memorize

Lately I've been sweetly reminded of the beauty and importance of committing scripture to memory. Have you seen a set of delightful children (ranging between two and eleven years old) recite the entire chapter of Proverbs one, most of chapter two, and Ephesians four? Yes, the sight would sweetly remind you too.
Most mornings (after an Insane workout), I spend time in God's Word, reading, studying, and writing; I also take that time to read this encouraging and thought-provoking book (excellent read!). While these are great habits, I've neglected to include the memorization of the very Words that bring me through the storms of life.
Praise God for beautiful reminders. :)

So, yesterday I thought about what passage of scripture I would start with, and it seemed that memorizing the book I most frequently reference would be fitting. :)

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:1-6 )

How do you memorize scripture? What passages are important to you?

Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder

This hymn was our church's hymn of the month for April. It was funny, just a month before, Elena had started listening to this song "Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder", from Jars of Clay's Redemption album. Now the tunes are very different -it took a little bit to adjust- but the words are still good!

Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the Law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched mount Sinai’s flame:
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord Who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies,
Called us by His grace, and taught us,
Gave us ears, and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temptation
Threatens hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
Holds in view the conqu’ror’s crown:
He Who washed us with His blood,
Soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder, grace and justice
Join, and point to mercy’s store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is,
Justice smiles, and asks no more:
He Who washed us with His blood,
Has secured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him before us,
Now their praises fill the sky:
“Thou have washed us with Your blood,
  Thou art worthy, Lamb of God!”

                             -John Newton

While I was lyric searching, I stumbled across another long but insightful looking article on this song. I find it hard for me to sit in front of the computer and just read, for a long period of time (office life is not the life for me), but what I read -in particular, the "Let Us Worship" section- was good. Tell me what you think, if you read any of it.
:)

Mountains, Painting walls, and Counting Stars

                    If that didn't sound random, I don't what does.

Amusingly enough, they're all part of a chain of events that happened within a week.

 A couple Friday's ago in May, we drove to Katy to go see -you guessed it- Andrew Peterson's concert " Counting Stars", and yes, it was excellent! The concert was filled with a host of stories and songs! After the concert, and a tornado watch, we drove to my Grandma's house in Burnet, and got there at 2:30a! I was so sleepy, I don't think I was in full control of my brain. In the morning we drove the last leg of the journey, making it to El Paso by 4:00p (El Paso time).  As we drove in, memories of past trips started coming back. Sadly, I had this streak of getting sick with fevers as a kid, so most of my memories were not too happy, just memorable.

He didn't sing the whole album, instead he sang a few here, and there, and some he sang from his new album that's coming out.

A tornado had touched down in the area, so you could hear the thunder and see the lightning out of the windows. It was a great touch to the concert!

After settling in to our quarter's at a friend's house, we went for a quick, cool, walk around the block. Despite the heat during the day, it is nice a chilly in the evening.

The Anaya Family. Mom and Dad first knew the Anaya's when they had three kids under five -my does time fly!

Back when I was a twinkle in my mother's eye, before we moved to Austin, my family had become good friends with the Anaya's, when both couples had three kids. On Sunday we had the great pleasure to go to church with them and eat lunch at their house. When we told them that we planned to stay in a hotel the rest of the week, they insisted that we stay with them. We spent a much, much more enjoyable week staying up till midnight, talking on the porch, and eating good food with friends. Even though we hadn't seen them in many years, we still talked like there was no tomorrow.

The clear skies, dry but pretty mountains, and the electric line, basically sums up El Paso. :)

After working hard on my Grandpa's house, we took a scenic drive thru the mountains and had to stop at Trans Mountain for a quick photo shoot.

So the youngest person who is afraid of heights and shaky ladders got the job to paint the top of the wall on a shaky ladder. Maybe it's just my lot in life.

