six steps + Victoria veritatis est caritas

"Our sins hurt Jesus infinitely more than your spouse’s sins hurt you. You may feel your spouse is..."

Sat, 26 May 2012 20:51:31 PDT

“Our sins hurt Jesus infinitely more than your spouse’s sins hurt you. You may feel your spouse is crucifying you, but our sins really did put Jesus on the cross, yet he forgave us.”

- Keller, Timothy (2011–11–01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 159). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Fleur se lis!

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:51:25 PDT

Fleur se lis!

"It is feeling that makes it a trial; the essence of the trial lies in my feeling it. And God..."

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:56:27 PDT

“It is feeling that makes it a trial; the essence of the trial lies in my feeling it. And God intended his trials to be felt. His rods are not made of wheat straw, they are made of true birch; and his blows fall just where we feel them. He does not strike us on the iron plates of our armour; but he smites us where we are sure to be affected.”

- C.H. Spurgeon, A Bottle in the Smoke, a sermon delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 23, 1856, by at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

Photo

Fri, 25 May 2012 15:08:39 PDT

Fleur de lis :). (Taken with Instagram at La Farine Patisserie)

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:28:14 PDT

Fleur de lis :). (Taken with Instagram at La Farine Patisserie)

Waiting for @nurseviv to get her hair done. Reviewing this great...

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:19:00 PDT

Waiting for @nurseviv to get her hair done. Reviewing this great book next;-) (Taken with instagram)

The Power of Grace: Reflected, If You Have Received It

Thu, 24 May 2012 21:01:06 PDT

How do you get the power of grace? You can’t create this power; you can only reflect it to others if you have received it. If you see Jesus dying on the cross for others, forgiving the people who killed him, that can be just a crushing example of forgiving love that you will never be able to live up to. But if instead you see Jesus dying on the cross for you, forgiving you, putting away your sin, that changes everything. He saw your heart to the bottom but loved you to the skies. And the joy and freedom that comes from knowing that the Son of God did that for you enables you to do the same for your spouse. It gives you both the emotional humility and wealth to exercise the power of grace.

Keller, Timothy (2011–11–01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 158). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Photo

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:50:40 PDT

Photo

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:43:54 PDT

Write: In order to be read!

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:54:00 PDT

You know what I hate?
You know what’s a huge pet-peeve of mine?

Bad online writing

Some writing that is published online can be very difficult to read!

It is as if the author was writing for a textbook and simply copied and pasted a chapter to a wordpress blog, tumblr text post, or Facebook note.

Have you ever seen this?

There are some among us who often write so much (viz. sooooooo much content) that it is difficult to read. Maybe they are writing in order to be heard and that is why they write long sentences with little punctuation all contained within one big paragraph with no headings or emphasis. Writing a lot is a good thing, but writing that is difficult to visually read on a liquid crystal display is a sight for sore eyes. My issue is not with writing that is lengthy, whose length is due to the author intending to make a point that requires a lot of explanation. My issue is with the inability of my eyes to easily follow and read such prose.

If you’re one of these people

Learn to write, in order to be read.

In this day and age of digital media, tumblr, blogs, facebook and twitter, we must write more concisely yet precisely.

This requires that we write so that we can be read easily online.

Writing to be Read

In order to be heard, you must be read.

This requires that we be aware that there’s an optimal characters per line, words per sentence, sentences per paragraph, and elements of writing like a sandwich that you learned in grade school!

This requires all online writers to understand how people read online.

This requires that we realize that there are elements of typographic style that ought to be applied to our Facebook Notes, blogs, tumblrs.

This all means that even good writing can be difficult to look at on a digital screen.

And if the writing is so difficult to read, then it is likely that I’ll skim or skip reading the whole piece of writing.

It’s a waste

Now wouldn’t that be such a waste? Such a waste of energy if you spent all that time researching for that blog post, all that time writing and editing that blog post, and we didn’t even read it?!

(If you read this post on my Tumblr feed, the formatting is not preserved. Epic fail on you, Tumblr!)

Down on yourself?

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:00:58 PDT

If you are very down on yourself, if you struggle with self-loathing, then it may be far too important for you to have your spouse always pleased with you. You will not be able to bear to have your spouse upset with you at all, and that will mean you will not be able to criticize your spouse or explain how much he or she hurt you.

Keller, Timothy (2011–11–01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 157). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

God takes not his people to an Elysium

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:01:59 PDT

But even faith itself does not avert the pain of chastisement, it enables us to endure, but does not remove the trial. The Christian is not wrong in giving way to his feelings; […] God takes not his people to an Elysium [a place of perfect happiness] where they become impervious to painful feelings: but he gives us grace to endure our trials, and to sing his praises while we suffer. “I am become like a bottle in the smoke:” I feel what God lays upon me.

