The earth is the Lord's
and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the water.

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has cleans hands
and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul
to an idol
or swear by what is false.

Psalm 24:1-4

My Poor Attempt to Imitate a Spaniard

Praise to the Lord

O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago...

You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall
and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as heat is reduced
by the shadow of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

Isaiah 25

In that day you will say:

"I will praise you, O LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD,
is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."

With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:

"Give thanks to the LORD,
call on his name;
make known among the nations
what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing to the LORD,
for he has done glorious things;"
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing for joy,
people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One
of Israel among you.

Isaiah 12

A Child is Born

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

My Portion Forever

Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will
take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire
besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:23-26

The Power of God

But you, O God, are my king from of old;
you bring salvation upon the earth.
It was you who split open the sea by your power;
you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.
It was you who opened up springs and streams;
you dried up the ever flowing rivers.
The day is yours, and your also the night;
you established the sun and moon.
It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter.

Psalm 74:12-17

Musings from this Morning

I love you Lord,
Yet you first loved me.
Created me.

Even though I am filled with sin,
And disobey you at every turn,
And you knew that would be the case,
You sent your Son Jesus.
You sent Him to take punishment
And death on the Cross
In order to give us the opportunity for life.

Thank you Lord.

People you sit next to on a plane across the Atlantic

So yesterday I arrived back in Decatur from my year in Spain. It didn't really hit me I was coming home until I arrived in the Huntsville airport. Here is the story of the plane ride. When I got on the plane in Madrid, I was one of the last ones on, I sat down (aisle!) next to my seat buddy. We introduced ourselves, said where we were from, etc. We talked off and on throughout the flight, watched movies, got up to relieve our tiny bladders, you know the basics. Then about a half hour before we landed, we started talking about camp. She asked which camp I worked at in Colorado (as that is where she is from). I said Eagle Lake. And she said she went to Eagle Lake. As soon as she said that, I was pretty sure I recognized her. Not only was she there one of my three summers. She was my sister camper. (One guy cabin/one girl cabin where on a brother/sister team.) And I taught her how to play chess. And her and a couple of others sent me a package for my birthday that year, including a chess set and the always useful Barbie Band-Aids. I don't know if you think it is a cool story, but to me it's the coolest of my many "it's a small world after all" moments (of which I had already had 2 that week).

Thanks for the package Adria!

Last post from Caceres

Many peoples will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

Is. 2:3-4

Ants

Last night, Paul, Timon, and I were walking. We saw an ant pulling a pumpkin seed. Now not only was this seed several times bigger than the ant, but the work was being done on a brick like walking path, with big cracks every way the ant could turn. The ant's body was contorting and straining to pull the seed. There were also other ants walking around but no one was helping out. This reminds me of how sharing God's love in a life changing way can be sometimes. It is a much bigger job than us. There are cracks and pit falls everywhere. Sometimes we seemingly have no help. It's a job that we can't do. However through God's power, and with hard work (no grasshoppers need apply), it can be done.

Big Words

So this morning I was reading in Proverbs 21. Verse 24 says, "The proud and arrogant man - 'Mocker' is his name; he behaves with overweening pride." I'm not too sure what overween means (it isn't even recognized by the spell check on this blog), so being the curious guy I am, I headed over to the normally reliable Merriam-Webster site and looked it up. This is what it said:

Overween, it turns out, isn't in the free Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, where you just searched. However, it is available in our premium Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.

Way to use those easy words NIV. I thought it was King James' job to use the unabridged dictionary...