enter the day (or even approach it on Thursday night), we smile because, after all, it's Friday :). When the bell tolls and the day ends, it does not merely segue into another workday. Instead, it dawns a sort of mini-day that can stretch as long as the night lasts, because Saturday is flexible.

For me, the joy of Friday has its own tradition. It begins with S'mores Pop-tarts, heated in the microwave for a precise 18 seconds (yes, I know they are "toaster pastries", but I like them soft). While those are warming up, my mug docks with the Flavia vestibule and receives a filling of French Vanilla coffee. Together this dynamic duo accompanies me back to my desk where I engage the day, read e-mails, and think of fun, yet productive tasks to accomplish. Are there new technologies that we've been waiting to evaluate but not had time? Friday's the day. How about some workspace restructuring (add a little Feng Shui or maybe take it away)? Yep, we can do that. Any way you cut it, today's a great day.

To anyone reading, I hope yours is, too.

.:Be here now:.

"I lift up my eyes..."

What a glorious morning! Out of such power and destructive force, God shines forth! A mere three days ago Hurricane Gustav made land in Louisiana, unleashing wind, rain and tornadoes. But here I sit, three days past, relishing in a breathtaking sunrise masked by clouds and accompanied, as of a violin with a piano, by a cool and refreshing breeze. The mercury rests at 68 degrees (F), 20 (C), nigh the perfect temperature to me.

Last night, I had the blessing of soaking up the prelude to this daybreak as the wind blew and the clouds waved in preparation of the coming day's inaugural. And then the psalmist spoke (Psalm 121):

       I lift up my eyes to the hills--

              where does my help come from?

       My help comes from the LORD,

              the Maker of heaven and earth.

And as I start the car to pull into the parking garage (I just couldn't conceive writing this from within a building), Third Day is playing in the background -- "Yes, our God, He is a consuming fire!"

Crisis Man

One of the guys in my small group tonight shared a quote from Jim Elliot that I hope to adopt as my own. Lord, may we each be crisis men and women...

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” -Jim Elliot

God of Silence

Is God any less sovereign or intentional in times of silence than when we see His hand actively moving? Or in these moments of solemnity when it seems the heavens merely echo back our prayers is He deliberately waiting or moving unseen for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28)?

I think this attribute of God eludes us sometimes as we try to grasp His will in our finite minds. When we as humans lapse into silence, we rarely do so with exacting motives. Rather, as was the case with my former blog, we let our attention slip and then later remember something desirous of our time. If such were true of God, what a fearful life this would be!

Thanks be God through Christ our Savior that silence is as much or maybe more a precise instrument of His as when He speaks. In Psalm 22, David cries to the Lord, asking Him to break the silence and answer David's ceaseless appeals. Yet in his despair, David recounts God's past faithfulness and states:

For He has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
He has not hidden His face from him
but has listened to his cry for help. (22:24)

In our weakness, we may doubt the Lord's care, His love, His plan, or His best, but we have this truth -- He has in the past and will in the future listen to our cries for help. Even when injustice seems to prevail and it seems that God has abandoned His people, He says in Isaiah 57:18-19:

"I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.
Peace, peace, to those far and near,"
says the LORD. "And I will heal them."

Yet our core issue is God's timing. "Why do you hesitate, O God?" or "Will the day ever come?" What we fail to see is that the slowness of God is for our good. Through it, He teaches us patience, reliance on Him, and faith that overcomes. Furthermore, the Lord's mercy is evidenced through His slowness to anger and outpouring of compassion (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:16, 103:8, 145:8). Without it, we would be condemned to a fate apart from Him (2 Peter 3:9).

Concluding, slowness and silence may not always be the same, but they are often more closely related than not. In our human strength, we may sustain momentary silence or slow audibility, but to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, thirsting for Him as for water, we must remember that our God is in control in both the music and the rests.

Cafe Blogging

For too long have I been lost in the shallows of social networking, absent of thoughts longer than a status update. Thus, I begin this voyage on a new blog, hopping from my former and ill-abandoned record on Xanga. Friends both past and present live here (at least their words do), so I will join their ranks and hope to encourage anyone who happens by with stories of a fellow sojourner.

Currently I am sitting in the Barnes & Noble Cafe in Southlake, sipping a Yellow & Blue venti hot tea, and typing away. It's my first experience with Yellow & Blue -- an herbal tea of chamomile and lavendar -- and it bears a new aroma for my senses. Hopefully it will accomplish the traditional task of such herbs and settle anxious nerves. I'll return to my faithful standbys of caffeine-laden greens and blacks (teas) soon, but today I'll enjoy the calming laurels of fragrant herbs.

Alright, it's time to take a look at the layout (pardon any aesthetic schizophrenia as I make this homey) and add some friends. 'Be back soon...maybe even today.