C.H. Spurgeon, A Bottle in the Smoke, a sermon delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 23, 1856, by at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

*@AlbertMohler My Take: The Bible condemns a lot, but here's why we focus on homosexuality

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:39:39 PDT

*@AlbertMohler My Take: The Bible condemns a lot, but here's why we focus on homosexuality:

Dr. Albert Mohler’s take on the whole homosexuality controversy of our generation:

Christians who are seriously committed to the authority of the Bible have no choice but to affirm all that the Bible teaches, including its condemnation of homosexuality. At the same time, our confidence is that God condemns those things that will bring his human creatures harm and commands those things that will lead to true human happiness and flourishing.

Read his entire CNN blog article here.

Why Do Our Churches Seem So Different? @RevKevDeYoung

Mon, 21 May 2012 20:59:51 PDT

Why Do Our Churches Seem So Different? @RevKevDeYoung:

Sadly, many churches–even if they affirm the right doctrine on paper–act and preach as if the biggest problem in the world is lack of education, or material poverty, or the declining morals in our country, or the threat of global warming. As a result we preach cultural improvement instead of Christ. We preach justice without Jesus. We lose sight that the biggest problem (though not the only problem) confronting the churchgoer every Sunday is that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. […]

The evangelical church needs depth where it is shallow, thoughtfulness where it is pragmatic, and conviction where it has become compromised. A casual adherence to a formal set of basic doctrines does not guarantee real unity and does not ensure genuine spiritual strength.

—Kevin DeYoung.

Sneak-peak #3 from last week’s San Francisco photo-shoot...

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:30:51 PDT

Sneak-peak #3 from last week’s San Francisco photo-shoot #BehindTheScene (Taken with instagram)

Truth and Love can Live Together because of Jesus

Thu, 17 May 2012 21:02:28 PDT

One of the most basic skills in marriage is the ability to tell the straight, unvarnished truth about what your spouse has done—and then, completely, unself-righteously, and joyously express forgiveness without a shred of superiority, without making the other person feel small. This does not mean you cannot express anger. In fact, if you never express anger, your truth-telling probably won’t sink in. But forgiving grace must always be present, and if it is, it will, like salt in meat, keep the anger from going bad. Then truth and love can live together because, beneath them both, you have forgiven your spouse as Christ forgave you.

Keller, Timothy (2011–11–01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 157). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Truth+Love -->Grace

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:02:27 PDT

Truth without love ruins the oneness, and love without truth gives the illusion of unity but actually stops the journey and the growth. The solution is grace. The experience of Jesus’s grace makes it possible to practice the two most important skills in marriage: forgiveness and repentance. Only if we are very good at forgiving and very good at repenting can truth and love be kept together.

Keller, Timothy (2011–11–01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 155). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Presbyterian church representatives refuse to rebuke former San Rafael pastor in gay marriage dispute

Wed, 16 May 2012 16:35:43 PDT

Presbyterian church representatives refuse to rebuke former San Rafael pastor in gay marriage dispute:

My heart breaks as I read of the significant decline of the Presbyterian Church (USA), especially in California.

In an unprecedented defiance of a church judicial commission, representatives of Northern California Presbyterian churches Tuesday refused to rebuke a retired pastor for marrying 16 same-sex couples when gay marriage was legal in California in 2008.

Read the article in the Marin Independent Journal.

What the Bible Really Still Says About Homosexuality @RevKevDeYoung

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:21:00 PDT

What the Bible Really Still Says About Homosexuality @RevKevDeYoung:

On Tuesday afternoon, CNN ran an article on its Belief Blog by Catholic priest (sort of) Daniel Helminiak entitled “My Take: What the Bible really says about homosexuality.” The article is amazing for including so many bad arguments in so little space. A quick trip through the piece will show you what I mean.

Telling the Truth: Love That Changes a Person

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:00:53 PDT

My wife does not learn about my sins like my physician learns about my diseases or like my counselor learns about my anger and fear. She knows my sins because they so often are committed against her. She knows I’m insensitive because I’m insensitive to her. She knows I’m selfish because I’m selfish to her.

[…]If I come to realize that my spouse is not really being truthful with me, then her loving affirmations become less powerful in my life. Only when I know that my spouse regularly tells me the truth will her loving affirmations really change me.

Keller, Timothy (2011–11–01). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (p. 154–155). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.