Carrying out a bed frame for some willing Mexicans

We cleaned out a lot of my Grandpa's stuff in his shed and dragged it to the curb. within the hour, several (not just one or two people) stopped and picked some things up. We have this joke/saying, "Only Mexicans would do [fill in the blank]". I think this saying applies, cause only Mexicans would stop by the curb to pick something up.

Mica and I planted some flowers. We were very proud gardeners!

On our last day in El Paso we filled up on some fine Mexican food with Grandpa before kicking out of town we made a lunch-stop at "Delicious".

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you real fruit drinks.

We got a wee taste of Mexican market at this fiesta-like grocery with loud music, lots of people, and lots of food.

Mr and Mrs Anaya and, of course, Mom and Dad.

The school that my Grandma and Grandpa went to!

Right behind the tall buildings, where the majority of lights are, is Juarez

Going to Juarez as a kid, I don't remember it being so close, I was shocked at realizing how close it is!

New and sweet friend Chrissy!

The wife of a friend, of a family that we grew up with in Austin. A rather distant connection, but it didn't matter, we chatted away. 

I'm not at all partial to where I see a sunrise or sunset -off the beach, in a plane, on the mountains- I can always count on it being beautiful!

Love,

              Caro :)

Perfect Peace

Perfect Peace

Thou will keep me

In perfect peace when

my mind is stayed on you

Peace flowing like a river

Peace never to be stolen

Peace that you give

is not of this world

my mind is stayed on you 

                     -John Waller

"You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on you,

    because he trusts in you. 

 Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

"Empty me of the selfishness inside.

 Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride.

 And any foolish thing my heart holds to.

Lord, empty me of me so I can be filled with You

'Cause everything is a lesser thing

 compared to You..."

                                                                                                   -From "Empty Me" Chris Sligh                                    

The Means of Grace are in My Hand

I found this hymn in the book, A Portrait of Paul (excellent book which I highly recommend).  In the particular chapter the hymn came from, the authors wrote to their fellow pastors about the subject of the apostle Paul's ministry -Christ.

"It is Christ alone whom we are to preach and Christ only who can enable us, by His Spirit, to preach in this way. Do you feel the weight of this duty? Good! Then we are ready to fall on our faces and plead with God to equip us in mind and heart and soul and strength to serve His glory by exalting His Son, Jesus Christ."

The whole book is filled with great quotes, I could hardly stop underling! It is a great book for church member and pastors. We went through this book as a small group study, at a friend's house.

The Means of Grace are in My Hand 

The means of grace are in my hand
The blessing is at God’s command
Who must the work fulfill;
And though I read, and watch and pray,
Yet here the Lord directs my way
And worketh all things still.

I cannot speak a proper word,
Nor think aright, but from the Lord
Preparing heart and tongue;
In Nature I can see no good,
But all my good proceeds from God,
And does to grace belong.

I see it now, and do confess
My utter need of Jesus’ grace,
And of His Spirit’s light;
I beg his kind and daily care;
O Lord, my heart and tongue prepare
To think and speak aright.

Prepare my heart to love thee well,
And love Thy truth which doth excel,
And love thy children dear;
Instruct me how to live by faith,
And feel the virtue of Thy death,
And find Thy presence near.

Prepare my tongue to pray and praise,
To speak of providential ways,
And heavenly truth unfold;
To strengthen well a feeble soul,
Correct the Wanton, rouse the dull,
And silence sinners bold.

           - John Berridge     

I stumbled upon a christian blogger from the Philippines who had posted this hymn. Tell me what you think.                                      

The Valley Song

"The Valley song" really covers, essentially, what this song is about. There are times when we go through the valley but,

"I will sing of Your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy"

I've always like the name "Jars of Clay", as it is based off of the verse in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to know that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." Actually, just read the entire chapter, it's good. :)

The Valley Song

You have led me to the sadness
I have carried this pain
On a back bruised, nearly broken
I'm crying out to You

[Chorus]

I will sing of Your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy

When death like a gypsy
Comes to steal what I love
I will still look to the heavens
I will still seek your face

But I fear you aren't listening
Because there are no words
Just the stillness and the hunger
For a faith that assures

[Chorus] 2x

Alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia

While we wait for rescue
With our eyes tightly shut
Face to the ground using our hands
To cover the fatal cut

And though the pain is an ocean
Tossing us around, around, around
You have calmed greater waters
Higher mountains have come down

[Chorus]

-Jars of Clay (2003)

The tune to this is, like a lot of Jars of Clay's music, different. 

