Assurances

Okay, so I don't have any more pictures from Chicago.  At least not at the moment.  They all require more color-correction and the like than I've bothered with so far.  (Hopefully your appetites didn't get too whetted.)

But I wanted to post, at least, to confirm that I'm still alive and haven't completely forgotten that I have a blog.  In fact, I even have blog-worthy things to say.  And hopefully, I'll say them soon.  For now, though (because it's late), I'll just say that God is good.  That's something that bears lots of repeating.

God is good.  All the time.

May you have new eyes to see that goodness this week.

The Bean

Here's a picture from Chicago!  Just one for now, to whet your appetite...

Cherry Blossoms

Yesterday some friends and I headed down to DC for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  We had fine(ish) weather, good conversation, plenty of blossoms, dinner out, and a spectacular 180˚ cloud-to-cloud lightning storm on the way home.  What more could you ask for on a Sunday afternoon, really?

Patterns

I thought I'd share my latest doodle:

I'm not sure if it's done yet, but I like it so far...

Done with taxes!

Woo hoo!

We are seeing crazy things all over the world right now: uprisings and earthquakes and droughts and unrest.  All of these things bring chaos while they are happening, but let us remember the after-effects as well.


I just finished reading an update from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) describing the desperate refugee situation as thousands of Libyans are flooding into Tunisia, overwhelming the aid infrastructure.  As we pray for peace in our world, please include the many people in Libya, in Côte d'Ivoire, in New Zealand, all over the world--currently more than 43 million worldwide--who have been left without anywhere to go. 

Books (sort of)

I was at a big chain bookstore yesterday, and there was an entire shelving unit devoted to "New Paranormal Romantic Teen Fiction" ... I didn't  know whether to laugh or cry.

I Lie in Pieces Before Thee

O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to Thee. I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me. I am undeserving, but I look to Thy tender mercy. I am full of infirmities, wants, sin; Thou art full of grace.

I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my wilful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: a fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.

I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, dost Thou have mercy on me?

Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride, at the false god of self, and I lie in pieces before Thee. But Thou hast given me another master and lord, Thy Son, Jesus, and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to Thee. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the world and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen man, and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day. 

Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only chiselled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I have been embedded so long, and lifted from the quarry to the upper air, where I may be built in Christ for ever.

- "Heart Corruptions," a Puritan Prayer from The Valley of Vision