Sometimes you read something and you want to expound on it, but there's really nothing to add.
Verse 2 really sticks out at me. Whenever I'm on the internet or watching the T.V., I think about this verse. I guy I know, Jamie, had this verse on top of his T.V. for a long time. I bet he still does. It makes sense.
If anyone has any questions about this, let me know. Shoot me an email or something.
Psalm 101
Of David. A psalm.
1 I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.
8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
In Response to Nature
A friend of mine recently emailed me a little rant about birds.
I'm sure some of you have seen it.
It's political.
It's about people seeking jobs here in the US illegally.
It's about people sitting around waiting to be fed by the government.
It's about entitlement.
People are entitled to the rights and liberties of the country that they are citizens of.
It's not universal grace we're talking about.
Universal grace says that everyone has the right to anything simply because God is good.
Universal grace says that even someone who has denounced the Son of God, Jesus Christ, will have a place in heaven with the very God they despise.
I've never understood the idea of Universal grace. I would love for someone to help me with that.
"For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life" John 3:16
So, let's take that political.
The union of Church and State.
If I live in France, or Luxembourg, or Peru, and find that I can make a better living working in construction in the US, I'm going to come here and try my hand at it. Why not?
But if I've not come by this employment legally, and I don't pay taxes, and I don't have citizenship here, how can I demand any constitutional rights that this country gives its citizens?
On the flip side, the email also talked about legal citizens on welfare, taking advantage of the system and demanding more for producing less.
On this, I'm not so well versed, so I'll steer clear of it. It gets really weird.
Blessed are the poor? No, blessed are the poor in Spirit. So I'm just as confused as the next guy.
I want to believe that the people collecting Welfare and Medicare really need it.
I want to believe that if I was to be in dire straights, that the very government that I've been loyal to all these years will help me out a little bit until I can get on my feet again.
So, bear with me if I have a non-racial axe to grind about people coming heree illegally, taking jobs that might otherwise be filled by the US citizen who really needs a job, but can't get one because the guy who doesn't speak english is working for half the fair pay is doing it.
I don't know. It's a little much to process right now.
I think I'll go drink some fair trade coffee and eat my organic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
God's got it. I'll pursue Him, and one day, He'll reveal the truth to me.
I'll keep you posted.
I'm sure some of you have seen it.
It's political.
It's about people seeking jobs here in the US illegally.
It's about people sitting around waiting to be fed by the government.
It's about entitlement.
People are entitled to the rights and liberties of the country that they are citizens of.
It's not universal grace we're talking about.
Universal grace says that everyone has the right to anything simply because God is good.
Universal grace says that even someone who has denounced the Son of God, Jesus Christ, will have a place in heaven with the very God they despise.
I've never understood the idea of Universal grace. I would love for someone to help me with that.
"For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life" John 3:16
So, let's take that political.
The union of Church and State.
If I live in France, or Luxembourg, or Peru, and find that I can make a better living working in construction in the US, I'm going to come here and try my hand at it. Why not?
But if I've not come by this employment legally, and I don't pay taxes, and I don't have citizenship here, how can I demand any constitutional rights that this country gives its citizens?
On the flip side, the email also talked about legal citizens on welfare, taking advantage of the system and demanding more for producing less.
On this, I'm not so well versed, so I'll steer clear of it. It gets really weird.
Blessed are the poor? No, blessed are the poor in Spirit. So I'm just as confused as the next guy.
I want to believe that the people collecting Welfare and Medicare really need it.
I want to believe that if I was to be in dire straights, that the very government that I've been loyal to all these years will help me out a little bit until I can get on my feet again.
So, bear with me if I have a non-racial axe to grind about people coming heree illegally, taking jobs that might otherwise be filled by the US citizen who really needs a job, but can't get one because the guy who doesn't speak english is working for half the fair pay is doing it.
I don't know. It's a little much to process right now.
I think I'll go drink some fair trade coffee and eat my organic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
God's got it. I'll pursue Him, and one day, He'll reveal the truth to me.
I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Confirmation
So yesterday I wrote about music and how heavy music ain't owned by the devil. Music is in the heart of the worshipper. So scream out to God and bang your head in the Spirit. It's all good.
Confirmation.
I went to small group.
And met the new guy.
Josh.
Josh plays drums in a band. A heavy band. A really good heavy, Christian band.
Decypher Down.
Josh looks pretty normal. Nice fella.
And grounded.
That's the word my wife used to describe him.
Confirmation.
And here's the kicker: Our wives are in a small group together.
So bang your head and throw yourself into the pit. You won't go to Hell for loving Jesus in the pit.
Just make sure you're in the right one.
Confirmation.
I went to small group.
And met the new guy.
Josh.
Josh plays drums in a band. A heavy band. A really good heavy, Christian band.
Decypher Down.
Josh looks pretty normal. Nice fella.
And grounded.
That's the word my wife used to describe him.
Confirmation.
And here's the kicker: Our wives are in a small group together.
So bang your head and throw yourself into the pit. You won't go to Hell for loving Jesus in the pit.
Just make sure you're in the right one.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Disciple
So, I like Disciple. I like the message in their music and I like the urgency of it.
