The LORD is our judge

Isaiah 33:22 - For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
it is he who will save us.

Thank you Lord for having mercy on me. I know that you are kind to me beyond all that I know and beyond all that I can imagine. Lord, please help me to have you as my judge, lawgiver, king, and saviour. Amen.
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Boasting

^{2 Cor. 11:30} If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

How ironic that I wrote this two days ago, Lord. Yesterday, I must confess, I did not boast in you. I boasted in my own accomplishments--paltry as they were. Forgive me Lord. I heard your word and turned away the very next day.

Good evening, Lord. Thank you for how you have blessed us today. Thank you for the fun fair at church today, and how Kieren and Aaron enjoyed it. Thank you that we could hear from Pete & Julie and that they are okay. Thank you that Dave & Amber & Caleb were able to make it to church today.

Lord, thank you for the conversation I had this evening. Please forgive me if I said anything wrong to the person with whom I was speaking. I pray, Lord, that you may have been the voice that was heard, and not me. I don't want to mess people up in any way. Please grant me wisdom in all of those situations. Lord, I feel so at a loss. I don't know what to say to people in difficult situations. I don't even know what to say to people in great situations a lot of the time. Please guide me. I love you Lord, and I don't want to misrepresent you to anyone. What would you have me do? Lord please help the person with whom I was speaking to know your love and to see it through your church more and more. Help Gwyneth and I to be a part of that love.

Thank you for how you are making things a little easier with Kieren's bed-time and waking-up-time. Please help us to be patient and wise; to discipline and correct in love, so that we don't exasperate her, but we do help her to become all that you want her to be.

Thank you for your grace, which you have extended to all of us freely. Please help everyone to accept your gift of love. Thank you that you have taken on someone even as flawed and naturally hopeless as me. Please help me to be all that you would have me be. Amen.
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Taking Captive

^{2 Cor. 10:5} We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Good morning, Lord. I'm tearing my hair out a little bit this morning. I don't know what to do with Kieren. I know that she is being very disobedient during the early morning and at night--starting and ending the day badly. Why does she feel so strongly about her clothes? Why does she make us fight with her every day? What can we do differently? Please, Lord, I'm so afraid that I will do that which is not good in your eyes with regard to raising our children. Please help us, Lord. Lord, I give Kieren over to you--you are her ultimate Father. Please help me to make all my thoughts about Kieren obedient to you. Amen.
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"This is what the LORD says to me..."

...with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² "Do not call conspiracy
everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.

¹³ The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread.

Lord, please forgive me that I do not fear you enough. Instead, I fear what others fear. I fear insecurity, I fear failure in the sight of others, I fear the rejection of others, I fear not being considered "responsible", I fear so many things--but I do not fear you as I should. Please teach me to fear you.

It was great to talk with P today. He was right on--I need to learn discipline. I know that I cannot do this on my own. Please teach me discipline (I cringe as I ask you, but I know I need you to teach me). Please, please don't let me be undisciplined any longer! I want to be YOUR SERVANT! I don't want to be slave to my self anymore. I have nothing good to give myself. I want to bury myself in you, Lord.

It was also great to talk with PC today. She gave me a lot to think about. What are appropriate boundaries? Are the boundaries established by our society always good? When can they be broken? Should they be broken? How do I know what is good in your eyes and what is not? Am I too abstract sometimes? How do I become more concrete in the situations where that is needed? When does empathy become role-reversal?

Please have mercy on me, Lord. I need you more than ever.

Thank you so much for the patience you gave me today. Help me to always be that patient--or more. Lord, please forgive me for all my other sins. Please forgive me for the way that I fall to temptation, sometimes without even the faintest sign of resistance.

I am constantly astounded that you love me still, in-spite of everything--even to the point where you love me in-spite of knowing every sin that I will commit! Even to the point that you love me so much that you would sacrifice your Son, your life to save someone like me. Please teach me what that means. I don't know you as well as I want to. Sometimes, I feel like I don't understand anything at all about you. All I know is that, for some unfathomable reason, you love me--always have, and always will, and that you love everyone and everything else too.

You are truly amazing, God. Have mercy on me! Teach me your ways, Lord. Amen.
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"The wolf will live with the lamb,..."

