We Have and Advocate!

^{1 John 2
1} My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Some Wisdom

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
       -C. S. Lewis

"Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it." ~William Penn~


"It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."                           <Abraham Lincoln>


   "Worry is like a rocking chair-it keeps you moving but doesn't get you anywhere." -Corrie ten Boom                                    

Psalm 40:1-3

 ¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
    And He inclined to me, 

And heard my cry.
 ² He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
 Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
 ³ He has put a new song in my mouth—

Praise to our God;

 Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD. 

Marvelous Grace

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount out poured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?

 

 

~Grace Greater than Our Sin

   Julia H. Johnston~

Come to the Waters All Who Thirst!

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts,

Come to the waters;

And you who have no money, come, buy and eat.

Yes, come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without price 

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

And your wages

For what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
      And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
       

Incline your ear, and come to Me.
      Hear, and your soul shall live;
      And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— 

The sure mercies of David.
       

Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people,
      A leader and commander for the people.
       

Surely you shall call a nation you do not know,
      And nations who do not know you shall run to you,
      Because of the LORD your God,
      And the Holy One of Israel;
      For He has glorified you.”
       

Seek the LORD while He may be found,
      Call upon Him while He is near.
       

Let the wicked forsake his way,
      And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
      Let him return to the LORD,
      And He will have mercy on him;
      And to our God,
      For He will abundantly pardon.
       

“ For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
      Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
       

“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
      So are My ways higher than your ways,
      And My thoughts than your thoughts.
       

“ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
      And do not return there,
      But water the earth,
      And make it bring forth and bud,
      That it may give seed to the sower
      And bread to the eater,
       

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
      It shall not return to Me void,
      But it shall accomplish what I please,
      And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
       

“ For you shall go out with joy,
      And be led out with peace;
      The mountains and the hills
      Shall break forth into singing before you,
      And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
       

    Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
      And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
      And it shall be to the LORD for a name,
      For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Isaiah 55

Dreaming of Spring

Sonnet CXVI

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
Within his bending sickle's compass come: 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 
          
                      ~William Shakespeare~