Get ready for Super Tuesday!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Jon Foreman - White as Snow
Have mercy on me, oh God
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions
Have mercy on me, oh God
According to your unfailing love
According to your great compassion
Blot out my transgressions
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
The sacrifices of our God
Are a broken and a contrite heart
Against you and you alone have I sinned
The sacrifices of our God
Are a broken and a contrite heart
Against you and you alone have I sinned
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of my salvation
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
And I will be made whole
Wash me white as snow
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Would you create in me a clean heart, oh God
Restore in me the joy of your salvation
Thursday, January 17, 2008
(American) Idols
I was able to catch some of tonight's American Idol, and I was reminded of how entertaining the show's audition episodes are. (The two talented girls above are my two favorites so far. They both gave me goose bumps.)
I know I've alluded to American Idol in past entries, and how it reminds me of how good God's grace is, in that it does away with any requirement on our part to "perform" up to a certain level; Christ does that for us.
But as I was watching tonight, I couldn't help but to see that this show is saturated with spirituality. The countless stories of people coming from harsh realities with dreams of becoming something more, something glorious, the delusional self-perceptions that some of the horrendous singers have, the power of human words of judgment, the praise and adoration of beauty (and the condemnation and berating of ugliness)...all of this, and much more, is there, absolutely imbuing every single minute.
Most of all, the celebrations and vehement diatribes that immediately follow these auditions reminds me that humans are undeniably wired for acceptance and approval. Watching just a few minutes of one of these audition episodes confirms this.
It is stunning to see how approval from just two out of three human beings, and a subsequent promised trip to an egregiously overrated place called Hollywood, can cause someone to celebrate more brightly, loudly, and joyfully than any grateful Christian I've ever seen. It is also stunning to see how rejection from the same two (or even worse, three) judges can cause someone to curse, cry, and suffer more than any repentant Christian I've ever seen.
Christians are, after all, approved (for eternity, mind you, and not just for a few fleeting years, or even minutes) by someone who matters the most. His approval means everything and makes all other approvals (and rejections) irrelevant, is earned and secured by someone infinitely greater than them, and ensures their future destination: a place far better than the best thing they have yet to think of because it will unite them with the very one who got them there. Yet, at the same time, it is Christians who are compelled to hate the horrible vestiges of the old death that still linger in them (though for most, these vestiges still compose the majority), to the point of uttering heartfelt anathemas towards those remnants and towards the self, to seek out dire repair, with tears, because of the extent of the damage and their inability to fix it on their own, and to writhe in misery until their current state meets their future glory.
The problem for Christians, it would appear, is the same problem that those excessively invested contestants on American Idol have: misplaced worship and significance. In a word: idols.
"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Morning
Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.
"That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.
We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. He never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder -- in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."
- C.S. Lewis
As I prayed this morning, I asked God to make Christ's blood seep deeply into me completely, to stain me, to dye me, to my very core, leaving nothing untouched, and that by his Spirit, every word I speak, every action I take, every object and person I touch would also be stained. It would usually be easy for my stubborn brain to take this prayer apart and make me feel sheepish for saying such high-and-mighty Christian jargon, but it did not. To my surprise, and my genuine joy, I prayed this prayer earnestly, and without restraint.
However, as I reflected on that prayer tonight, I realized that I am always being stained and dyed by other things; I am ever allowing, and even inviting other things to seep deeply into me.
While my mornings spent with the Lord have been sweet and refreshing, I now desire to make them more fierce with the deliberate intention of putting every other voice to silence, cutting them off from me, in order to let God have at the right part of me.
For only blood can wipe out blood,
And only tears can heal:
And the crimson stain that was of Cain
Became Christ's snow-white seal.
- from The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde
"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." - C.S. Lewis
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.
- Psalm 101:8
"That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.
We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. He never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder -- in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."
