Random Thoughts of the Day...

Yes indeedy.

Well, let's see...

To be honest, everything's feeling just a little bit monotonous. And also rather unpredictable. Which would at first seem like they aren't compatible, but that's just how life is right now. I'm in a season of life where change is pretty inevitable, but my brain is kind of stuck with the opinion that nothing is going to change. My other brain knows better, however.  Really, it's all a bit muddled, but God's plans are beautiful, and He can even sort out my muddled thoughts, and make the mundane meaningful.

It's been a dark day, what with the rain and the time change making the sun set earlier... maybe that has something to do with not feeling 100% today.

An unexplained lack of motivation has me staring at my *almost finished* essay for hours, hoping for a lightning-bolt of inspiration. I desperately want to spend some time doing something with my hands - I have many potential sewing projects lurking in the dark recesses of my imagination. It's been one of those days when energy is zapped and you look back and wonder if anything got done. Still, I can't say it's been a bad day, just a rather sleepy one.

Hmmm... *smiles* I've been humming, whistling, and giving incredible operatic renditions of Christmas carols all day. Be glad you didn't hear me. (sorry mom! ;) I've been playing Christmas songs for a couple weeks now, preparing to play at a craft fair... it's getting me in a roasting-chestnuts-o'er-an-open-fire kind of mood. Although I've never roasted chestnuts in my life, nor do we have an open fire. Ah well. Jack frost is beginning to nip at my nose at least.

Wonder... that's how I would describe what I've been feeling lately - seeing more of who God is, what He has done.  And oh how I want to share that joy, that wonder, that deep, deep assurance that God has placed in my heart, with so many who are without the joy and salvation of the Lord. I am humbled that even despite my many failings and stumblings into sin, He is my strength and my hope forever.

I loved the sermon on Sunday - one of my favorite passages in the Bible, where Jesus walks on water.  I so identify with Peter in that account. What a beautiful parallel of the greatness of God in the midst of the storms of life - may we truly learn to trust Him and look to Him! I came across this beautiful song by Downhere last night that illustrates the same story. I think I've listened to it at least 20 times since then.

...The end of a random day....

God bless you, my friends!

Consider the lilies...

Would you believe I took these pictures only last week?

They're still out there blooming in the garden, despite the frosty nights. :)

It was a perfect evening to take the camera out,

capturing the resilient, transient beauty.

 

The nasturtiums bejeweled by afternoon showers...

A perfect little fairy mirror...

"He has made everything beautiful in its time." (Ecc 3:11a)

"The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever." (Isa 40:8)

Beautiful.

I'm making friends with dead people....

This has nothing to do with Halloween or necromancing, in case you're worried. ;)

It all started in the frozen food section at Costco this summer. Amongst the herds of people gathered around the sample stations, my eye randomly fell upon a girl who was holding a book in her arms. In a glance I took in the front cover. It was nothing extraordinary - just a black and white photo of a bespectacled man. Something about the title seemed familiar though. Bonhoeffer... hmm, where have I seen that name before?

Suffice it to say that my steps soon led me to the book section, where I picked up a biography on a man of whom I had barely heard. Not one to make hasty purchases on anything over $5, I nonetheless was enticed to purchase the book, lured on by my current obsession with WWII. Anyhow, $9.99 could be easily justified if it turned out to be half-decent.

It did.

I just started reading Eric Metaxas' biography of Bonhoeffer last week, and it has been incredibly fascinating.  I've really been getting into biographies/journals lately, which isn't really typical for me, but I've been so encouraged by them.  As Brett and Alex Harris say, I've been "making friends with dead people".  These accounts remind me of the "great cloud of witnesses" that Hebrews 12:1 speaks of, and the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, which lists many examples of faithful men and women who lived their lives in obedience to God.

This is the same type of life I discovered as I began to research the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who searched for truth and was found by God, and ultimately paid the ultimate price for his obedience when he was hanged by the gestapo.  I won't go into the details of his life here, but you can watch a 1/2 hour summary by Eric Metaxas here. (It starts slowly - if you want to skip the intro, go to 8:00) One of the things I have been most struck by so far is just how similar the world of Bonhoeffer's time was to the world of today, especially in terms of culture, philosophy, religion, and the church. I want to share a few quotes that really hit me. I pray that this generation of believers would be inspired by these words from the past, and empowered by the Spirit to seek and live the truth of God's Word.

  

"The religion of Christ is not a tidbit after one's bread, on the contrary, it is the bread or it is nothing. People should at least understand and concede this if they call themselves Christian."

"Humanism and mysticism, the seemingly most beautiful blossoms put forth by the Christian religion, extolled today as the highest ideals of the human spirit; indeed often as the crown itself of the Christian idea - [but] it is precisely the Christian idea itself that must reject them as an apotheosis of the creature and as such a challenge to the honor belonging to God alone."

"In New York they preach about virtually everything; only one thing is not addressed, or is addressed so rarely that I have as yet been unable to hear it, namely, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the cross, sin and forgiveness, death and life."

"Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic... Do not defend God's Word, but testify to it... Trust to the Word."