"The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them." --Isaiah 11.6

Good morning, Lord. Thank you so much for this day, and all that you have done during the night already to make the way for all that you have to do today. Today is, I feel a big day, Lord. Please guide me in my meeting today. I know that all parties concerned would love to have your presence there and your Spirit speaking through me, that I might help and do no harm. Thank you for your guidance so far.

Thank you for our family. You are so generous. Help me to see them as a gift, and not a burden. Thank you for Dave & Amber's new baby. What a joy! Caleb is so beautiful. Please give them many years of joy together as a family, and bless them through all of life.

I love you, Lord. I miss you--I mean, I want to be with you more. Day-in, day-out. I know that you are with me, but I also know that I don't always pay attention. Please forgive me. Help me to live in your presence 24-7. Thank you, Lord.
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The Bible in a Year

Dear Father:

Thank you, Lord, for the people who put together things like a plan for reading the Bible in a year. Help me to actually stick to it and to read it by this time next year. It seems so hard to believe that this time next year we will be in Grand Rapids, if you are willing. Anyway, today it was fascinating to read the contrasting passages from Isaiah, 2 Corinthians and Psalms. Your mercy and your justice are so great, God!

Please forgive me for the sins I committed yesterday. Thank-you for your mercy. Please continue to have mercy on me.

Please continue to be with all my friends, family, loved ones, and everyone else, for that matter. Please be especially near to Amber and Dave and their baby--it is so exciting that they are in the hospital right now! God, please bless them. And please use Gwyneth as your instrument in that place with Dave and Amber.

Lord, please also be especially close to Chris and Rebekka. I pray that their first service at their new church might have gone well. You are a wonderful God. You take care of all of us so well. Thank-you for the baby boy that Dana & Kaisu are adopting! Please guide the adoption process and grant Dana & Kaisu, and the rest of the family, patience during this very long process.

Thank you for the opportunity that you have given me to minister to your people in the youth program of the church and in the Film Project and in our Small Group. Please help me to be your faithful servant in all of these places, and with all of these people.

I love you, Lord. Please continue to have mercy on me. I pray all this in Jesus' name and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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What we do, Part II

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Some days are dry - some days are leaky
Some days come clean - other days are sneaky
Some days take less, but most days take more
Some slip through your fingers and onto the floor

Some days you're quick, but most days you're speedy
Some days you use more force than is necessary
Some days just drop in on us
Some days are better than others

Some days - it all adds up
And what you got is enough
Some days are better than others

Some days are slippy - other days sloppy
Some days you can't stand the sight of a puppy
Your skin is white but you think you're a brother
Some days are better than others

Some days you wake up with her complaining
Some sunny days you wish it was raining
Some days are sulky - some days have a grin
And some days have bouncers and won't let you in

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others

Some days are honest - some days are not
Some days you're thankful for what you've got
Some days you wake up in the army
And some days it's the enemy

Some days you work - most days you're lazy
Some days you feel like a bit of a baby
Looking for Jesus and his mother
Some days are better than others

Some days you feel ahead
You're making sense of what she said
Some days are better than others

Some days you hear a voice
Taking you to another place
Some days are better than others

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What we do...

Yesterday, Lord, you talked to me about how we focus on what You do in the world and in our lives. It was great to focus on you and what you do. Please help me to do that all the time.

Thank you so much for last night; that we could celebrate Gwyneth's birthday with friends. Thank you for your grace in allowing us to come together as followers of your Son to celebrate and to worship you through the fun that we have together. Thank you for our family. Please be with Kieren that you might help her to think ahead of what she does and of what is going to happen to her. Please help us to be patient and loving with the children you have given to our care all the time.

I need to talk to you about yesterday morning. I'm sorry about my part in breaking that relationship between myself and the business owner (before it even got started). Please forgive me for my losing my cool. I didn't submit myself to you in all that I was doing there. Again, please forgive me. Also, please forgive the business owner for their part in our struggle with each other--I still believe that he has done something unjust--please help him to come closer to you, in spite of our encounter.

Thank you again for the progress that is being made on our application to Calvin. Please continue to guide us through that process. You are awesome. I love you. Thank you for loving me first.