Today I spent four hours driving. Generally, I leave the radio off or only listen to it as long as something is truly worthwhile. Today as I was about to give up on it, I caught a station just as it started the David Crowder song, "How He Loves Us," which has become my new obsession. Watch it here:
David Crowder, "How He Loves Us" Music Video
I tend to be more logical than sentimental or romantic about such things, but this song is for me one those where I feel it echo and resonate in the deepest parts of me, as though the Spirit of God and my spirit are in complete agreement on these truths and their application to my life.
"He is jealous for me. [His] love's like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy..."
"When all of the sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory..."
What is a tree compared to a hurricane? We are nothing, He is everything, and to be in his presence is so satisfying as to fade out all our afflictions and suffering. Such beautiful truths...we are loved by a great being who is the central foundation for all that is good and holy and marvelous and powerful. He retained his justice while also displaying his mercy by both demanding the payment of and then providing the price for our sin (payment of sin is death, and God the Son paid that price on our behalf), so we continue as loved ones, loved by an undiminished great and holy God, our hurricane.
As the tree, I find that sometimes I am stripped down of the things I loved most, of my prized plans and dreams, or of pleasant life situations and left standing bare in the aftermath. Sometimes I feel uprooted entirely. Regardless, it is always marvelous that the God who acts upon me has also chosen to love me deeply and is so satisfying as to be able to eclipse any affliction. What a marvelous inheritance we have in Christ, and how beautifully this part of it is expressed in the song. There is nothing so challenging, so beautiful, as living in faith in Jesus Christ.
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Who Knew? You DO read this blog...
Last month, after I realized that I'm averaging about one post per month, I closed up shop on the blog front. I had exactly one follower (thanks Kate!) and was pretty convinced that no one ever reads this, especially since I import the notes into facebook anyway. Most of the people I know who are interested in observing other people's lives online can be found there, so I shouldn't be surprised if a blog is a bit redundant on top of facebook, right? Right. At least, that's what I thought. However, I have gotten a few questions about where the blog disappeared to, which in turn encouraged me to revive it. I happen to love translating life into words, as it gives me the opportunity to form perspective on the events of the everday; and, I learned that facebook's note format is not nearly as friendly as blogger's. So, the blog returns. I even put a picture on my page :)
(For those reading this through facebook...the blog address is http://TheRogersPost.blogspot.com. I tried to pick something easy to remember.)
(For those reading this through facebook...the blog address is http://TheRogersPost.blogspot.com. I tried to pick something easy to remember.)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Three Cheers for the New Year
I am not one to generally get really hyped up about the New Year, and I can't say that this year was any major exception. I believe 2010 found me on the couch watching Star Trek Voyager with my husband, and it was only happenstance that we didn't crash and head to bed earlier in the evening. So, clearly, no big fuss at the Rogers household :) Although we did completely disregard all traditions about the New Year, we did have some excellent end of the year fun with a few good friends in Chicago on the 30th, when we all stayed in a fabulous hotel and spent the evening walking the Magnificent Mile and eating the best of all pizza- Giordano's. Great times!
While I may not have greeted the dawn of the new year with festivities, I still awoke the next day to find a rather pleasant and accomodating 2010. I have graduated and now set foot in my first year since 1989 when school is not a major part of the agenda, and, we are two-ish months away from meeting the littlest Rogers. Not having school and commutes and homework around which to structure my life, the main activities for me are now 1) start up consulting work, and 2) get ready for the baby. No surprise...the baby is winning.
Over Christmas, my mom and I toured various baby stores in San Antonio and collected ideas for decorating the baby's room; after many years of atrophy from disuse, I decided to flex my artistic muscles (previously used for such accomplishments as school diarama's, clay sphinxes/pyramids, and a southern plantation constructed of sugar cubes- just to give you perspective here). I have started painting a 3ft x 4ft map of the world, decorating the various continents and oceans with associated animals and fish. It has been incredibly great fun; I have taken over the living room with canvas tarps, piles of pictures and atlases from the internet, and now am using the book shelves as a makeshift easel against which I can prop my gigantic canvas (turns out, it doesn't fit on the cheap-o table top easel I bought. I think I should have anticiapted that). I will say, as fun as this is, it is excellent confirmation that I didn't miss my calling by not pursing art. The painting itself is actually sweet, but I must be one of the world's slowest artists. It's a good thing I have a few months!