Some think different.
Here's my take on it.
Christian music has genres. It has them because not all people like Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. Just like not everyone likes Tony Bennett and Bette Midler.
So you have Tree 63 and Newsboys and all that other KLOVE stuff. Nothing wrong with it, it's just music for people who like that kind of music.
Then you have Skillet and Switchfoot (on a good day) and Disciple. Sometimes you need to scream at the devil and tell him you know he's there and he's not getting his dirty hand on you. You point your finger right in his ugly face and tell him, "Not today! This soul belongs to Jesus!"
So gotta have that in your quiver or else you're just all heaven minded and no earthly good.
It's the armor of the Lord. You're kingdom minded because you're fighting for the Kingdom and for all the people who you really want to see there. Not just Carmen or Sandi Patti, but the tattooed, black-wearing (Hey, Cash wore black), head-banging, lip-pierced, crazy-haired goth kids who would otherwise be singing along with Manson.
So get mad at the devil. He's ruling this world and he's killing our kids. He's putting porn and hate and anger into the politically correct, sin-laden society we're living in. He's making it easy to walk away from Truth. He's making it easy because we're not pissed. We're not motivated to do something to fight it. We're all just singing the song in church and not screaming them in the check out aisle at CostCo. (I don't do this. I should, but I don't)
Everyone is entitled to their own ways of worship, as long as they're doing it in Spirit and in Truth. If you're praising the Lord Jesus Christ and thanking your Father for your Salvation through His Son, by GRACE alone, you're living right. You're singing right. You're screaming RIGHT!
Even the rocks will cry out!!
Bendiciones para ti
Some think different.
Here's my take on it.
Christian music has genres. It has them because not all people like Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. Just like not everyone likes Tony Bennett and Bette Midler.
So you have Tree 63 and Newsboys and all that other KLOVE stuff. Nothing wrong with it, it's just music for people who like that kind of music.
Then you have Skillet and Switchfoot (on a good day) and Disciple. Sometimes you need to scream at the devil and tell him you know he's there and he's not getting his dirty hand on you. You point your finger right in his ugly face and tell him, "Not today! This soul belongs to Jesus!"
So gotta have that in your quiver or else you're just all heaven minded and no earthly good.
It's the armor of the Lord. You're kingdom minded because you're fighting for the Kingdom and for all the people who you really want to see there. Not just Carmen or Sandi Patti, but the tattooed, black-wearing (Hey, Cash wore black), head-banging, lip-pierced, crazy-haired goth kids who would otherwise be singing along with Manson.
So get mad at the devil. He's ruling this world and he's killing our kids. He's putting porn and hate and anger into the politically correct, sin-laden society we're living in. He's making it easy to walk away from Truth. He's making it easy because we're not pissed. We're not motivated to do something to fight it. We're all just singing the song in church and not screaming them in the check out aisle at CostCo. (I don't do this. I should, but I don't)
Everyone is entitled to their own ways of worship, as long as they're doing it in Spirit and in Truth. If you're praising the Lord Jesus Christ and thanking your Father for your Salvation through His Son, by GRACE alone, you're living right. You're singing right. You're screaming RIGHT!
Even the rocks will cry out!!
- 1 Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
- 2 Sola fide ("by faith alone")
- 3 Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
- 4 Solus Christus ("In Christ alone")
- 5 Soli Deo gloria ("Glory to God alone")
Bendiciones para ti
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
So, It's Sunk In
First, if left to my own devices, I could eat my weight in M&M's. Just thought that should be common knowledge.
My bride is pregnant with our first child.
We found out last week that we're having a girl, and in true Dengler/Fagundus form, she made darn sure we knew she was a girl. It was an amazing thing, watching this human life inside my favorite human life. She moved around and showed us her feet and her face and her backside.
And it brought everything into perspective.
In the beginning I thought pregnancy had certain guidelines. In the first 3 months my beloved wife would experience morning sickness in the morning and a mood swing here and there and other than that, nothing really changes in our uncomplicated lives.
See, this is why books are written by women on this topic. So many books are written by guys who think that if enough women read their ideal and theoretical views on the subject, they will conform to it and think that anything else is wrong and abnormal and should be corrected at once before consulting the husband.
Women know what's up. It's not all the same. Some women start showing only in the 3rd month. Morning sickness can last all day. Mood swings are sudden and are about as subtle as a 50 pound bowling ball to the nards. Women swell. Feet hurt. Feelings are fragile. Some women can consume nothing but veggies and V8 and still gain 50 pounds (most of this weight is water weight). Some women, who are very active and athletic, find themselves too tired to think about cooking let alone going for a jog on the beach in the middle of the summer.
And it's not all physical. Women are bombarded by propaganda (mostly proliferated by ignorant men) that they should be all thin and sexy all the time. Even when they are 5 months pregnant. They are pounded with the idealistic notion that they should feel a certain way. That they should suck it up and take it like a woman.
I think the only reason God made men was to listen. To turn the game off and turn and face their partner who is bearing all this burden and listen. No judging, no nay-saying. Nothing is ideal in this life. We were all made differently, so comparing is completely INSANE. Woman do it enough to themselves, the last thing they need is for their rock, their calm, their HUSBAND to tell them they should be like so and so or that what's her face didn't go through this.
