memorial name

"you shall say to the sons of israel, 'the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.'  this is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations." exodus 3:15

schaeffer's concentric circles of the christian life

"as i see it, the christian life must be comprised of three concentric circles, each of which must be kept in its proper place. in the outer circle must be the correct theological position, true biblical orthodoxy and the purity of the visible church. this is the first, but if that is all there is, it is just one more seedbed for spiritual pride. in the second circle must be good intellectual training and comprehension of our own generation. but having only this leads to intellectualism and again provides a seedbed for pride. in the inner circle must be the humble heart- the love of God, the devotional attitude toward God. there must be the daily practice of the reality of the God whom we know is there. these three circles must be properly established, emphasized and related to each other. at the center must be kept a living relationship to the God we know exists. . . then, at the end of my life, when i look back over my work since i have been a christian, i will see that i have not wasted my life. the Lord's work will be done in the Lord's way."

-francis schaeffer, no little people

conviction and influence

the influence of a woman with a "rock-solid conviction that Jesus is who he says he is and the Bible is his book" is immeasurable.

happiness

kids get the gospel.

invitation to the jump house

i'm reposting this from my brother Richard's blog. his 6-year-old daughter Ana has Down syndrome. this is one way she's made a difference in his life & impacted people who come across their path.

We celebrated my daughter’s birthday this weekend.  We wanted so badly to invite friends of Ana’s from her special needs class.  We were intentional in inviting all her peers from class because we know firsthand the isolation and loneliness that disability can bring.  It's not always a purposeful isolation.  People exclude you but they don’t mean to; it's not malicious, they just do.  So we wanted to make sure all of Ana’s special needs classmates felt welcome.  We rented a jump house just for that occasion, where I would work hard to make sure all children in wheelchairs or a little wobbly on their feet were assisted to have a great time in the jump house.  The first boy from Ana’s class came up and I asked his mother if he could come in.  She said, "He’s never done it before because they're always too full and people aren’t looking out for him."  He came in and I held him and we jumped together.  The smile on his face said it all.  It gave me great joy that I was the first one to take him into a jump house.  He had been excluded up until that point, not because people are mean and don’t want to include him, but because the world is not built for him.  I don’t accept that, and so we were so glad that this 7-year-old boy could know and experience that he is included and maybe that might show him and his mother the acceptance that a good God has given them in Jesus.