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| this is a post from his xanga.
i sincerely enjoy all of his xanga posts.
i encourage you to check them out as well and SUBSCRIBE: www.xanga.com/emprise34
"a couple, whom my wife and i are friends with, left us a present before they headed out of town for the holidays. for me, a copy of the “grapes of wrath”, and for my wife, a white plate. and these were perfect gifts. the book was ideal for me because i had mentioned it in conversation over lunch more than a month past. the plate was wonderful for my wife because, well, she likes plates. it wasn’t that i needed another book, i have several. we also have plates. and yet, i texted my friend with a small quantity of water in my eyes and a large quantity of gratitude in my chest. it was not that i really liked the book, it was that he had listened. he had paid attention. and this is why i love christmas. sure, we could figure out better ways to express our appreciation for each other at any point on the calendar but we are socially awkward and it is uncomfortable and it is oh so wonderful to have such a massive excuse, even if i get a few ill fitting shirts along the way. i really hope that your capacity to feel and love and care has and will be expanded this christmas.
merry christmas." | | |
| Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar. | | |
| finals have always seemed to have this effect on me..
somehow i always get taken to the past.
why?
two or so years ago it was queen elizabeth?
then purgatory?
now... the star spangled banner..
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was STILL THERE!
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
what a glorious thought. that after much hardship, battle and defeat... through the night, our flag was still there.
how's your battle going?
what's your flag?
and through the end of the night, will it still be there?
Jehovah Nissi
"Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:14-15 | | |
| i remember what my daddy wrote on the first page of my first bible:
"Andrea, do not depart from the Word of God."
i remember staring at those words sometimes not really thinking too much of it, mostly taking note of my dad's grown up handwriting more than the context of what was written itself.
but now... i realize those words, as simple as they are, are a matter of life and death.
i choose life. deuteronomy 30. | | |
| 2 timothy 2: 11 - 13
the saying is trustworthy, for:
if we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful -
for he cannot deny himself.
Love so amazing. so Divine. demands my life, my soul, my all. | | |
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