Photo from Myself Myself
For those who couldn't make it to Bonnaroo, here are some live tracks from the concert for your listening enjoyment.
Courtest of MYSELF MYSELF
Anna took the LOST alter ego quiz, so i thought i would as well. though i'm ok with my score, i tend to think i would have scored a mr eko if he was on here. mainly because i've been to africa and i like to carry sticks with verses on them.
| You scored as Charlie. You're Charlie! Sweet, adorable and caring but with a bit of a bad habit |
Who is your "Lost" alter ego?
created with QuizFarm.com
Who is your "Lost" alter ego? |
ricky gervais doing what ricky does…
Abba Paul said, 'Keep close to Jesus.'
A poem from Marie clair at ragamuffin diva.
visit her site, she has some great stuff.
"Love Stays
(a paraphrase of 1 Cor. 13:1-7)
If the words I write
broke the hearts of men,
and staggered angels
and I did not love
I am mere noise, needing
grace to silence me.
And if my prophecies, opened
the fragrant bud of mystery
and my faith, made mountains bow
and leap, and I did not love
what is the use of me?
If I emptied myself of myself,
and gave all I had to the poor,
and if I yielded flesh to fire
willingly, and on my knees
and I did not love
I should be pitied for my poverty.
Love stays.
Love cares for others more.
Love doesn’t ask for
what is not for love.
Love bows,
and love gives way.
Love doesn’t think too highly
of itself, nor does love
violate. Love doesn’t insist
that it has it’s way.
It doesn’t remember sins.
Love doesn’t make you beg.
It just lets it go.
Love loves when truth blossoms
like lilacs and gardenias
swollen with scents
sweet as a mercy
Love allows.
Trusts Abba always.
Love opens wide eyes
to see the best
and shuts them tight
to what is behind us;
It doesn’t comprehend
the past.
Love never,
ever
fails.
Like God,
love stays."
Here's a nice article on Confession and Assurance found over at "liklierthings.com":
One thing I remember hearing fairly often when I was a Protestant was sermons and teachings assuring us that we all had assurance of salvation. Unlike the Catholics, we were told, who were stuck perpetually in that fearful state of uncertainty about their status before God, Protestants could know that they were saved. They knew that they were saved and it was that solid kind of knowledge that you could take to the bank, not that wishy-washy, think-you-know, kind of knowledge: not only did you know, but you knew that you knew. You probably even knew that you knew you knew. Even so, it was apparently the kind of knowledge that people tended to forget they knew, even when they wanted desperately to remember that they knew it. I mention this because I went to confession last Saturday. It was a quickie: there was nothing I needed advice on or counsel regarding. I just mentioned the most significant ways I had sinned against God in the previous three weeks, asked God to forgive me, and Fr. Albert gave me absolution and told me to go in peace: my sins were forgiven.
Read the rest at Liklierthings...
"Community is the evangelist." –Anon
A anonymous quote that i really liked found on La joie de Dieu est folie.
i am a zach braff fan. i admit it. him and the wilson brothers are my comedic heroes. and the thing with zach is that he always has a story to tell. on tv there was scrubs, a personal favorite since it's beginnings and on the big screen there was garden state, one of my all time favorite films. well, now zach is invading the web. his site's set up nicely (except for the weird "come hither" pic on the top-little creepy) and has the first peek of his new movie "Last Kiss". what's best about the site is the promise of good things to come:
You won't find any galleries or wallpapers, it's not really that kind of site. It's gonna be about music and photography and film and most importantly: laughing.
That sounds like my place to visit. check it out: zach braff
nothing really exciting. just wanted to post something on the infamous day of all days. so i thought i'd jabber about the weekend. well, Sunday night we had a swingin party for my friends phoebe and brett. we grilled up pizzas on the grills for about 50-60 people and ate some yummy antipasto . phoebes and i had a good time topping pizzas, and then i went in put my arm through a window. not because i drank to much, any case anyone was thinking along those lines. the frame was old and i put a little too much pressure when i tried to open it. it merely lashed up my arm a little. it'll leave a nice scar. here's a pic:
ok. it's not quite that bad. i do have pics, but they must be downloaded first. anywho…my 666 update is complete.
falcon crest out!
