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Monday, July 14, 2008
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Not My Son
After walking into Sears on Friday night, we ran into a family we know from church. They have a 3-year-old boy. Instantly, my 4-year-old daughter and 2yo son began to treat the Ladies' Intimates section as their personal playground. After several attempts to corral them, I finally called an end to it. I lifted my boy and called my little girl to come along to our appointed task.
As Meg and I were riding the escalator to the large appliances, I issued a decree:
That is the last time my son will be seen running around in Women's Underwear!
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4:02 PM :: link ::
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
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Welcome to the Silence
source
Hi. Welcome To The Silence. Life Is So Loud Sometimes And Just Being Still Even For A Few Minutes Can Powerfully Rearrange Everything That’s Assaulting Our Minds And Our Hearts. Especially When God Is In View. After All He’s The One Who Said Be Still And Know That I Am God.
So We’ve Turned The Volume Down As We Start What We Hope Will Be A Beautiful And Raucous Night In The Hopes That The Things We Need To Hear Most Will Become Really Really Loud.
God Knows Who You Are. Where You Are. And He Knows What You Need In This Moment. He Is Not Looking At A Massive Crowd But The Eyes Of The One Who So Easily Spoke Galaxies Into Their Places Are Looking Right At You. Amazingly He Knows Your Name And The Color He Painted Your Eyes. And He Knows What Makes You Laugh And What Makes You Cry. He Is Not Distracted By What You Think About Him. Or What You Want Him To Think About You. He Knows What He Thinks About You And How He Feels. And He Wants To Say Something To You In The Silence.
I Love You.
Let That Sink Into The Silence And The Stillness And The Soil Of Your Heart.
God Loves You. Oh Don’t Believe The Words On The Screen Or The Words Of Somebody. You Don’t Have To Take It From A Third Party. No. The Father Has Spoken Directly To You. The God Of All Creation Is Engaging You In A Pretty Stunning Conversation. And As Is Always The Case God Is Speaking First. Not Waiting For Your Proposal Or Assessment Of Where You Feel You Are. Or If You’ll Ever Be As Amazing As Something Deep Inside Tells You That You Were Meant To Be. He Isn’t Waiting To Hear About All Your Screw Ups Or Your Great Deeds To Make It Up. No God Is Eager To Share His Take On You.
Here It Is.
Mess Up.
Definitely.
Deeply Loved.
Anyway.
Both Are True And Both Things Set Him In Motion Shaping History With A Story Fueled By Unstoppable Grace. You See God Was Not Shut Down By Our Failure. Nor Did The Consequences Of Our Rebellion Dim His Beautiful Heart Of Love. No We Were The Ones Shut Down When Sin Caused Our Souls To Die. And Die We Did. It’s Bad News Death.
Because Dead People Can’t See. Can’t Breathe. Can’t Help Themselves. Dead People Can’t Do Anything. That Is Why They Call Him Savior. When We Were Dead And Could Not Touch God Jesus Came Down And Touched Us. It Is The Most Phenomenal Thing That Has Or Will Ever Happen To You And Me. Divinity Rushing Into Humanity. God In Skin Marching Steadily To The Beat Of His Own Love. And Nothing And No One Could Alter His Course.
It’s True.
We Were A Mess.
Yet We Were Deeply Loved.
Because Of Our Mess His Embrace Would Demand A Cost Beyond Compare. Because Love Was Accompanied By Justice And Justice Demanded Someone Cover Our Debt Of Sin And Shame Someone Would Have To Stand In Our Place And Pay Our Fee. Someone Would Have To Come To Our Aid.
Even If We Wanted To Pay Off The Price Required By Our Mistakes It Could Not Be So. Dead Men Cannot Stand Up For Themselves. So Another Would Have To Take Our Blows And Swallow The Death Our Sins Deserved. But Who Could Do That For Us. It Couldn’t Be Just Anyone. Because If The Price To Be Offered Was Death The Price Would Have To Be Exacted From Someone Who Was Alive. Yet The Whole World Was Dead In Darkness Until A Miracle Happened And A Light Shone Above And In A Manger.
In The Night The Hope Of Us All Was Born Alive. The Only One Ever Born Alive. And The Only One To Live A Spotless Life Of Pure Faith In God. So On The Friday We Call Good Jesus Was The Only One At The Cross Who Could Possibly Die. Because He Was The Only Living Soul On Planet Earth. Hallelujah. Jesus Was Alive When God’s Love Drove The Nails Our Sin Screamed Out For Into His Hands And Feet. Nails Of Love Punctured Flesh As Blood So Precious Streamed Down To The Ground. A Puddle Of Incomprehensible Love Soaking Into The Soil.
