Josh Garrels
Pilot Me, from album Love & War & The Sea In Between
I will arise and follow you over
Savior please, pilot me
Over the waves and through every sorrow
Savior please, pilot me
When I have no more strength left to follow
Fall on my knees, pilot me
May your sun rise and lead me on
Over the sea's, savior pilot me
O' Lord
listen on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05pvlFw6-Fk
& everyday i awake, and this is my prayer.
the truth is, i'm too self consumed to be who God has called me to be: 'Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.' Lev 20:26 (NASB)
it is only by His power, that i will be set apart and holy...so "SAVIOR PLEASE, PILOT ME!"
and oh, He is so able, I believe that Josh Garrels may have been inspired to write this song, based on an old hymn, Jesus Savior Pilot Me, and the last verse is so encouraging:
When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
’Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then, while leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
“Fear not, I will pilot thee."
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
ENFP
ENFP
Extravert(1%) iNtuitive(75%) Feeling(38%) Perceiving(22)%
- You have marginal or no preference of Extraversion over Introversion (1%)
- You have distinctive preference of Intuition over Sensing (75%)
- You have moderate preference of Feeling over Thinking (38%)
- You have slight preference of Perceiving over Judging (22%)
due to the 1% extrovert, I also read the portraits for an INFP, and definitely highly identify with that personality, but find myself more strongly portrayed in an ENFP portrait.
ENFPs generally have the following traits:
- Project-oriented
- Bright and capable
- Warmly, genuinely interested in people; great people skills
- Extremely intuitive and perceptive about people
- Able to relate to people on their own level
- Service-oriented; likely to put the needs of others above their own
- Future-oriented
- Dislike performing routine tasks
- Need approval and appreciation from others
- Cooperative and friendly
- Creative and energetic
- Well-developed verbal and written communication skills
- Natural leaders, but do not like to control people
- Resist being controlled by others
- Can work logically and rationally - use their intuition to understand the goal and work backwards towards it
- Usually able to grasp difficult concepts and theories
(http://personalitypage.com/html/ENFP_car.html)
more detailed portrait: http://personalitypage.com/html/ENFP.html
this test just causes me to further ponder humanity and our relationship to our creator, God! it also has me mulling over what my response is and should be to the presence of God in the world...
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Ever Present Goodness
What does God's presence offer humanity amidst all of the pain and suffering?
I think the name given to Jesus, Emmanuel, says it all.
Emmanuel means 'God with us.'
I think what God offers, is Himself.
this challenges me, because my logic tells me that there is a better way.
that He should be able to end all of it, that He never should have allowed it to harm one of His children.
but instead of living in the what if?
i am going to pursue what is before me, right now.
right now, before me, God is offering me, Himself.
in regards to my pain and suffering, how does His presence change things?
His presence offers an inexplicable intimacy,
an intimacy that we are told cannot be severed, not even by death,
He has promised to never leave nor forsake us.
an ever present companion, if you will.
He knows us, and yet does not reject us.
He even makes a way for reconciliation with us, when we forsake Him.
also, with His presence, comes forgiveness,
K.P. Yohannan says in his book Come, Let's Reach the World:
[Jesus] chose to suffer, die, and rise from the dead for the "remission of sins."...Jesus knew that injustice, crime, sickness and poverty were merely the symptoms of our iniquity, not the central problems of it. Jesus never taught that our behavior was the by-product of environment. Jesus understood that iniquity is genetically within our fallen race....Jesus came to deal with the root cause of sin by going to the cross. By offering Himself as a blood sacrifice to redeem and reconcile us to God, He made it possible for us to overcome sin and enter into the kingdom of God.
in this forgiveness that i receive from the ways that i have afflicted others, i become free to forgive those who are causing my suffering.
i no longer carry the burden of bringing them justice, that is now in His hands.
not only this, but His power and authority offer the way in which to look at one's ability to inflict pain and turn from it!
with His presence here, He offers hope for change, He becomes our strength to live in such a way as to not continue spreading the pain!
likewise, there is hope for those who inflict pain upon us.
we can offer all sorts of Band-aids to those who suffer,
but i don't think that any of us are capable of being an ever present companion,
we all fall short of being for someone else, what we all wish we had in our loved ones,
no one can offer the kind of forgiveness and acceptance that looks at who you TRULY are, both the agent and victim of suffering, and says, "you are known, and you are loved, and it is okay, i can take care of that"
and can any of us, offer the power and strength that it takes to overcome powerful habits of destruction and pain?
God is all of these things, and so with His presence, He is our hope!
He is with us amidst it all, and He chooses to climb into our pain and experience it alongside of us!
we may not have an answer on when or how the end to suffering will come,
and we may never understand why we suffer?
but what we are promised is a companion in our suffering.
and so I will share a prayer from a dear friend of mine;
I think the name given to Jesus, Emmanuel, says it all.
Emmanuel means 'God with us.'
I think what God offers, is Himself.
this challenges me, because my logic tells me that there is a better way.
that He should be able to end all of it, that He never should have allowed it to harm one of His children.
but instead of living in the what if?
i am going to pursue what is before me, right now.
right now, before me, God is offering me, Himself.
in regards to my pain and suffering, how does His presence change things?