- C.S. Lewis
As I prayed this morning, I asked God to make Christ's blood seep deeply into me completely, to stain me, to dye me, to my very core, leaving nothing untouched, and that by his Spirit, every word I speak, every action I take, every object and person I touch would also be stained. It would usually be easy for my stubborn brain to take this prayer apart and make me feel sheepish for saying such high-and-mighty Christian jargon, but it did not. To my surprise, and my genuine joy, I prayed this prayer earnestly, and without restraint.
However, as I reflected on that prayer tonight, I realized that I am always being stained and dyed by other things; I am ever allowing, and even inviting other things to seep deeply into me.
While my mornings spent with the Lord have been sweet and refreshing, I now desire to make them more fierce with the deliberate intention of putting every other voice to silence, cutting them off from me, in order to let God have at the right part of me.
For only blood can wipe out blood,
And only tears can heal:
And the crimson stain that was of Cain
Became Christ's snow-white seal.
- from The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde
"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be." - C.S. Lewis
Friday, January 11, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
It is finished...for now
I'm putting on my happy face tonight...
...because I just finished applying to the three graduate programs that I want to be considered for: Columbia, NYU, and Northwestern. If you aren't aware, I am aiming to get a master's degree in journalism.
Though I feel like I can finally let out a sigh of relief, I still have to prepare to take Columbia's proprietary test (or, what I call the "We-need-to-separate-ourselves-from-everyone-else-because-we're-so-damned-superior" test) on Saturday, January 19th. Here's a practice test from 2003.
I can't wait.
In other news, I think I'm actually starting to get interested in the realm of American politics. I always tried to stay away from it because it seemed so overwhelming to keep up with, and because I was a bit repulsed by all the bickering and contemptible characters. (I also feared that a genuine interest in politics was equivalent to becoming a true adult, something that I wanted to avoid at all costs.) But after attempting to keep up with 'Election 2008,' I'm starting to find all this hubbub a tad engaging.
Tim Keller once said (approximately) that the media always thinks religion is about politics, when in reality politics is really about religion. At first, I thought this statement sounded cool, but I didn't really get it. Now I do, and politics is more interesting and relevant because of this realization that the foundation of it all is the desire to steer this country, and the world, towards truth. This is a very spiritual undertaking indeed, no matter how hard it is to see it.
I'm tempted to go on about the candidates and more, but I'll save that for another day...or never.
Now it's off to end this warm January night with some New Hampshire action, The Wall Street Journal, C.S. Lewis, the Bible, prayer, and some other odds and ends.
I bid thee adieu, fair reader.
(The use of Hillary's smile above does not mean that I support her, or that I don't.)
...because I just finished applying to the three graduate programs that I want to be considered for: Columbia, NYU, and Northwestern. If you aren't aware, I am aiming to get a master's degree in journalism.
Though I feel like I can finally let out a sigh of relief, I still have to prepare to take Columbia's proprietary test (or, what I call the "We-need-to-separate-ourselves-from-everyone-else-because-we're-so-damned-superior" test) on Saturday, January 19th. Here's a practice test from 2003.
I can't wait.
In other news, I think I'm actually starting to get interested in the realm of American politics. I always tried to stay away from it because it seemed so overwhelming to keep up with, and because I was a bit repulsed by all the bickering and contemptible characters. (I also feared that a genuine interest in politics was equivalent to becoming a true adult, something that I wanted to avoid at all costs.) But after attempting to keep up with 'Election 2008,' I'm starting to find all this hubbub a tad engaging.
Tim Keller once said (approximately) that the media always thinks religion is about politics, when in reality politics is really about religion. At first, I thought this statement sounded cool, but I didn't really get it. Now I do, and politics is more interesting and relevant because of this realization that the foundation of it all is the desire to steer this country, and the world, towards truth. This is a very spiritual undertaking indeed, no matter how hard it is to see it.
I'm tempted to go on about the candidates and more, but I'll save that for another day...or never.
Now it's off to end this warm January night with some New Hampshire action, The Wall Street Journal, C.S. Lewis, the Bible, prayer, and some other odds and ends.
I bid thee adieu, fair reader.
(The use of Hillary's smile above does not mean that I support her, or that I don't.)
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