His Innocence Now Gone He Gasped And Cried. Purity Now Covered In Muck And Shame. And When The Sun Fully Scorched The Beautiful Bloom Of Grace Jesus Could No Longer Suck In Enough Air To Breathe. And Finally His Heart Stopped Beating.
In An Instant All Hell Broke Lose And Darkness Covered The Moment As His Lifeless Mangled Body Hung For All The World To See. God’s Undeniable Expression.
I Love You.
His Death Shocked Everyone In Heaven And Hell. Everyone Except His Father Who Was On A Mission Of Love And Saw This Day Coming From Before There Was Time. But All Else Missed It. That’s Why Some Wept In Disbelief As Others Exuberantly Shouted Death Has Won.
The Darkness Threw A Party. But As It Turned Out Hell Partied Too Soon. God’s Story Was Just Getting Interesting As He Spoke To His Son. Rise Up Son I Love. Rise Up Oh My Son.
From The Clasp Of Death Christ Rose. His Father Exhaling Glorious Breath And Neverending Life Into His Lungs. So Tonight We Will Throw The Party And Invite The World To Come. Because Our God Is Mighty To Save. And The Christ We Celebrate Has Overwhelmed The Grave.
He Is Here Now. This Same Jesus Is Here Now. Offering His Life To All Men. To You. Not You Trying To Live A Better Life. But Christ Living His Life Inside Of You. If You Want A Big Theological Word It’s Called Incarnation. It You Need A Simpler Word It’s Called The Gospel Of Grace. Christ In You The Hope Of Glory.
I Don’t Know What The Loudness Has Been Pumping Into Your Heart And Brain. I Don’t Know If You’ve Been Dragged Into The Depths Of Despair Or If Your Standing On The Deceptive Heights Of Your Own Doing. But In The Stillness Hear This. A Miraculous Offer Is On The Table. God’s Love For You Moved Christ To Take Your Blows So That Now In Him You Can Stand Forgiven And Alive.
And There’s More. Christ Lives To Be In You What You Alone Could Never Be.
Say Yes.
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5:32 AM :: link ::
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Ben
Ben who?
Ben way too long since I updated this site.
When life slows down (ha), maybe I'll post some more.
In the meantime, here's a great blog:
Of First Importance
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2:31 AM :: link ::
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
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Same Old Fight, New Perspective
I still find it a wonder when I read something that has direct application to what is going on in my life. I "happened" upon this article today, which I find extremely encouraging and helpful for my early morning fight.
Early Morning Spiritual Battles from Sovereign Grace Ministries
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Saturday, January 19, 2008
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Random Silliness
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Friday, December 21, 2007
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Still Here
We haven't abandoned this website. I have this goal of redesigning and starting to post again. I hope to have the opportunity over the holidays.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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9:14 AM :: link ::
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007
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Goodbye to a Fightin' Irish Saint
Last Wednesday, our beloved grandfather, "Bop" passed away. Here is the obituary that ran in the San Antonio paper.
 Colonel Francis McGrath, U.S. Army retired, passed away Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at the age of 87. He was born October 10, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, and a sister. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Kathleen, daughter Anne McGrath Albertson and husband Len of Austin, son Dennis McGrath of San Antonio, granddaughter Meg Albertson Dreifuss and husband Bert of Raleigh, NC, grandson John Albertson of Telluride, CO, great-grandchildren Emily Anne Dreifuss and Logan Dreifuss of Raleigh, NC, and Everett Ryan of Telluride, CO, brother Joseph McGrath of Holland, MI, sister-in-law Margaret McGrath of Point Pleasant, NJ, brother-in-law John Flood of Boca Raton, FL, and numerous nieces and nephews. Colonel McGrath completed thirty years of active and reserve duty with the U.S. Army. During World War II, he served in major campaigns in the European Theater of Operations with the 82nd Airborne Division, including Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland, the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe, and he was a life member of the General Mathew B. Ridgway Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association. After his retirement he completed his bachelor's degree at Our Lady of the Lake University, where he was a member of Alpha Chi and Pi Gamma Mu honor societies. He was an active member of the ACTS Community of St. Puis X Catholic Church and was a member of Knights of Columbus Council 4298. He was also a member of the San Francesco di Paolo Society and the Militia of the Immaculata. Rosary will be held at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, July 29th at Sunset Funeral Home followed by a mass at St. Pius X Catholic Church at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, July 30th. Interment will follow the mass at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with full military honors. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to the ACTS Scholarship Fund at St. Puis X Church or the U.S Army Medical Museum at Fort Sam Houston. Sunset Funeral Home.
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