To Walk in Grace

Great song. I love how it the focus turns from my faith at the beginning to God's grace. That's where we are alive and without fear.

"Tip of my Heart" by Bebo Norman

It's on the tip of my heart /
The words to say /
There's an angry world pressed against my back /
And at every turn I keep looking back /

And I know you promise me / Love through eternity /
So why can't I just hold on?
I wanna laugh / I wanna be set free /
and let You hold all that my soul has deep inside of me
But I don't know where to start /
It's on the tip of my heart

So won't you take my hand / Cuz I'm sinkin in /
To this life I've made, but don't understand /
The clock moves so slowly / And time goes so fast /
In this whirlwind world that will never last
This love you've given me / It's not just make-believe /
Help me to just hold on

I wanna live / I wanna love /
But I'm afraid my simple faith will never be enough /
I wanna laugh / I wanna be set free /
and let You hold all that my soul has deep inside of me
But I don't know where to start /
It's on the tip of my heart

You've opened the skies / Opened my eyes /
All my fears you've scattered away /
So I walk in grace / cuz I've seen your face /
And you are all that matters to me

So I'm gunna live / I'm gunna love /
I'm not afraid because your grace will always be enough /
I'm gunna laugh / I'm gunna be set free
And let you hold all that my soul has deep inside of me /
And you've shown me where to start /
It's on the tip of my heart

Where I spent the summer

Some pictures from my summer residence in beautiful Coeur d'Alene Idaho. Well, that's where I worked, but these are from nearby Post Falls Idaho where I spent the second half of the summer with Luke (first half over in Rathdrum ID--didn't take pictures though). I need to carry my camera around with me more, because photos bring back great memories:

No jumping. Luke and I did that off smaller cliffs down river a couple miles (except off rocks).

Biking up the hills

Overlooking Post Falls

This was in my backyard. For real.

Definitely a beautiful place to spend a summer. Good times.

Unity through Humility: Philippians Part 3

Study Notes on Philippians 2:1-11. Looked up lots of Greek this week.

I decided to separate the notes from the questions, which will mean less page-flipping for me during the small group time.

Logos

"Lord I don't know where all this is going /
Or how it all works out /
Lead me to peace that is past understanding /
a peace beyond all doubt"

Great song by the Newsboys.

The next section in Philippians is amazing!

Been looking at Logos Bible Software Bible Study Edition, which looks like a really great tool. For just Bibles, Biblegateway.com has it all (great site). What appeals to me about Logos is the built in concordance, cross-references, lexicons, Bible Dictionaries, maps, commentaries, and more. Right now my Soma Prep involves 4 Bibles open (NIV, ESV, NASB, and the pocket Gideon NKJV), BibleGateway.com for the NLT version, the free E-Sword Bible Study software for Strong's Numbers referencing the original words, the StudyLight.org lexicon for definitions of those words and to see other uses in Scripture (of course for a serious word study you want to cross-reference the original word, not the English word!), and maybe some commentaries. Logos puts that all in one place. Granted I still really like bound books, hence the multiple physical bibles, but I think I'd use Logos a lot. It's just a little pricy.

I'm so grateful to have a lighter class load this semester to have more time for all this good stuff. :)

Philippians - Part 2

Chapter 1, verses 12 through the end, here we go! Here are my notes for anyone who may be interested, and please do let me know if you have any comments, especially if you find anything wrong or iffy. (Much of this came from great discussion with Neil, Josh, Joe, Peter K, Liam, and Dan.)

Will we be so passionate about Christ that trials-—far from deterring us-—only make us bolder witnesses and draw us closer to Him?

Sarah Palin and Down's Syndrome

This is a really cool story about a family with a child with Down's Syndrome that met McCain and Palin:







Sarah Palin, of course, has a baby with Down's Syndrome that her family loves to death. And speaking of whom, McCain's choice of Palin was simply brilliant. It's turned me (and millions of other conservatives) from "I guess I'll vote for McCain" to an enthusiastic McCain-Palin supporter. I had resigned to the fact that McCain could no way beat Obama (who's a great guy but probably the most liberal candidate ever nominated by the Democrats, and least experienced too), and now McCain is ahead in the polls for the first time. Maybe Rudy Guiliani's super great speech helped with that too. (Although Sarah Palin's speech steals the show.)

Today there's an opinion article in the Evergreen that Palin's decision to "keep her child" was purely political. My response was something to the effect of "!?!?!?!?!!?!!?!?!!!" (Just ask my roommate.) The idea that people even would consider not "keeping a child" is absolutely appalling to me, although it happens all the time with Down's children. But to suggest that she didn't have an abortion because it was politically expedient is nonsense. She didn't have an abortion because it goes against every thing she believes. And that helps explain why I'm a huge fan of Palin.

Philippians - Part 1

I've been having a blast making notes on Philippians. I got to put principles of hermeneutics (Bible interpretation--took a class from Pastor Doug last year on it) into action: things like word studies, analyizing thought structure, understanding the context... good stuff. You gain an appreciation for how rich and full scripture is.

Tonight I gave an introduction at Soma and then when we split into groups, I went through the material here with my group. This being the first time we've done this, I have a good idea where things need to be adjusted for next time. I certainly have a lot to learn about homiletics--how to teach Scripture. Although our main focus with the small groups is lots of discussion and interaction, the group leaders still put homiletics into action. (We follow an inductive Bible study method, focusing on three types of questions: What does it say? What does it mean? How does it apply to me?) Hearing other people's perspectives is wonderfully encouraging. I'm excited to prepare for next week.

If you're interested, my notes are posted here: Philippians 1:1-11. By all means, if you see anything wrong or questionable, please let me know!