My godfather, Barnabas, wrote an intersting article. I like what he’s says, but am still mulling over some of it. I am looking forward to the podcast on this topic to hear it explained out some more, or if you have questions, you can ask him at Sober Joy:
What if freedom were worse than punishment? What if love was more fearful than hatred? These seeming paradoxical statements accurately reflect the perspective of our Orthodox faith on heaven and hell, eternal life and eternal damnation. The Orthodox perspective on God’s judgment and our eternal destiny, whether heaven or hell, uniquely preserves the biblical teaching that all humanity is created in God’s image and is meant to be with God forever. The Church through the ages has preserved and declared a truth that seems to be a paradox: God made us free, free to choose Him or reject Him – AND He loves us forever, regardless of our choice. But how can we say God loves all of us equally when we know the Church teaches that some of humanity will really spend eternity in hell? Isn’t God angry with those people who reject Him? Don’t our sins offend God and earn His wrath? The startling truth is that our behavior has no power over God; it does not disturb His eternal peace. God is always at peace, and He is always loving. Your obedience does not “please” Him and your disobedience does not “offend” Him. He is eternally free from passions and loves you unconditionally. The question of your eternal salvation lies in how you will respond to this eternal Love. Do you embrace it with joy, or do you writhe in torment in the loving embrace of God?
In light of this Orthodox understanding, how are we Orthodox supposed to understand Paradise and Hell? I believe there are three foundational truths that must under gird our Orthodox Christian understanding.
1.) God is FREE. The paganism of ancient Greek philosophy taught that matter was eternal, and the gods were bound by “necessity” to act in certain ways. The gods of our pagan past were not free. They were slaves to “necessity.” But the Orthodox understanding about God, the Trinity, is entirely different. God is free. He is not bound by tragic necessity. He forgives the sinner unconditionally. Since God is essentially and foundationally free, He is not forced to punish or reward. In fact, the Last Judgment is not about punishments or rewards at all. It is about revealing in the Light of God’s eternal presence who we really are at our very core.
2.) Humanity is FREE. We were created, all of us, in God’s image, and God has given us His freedom. Since He is not enslaved to any “necessity,” we are also free from any sort of determinism, of fate.
Adam’s sin did not make us all “guilty” of wrongdoing as much at his rebellion passed on to us our fatal handicap of mortality, which tempts us to dominate others and deny God in our attempt to escape death by our own power. Christ comes to deliver us, not from sin, but from the consequence of sin – from that death that we can never escape by ourselves. At the Common Resurrection we will all be raised, good and evil, holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous, and come face to face with the loving God. We will abide throughout eternity with our free choice to either love God and want Him above all else or our free choice to live self-centered, rebellious lives. Either way, we will not escape the consequences of our free choice.
3.) God’s love is FIRE. Hebrews 12:28, 29 says “since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” Coming into God’s uncreated Presence should cause us to seriously re-evaluate our own lives, our attitudes, and our actions. There will come a day when He will no longer mercifully shield us from the full, blazing radiance of His uncreated Presence.
This is what St. John meant when he said that, at the Second Coming, some will beg the mountains to fall on them to hide them from Christ the Lamb (see Revelation 6:12-17). This fire of God’s love warms the man who loves God and torments the man who rejects God. But we’ve always known what fire does. Fire purifies gold and consumes wood. It softens wax and hardens clay. The fire of God’s unconditional love does the same for a man – it either purifies him or torments him, and it either softens him or hardens him. What that man is made of – what he has made of himself – determines the effect of the fire of God’s love.
We live in a modern world where people either believe that God is nothing more than a senile grandfatherly figure, easily swayed with sentiment, or a Divine Terrorist dangling souls over the pit of hell to guilt or shame men into proper behavior. The truth is both more awesome and more terrible. God is a loving Lord Who will not diminish Himself to accommodate our weakness. Rather, He invites all of us to be transformed by His loving grace into a person who can live joy filled lives in the fire of His uncreated Presence. This invitation is extended to us here and now. How will you answer?
The BBC International News Pontifications