Allow me to make note about these composers/artists that I have been linking to:

"...just because we link to them does not mean that we endorse everything on the site.
The final authority is the holy and applicable, word of God..."

Likewise, I like a lot of Jars of Clay's music, but I don't necessarily agree with everything they write and believe.

                  

The April Days...

This past April was filled with a lot of driving, loud music, and talking.
We spent Easter weekend in Austin, where we celebrated my Grandma's birthday (who proudly turned 69) and my own birthday. On Sunday we went out to lunch with some dear friends. The restaurant was one of a slew of trailer stands parked in a little nook in the busier part of Austin. The food was little bit pricey, but the environment and chips made it worth it.

Becca and Tita.
Dear Becca, she's gotten so big!

Emily and Jacob (note Emily's cheesy pose).

Sweet 16...oh, and those yummy beet cupcakes.

Eva and I had a little photo shoot on the living room floor.

Dominic and "Gendpa"

Dom was quite concerned that there wouldn't be enough chips for him.

The familia.

Behind us was a shake stand. They sold shakes that had real cake blended in.

The Ragamuffin. 

Reminds me of this pin

A delicious Thai dinner in Bryan, TX.

We spent the day with our friends the Loyd's, cleaning, organizing, and reading books from their massive library. We went over  to Mr. Loyd's brother's house, for a Thai dinner and dessert.

Lovely arrangement for my surprise party.

The girls "threw me for a loop", and pulled off a surprise party the week after my birthday. They took me to a local cupcake shop where a few of my friends were waiting. Yes, I was surprised.

We had a crawfish boil one fine Saturday, with a few families.

Us and our Cajun friend's put together a little crawfish boil at our house. Though I'm not a big fan of fishy foods, I do enjoy socially eating crawfish. I stuffed myself silly. But as each batch came out I just felt so inclined to keep eating.

Us Marques, Webb, and Johnson girls had a sister slumber party. Though that was in May. :)

The first weekend in May, the Johnson girls and us (including Nicole) had set a date a month ago, to get together for the weekend. We had a great time talking, going to a Mexican market, going for a walk, watching one of our favorite movie, and talking some more!

Elena's pavlova lemon meringue. 

Elena has had some failed attempts at making pavlova, so she decided to try again but call it something else. It...kinda worked.

Dear Eva, on the day of the crawfish boil

Nicole had completely surprised us by coming down for the day and  thus attending our crawfish boil. Amusingly enough, her hubby, and most likely all her kids, are highly allergic to shellfish. No kisses that day.

Blest Be The Tie That Binds

A beautiful hymn about the unity we have with one another, being bonded together by our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It reminds you of that "forward look", of being together "through all eternity". It is just a gooood hymn.
This was our church's hymn of the month last year; another Baptist Trinity Hymnal find.

" The fellowship of kindred minds, is like to that above...
" We share each other's woes, our mutual burdens bear,
And often for each other flows the sympathizing thing. "



John Fawcett, was a Baptist minister (1765) of a tiny church in Wainsgate, York (UK). He served that tiny church for fifty-four years. Though there was one noted instance where he accepted a pastoral position at a larger church in London, and would have sufficiently provided for his family, but after preaching his farewell sermon, his loving congregation changed his mind, and he stayed. He wrote many other hymns (though none which I'm familiar with) and recieved a D.D degree.
He died at age seventy- eight in 1817.

Blest Be the Tie that Binds

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.

From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity.

-John Fawcett (1782)  

Note: I'm fully aware that there is no April 32nd, but you must forgive my tardiness.         :)