It's a Girl!

O Lord, you have searched me and known me
You know when I sit and when I rise up
You understand my thought from afar
You scrutinize my path and my lying down
You are intimately acquainted with all my ways
Even before there is a word is on my tongue
Behold, O Lord, You know it all
You have enclosed me behind and before
And laid Your hand upon me
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me
It is too high, I cannot attain it

Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea
Even there your hand will lead me
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
and the light around me will be night'
Even the darkness is not dark to You
and the night is as bright as the day
Darkness and light are alike to You

For you formed my inmost parts;
You wove me together in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works
and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you
When I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
and in Your book were all written
the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

Psalm 139:1-16

Trip to Florida

We got a chance to go to Florida for a week because of a Timeshare offer (go down, listen to the presentation, and when they realize you don't have money they let you leave, but they pay for almost everything).

It was a lot of fun, we know we are going to be out of the realm for vacations for a while, so it was great to get to enjoy some time together in tourist land. We took a cruise on a pitiful little ship for 2 days but we did get to hang out in the Bahamas which was great for a day.

We also got to go to Disney, and there are pictures obviously from there as well.

More than Nostalgia...

A couple of days ago I was able to take a quick walk down memory lane. Some of you who read this may remember me as someone who listened to at least one of these groups almost non-stop, but it has been several years (mostly because my car's CD player broke) since I have really listened to either one of these groups. It's funny how God refreshed my sense of amazement at some of the truth contained in these.

I don't know why I started to listen to DC Talk's Jesus Freak album while doing work around the house. To be honest, I probably think of them as a sort of "fun" band at best, not really something that would challenge me spiritually. Once again, I'm stupid. I was taken back to 1996 listening (on tape) to these songs in my '85 Buick Park Avenue. I remembered the impact of lyrics like "will the love continue, when the walk becomes a crawl? What if I stumble?" and "in my pursuit of God, I thirst for holiness, as I approach the Son I must consider this, offenses unresolved can keep me from the throne." There in my house, that truth really started to work on me and it was really great.

The other album I started listening to now that I was in throwback land was the Chronicles album by Caedmon's Call. They are probably my all time favorite band, and I remembered why. I don't think I'll ever get tired of songs like "This World" and "40 Acres." It made me want to pick up my guitar and relearn all the riffs and solos.

Overall, it made me think about how our past shapes us so intently, and how, at least I, can hardly remember who I was 5, 10, 15 years ago. Not because I am somehow such a better person, but because I just don't have a great memory. But God left me road marks, and one of those is the memories that these songs bring back of the challenges of the road we walk. I am challenged to remember that we cannot forget where we were, who we were, because that shows the reality of God quite clearly. As one Caedmon's song put it "I had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view, looking back, I see your lead of love."