Sunday, August 11, 2024 — Psalms of Ascent – Pilgrim Journey: Blessing

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.
~ Oswald Chambers, 1874-1917, Evangelist/Teacher

The national anthem of Hell is, “I did it my way.”
~ Peter Kreeft, 1937- , Philosopher

Psalm 128

Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
~ C.S. Lewis, Author/Professor

Where transformation is actually carried out is in our real life, where we dwell with God and our neighbors. . . . First, we must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in as the place of God’s kingdom and blessing. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are.
~ Dallas Willard, 1935-2013, Philosopher, Author: The Divine Conspiracy

Everything we encounter today is used by God to prepare us for tomorrow. he wastes no trials, withholds no blessings, nor does he hold back on the discipline of his soldiers. All He does prepares us for future usefulness as vessels of honor.
~ Rick Lambert, leadership consultant/author: Polycarp, A Destroyer Of Our Gods

Growing into spiritual maturity is becoming less self-conscious and more God-conscious.
~ Mark Batterson, 1969-, Pastor/Author

Sunday, August 4, 2024 — Pilgrim Journey: Psalms of Ascent — Pilgrim Journey — Building

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

It’s not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over.
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892-1950, Poet & Playwright

The full he empties, and the empty he fills.
~ Charles Spurgeon, 19th Cent. Pastor

Psalm 127

Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.
~ Arthur Erickson, 1924-2009, Architect & Urban planner

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community…Let him who is not in community beware of being alone…Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Life Together

The same feeling of not belonging, of futility, wherever I go: I pretend interest in what matters nothing to me, I bestir myself mechanically or out of charity, without ever being caught up, without ever being somewhere. What attracts me is elsewhere, and I don’t know where that elsewhere is.
~ Emil M. Cioran, 1911-1995, Romanian Philosopher, The Trouble With Being Born

In a full heart there is room for everything, and in an empty heart there is room for nothing.
~ Antonio Porchia, 1885-1968, Author of Voces, a book of aphorisms

God’s plan was to bring into being a host of sons and daughters whom He would indwell; through whom He would live and manifest Himself; in and through whom Christ would reign supreme. We are the beneficiaries of that plan. God, in His love and grace, has made us a part of His plan. But we are not the center of it; Christ is.
~ Dan Stone, 1971- , Author, The Rest of the Gospel