timeforINRI

 Hark my soul! it is the Lord; 'Tis Thy Saviour, hear His word; Jesus speaks and speaks to thee, "Say poor sinner, lovst thou me? "I deliver'd thee when bound, And when bleeding, heal'd thy wound; Sought thee wandering, set thee right, Turn'd thy darkness into light. "Can a woman's tender care Cease towards the child she bare? Yes, she may forgetful be, Yet will I remember thee. "Mine is an unchanging love, Higher than the heights above, Deeper than the depths beneath, Free and faithful, strong as death. "Thou shalt see my glory soon, When the work of grace is done; Partner of my throne shalt be; Say, poor sinner, lovst thou me?" Lord it is my chief complaint, That my love is weak and faint; Yet I love Thee and adore, -- Oh! for grace to love Thee more! William Cowper Share My Bread

 We sow the glebe, we reap the corn, We build the house where we may rest, And then, at moments, suddenly, We look up to the great wide sky, Inquiring wherefore we were born… For earnest or for jest? The senses folding thick and dark About the stifled soul within, We guess diviner things beyond, And yearn to them with yearning fond; We strike out blindly to a mark Believed in, but not seen. We vibrate to the pant and thrill Wherewith Eternity has curled In serpent-twine about God’s seat; While, freshening upward to His feet, In gradual growth His full-leaved will Expands from world to world. And, in the tumult and excess Of act and passion under sun, We sometimes hear—oh, soft and far, As silver star did touch with star, The kiss of Peace and Righteousness Through all things that are done. God keeps His holy mysteries Just on the outside of man’s dream; In diapason slow, we think To hear their pinions rise and sink, While they float pure beneath His eyes, Like swans adown a stream. Abs

 The Master, God, has given me a well-taught tongue, So I know how to encourage tired people. He wakes me up in the morning, Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders. The master, God, opened my ears, and I didn't go back to sleep, didn't pull the covers back over my head. I followed orders, stood there and took it while they beat me, held steady while they pulled out my beard, Didn't dodge their insults, faced them as they spit in my face. And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me, so I'm not disgraced. Therefore I set my face like flint, confident that I'll never regret this. My champion is right there. Let's take our stand together! Eugene H. Peterson, Climb God's Mountain  

Not while the fever of the blood is strong, The heart throbs loud, the eyes are veiled, no less With passion than with tears, the Muse shall bless The poet-should to help and soothe with song. Not then she bids his trembling lips express The aching gladness, the voluptuous pain. Life is his poem then; flesh, sense, and brain One full-stringed lyre attuned to happiness. But when the dream is done, the pulses fail, The day's illusion, with the day's sunset, He, lonely in the twilight, sees the pale Divine Consoler, featured like Regret, Enter and clasp his hand and kiss his brow. Then his lips open to sing--as mine do now. Emma Lazarus                                                                   The Innkeeper's Wife

 If people could blame their parents for  the bad things that were happening to them, they didn't have to take any responsibility themselves. They would rather be punished for what their parents had done and have not any responsibility in the present  to live in obedience to God. But  Ezekiel was relentless. He wasn't going to let them getaway with dumping a whole load of responsibility  on their parents while avoiding God themselves. The Gospel confronts us with the LIVING GOD who wants to save us. He calls us to be forgiven, breaking the cycle of sin that spirals downward in both temporal and eternal punishment. He wants us to be part of a new community that's capable of enjoying the serendipity of his love, the sudden invasions of His grace, and the  sumptuous fruit of His Spirit, such as love, joy, and peace, along with a cornucopia of other fruit. Eugene H. Peterson, Climb God's Mountain

 If I had a shiny gun, I could have a world of fun Speeding bullets through the brains Of the folk who give me pains; Or had I some poison gas, I could make the moments pass Bumping off a number of People whom I do not love. But I have no lethal weapon- Thus does Fate our pleasure step on! So they still are quick and well Who should be, by rights, in hell. Dorothy Parker God's persistence isn't a dogged repetition of duty. it has all the surprise and creativity, as well as all the certainty and regularity of a new day. Sunrise when the spontaneous and the certain arrive at the same time. Do we ever get used to daybreak?. Never. Daybreak is always a surprise.  There are times, of course, when we fail to respond to it. But when that happens, we instinctively know that it's due to a deficiency within ourselves, not in nature. If the  repetitions in nature are never boring, how much less the repetitions of God?  And with the sunrise came a dawn of understanding in  Jeremiah tha