Knowing God

We just finished our study of Knowing God by J.I. Packer at Maison de la Vie. There is so much rich wisdom in this book that we all learned from (not that I agree with everything). If I were to start typing out quotations from the beginning to end, I would probably infringe upon copyright law. But there are two things that I do want to share, the first from "These Inward trial". It is a poem/hymn by John Newton that expresses the experience of many believers as we pray for growth.

I asked the Lord, that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favoured hour
At once He'd answer my request,
And by His love's constraining power
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

"Lord, why is this?" I trembling cried,
"Wilt thou pursue Thy worm to death?"
"'Tis in this way," the Lord replied,
"I answer prayer for grace and faith."

"These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may'st seek thy all in me."

Second part to come...

Quotable

"God is love, and believers were meant to live like that's true."

~Ryan Fullerton

Photos, Anyone?

If you are still keeping up with this blog, you might have noticed that I post quite a few of my photos here. Well, I have decided to make some of them available for sale. If you like what you see, you may go to my gallery at imagekind: eyeofthecreativesage. Photos are available for purchase there. If there is a photo that you want that is not in that gallery, please let me know, and I will do my best to make it available to you. I would also appreciate any feedback that you may give.

Powerful

One of my new favorite hymns is "The Power of the Cross" by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. In our house Bible study we have been going through J. I. Packer's Knowing God, and last week, we studied the chapter on the "Heart of the Gospel." It is an amazing chapter, but what amazed me more was that this hymn captures the message of that chapter so beautifully. So we listened to the song during Bible study. But I have been thwarted at church. The past two Sundays we were supposed to sing the "Power of the Cross," and the past two Sundays it has been axed from the order of service. I hope that we will sing it soon, but I want to share it with whomever might happen to still read here.

What We Did: A Summary of DC on the Weekend

Eating, drinking and general merriment making were the order of the weekend.

Fishy beer? Dogfish Head Alehouse

Flute and old peopleThe Kennedy Center

Slow Food, Pre-Prohibition Bar. Yes, I will take mine stirred, not shaken.Founding Farmers Where good food and good flavors are combined in an exquisite sensation for the taste buds.
Where we also had Intelligentsia

But I preferred Murky.

Worship by the Book. Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Fireflies in February? No, I said Firefly.

Just for kicks. Nebo.

XXV

This is a "reprint" of the note I posted on Facebook, just twenty five things about me that you may or may not have known.

1.My name is spelled A-S-H-L-E-A and is pronounced like Ashley. However, I have been known to answer to Alicia, Ashalee, Ashleuh, Ashlay, Abigail, Dave, RC, etc, etc, etc.

2.Since I moved to Louisville in 2004, I have lived in seven different places.

3.In high school, I was a soccer referee.

4.My favorite clothing stores are Banana Republic, Bass Pro, and the Tractor Supply Co.

5.When I was a child in early elementary school, I would wonder if I (or anything else for that matter) existed, or if everything was the figment of someone's imagination.

6.I am a contortionist. Rather unusual though, is that I am both a back-bender and forward-bender.

7.Blood and I get along just fine, as long as it stays where it is supposed to – in my body. There have been two times when I fainted at the sight of my own blood.

8.One of my favorite pastimes when I was little was to play farm or pioneer. I still have secret wish to travel out west in a covered wagon.

9.I despise air conditioning, even when it is over 100 degrees outside.

10.On more than one occasion (ok, lots of occasions) I have been caught dancing in random places (in an elevator, while cleaning, going down a sidewalk, etc).

11.My face betrays all of my thoughts and emotions. But beware, it is entirely likely that what I am thinking has absolutely no correspondence to the conversation at hand.

12.I absolutely love climbing – trees, rocks, machinery. Speaking of climbing, I used to freak my mother out when I would climb to the tops of the trees in our yard and perform circus like antics freestyle thirty or forty feet in the air.

13.Reading is one of my deep and abiding passions – anything and everything from ancient literature to the modern Russians to English literature to poetry to philosophy to history to biography to literary theory to theology to dictionaries. And I usually have multiple books going at one time (I like synthesizing the ideas that I am reading into a big picture). But, what might surprise some people is the fact that I did not learn how to read until I was seven years old.

14.My imagination is incredibly vivid, and I see faeries and elves everywhere I go.

15.The little toe on my right foot has independent muscle control.

16.Blame my parents, I am what I call an “extreme morning person.” It is nearly impossible for me to sleep past 5:00am, even on weekends, even when I stay up until midnight.

17.I love thunderstorms and wind and rain; it is on those occasion that the earth feels very alive and impish, and it always invites me to come out and play.

18.I love taking naps on Saturday mornings during a warm spring or autumn rain with my windows open.

19.Sometimes for kicks, I will come up with new philosophical theories.

20.I have worked first, second and third shift. Second shift is definitely my least favorite of the three, and I don't mind my quasi-third shift because of #15.

21.When I am in a sappy, emotional movie mood, my movie selection will usually run toward “Gettysburg,” Black Hawk Down,” the Bourne movies or something else along those lines.

22.On one occasion, when I still attended Patrick Henry College, I took my room's orange inflatable couch out and re-enacted the “Lady of Shalott” on Lake Bob, our drainage pond.

23.Speaking of poetry, my two favorite poems are “Mythopoeia” by J.R.R. Tolkien and the “Lady of Shalott” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

24. I like food. . . a lot. But I particularly like beef and everything dairy.

25. I love my current role as a Protestant mother superior, discipling the women in my house; I could not imagine a better gift or more challenging task.

Let It Snow,

And ice, and rain. The poor trees, they have really suffered these past few months. First, Hurricane Ike roared through Louisville with its winds, and then, this week, we had a pretty big "winter mix" storm. Some roads have been impassible, lots of people lost their electricity, and work has been insane. But my little world looks like a crystal palace, and I tried to capture it in photos. So here are just a few to share with you. (I have also been enjoyed doing some photo editing, so this has been good practise for me.)

A Grand Irony

"It may be said of one who is contented in a Christian way that he is the most contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world; these two together must needs be mysterious. . . . A contented man, though he is most contented with the least things in the world, yet he is the most dissatisfied man that lives in the world. A soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God; nothing but God can fill a soul that is capable of God. Though a gracious heart knows that it is capable of God, and was made for God, carnal hearts think without reference to God. But a gracious heart, being enlarged to be capable of God, and enjoying somewhat of him, can be filled by nothing in the world; it must only be God himself. Therefore you will observe, that whatever God may give to a gracious heart, a heart that is godly, unless he gives himself it will not do."

~Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Philippians: Wordle Style

http://www.wordle.net/

Snowflakes

It snowed a few days ago,and when I arrived home from work, I discovered a dusting on our shrubberies. So I immediately grabbed my camera to shoot the beauty, and I'm glad I did because the snow melted about a half hour after I took some shots. Today, I uploaded the photos and found that some of the photos had actually turned really well. Look for the individual snowflakes; you may have to enlarge them to see the detail.

greeblepix