This night, after crawling into bed, I picked up my trusty copy of My Utmost For His Highest for the first time in nearly a week. I was planning on reading a bit and then catching some shut eye in preparation of a Saturday spent inside grading papers and writing lesson plans. However, after reading the excerpt for this 28th day of November I felt compelled to do something I haven't done in several months which is to blog. I was reassured of God's grace after this passage and therefore I am posting it so others may benefit as well. Anyway, here are the words of Oswald Chambers as only he can express.
The Bounty of the Destitute
"The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there Our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves; we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit; He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, which puts "the beyond" within, and immediately "the beyond" has come within, it rises up to "the above," and we are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives."
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Commonalities of Man
This past weekend I had the good fortune of being blessed with a 3 day weekend.
On Saturday, I took advantage of the wonderful warm weather and strung my hammock up at Paradise, right next to the Flagler Museum. I was minding my own business while reading Call of the Wild and simply enjoying the day.
After about half an hour an elderly couple strolled up to eat lunch on one of the benches facing downtown West Palm Beach and the Intracoastal. We exchanged pleasantries in passing. The man commented on how it appeared that I had a nice rig set up while his wife stated that I appeared to be quite comfortable. I replied in the affirmative to both of their statements. Indeed, it is a nice rig and I was, in fact, relaxed nearly to the point of nodding off. We shot the breeze a bit longer before they had their lunch at which point I continued reading.
While lying there in the hammock, I came to the realization that both I and the elderly man likely were jealous of each other's respective position. On one hand, the elderly man sees his bygone youth and freedom; something that he will never be able to capture again in his lifetime. On the other hand, I see a couple who still enjoys being together after who knows how many years. They have a lifetime full of memories and are hopefully to the point where they are completely one with each other.
This situation also reminded me of the first verse of Old Man, a great Neil Young song from the album Harvest.
Old man, look at my life, I'm a lot like
you were.
Old man, look at my life-twenty four and
there's so much more.
Live alone in a paradise that makes me think
of two.
On Saturday, I took advantage of the wonderful warm weather and strung my hammock up at Paradise, right next to the Flagler Museum. I was minding my own business while reading Call of the Wild and simply enjoying the day.
After about half an hour an elderly couple strolled up to eat lunch on one of the benches facing downtown West Palm Beach and the Intracoastal. We exchanged pleasantries in passing. The man commented on how it appeared that I had a nice rig set up while his wife stated that I appeared to be quite comfortable. I replied in the affirmative to both of their statements. Indeed, it is a nice rig and I was, in fact, relaxed nearly to the point of nodding off. We shot the breeze a bit longer before they had their lunch at which point I continued reading.
While lying there in the hammock, I came to the realization that both I and the elderly man likely were jealous of each other's respective position. On one hand, the elderly man sees his bygone youth and freedom; something that he will never be able to capture again in his lifetime. On the other hand, I see a couple who still enjoys being together after who knows how many years. They have a lifetime full of memories and are hopefully to the point where they are completely one with each other.
This situation also reminded me of the first verse of Old Man, a great Neil Young song from the album Harvest.
Old man, look at my life, I'm a lot like
you were.
Old man, look at my life-twenty four and
there's so much more.
Live alone in a paradise that makes me think
of two.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Humbly Repentant
After being chastised to the 3rd and 4th generation by a couple of my expatriate compadres, I feel compelled to apologize for a lack of blogging activity. I know it is no excuse but I do find it difficult to find time to blog while juggling the construction of (hopefully) effective classroom management techniques along with lesson plans.
Apologies aside, I am happy to be in the midst of one of my favorite times of the year. March Madness and all the compelling basketball games that give the event its name make for hours and hours of entertainment. This is about the only time of year that I embrace the TV; an object I normally shun save for Jeopardy and The Office. Seeing teams and players work together for their individual schools and universities is inspiring in a world where athletes care more about themselves and making millions of dollars for their own personal advancement and greed.
On a lighter note, personal lessons can also be taken from this time of year. For example, two years ago I resolved to never again make perilous bets that could possibly result in tremendous embarrassment in the form of being forced to receive a belly button piercing accompanied by the modelling of a belly shirt to that day's classes. Thankfully, this bet did not come to fruition due to a little known school named George Mason. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for mid-majors and the unpredictable nature of the NCAA tournament.
