Be Still My Soul by Katharina A. von Schlegel

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul:
the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently
the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God
to order and provide;
In every change,
He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul:
thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways
leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul:
thy God doth undertake
To guide the future,
as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence
let nothing shake;
All now mysterious
shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul:
the waves and winds
still know His voice
Who ruled them
while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul:
when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened
in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know
His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe
thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul:
thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness
all He takes away.

Be still, my soul:
the hour is hastening on
When we shall be
forever with the Lord.
When disappointment,
grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot,
love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul:
when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed
we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul:
begin the song of praise
On earth, believing,
to thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him
in all thy works and ways,
So shall He view
thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul:
the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds
shall but more brightly shine.

Andrew's Bad Day

We have two strong-willed children. Our children have two strong-willed parents. They really had no chance.

A current point of strong-willed contention is the radio. Joshua would listen to
"Livin on a Prayer' 4,000 times a day. Andrew likes it, but occasionally wants some change.

Andrew is much more emotional than Joshua. His highs are pretty high and the lows are pretty low.

Today he was sitting in the back seat with tears in his eyes. He was holding his blanket and sucking on his pacifier. His turn to pick the song arrived and his choice was 'Bad Day.' He sat in his carseat listening to the song with a pitiful look on his face.

I should mention this is the version he was listening to.

Our Job...

"Our job is to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed." - Woody Guthrie

I found this quote in this post about a Flannery O'Conner panel discussion. Thanks to my friend Karen Fentress for pointing it out.

Conversations with ... Rebecca

Me - "I might run and get something to eat."
Rebecca - "We have leftovers."
Me - "It would be smart to just eat here."
Rebecca - "Yeah, but smart isn't your love language."

The Walk Tradtition

We've taken a video of Joshua walking to the pool at the condo every year since he could walk. He's got a buddy this year.



If you're interested (and why wouldn't you be)here are the previous videos.

Spring Break XXVI - A Few Random Things

It dawned on me last week that this is my 26th consecutive Spring Break. I'm either a genius, or suffer from Peter Pan Syndrome.

We headed out for Florida early Saturday morning after spending the night at my mom's house. My step-dad has a pretty amazing guitar collection and we invited Rex Schnelle and Andy Osenga out to play and eat some of my mom's cooking. The only reason I had friends in high school was because of my mom's cooking. As amazing as Rex and Andy are, the highlight musically for me was watching Joshua jam with them. My mom got some video. Priceless...



Andrew was sleeping while Joshua was making music industry connections. His story took place the next day at lunch.

We always stop at the Moe's about twenty miles past Birmingham. There were only three tables being used in the restaraunt and somehow we sat down right next to one of the others. The couple in the booth did not resonate winsomeness. They weren't really smiling at each other and they certainly weren't smiling at us. Andrew's restaraunt behavior is not great these days. To call it tense would be dramatic, but there was an awkwardness that I could feel. About ten minutes into the meal the woman directly behind Andrew coughed. Andrew looked at her and said, "Woof! Woof!" He then looked at us like, "Mommy and Daddy, I heard a doggy." It might have been a had to be there moment, but it was really funny to see.

UCLA only got a six seed. I'm scared to death of VCU.

Today at Publix there was a high school track t-shirt that read, "Pain is temporary. Pride is forever." How thankful I am to disagree. The shirt made me long for the day when all pride (mostly my own) is squashed under the foot of Jesus. The shirt also challenged me as a coach and teacher to push kids toward reaching greatness for the glory of God instead of personal ambition. Heaven is going to be amazing.

Bedtime Conversation -

Joshua - "Daddy, I want the things in a bowl."
Me - "What things?"
Joshua - "The things in the bowl from the store."
Me - "Joshua, what things?"
Joshua - "The things in the bowl."
Me - "Do you eat them?"
Joshua - "No."
Me - "Buddy, I don't know what you're talking about."
Joshua, "I'm talking about the things in the bowl."

Robert Murray McCheyne

Chosen not for good in me,
Wakened up from wrath to flee,
Hidden in the Saviour's side,
By' the Spirit sanctified,
Teach me, Lord, on earth to show
By my love how much l owe.

Light Bulb

So, I'm teaching through Judges right now with the kindergarteners and first graders. Today was Gideon's day to fight the Midianites. I've always been intrigued by the story of Gideon. I feel like he's one of those characters I can relate to.

In the beginning of the story God tells Gideon to destroy the altar of Baal in his dad's frontyard (not the biblical term, but how I picture it). Gideon goes at night and destroys the altar. The next morning, the people of the town are outraged because their altar has been destroyed and they find out it's Gideon's fault. They organize to kill him, but Gideon's father asks a pretty good question. If Baal is really God, why can't he do his own work? Would he really need us to kill Gideon?

I've always kind of tripped here because the story that follows is God using Gideon to destroy the altar and Gideon's army to destroy the Midianites. It's just always seemed like the Baal worshipers could have responded with, "Well, if Yahweh is real, couldn't he just defeat his enemies?"

This morning the punchline of the story made a little more sense. The battle that folows places Gideon and 32,000 soldiers facing 120,000 Midianites. God tells Gideon there are too many soldiers and anyone who is scared may leave. 22,000 leave, leaving Gideon with 10,000. Still too many. Gideon leads them to water where he ends up with only 300 men. The 300 fight the 120,000 with three weapons of jars, torches, and ram horns.

God could have defeated the Midianites alone. He could have knocked over Baal's altar alone. But he doesn't seem to ever operate that way. Instead of an overwhelming display of his might, he usually chooses something foolish in mans' eyes to display his glory. 300 jar carriers is even more convincing than a natural disaster. It's like a coach showing how great his is by winning with bad players.

The stories don't end with Gideon. God calls the murderer of Christians to be the apostle to the Gentiles. The elderly couple become the father and mother of a great nation. Salvation itself comes through the sacrifice of the cross. God almost always displays his strength and salvation by becoming weak.

I am always humbled when God answers my questions and doubts with his living word.

Pure Love of God

"Love of God is pure when when joy and suffering inspire an equal degree of gratitude."

I'm not sure who said this, but I found it on Mary Beth Chapman's blog.

My heart is convicted when I think about how impure my love of God is. I am thankful for Jesus who has given me his pure love and rescued me from my wandering heart.

Everything is Amazing, Nobody's Happy

Guitar Heroes