DRC- you are not forgotten

The people in the eastern DRC are living a nightmare. In the north, the LRA is still raiding villages and abducting women and children. And in the south, there is a three way fight that continues between the government troops, Hutu forces who fled there following the Rwandan genocide, a rebel band of Tutsis who fear genocide once more. All sides have committed atrocities. And now their refugee camps have been burned. They have no food. no shelter. no safety. The NGOs have stopped operating. Please, keep the people of the DRC in your prayers. You can read more news articles in this link: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7702099.stm] Justice seems far away. But my heart is trying to rest in the fact that our God is a god of justice and love, and one day He will make all things right!




"I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.



The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.


The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because He was angry. Smoke rose from His nostrils; consuming fire came from His mouth, burning coals blazed out of it


He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.



He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.



The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies,
great bolts of lightning and routed them. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.



He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.



They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."



Psalm 18:1-19 NIV.
Photos from BBC News.

tides of goodness

"think i'll wait for the tide
seems it's all i can do right now
there must be a reason
i've run aground

and i know the waves
will come
by the moon and the tide
like a man and his bride
i will wait
on You, Lord
and we will run so far from here
to Your...

safety in the storm
there is courage for the simple man
to the holders of secrets and scars
learning to stand with reaching arms
we'll wait till the very last
no matter what will be
you're always good
always good
to me" - Newsboys "The Tide"

Hosea: a lesson in God's faithfulness!

God told Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. Ouch. That just might suck. The good news, maybe, is that Hosea (might have) picked her out. He might have even truly loved her from the beginning. Which would have made her betrayal even more painful. However, God had warned.. well rather even commanded, that she would be unfaithful. Hosea saw it coming. The thing was, that in his pain, Hosea had to trust, rest & walk in the faithfulness of God. He had to believe that God was who He said He was, and that He would make things good at some point. And what an example of surrender. It doesn't say that Hosea argued with God about this (though he may have) but even if he did, God's word won out, and Hosea obeyed.

Hosea is the story of one man & his wife. It is the story of the nation of Israel. Is is the story of my life. Over and over again in the Bible, the people of God are unfaithful, they chase after "less-wild lovers" and forsake the unfailingly faithful and merciful Lover. Over and over I do that to God. I pursue other lovers and leave the only One who is good behind. I deserve nothing less than death... the punishment for adultery. But my Lord is extravagantly gracious and merciful. He loves unconditionally far beyond the bounds of humanity. Over and over He takes me back into His arms, cleans me up, clothes me in the garments of His house, and loves me again. And so many times I sneak out again, chasing anything shiny that has caught my eye. I don't understand this: the relentless, gracious, tender love of Jesus.

"Jesus gained the power to love harlots, bullies, and ruffians.. He was able to do this only because He saw through the filth and crust of degeneration, because His eye caught the divine original which is hidden in every way - in every man ... First and foremost He gives us new eyes. When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, He saw in him an erring child of God. He saw in him a human being whom His Father loved and grieved over because he was going wrong, He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be and therefore He saw through the surface layer of grime and dirt to the real man underneath. Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that really did not belong to him, something that merely chained and mastered him and from which He would free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because He loved them right through the layer of mud." - Helmut Thielicke

Jesus looks at me this way, He sees through the muck and mire of my sin.. into the soul He deeply desires. This is the "reward of His suffering". Intimate fellowship with me. With all men, individually. So... what can I do about it? What can I do to ensure that Jesus receive His reward? By telling the world about this crazy love. By sharing, even with just one person, how amazingly pursued they are. That a high price was paid for them (Isaiah 43: 4 & 53:1-6) and that God desperately desires fellowship with them. That this God, does not care what they have done, He has seen it all, and still extends grace. He offers justification and forgiveness. A fresh start, to be pure and clean as snow (Isaiah 1:18).


the above was found in some of my DTS lecture phase notes... and in a time in my life when I sometimes have some serious doubts about the faithfulness of God, here, a precious beautiful reminder of just how faithful He is! And then in the light of all of that, how much richer His GRACE is! wow. awesome. there are just no more words... :)