Apologies aside, I am happy to be in the midst of one of my favorite times of the year. March Madness and all the compelling basketball games that give the event its name make for hours and hours of entertainment. This is about the only time of year that I embrace the TV; an object I normally shun save for Jeopardy and The Office. Seeing teams and players work together for their individual schools and universities is inspiring in a world where athletes care more about themselves and making millions of dollars for their own personal advancement and greed.
On a lighter note, personal lessons can also be taken from this time of year. For example, two years ago I resolved to never again make perilous bets that could possibly result in tremendous embarrassment in the form of being forced to receive a belly button piercing accompanied by the modelling of a belly shirt to that day's classes. Thankfully, this bet did not come to fruition due to a little known school named George Mason. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for mid-majors and the unpredictable nature of the NCAA tournament.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Hometowns
All half dozen readers of this simple blog know of my love for the unique town of Lake Worth. Much of this affection can likely be attributed to the fact that I, like my father, was raised in Lake Worth and have spent the vast majority of my life in and around this town. However, I don't believe that this notion completely explains the reason why I feel the way I do about Lake Worth.
After spending another evening in downtown Lake Worth having dinner and looking at the artwork from the annual street painting festival, I believe that I have found the missing link of why I love Lake Worth that has eluded me up until this point.
The reason why I love Lake Worth is because it is a town that doesn't pretend. In Lake Worth what you see is what you get. They don't attempt to be something that they are not. Lake Worth, like any area, is not without its problems but it doesn't attempt to hide behind a facade of false pretense. Many of the buildings downtown have been here since the Great Migration of the 1950's. They are by no means modern and I find beauty and inspiration in that simple fact. For the most part, Lake Worth thus far has been able to avoid what I feel has been a plague upon South Florida: the urge to get rid of everything that reminds us of the past in the pursuit of wealth and luxury through the building of new high rise condominium buildings.
I also believe that Lake Worth provides us, as Christians, an example to follow with fervor and without hesitation. Instead of constantly looking forward and worrying about what will come next in our lives, we should be content with who we are and where we are in life. I am in no means discouraging a person from improving oneself but am instead emphasizing the need to realize that the means to improve oneself oftentimes comes from the example and witness of people from the past. Instead of disregarding all that preceded our generation in the name of progress we need to come to the realization that we are more likely to be blessed with progress and growth if we will simply be open-minded and follow the examples of our predecessors and forbears, all of whom struggled with the same issues and desires that we still face today.
I am continually grateful for the lessons that I have learned in Lake Worth, in my opinion one of the greatest places to have had the opportunity to spend my childhood, adolescence and now adulthood. I simply hope that these types of lessons and experiences continue during the time that Providence allows me to stay in this wondrous town.
After spending another evening in downtown Lake Worth having dinner and looking at the artwork from the annual street painting festival, I believe that I have found the missing link of why I love Lake Worth that has eluded me up until this point.
The reason why I love Lake Worth is because it is a town that doesn't pretend. In Lake Worth what you see is what you get. They don't attempt to be something that they are not. Lake Worth, like any area, is not without its problems but it doesn't attempt to hide behind a facade of false pretense. Many of the buildings downtown have been here since the Great Migration of the 1950's. They are by no means modern and I find beauty and inspiration in that simple fact. For the most part, Lake Worth thus far has been able to avoid what I feel has been a plague upon South Florida: the urge to get rid of everything that reminds us of the past in the pursuit of wealth and luxury through the building of new high rise condominium buildings.
I also believe that Lake Worth provides us, as Christians, an example to follow with fervor and without hesitation. Instead of constantly looking forward and worrying about what will come next in our lives, we should be content with who we are and where we are in life. I am in no means discouraging a person from improving oneself but am instead emphasizing the need to realize that the means to improve oneself oftentimes comes from the example and witness of people from the past. Instead of disregarding all that preceded our generation in the name of progress we need to come to the realization that we are more likely to be blessed with progress and growth if we will simply be open-minded and follow the examples of our predecessors and forbears, all of whom struggled with the same issues and desires that we still face today.
I am continually grateful for the lessons that I have learned in Lake Worth, in my opinion one of the greatest places to have had the opportunity to spend my childhood, adolescence and now adulthood. I simply hope that these types of lessons and experiences continue during the time that Providence allows me to stay in this wondrous town.
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