I love this version by Ascend the Hill (thanks Tim Euken for showing me this)

Take the world, but give me Jesus,

All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same.

Oh, the height and depth of mercy!

Oh, the length and breadth of love!

Oh, the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above!

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Savior watching o’er me,
I can sing though billows roll.

Take the world, but give me Jesus,

Let me view His constant smile;
Then throughout my pilgrim journey
Light will cheer me all the while.

Take the world, but give me Jesus.

In His cross my trust shall be,
Till, with clearer, brighter vision,
Face to face my Lord I see.

-Fanny Crosby,

If I had a choice, I would still choose to re­main blind…for when I die, the first face I will ev­er see will be the face of my bless­ed Sav­iour.

- Fanny Crosby

My desktop wallpaper at the moment, Hubble shot of the Andromeda Galaxy- click to open up in full resolution for download

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man.
When God wants to mould a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall praise –
Watch His method, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which only God understands
While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends, but never breaks,
When his good He undertakes. . . .
How He uses whom He chooses
And with every purpose fuses him,
By every art induces him
To try his splendor out –
God knows what He’s about.

 -Anon

So the final conclusion would surely be that whereas other civilizations have been brought down by attacks of barbarians from without, ours had the unique distinction of training its own destroyers at its own educational institutions, and then providing them with facilities for propagating their destructive ideology far and wide, all at the public expense. Thus did Western Man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability out of his own strength, his own impotence out of his own erotomania, himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down, and having convinced himself that he was too numerous, labored with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer. Until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keeled over–a weary, battered old brontosaurus–and became extinct.”

                                                               – Malcolm Muggeridge, Religion and Society 

Take me to the docks, there’s a ship without a name
It is sailing to the middle of the sea
The water there is deeper than anything you’ve ever seen
…Jump right in and swim until you’re free

I will remember your face
‘Cause I am still in love with that place
But when the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?

Money came like rain to your hands while you were waiting
For that cold long promsie to appear
People in the churches started singing above their hands
They say “My God is a good God and he cares”

I will remember your face
‘Cause I am still in love with that place
When the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?

I’ve got a plan
I’ve got an atlas in my hands
I’m gonna turn when I listen to the lessons that I’ve learned

Les Twins- Laurent and Larry Bourgeois

Makes me want to dance and dance well.  I’ve watched this close to fifty times now and it still blows me away.

The Jew was kept from God’s presence by the veil in the Temple. The Gentile was kept out by a wall in the temple with a warning on it that any Gentile who went beyond would be killed. But when Jesus died, He tore the veil and broke down the wall.

- W.W Wiersbe

Thanks to Roger Dell’Erba for sharing this with me. I realised the symbolism of the curtain tearing but never understood the meaning behind the breaking down of the wall. Blew my mind when I read this quote on his facebook page today.

A Buckler

He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

– Psalm 91:4

In community group last night we read and discussed Psalm 91. When I came across verse 4 I had no idea what a buckler was. I did some poking around on the internet and this is what I found.

Buckler Uses

• Hand protection: The primary use of the buckler was to protect the sword hand.
• Deflector: The buckler’s lightness and curved center made it excellent for deflecting attacking blades. Such a deflection would leave the attacker open for a rapid counter-attack.
• Blinder: The light blades used in conjunction with the buckler depended on rapid movements, which meant that a single second was an important advantage. The wielder of the buckler could use the buckler to shield his sword-hand’s position from view, keeping his opponent from guessing his next strike.
• “Metal fist“: A buckler can be used to directly attack an opponent by punching with either its flat face or its rim.
• Binder: The buckler can be used to bind an opponent’s sword hand and weapon as well as their buckler against their body. The buckler is also very useful in grappling, where it allows an opponent’s arms to be easily wrapped up and controlled.

In his faithfulness God deflects attacks from us, giving us the ability to quickly counter attack, bind the enemy’s sword hand and deal the fatal blow.  Amazing.