You gotta check out this song on Jimmy’s xanga… so go there now. He did a lot of the guitar and its a really good song. Inspires me to go record, so I just might. See ya!

Eastgate Eastgate here I come
Tomorrow with my stomach yummed
From Zios and its tasty eats
Then from starbucks with its nectar sweet

So I think its about time for the first annual David Chalk’s BEST MUSIC OF ALL TIME Recomendation Post

THE BEACH BOYS – PET SOUNDS (Not what you think of when you think of the beach boys. This is superb music)

DAVID CROWDER BAND – A COLLISION (The most progressive worship album to date)

JAMIE CULLUM – TWENTYSOMETHING (Jazz – melodic heaven)

VINCE GIRALDI TRIO – CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (The best Christmas CD EVER – Jazz is winter’s favorite genre)

DELIRIOUS – MEZZAMORPHIS (Just great. Rock out, slow down, very dynamic)

RELIENT K – MMMMHMMM

Banquet was so awesome thanks to Lauren ande Shannah for getting me and Ben to lighten up and dance a little! I really liked it! It was fun! It was really fun!
What a glorious day :O), What a wonderful day today, a glorious day :O) Oh man I love this season! So Lauren, thanks for being an awesome date and making me dance, ’cause I really liked it! Goodnight and Merry Christmas to all! I’m really am excited that Jesus came to the earth. Sleep well my friends :O)

So I read Leslie’s xanga and she had a “list of thankfulness.” I am going to copy that idea and make one of my own. I’ve been going through the motions a lot lately, so this is a nice exercise.

I am thankful for all the following (In not much of a particular order): Mom, Dad, Jim, Leslie,tons of other people from school and stuff, friendship, Jesus, grace, a God who loves me, covers (for the bed), cold weather, banquet, freedom to live stresslessly (a peace that passes all understanding), grace.

Weird fact about me… when I was in fourth grade, I was terrified of my teacher who had told me that unless it was a “designated time” I wasn’t allowed to go the bathroom. So I peed in my chair a lot that year. I worked it out so no one noticed, but it was rough. Not much fun but it’s really funny to think about. :O)

It’s 6:00 in the morning and I’ve just discovered that my new school shirts fit like scandalous dresses. They’re that long.

:edit:

By the way, Bud, being the pig he is, just stole my breakfast. I was holding it and he ran up and jumped and bit it. I was sad. i was liking that breakfast

So we’re simple compared to God. “Who is the son of man that you should care for him?” There’s a verse like that somewhere. Maybe I should stop hoping that through God I’ll become more complex, more intellegent, more philosphic. maybe I should ask God to only redirect my simplicity. I should ask God to make me simply his. In the end we’re simple. We are simply his or we are simply not. Through all of life’s phases, in all of life’s departments, within the complexity of life let there be a simplicity. Simply his child. “I wanna be wholly wholly wholly yours.” i got David Crowder autograph like 5 years ago and at the end he put “Love god, serve all.” That is simply put, our purpose. As the song says, “All of life comes down to just one thing/that’s to know you lord Jesus/and to make you known.”

Season’s change. Even this life is only a season. “This one thing I know, that he loves me so. Jesus blood never failed me yet, never failed me yet.” Everything is temporal. I love you all. Goodnight

I know it’s freakin’ long, but please forgive me… This is something I’ve learned.

A broken heart and a contrite spirit is what the Lord desires, right? Right. But there is a slight misconception among some Christians as to the application of this concept. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is true, but grace alone is not the Gospel. God desires holiness. This is true, but holiness alone is not the gospel. True (full/final/complete) Christianity necessitates the melding of the two (Grace and Holiness).

It is important to recognize that you cannot take one verse and say, “This verse is what the Bible means.” The Bible as a whole is what the Bible means. Context is absolutely essential. No part of the Bible is more or less true than any other. God is gracious in that he allows us to learn little essentials of the Faith one at a time, but this does not mean that the foundation is not to be built on. Every part of the Faith is essential, but some of the Bible cannot be understood without knowing some things first. So what I am saying is that the foundation is not any more essential than the rest of the house, but it does have to come first. The foundation is necessary for the building of the house, but the house is not complete without the roof. In the same way, there are parts of Scripture that are the foundation, the beginning of our faith, but the rest of Scripture cries out “You can’t live in house that hasn’t been built! Read the rest of me and realize that the conversion message in the Scripture is not the all-important part of the scripture, but the vehicle, the catalyst, the beginning of your ability to understand the rest of Scripture.” So as I begin to talk about the parts of Christianity that are not the foundation, don’t accuse me of treachery, but I pray, please understand that I am admonishing you to build the rest of the house.

That being said, I was thinking about this scripture, Psalm 51:17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Then I realized – well okay maybe when I thought of this, it was just support for something I already passionately believed, but at the very least I gained a refreshed belief in the following. So I re-realized, that yeah, God desires a broken spirit, one that acknowledges, “Oh God, I’m unworthy. I need you. You are perfect and I am not.” But we are not to stop there. God does not just want us to know that we are simple and stupid, and that God is not. Of what practical, day to day good is it to know that? I feel like God is saying, “So you know that I accept you when you’re totally backwards, that’s nice, but that is not where I end. My grace is sufficient for you, but it is grace given not for the heck of it but grace given in order to get you somewhere!” And I believe he is emphatic about this.

You see, God desires a broken spirit not because a broken spirit is of any long term worth on its own, but because it is the only way He can begin to change you. Grace is given to make up for our lack of holiness (God likeness) holiness, but the grace’s full purpose is this. It is made to give us courage to take baby steps, so that when we fall we are not discouraged. It is created so that by grace, we may become holy. So when someone urges you to act in a way that is beyond reproach. When someone urges you TO SIN NO MORE – which is, by the way, exactly what Jesus said to the woman he gave grace to – do not be repulsed or think that person is prideful, rather think, “Oh yes, this is what I was created for! Grace healed my bruised knees so that I can run after God, delighting as David did (Psalm 119) in the law, yes the precepts of the Lord!”

P.S. for some reason xanga deleated my empire state building picture, and after i changed the pic to this one, would’t let me change it again. So the text may be hard to read for a while, but I’ll fix it when I can.

It’s weird. I don’t feel like xanging! The first time in a while. I d, however, really feel like hanging out. We’ll see how that works out. by the way, the show on Monday was a ton o’ fun! Thanks to Ben, Chelsea, Elisha, Mom, Dad, Allie, and Leslie for coming out and Kris for the sweet cello action. Love you guys a bunch. I have the best friends ever! Adios and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

P.S. STUFFING!!!!!