Home Alone.

I've had a lot of time lately so when I am done doing whatever I am doing or reading, I take a break and blog. Yesterday I spent the evening alone after work and was home alone. There is something good and almost cathartic in solitude.

There are no noises. No doors opening, no dishes being washed, no feet shuffling about, no talking, just nothing. Quietness is a catalyst for thinking. And my mind goes and goes and then gets lost in the fields of nothingness and I must reel it back to some substance. But it's so easy to open itunes and put on the music, or maybe the TV, or something to just make me feel not so alone. And then I find that this time alone is a gift, a gift from God to clear out the rubbish and the noise of my life that has been singing its track in my head for far too long.

It's hard to just think sometimes. Paul exhorts believers to be mature in their thinking and to be as innocent as babes in evil. It's a mental workout for me to just sit and think, but I'm starting and practicing.

I am reading a difficult book for my mind to digest, called The Justification of God by John Piper. It takes me a long time to think through what he says and the arguments he makes. Although it is hard to read it is very refreshing and much needed. Sometimes I think that I know a lot about the Bible or God and in my pride I get knocked down so hard when I try to read a book like this. Each time I read it I realize how little I know God. It is a great thing to be put back in your place, a great thing to feel inferior, a great thing to feel like a needy, dependent beggar holding out my hand for just a crumb of glories of God in the face of Christ.

Jim Gaffigan = Hilarious!

Funny Videos at JibJab

John Piper said one time that he memorizes a verse from the portion of scripture he is reading that day and just repeats it over and over to himself throughout the day. I took that discipline to practice and today I meditated on Psalm 27:14-"Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord."


I am in a season of waiting right now. It is: different, good, exciting and new.

I am ready for my weekends to not be spent traveling and sleeping in different hotel rooms for gymnastics competitions.

I love not being a student.

I love the advent of the winter with the chilly weather today.

I am going to try to not go to coffee shops the rest of the week. They steal my money and make my clothes smell bad.

I am trying to not be so disgruntled that Uptown is changing its name to the Black Horse. Lame.

Sometimes I wish I had more to do, but this season of my life I believe has been ordained by God and with my time I am to love Him, find Him as my greatest joy and delight, and treasure His words.

I am currently reading: Pride and Prejudice; Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

I am trying to like Beth Moore Daniel Study...it's just so hard.

I coach a competitive girls gymnastics team. It is a gift that God has graciously given me. I don't get why He gave me such a love and enjoyment of this strange sport, but I believe it is somehow for His glory and it is a privilege to coach these girls and be involved in their lives. This job is one of the main instruments God uses to sculpt, change, and grow me. I have never seen so much of the weakness of my self as I have these past couple years. It is a challenge to relate to my co-worker, the girls' parents, and the girls themselves. Tess and I have to recognize their strong points and weak parts and come up with ways to "fix them" and to inspire them and encourage them. God is so creative. The girls are ages 6-12 and they are all entirely different. They are all motivated differently, they all have a different work ethic and attitude, they all have different levels of fear and pain tolerance, they all take corrections differently--they are like my daughters. It is so rewarding to nurture, shape, instruct, discipine, condition and challenge these girls and then to see them grow in maturity, in strength, and in success.











The Families...







The Fun...







My Co-Worker...

Oh that I may never loiter on my heavenly journey! -David Brainerd

Pumpkins are so wonderful. They are quite a creative work. They have their own personalities. No doubt, they are the display of God's creative prowess.

"The chair is beautiful! The chair is beautiful!"

I am currently reading Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards. It has definitely stirred my soul and raised my affections for the loveliness of Christ, the gospel, and the Scriptures.

I also recently went to a regional Desiring God conference and there John Piper spoke on the Pleasures of God. He told this story about speaking at a conference one time with R.C. Sproul, a great man of faith. I can't seem to get this image out of my head, at the same time it helps me understand the points of Edwards.

So at a conference that John Piper went to there was a back room where the speakers could sit in before or after their talk and there was a video screen set up so they could watch and listen to the other speakers. R.C was talking about faith and how it is not just a believing but a receiving. He likened it to a chair. You may believe that the chair is there and can hold you up but faith is actually sitting in it. Well, Dr. Piper was speaking after R.C. and knew that he would be in the back room watching, so he proceeded to say, "R.C. I know that you also believe not only that faith is believing and receiving like the chair, but faith encompasses more. It is recognizing that the chair is the most beautiful chair. It is the most soul-satisfying chair, and there is no other chair like it. The chair is the loveliest. It is the most beautiful." Later on in the day there was a Q&A where all the speakers were sitting on the stage and R.C sat next to Dr. Piper and whispered in his ear, "The chair is beautiful! The chair is beautiful!"

Many people believe in God, many people receive Jesus, but there are few whose hearts are effectually turned to receive Him as their chief treasure, their greatest pleasure, their soul-satisfying savior. The argument is that our hearts have not been enlightened if Jesus is not beautiful, absolutely beautiful, and lovely to us. He is the beauty of all beauty, the Fountain of good, the loveliest of all, the most valuable treasure.

I have been encouraged and my mind continues to stir on the fact--Jesus is beautiful! Jesus is beautiful!

Jesus is alive

I see Your face, You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful