what is the BEST thing about 2009?

Can I ask you a question? What do you think is the best thing about this year? In 2009, what do we have to look forward to?

Here is what I believe is the most exciting thing:

"God so loved the world, he sent his only Son to die for us. And whomever believes in His name will not perish but have eternal life." WOW!! (that is John 3:16, btw)

And, the thing is, that is not something new for 2009...it was true in 2008, as it was in 1009, and will be in 2010 and beyond!

It is new to me this week though, because I have been mediating on this line, "I ask great things of a great God," from Valley of Vision, which is a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. I wanted to pass on to you the entire prayer so that you can reflect on what a kind, gracious, and BIG God we have. (hopefully there are no copyright infringements here!!)

O Fountain of all good,
Destroy in me every lofty thought,
Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds. Annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness,
Implant in me true lowliness of spirit,
Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,
Open up in me a fount of penitential tears,
Break me, then bind me up;
Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God;
Then the Father can take His abode in me,
Then can the blessed Jesus come with healing in His touch,
Then can the Holy Spirit descend in sanctifying grace;
O Holy Trinity, three Persons and one God,
inhabit me, a temple consecrated to thy glory!
When thou art present, evil cannot abide;
In thy fellowship is fullness of joy,
Beneath thy smile is peace of conscience,
By thy side, no fears disturb,
no apprehensions banish rest of mind,
With Thee my heart shall bloom with fragrance;
Make me meet, through repentance, for thine indwelling.
NOTHING exceeds thy power,
NOTHING is too great for thee to do,
NOTHING too good for thee to give.
Infinite is thy might, boundless thy love,
limitless thy grace, glorious thy saving name.
Let angels sing for sinners repenting, prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed, Satan's captive's released,
blind eyes opened, broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered, the self-righteous stripped,
the formalist driven from a refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened,
and the saints built up in their holy faith.
I ask great things of a great God.


So I leave you with this question:

Do you know the God described in this prayer and the wonderful work that He has done for you?? (If you don't, you need to- your life depends on it!!)

God Bless and Happy New Years!

how do I know God is sovereign?

Can I ask you a question? how do you know that God is truly sovereign? Not just sovereign, but good, wise, BRILLIANT, and complex?

I know this is not the next post that I planned to write about, but since God IS sovereign, he can control what I write, and today, I want to praise Him.

So, to start, a story.

Yesterday, I and three other friends went to Ocean City for the day. Although I had not been there in three or four years, it seemed to me that the waves were quite vicious. I could barely stand a couple of feet out, without getting swept back towards land. A few times, I had to pray I wouldn't hurt a child with my careening body. But, other than some soreness, I am ok, and it was fun. Jeremy, however, who is one of my dearest and best friends, came up to the beach shortly after I got out and said he had been pulled so hard by the waves that he hit the ocean floor with his head, straight on. Well, as you can tell, by the fact that he walked up to me, he didn't die; because of this, we assumed nothing was broken and it was probably a pulled muscle or pinched nerve. He allowed me to massage the hurting area, but it dint make it feel better, but I did detect a slight protrusion on one side of his cervical spinal area. Anyway, he thought he could sleep it off, but didn't really sleep form the pain, and so went to the E.R. this morning.
Well, Jeremy was diagnosed with a fractured spine, in the cervical vertebra c2-c5. He has been under a lot of drugs, but he did relay to me that he does NOT have any neurological damage AND does NOT need surgery. He needs to wear a neck brace and possibly undergo therapy. I just went down to visit him (at his parents, yes, he WAS released today too!), and his mom told me more about the hospital visit. This is what she had to say:

The doctor's believe that Jeremy should have died, on impact. He didn't, and mainly it was due to a birth defect in his neck of three bones fused together. Something that God created Jeremy with that was not supposed to be there, that was an anomaly, saved his life. Wow.

Tonight, I am meditating on Psalm 139, particularly the following verses:

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." (verses 13-6, new living translation)

God decided to protect Jeremy from dying...not just dying, but even from being paralyzed or having sustained a more impacting injury, 33 1/2 years earlier.

So, I leave you with the following question:

Is God really sovereign? does He really know everything? is he really kind, good, and generous, particularly in the area of his created ones (us)??? In what ways have you witnessed this in your life (or others??)