My Absolute Favourite Hymn

We go to church we sing songs. Some of them we sing from memory, some of them we sing because we like the tune. There are a few songs that I detest that I hear sung in church and other places as well the main reason is because of the theology that is behind them. Yes, I used the word theology. Not really a me thing to say or to even talk about. One of those songs would be "These are the Days of Elijah" the tune is catchy and so many people like singing it, but the words are just out there. There are a few songs that can bring me to tears when I focus on the words and yes the melody is moving too. The Song "Be Thou My Vision" is one of those powerful songs that just grips my heart everytime I sing it. It is powerful. It is an Irish Hymn and the words are so powerful. I will summarize for those of you who don't read well with the thou's etc. after the verses in blue.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be my vision, Lord of my heart. Nothing else can save me but you. You are my best thoughts during the day and night. Whether I am awake or asleep your presence is my light.

2. Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

You are my Wisdom and my true Word. I am always with you and you are with me Lord. You are my Great Father and I am your son. You dwell in me and I am one with you.

3. Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

You are my shield in a battle and my sword for the fight. You are my dignity and my delight. You are my soul's shelter and my high tower. You raise me heavenward and power my power.

4. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

I do not need riches or man's empty praise. You are my inheritance now and always. Only you and you alone are first in my heart. You are the High King and my treasure.

5. High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

High King, my vistory (battle) is won. May I reach (grasp) heaven's joys Heaven's Son (Jesus). Heart of my own heart (his heart is ours) whatever happens, still be my vision (be my guide) Ruler of all!

These words are deep and have so much meaning behind them. If you do not know Christ as your Saviour or have any questions regarding what the meaning of these words are please contact me, leave me a comment or email me. You likely have my contact info if you are reading this. My heart is that you would know Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour that you would know that he is the ONLY way to be saved from your sins. You need a personal relationship with God the creator of heaven and earth.

Oversized load

I have been talking with a couple of friends lately as some different things have come up that have been challenging on many different fronts. I have used an analogy of overloaded trucks. If they are large in anyway that exceeds their size they have flags. Then I put the thought that we as humans at times are overloaded and we just keep getting overloaded by trying to carry other people's burdens as well. Why don't we have flags? I know that as Christians we are to give all those matters back to God, but how is it possible not to carry these burdens that are God's burdens if we are to see things through his eyes. We are supposed to gain his heart for his people right? So how are we supposed to do this, without feeling overwhelmed?

There are times when I hear some people say that they hate people. I can honestly say that I love people I hate the sins that people get intwined in, but I love them neither way. I enjoy listening most of the time about struggles that people are facing so that I can bring them forth in prayer to our God. At times there are things that are so deep and someone has hurt some one very deeply by their words and have no idea that they did it. Those are the times that I want to smack some sense into that person to make them realize what they did to the person that they supposedly love. I do blame sin, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the case. So I challenge my readers to go and make things right with the person you wronged. If you don't know if you have and are a believer of our Lord Jesus Christ, ask him to reveal it to you.

Rough day

I had a rough one today. No words to describe the feelings that running through my body and my mind. This morning was fine, then I headed to work. I have been feeling anxious about working there and I don't really know why, but I usually do for the first while until I know the job well. I have worked in retail clothing before, but H&M is different than all of those places. I do like the differences, but this is also the largest clothing store that I have worked in. Many articles of clothing look the same to me especially if they are white or black shirts. So today I was called into the office before starting my shift. I got talked to about my previous shift where we got out fairly late. I tried to tell her of my anxiety of starting new jobs and that I haven't had all that many shifts since I started. Only 4 shifts of being on the floor. I got told that I should be faster, but it is hard to be fast if I don't know where most of the clothing goes. The people over all are great if I ask them a question, but really who wants to be asked a million times where something goes. I think that it would be good for me to look for it, but apparently looking too carefully is wasting time. I knew that I took a long time cleaning up the kids department, but I just haven't found my groove yet. Then of all things to do I started crying, as I told her that we lost a fellow student (graduate) this week. What a mess! I hate that I am so emotional, but how can I control them? So after my little chat I hit the floor and got to work, I wandered around to see where things were, but that didn't seem to make too much of a dent when I had to put clothes away. My fitting room shift went well, then I ran again (putting things in their home) Got more put away faster this time I think. The whole time that I was going today I was trying to work faster. Then when I was on register, I was trying to go fast, but then I made a bunch of little errors. After close I seemed to fit in the time restrictions that the manager gave me. I believe that she did this because she was "watching" me as per directions from the manager that talked to me. However, she did the time thing with others. Oh Lord, give me the memory to know where things going and to be faster at doing my job.

There was a young man named Craig

Craig was a man who had a great presence about him. He was a confident man and knew that he could accomplish any task that he set his mind to. He was very intelligent and he knew how to love. He loved Kristin with all of his heart in tune with the love that he had for the Lord. He cherish his wife Kristin to the end of his days and will continue to do so in heaven. Today marks one of the saddest days his wife will ever have to face. With only being married for less than one year, just lost her husband to a tragic accident when overseas teaching. Her heart in a million pieces, with her family and friends trying to be strong for her and helping her put those pieces back together. Then are being the outter edge of the puzzle which is the foundation to who she is. They are sitting with her and praying with her. Hugging her and crying with her. Oh Lord, we do not understand the reasoning behind all of this. We cling to you through this tragic time.

Craig had a heart for the nations. He wanted to serve in the mission field with his wife and share the love of God with all of His people. Having shared many classes with Craig and seeing him at the missions chair person at Heritage, you could see where his heart was. Serving along and among his wife and Korean's, he ministered to them and with them. You will always be remembered Craig.

Kristin and family, if you read this. I want you to know that I am praying for you. I know this will be tough so you are lifted up and given over to our God.