His presence offers an inexplicable intimacy,
an intimacy that we are told cannot be severed, not even by death,
He has promised to never leave nor forsake us.
an ever present companion, if you will.
He knows us, and yet does not reject us.
He even makes a way for reconciliation with us, when we forsake Him.
also, with His presence, comes forgiveness,
K.P. Yohannan says in his book Come, Let's Reach the World:
[Jesus] chose to suffer, die, and rise from the dead for the "remission of sins."...Jesus knew that injustice, crime, sickness and poverty were merely the symptoms of our iniquity, not the central problems of it. Jesus never taught that our behavior was the by-product of environment. Jesus understood that iniquity is genetically within our fallen race....Jesus came to deal with the root cause of sin by going to the cross. By offering Himself as a blood sacrifice to redeem and reconcile us to God, He made it possible for us to overcome sin and enter into the kingdom of God.
in this forgiveness that i receive from the ways that i have afflicted others, i become free to forgive those who are causing my suffering.
i no longer carry the burden of bringing them justice, that is now in His hands.
not only this, but His power and authority offer the way in which to look at one's ability to inflict pain and turn from it!
with His presence here, He offers hope for change, He becomes our strength to live in such a way as to not continue spreading the pain!
likewise, there is hope for those who inflict pain upon us.
we can offer all sorts of Band-aids to those who suffer,
but i don't think that any of us are capable of being an ever present companion,
we all fall short of being for someone else, what we all wish we had in our loved ones,
no one can offer the kind of forgiveness and acceptance that looks at who you TRULY are, both the agent and victim of suffering, and says, "you are known, and you are loved, and it is okay, i can take care of that"
and can any of us, offer the power and strength that it takes to overcome powerful habits of destruction and pain?
God is all of these things, and so with His presence, He is our hope!
He is with us amidst it all, and He chooses to climb into our pain and experience it alongside of us!
we may not have an answer on when or how the end to suffering will come,
and we may never understand why we suffer?
but what we are promised is a companion in our suffering.
and so I will share a prayer from a dear friend of mine;
Teach us therefore, O God, to connect our knowledge of You
with our faith, worship, and living.
Teach us to think more rightly of You.
Teach us that theology is but a means-
a means to a rich and infinite end.
Teach us that Scripture really does speak of You in truth,
and that you match perfectly all of its claims.
May we sing of your lovingkindness that Moses learned in the desert,
of your ability to satisfy that beckoned David to his knees,
of your sight and care for the afflicted that invited Hagar to worship,
of your attention for the least of these that bewildered Your disciples,
of your mercy which freed the thief on the cross.
It is not that You are but a revelation of Your Word,
but that Your Word is but a revelation of You.
Teach us that suffering is a part of this sinful world-
not something that jeopardizes Your goodness.
Thank You that you long to show your care and compassion
by way of our personal experience.
You will do away with all pain.
In the meantime, teach us to invite You to grieve with us,
especially since You are already there.
http://lewhitstone-excelstillmore.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&max-results=8
Saturday, January 19, 2013
amidst it all
quite possibly, inescapable.
there's really no need to state what it is i refer to.
we can see it all around us.
and well, if you can't,
you can at least feel it within yourself.
and i don't know about you,
but it leads me to a place where i yearn, very deeply, for answers.
ask anyone that knows me,
i NEVER stop asking why?
and when i seek for answers,
i come up with nothing concrete.
but i do feel ashamed.
ashamed that we as people cause each other such pain.
and that on top of that, we do not take responsibility for the harm that has been done.
but i am one of those people,
i feel the pain and the shame,
and i want to run and hide,
and point the finger at anyone who looks guilty enough.
and largely, i have pointed my finger at God.
at first, that looked like me denying His existence.
i did not know it then, but i was simply trying to give Him the cold shoulder.
i was trying to share with Him the message, "hey, if you're going to reject me and leave me here to be miserable, then i am going to reject you and hope you feel the same pain!"
and then, for the past 6 years i have remained angry with Him,
blaming Him for all the pain i see in the world.
continually begging Him to change it and then pleading with Him for reasons why He has not.
and i use to just hear silence and feel abandonment.
until recently,
i heard Him answer me.
answers came in a deep sense of recognition that i am an agent of the pain that i see in the world all around me.
i suffer at the hand of others,
and others suffer by my hand.
or sometimes, simply just the lack there of.
i am in agony over this crushing realization that the answer seems to be:
humanity has caused its own suffering.
and we are all guilty,
if not directly YET,
then by association with those humans who have come before you.
by the simple fact, that as long as humans have existed, we have not been able to ever become the solution to our own problem!
i use to think that if God did not exist then somehow it was easier to endure.
then i could easily blame those around me for my pain, and hope for an ideal future, where people just simply did not hurt me anymore.
but interestingly enough, i think upon it now, and well, without His presence, we are only left with the option of blaming ourselves for all the suffering we so unwillingly bear.
and it was not any easier to endure,
nor was there a future in store with no more agents of pain.
and so now, i will ponder what it means that we are to blame for our own undoing, i will try to learn how to accept that, and what God's presence brings to humanity, amidst it all.
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