No way man. She just needs you to shut up and take it like a man.
My dad once told me that it's not about being right, it's about being quiet.
Wisdom.
Pure and simple.
It's about service, too. Listening and serving. Foot rubs are essential. Cook for her from time to time, if not all the time. Sometimes pizza and chinese food are just the ticket and all you need to do is make the call. I once ordered Chinese and the guy didn't understand a word I said until I faked the accent (not politically correct, but pretty effective). I'm still not sure what he might have done to my Moo Goo.
It's about serving. I'm still working on that one.
So every day I screw up. I say something or do something that doesn't quite align with the vision of this woman who I've vowed to cherish and love forever. So, I must ask for forgiveness and change the direction of my behavior.
And she doens't have to be told she's wrong.
If she's wrong, she knows it. Women are like that. I'm blessed because I'm married to a woman who will come around and admit when she was wrong, even if it's 3 hours or 3 days later. she comes around. So I don't need to be right right away.
But I'm hardly ever right anyway.
So, we're waiting for our daughter. We're getting her room ready for her. we're moving my music equipment out and replacing it with cribs and changing tables and gliders and hearts and flowers.
And I love it.
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. A cord of 3 strands.
She's going to be the most beautiful creature on the earth. She'll have her mother's common sense and creative nature. She'll have her daddy's feet. She'll have her parents' shared athleticism and love for Jesus and good music.
She'll grow up seeing what a father's love means. She'll see 2 people who love each other very much and desire only that for herself and never settle for less. (She won't date till she's 30)
So, we wait. We learn to love. We're made to love.
We must learn to do what we were made to do.
My bride is pregnant with our first child.
We found out last week that we're having a girl, and in true Dengler/Fagundus form, she made darn sure we knew she was a girl. It was an amazing thing, watching this human life inside my favorite human life. She moved around and showed us her feet and her face and her backside.
And it brought everything into perspective.
In the beginning I thought pregnancy had certain guidelines. In the first 3 months my beloved wife would experience morning sickness in the morning and a mood swing here and there and other than that, nothing really changes in our uncomplicated lives.
See, this is why books are written by women on this topic. So many books are written by guys who think that if enough women read their ideal and theoretical views on the subject, they will conform to it and think that anything else is wrong and abnormal and should be corrected at once before consulting the husband.
Women know what's up. It's not all the same. Some women start showing only in the 3rd month. Morning sickness can last all day. Mood swings are sudden and are about as subtle as a 50 pound bowling ball to the nards. Women swell. Feet hurt. Feelings are fragile. Some women can consume nothing but veggies and V8 and still gain 50 pounds (most of this weight is water weight). Some women, who are very active and athletic, find themselves too tired to think about cooking let alone going for a jog on the beach in the middle of the summer.
And it's not all physical. Women are bombarded by propaganda (mostly proliferated by ignorant men) that they should be all thin and sexy all the time. Even when they are 5 months pregnant. They are pounded with the idealistic notion that they should feel a certain way. That they should suck it up and take it like a woman.
I think the only reason God made men was to listen. To turn the game off and turn and face their partner who is bearing all this burden and listen. No judging, no nay-saying. Nothing is ideal in this life. We were all made differently, so comparing is completely INSANE. Woman do it enough to themselves, the last thing they need is for their rock, their calm, their HUSBAND to tell them they should be like so and so or that what's her face didn't go through this.
No way man. She just needs you to shut up and take it like a man.
My dad once told me that it's not about being right, it's about being quiet.
Wisdom.
Pure and simple.
It's about service, too. Listening and serving. Foot rubs are essential. Cook for her from time to time, if not all the time. Sometimes pizza and chinese food are just the ticket and all you need to do is make the call. I once ordered Chinese and the guy didn't understand a word I said until I faked the accent (not politically correct, but pretty effective). I'm still not sure what he might have done to my Moo Goo.
It's about serving. I'm still working on that one.
So every day I screw up. I say something or do something that doesn't quite align with the vision of this woman who I've vowed to cherish and love forever. So, I must ask for forgiveness and change the direction of my behavior.
And she doens't have to be told she's wrong.
If she's wrong, she knows it. Women are like that. I'm blessed because I'm married to a woman who will come around and admit when she was wrong, even if it's 3 hours or 3 days later. she comes around. So I don't need to be right right away.
But I'm hardly ever right anyway.
So, we're waiting for our daughter. We're getting her room ready for her. we're moving my music equipment out and replacing it with cribs and changing tables and gliders and hearts and flowers.
And I love it.
Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. A cord of 3 strands.
She's going to be the most beautiful creature on the earth. She'll have her mother's common sense and creative nature. She'll have her daddy's feet. She'll have her parents' shared athleticism and love for Jesus and good music.
She'll grow up seeing what a father's love means. She'll see 2 people who love each other very much and desire only that for herself and never settle for less. (She won't date till she's 30)
So, we wait. We learn to love. We're made to love.
We must learn to do what we were made to do.
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