Sanctity of Marriage ...

Perhaps I can best make a case for the sanctity of marriage if I make every effort to nurture and cultivate my marriage. I must not take this critically important relationship for granted.

Pam and I have committed to participate in at least one marriage enrichment class or seminar annually as one of our steps to make sure that we don't suffer shipwreck in our marriage.

22 z Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:22-33

Redeeming Love Has Been My Theme And Shall Be 'til I Die ...

“There is fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away.
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
’Til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.
Be saved to sin no more, be saved to sin no more.
’Til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be ’til I die.
And shall be ’til I die, and shall be ’til I die.
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be ’til I die.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.”

- William Cowper

... it seems to me that we really seldom do anybody much good excepting as we share the deepest experiences of our souls

Frank Laubach wrote in "Letters By A Modern Mystic,"

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We used to sing a song in the church in Benton which I liked, but which I never really practiced until now. It runs:

“Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.”

It is exactly that “moment by moment,” every waking moment, surrender, responsiveness, obedience, sensitiveness, pliability, “lost in His love,” that I now have the mind-bent to explore with all my might. It means two burning passions: First, to be like Jesus. Second, to respond to God as a violin responds to the bow of the master.

In defense of my opening my soul and laying it bare to the public gaze in this fashion, I may say that it seems to me that we really seldom do anybody much good excepting as we share the deepest experiences of our souls in this way. It is not the fashion to tell your inmost thoughts, but there are many wrong fashions, and concealment of the best in us is wrong. I disapprove of the usual practice of talking “small talk” whenever we meet, and holding a veil over our souls. If we are so impoverished that we have nothing to reveal but small talk, then we need to struggle for more richness of soul. As for me I am convinced that this spiritual pilgrimage which I am making is infinitely worth while, the most important thing I know of to talk about. And talk I
shall while there is anybody to listen. And I hunger – O how I hunger! for others to tell me their soul adventures.
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Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. Lu. 8:18

Identifying with "Letters By a Modern Mystic" by Frank Laubach.

"I fear I have not wanted some of them to think me religious for fear I might cease to be [taken seriously]."

20 Ways of Avoiding Consumptive Society

In the book Freedom of Simplicity, by Richard Foster is a list of 20 things to aid you in your struggle for simplicity.

1. Join the revolt against the modern propaganda machine.
2. Pray to not acquire more or desire it.
3. Resist planned obsolescence.
4. Reject any junk mail you can.
5. Stress quality of life above quantity of life.
6. Value music, art, horticulture, significant travel, and books.
7. If you are too busy to read, you’re too busy!
8. Discover prayer as an evening entertainment.
9. Learn the wonderful truth that to increase quality of life means to decrease material desire, not vice versa.
10. Turn your back on all high-pressure competitive situations that make climbing the ladder the central focus.
12. The Fruit of the Spirit is not push, drive, climb, grasp and trample.
13. Never put happiness at center stage.
14. Make recreation healthy, happy and gadget free.
15. Encourage cooperative games and play.
16. Learn to eat sensibly and sensitively.
17. Go without food for one day a week and give any money saved to the poor.
18. Eat out less.
19. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
20. Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.

A final word:
“Simplicity does not mean cheapness. Simplicity resonates more easily with concerns for durability, usability and beauty.”

(edited from Jonathan Bailey's blog)

What Will I Be Caught Doing Today?

I was challenged by reading the following:

"I tied my horse to a sapling & went quietly into the woods & to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis, & the cause of the country, of humanity & of the world."

"Diary and Remembrances" by Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden

I thought, "What will others catch me doing today that might encourage their faith?"