David is also continuing to flex his DIY muscles with home improvement projects. I think he has reached official DIY-Guy status, as he is now 1) recognized at Home Depot the way some people are recognized at their favorite restaurant, 2) has jeans that are more cement and spackle and paint that fabric, 3) bears a new collection of nicks, scars, and other battle wounds (none serious) as are incurred by those who operate power tools and rip things off walls, and 4) has acquired a new vocabulary, of which I understand little...jigsaws and table saws and tile saws, thinset, spacers... My kitchen looks great and is continuing to improve. Yay for the handy husband!
So for us, 2010 has started pleasantly and holds great promise as a memorable year. Looking ahead, I am tempted to describe "at such and such time, I will do this," but if 2009 taught me anything, it is that though a man determines his steps, it is the Lord who determines his path (Pr 19:21). Just because I think I know what is coming is no indication that I do! (There are all kinds of things I'd like to do - read current event books, audit a refresher Spanish course, travel to see family...but none of these really seem like resolution material, so much as interests.) So my resolution, if you would call it that, is best summed up in these words: "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few..." Rather than resolving to do something, I hope to pass 2010 in quietness before God, in which I can listen to His voice and appreciate His glory. This seems appropriate to a year that has started so quietly itself and also appropriate in light of last year's epiphany about how I should relate to the future. So, three cheers to the New Year, whatever it may bring, and may it find us all in His good hands.
While I may not have greeted the dawn of the new year with festivities, I still awoke the next day to find a rather pleasant and accomodating 2010. I have graduated and now set foot in my first year since 1989 when school is not a major part of the agenda, and, we are two-ish months away from meeting the littlest Rogers. Not having school and commutes and homework around which to structure my life, the main activities for me are now 1) start up consulting work, and 2) get ready for the baby. No surprise...the baby is winning.
Over Christmas, my mom and I toured various baby stores in San Antonio and collected ideas for decorating the baby's room; after many years of atrophy from disuse, I decided to flex my artistic muscles (previously used for such accomplishments as school diarama's, clay sphinxes/pyramids, and a southern plantation constructed of sugar cubes- just to give you perspective here). I have started painting a 3ft x 4ft map of the world, decorating the various continents and oceans with associated animals and fish. It has been incredibly great fun; I have taken over the living room with canvas tarps, piles of pictures and atlases from the internet, and now am using the book shelves as a makeshift easel against which I can prop my gigantic canvas (turns out, it doesn't fit on the cheap-o table top easel I bought. I think I should have anticiapted that). I will say, as fun as this is, it is excellent confirmation that I didn't miss my calling by not pursing art. The painting itself is actually sweet, but I must be one of the world's slowest artists. It's a good thing I have a few months!
David is also continuing to flex his DIY muscles with home improvement projects. I think he has reached official DIY-Guy status, as he is now 1) recognized at Home Depot the way some people are recognized at their favorite restaurant, 2) has jeans that are more cement and spackle and paint that fabric, 3) bears a new collection of nicks, scars, and other battle wounds (none serious) as are incurred by those who operate power tools and rip things off walls, and 4) has acquired a new vocabulary, of which I understand little...jigsaws and table saws and tile saws, thinset, spacers... My kitchen looks great and is continuing to improve. Yay for the handy husband!
So for us, 2010 has started pleasantly and holds great promise as a memorable year. Looking ahead, I am tempted to describe "at such and such time, I will do this," but if 2009 taught me anything, it is that though a man determines his steps, it is the Lord who determines his path (Pr 19:21). Just because I think I know what is coming is no indication that I do! (There are all kinds of things I'd like to do - read current event books, audit a refresher Spanish course, travel to see family...but none of these really seem like resolution material, so much as interests.) So my resolution, if you would call it that, is best summed up in these words: "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few..." Rather than resolving to do something, I hope to pass 2010 in quietness before God, in which I can listen to His voice and appreciate His glory. This seems appropriate to a year that has started so quietly itself and also appropriate in light of last year's epiphany about how I should relate to the future. So, three cheers to the New Year, whatever it may bring, and may it find us all in His good hands.
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