Isaiah 41:9

I am reading my way through "Morning and Evening" by Charles Spurgeon for daily devotions and loving it. The man is just plain brilliant! Most days I read both the morning and evening selection in the morning....and I usually have to re-read it 3 or 4 times in order to digest it all. The man can say a lot in just 2 paragraphs! :) I've also heard tell that he was known for preaching 3 hour sermons back in the day! My brain would've bled from information overload! ha!

Anyway, I found today's evening devotion particularly great and thought I'd share...

"...the Lord calls us not only his servants, but his chosen ones - 'I have chosen thee.' We have not chosen Him first, but He hath chosen us. If we be God's servants, we were not always so; to sovereign grace the change must be ascribed. The eye of sovereignty singled us out, and the voice of unchanging grace declared, 'I have loved the with an everlasting love.' Long ere time began or space was created God had written upon His heart the names of His elect people, had predestined them to be conformed unto the image of His Son, and ordained them heirs of all the fullness of His love, His grace, and His glory. What comfort is here! Has the Lord loved us so long, and will He yet cast us away? He knew how stiffnecked we should be, He understood that our hearts were evil, and yet He made the choice. Ah! our Saviour is no fickle lover. He doth not feel enchanted for awhile with some gleams of beauty from His church's eye, and then afterwards cast her off because of her unfaithfulness. Nay, He married her in old eternity; and it is written of Jehovah, 'He hateth putting away.' The eternal choice is a bond upon our gratitude and upon His faithfulness which neither can disown."

P.S. You know how when you've been reading someone's blog and admiring them for a particular reason {like the fact that they're crafty or they homeschool or whatever} and then suddenly you find out something else about them that makes you like them even more? That's how I feel about Lindsey after she posted this. :)

Welcome Spring

Although the gale force winds and rain might suggest otherwise,

the calendar says today is the first day of Spring.

What better way to celebrate than with a sweet surprise in our arena this morning?

St. Patrick's Day {it's about more than green beer}

Things we learned about the true meaning behind St. Patrick's Day:

• St. Patrick was born in France, but was kidnapped by pirates and taken to Ireland where he was sold into slavery. He tended sheep and pigs for a farmer and often ate the pig swill just to survive.
• He prayed more than 100 times per day!
• God called him back to France at age 17 where he trained to become a pastor.
• God called him back to pagan Ireland as a missionary after he graduated.
• Patrick used the clover to illustrate the trinity. One seed, three leaves...One God, three Persons.
• The Irish do not eat corned beef. Ever. Ok, this doesn't really have anything to do with St. Patrick, himself. I don't really know where some of these American traditions came from, but it's interesting how the true meaning of St. Patrick's Day has been almost entirely lost over the centuries {I'm not sure why this surprises me considering what we've done to Christmas and Easter...}. However, thanks to a 5 minute google search and a veggie tales video, we discovered today that there is a really amazing story behind this "holiday" that certainly does bear celebrating!

For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name.

~ Confession of St. Patrick