August 17, 2007
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thankful
The following post was originally written on December 11th, 2005. Since then I have had one more very specific and special person to be thankful for.
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I am very very thankful for -
Salvation.
Family. Food. Warm apartment. Friends. Church friends. Distant friends who keep in touch. The Bible. Reading, in general. Knowledge. Education. Physics. Engineering. The Internet. People who love me and pray for me. My specific current "situation" in terms of job, vocation, location, status, "exposure" (in the stock-market sense, or in the "leveraging" business sense) of my life to people who have not yet come to know God. Women. Music. Acapella music. Choral music. Pianos (and the folks who invented them). Organs. Johann Sebastian Bach. Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert. Guitars. Beautiful scenery/outdoors - waterfalls, mountains, little clefts in the mountains with waterfalls coming through them. Children, and their innocent happiness and blithe playful interactions with the world around them. Young Christians in whose lives God can be seen powerfully moving and shaping, and the astonishing potential that God could use me as a tool in these lives. Computers. The feeling that comes when one has just finished one's final exams. The feeling of reaching for the alarm on Friday night, then realizing that one does not have to set it, because tomorrow is Saturday. Movies. Gripping and wholesome drama. Late night conversations with certain people. Brothers and sisters. Parents. Grandparents. Spaghetti sauce. Chlorine bleach. Money. Freedom. Being born as a privileged white male in a rich and powerful country but also having the privilege to see poor countries firsthand. The musical-resonance talents that God has given me. Love among people. Common-sense among people. Self-sacrificial helpfulness of mankind for mankind. Jobs, and the fact that God gives us work to do... even, complementary work to men and women. Health, in general, and the fact that I seem to be healthy right now. The varied stages of human development and relationship development, and the fact that I am not a child anymore, and that I will soon be old (and hopefully wise) and the potential for marriage etc, and the fact that this life is almost nothing compared to the awesome weight of eternity. Tea and hot chocolate. Languages, especially English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, Arabic, French, Welch, and Farsi. The ocean. Governments that do a good job, and their armies. Logic, and skepticism, and difficult questions, and thoughtful people, and the joy of hammering out truth. Illustrations, parables, story-itself. Philosophy. Friendly families who adopt grad students who visit their church and invite them into their homes and into their lives and give them food fellowship prayer and advice. Horses. Cats. (Ok dogs too...). My particular heritage and ancestors, and their character and their choices. Stars. The fact that life is not absurd, that there is more to true fulfillment and happiness than the firing of neurons. Sleep. Colors in general. Sunsets. Root-beer-and-vanilla-icecream-floats. Romantic love.
Eternal life. Forgiveness of sins. God. The fact that God exists. The fact that He loves me. The fact that He is coming back to earth again and that I will be with Him forever.
In other news, I have two massive final exams coming up this week... one Monday morning and the other either Tuesday or Wednesday morning. I am semi-scared and semi-trusting. (analogy - child opening wide his mouth as the dentist picks up a monstrous buzzing tool...? or a child getting on his bike without training wheels to try again after having fallen several times, because his dad is encouraging him to...)
Also, Isaiah 45:15 - "Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior!"
Have you ever wondered in your life (and in the world at large) why God "hides Himself?" What are your thoughts on this?
Comments (8)
Hey Tim! Thanks for the suggestions! I found the trumpets, and, yes, they are LOUD.
I startled a couple of students when I was experimenting with the trumpet's registrations, and also caused a couple teachers to poke their heads out of their classrooms and give me the "what are you doing?" look.
I'll look for the crescendo pedal. Will it only crescendo on certain registrations?
Thanks again! -Andrew
which cousin?
i think i understand why God might hide himself from ME, but not from other people. not from him. not from the people in irianjya. however you spell it.
I think perhaps God hides himself because humans beings are arrogant.
He wants us to look for Him! Do you think? He created the world for habitation and promised to bless the seed of Abraham in abundance. In praying to gods that cannot save a person must look for the ONE who can!
Tim -
She is beautiful! My prayers are with you both.
In His love,
Your sister and friend in Jesus,
Mrs. Swift
What a fantastic post. Thanks for the reminder that we each have our own eternal list of blessings from the Lord!
Tim, wanted to thank you personally for all the great discussions and resources you've brought to AFTR. Hope this will not be the end of our correspondence, but as you may already know, I have decided to discontinue AFTR site.
Take care, and may the Lord bless you and keep you.
- John
Thanks, Tim, for the Note. Maybe you weren't posting much. I wasn't sure. Thanks for everything. I'm so happy for you...May God bless you.
In Him,
Mrs. Swift
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