A Day at Bald Rock

Our family had an awesome day at Bald Rock! This is one of our favorite places to go in the mountains. I never ceased to be amazed at the beauty of God's creation. We serve an awesome God who deserves our praise!




"The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed them. You set the boundary that they may not pass...May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works! -Psalm 104:8,31 (ESV).

Authentic Worship

Tom Ascol has recently posted some thoughts on what is means to have "authentic worship." Here is an except from his post:

Individual worshipers form a corporate body who approach God together in our times of gathered worship. Who are those individuals? First and foremost, they are disciples of Jesus (others may be with us, but worship is the activity of believers). This reality trumps but does not obliterate all other distinctions. Race, ethnicity, age, education, understanding, experience, marital status, language, etc.--all these and more make individual worshipers unique, but none of them is more important than knowing Christ (which means that I have more in common with a believing Zambian than an unbelieving sibling). Each covenanted member of a church adds to the tone of the body's "voice."Here is how I see that working itself out in practical ways. A village church in Zambia will sing songs not only in the official language of English but also in the tribal languages of that village. The cadence, harmonies, bodily movements (such as swaying) and instrumentation may be completely different from those that mark the singing of equally orthodox churches in Houston or Beijing. There may also be differences in the way the Scripture is read and preached in those congregations. Scripture can regulate worship in all three settings without the expectation that worship in the three churches will look exactly the same.

You can read the entire post here.

Rain!

Yesterday, as I left for work, I was met with a pleasant surprise: rain! The rain broke the 5-week drought that we have been experiencing in the Upstate. Praise the Lord for the refreshing rain!

Nobody Knows

About a week ago, Amy and I watched the Japanese movie Nobody Knows (originally released as Dare mo shiranai), which is based on actual events. Although the movie is sad, there are joyful, inspiring moments scattered throughout the movie. So, if you don't mind watching a long (2 and 1/2 hours) foreign film with subtitles, then you might enjoy Nobody Knows. Anyway, here is a very brief plot summary:

When we first meet the family, the mother and her oldest son Akira are carrying suitcases into a new apartment. When they arrive inside, they open the suitcases and two siblings emerge. (Later, Akira picks up his other sister from the airport.) The mother then informs the children that no one can know that they (i.e. the other siblings) are living in the apartment; therefore, none of the children (except for Akira) are allowed to go outside of the apartment. The movie takes a dramatic change when the mother leaves the children and never returns. The remainder of the movie centers on Akira and his three siblings as they try to stay together even in the face of loneliness, poverty, and death.

Exhausting Days

I am sorry that I haven't post anything new over the past days, but I have been extremely busy with family, ministry, and work. To be honest, the last few weeks have been exhausting because I have only slept about 4 hours a night, and I've had to work overtime at the college. I think each of us go through days/weeks/months where we feel overloaded. Yet, the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and enable us to serve Him. If you think about me during the week, please pray that I will be able to get some much needed rest.