..."and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness; evil minded people shall not travel on it, but it shall be for those wayfarers who are traveling toward God. (Isaiah 35:8, adapted)



Friday, November 25, 2011




THE CHRISTIAN JOURNEY


Life is a journey, often a short one, and always uncertain.

But there is another journey.

The believer is traveling through a waste howling wilderness, to another and a glorious region,
where ineffable delight and happiness await us.

The road is narrow, the entrance strait, so strait that thousands miss it and perish in the
wilderness. But true believers, under the teaching and convoy of the Holy Spirit, find it
and walk in it.

The King, in His infinite love and compassion, has made a hedge about them, separating
and defending them from the many beasts of prey that lurk around them; and although
they hear their howlings and behold their threatenings, they are safe from their power.


But their strongest foe is within themselves; a heart deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. From this there is no escape but by constant watchfulness, and
earnest cries to their best Friend and Guide for protection.

Were it not for this faithful Guide, how often, discouraged by reason of the way,
would they turn back!

But He....

watches over them by night and by day,

strengthens them when weak,

upholds them when falling,

encourages them when cast down,

defends them when attacked,

provides for them when in need,

leads them by living streams, and

causes them there to lie down in pleasant

pastures, and on sunny banks.

And as they advance they obtain brighter views of the good land they are nearing, and
they long to see the King in His beauty, and the land that is yet very far off, and to meet
those that have already arrived on that happy shore.


taken from
Grace Gems
 
photo taken near Glencoe, Scotland

Monday, November 21, 2011

Be My Journey and my Far Destination!


Great Light, Mover of all that is moving and at rest, be my Journey and my far Destination, be my Want and my Fulfilling, be my Sowing and my Reaping, be my glad Song and my stark Silence. Be my Sword and my strong Shield,be my Lantern and my dark Night, be my everlasting Strength and my piteous Weakness. Be my Greeting and my parting Prayer, be my bright Vision and my Blindness, be my Joy and my sharp Grief, be my sad Death and my sure Resurrection.

--Stephen Lawhead, Merlin
taken from the Celtic Daily Prayer Book,
Northumbria Community, November 20

photo taken in Ambleside, UK






Sunday, November 13, 2011

Gathering Strength from Distress


The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow”--Thomas Paine



photo taken at sunset,  Winterthur, Delaware