Bally's For The Mind

Lengthy, I know - but it really was a thought provoker and encouragement to me this morning. From the Reformation Study Bible study notes at Isaiah 66.


The Spiritual Nature Of God

"God is Spirit", said Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:24). Though fully personal, God does not live in and through a body as we do, and so is not subject to the limits of space and time. Although nothing created can be omnipresent, God is everywhere in His fullness continually. All created things are limited by time, but for God there is no "present moment" into which He is locked as we are.

Theologians refer to God's freedom from limits and bounds as His infinity and His immensity (I Kings 8:27; Isaiah 40:12-26; 66:1). God upholds everything in being, and He has everything everywhere always before His mind, in its own relation to His all-inclusive plan and purpose for every thing and every person in His world (Daniel 4:34-35; Ephesians 1:11).

God is immutable, or unchangeable. Nothing can increase or diminish God's perfection, and He does not change for the better or the worse. Because He is not in time He is not subject to change as creatures are (II Peter 3:8). Yet He is active in His world all the time, constantly making new things spring forth (Isaiah 42:9; II Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5). In all His works He expresses His perfect character with perfect consistency. True to His unchangeable character, He will fulfill every word He has spoken and the plans He has made (Numbers 23:19; Psalm 33:11; Malachi 3:6; James 1:16-18). His immutability explains why, when people change their attitude to Him, He changes His attitude to them (Genesis 6:5-7; Exodus 32:9-14; I Samuel 15:11; Jonah 3:10).

God's unchangeable perfection does not mean He is impassive and unfeeling, but what He feels is a matter of His own choice, and is included in the unity of His infinite being. God is not driven by His reaction to events or the presence of feelings that arise within Him. But many scriptures represent God as having emotions, such as joy, sorrow, anger and delight. It is a great mistake to forget that God feels - though of necessity in a way that transcends a finite being's experience of emotion.

All God's thoughts and actions involve the whole of Him; He is undivided in Himself, not composed of parts. This attribute is called His simplicity. God is not distracted, divided by competing interests, or obliged to ration His attention. He simultaneously gives total and undivided attention, not just to one thing at a time, but to everything and everyone anywhere in space or time (cf. Matthew 10:29-30).

The God who is Spirit must be worshiped in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Worship "in spirit" means worship from a heart renewed by the Holy Spirit. No rituals, ceremony, or devotional formality is true worship without a willing heart, which the Holy Spirit alone can prepare. "In truth" means on the basis of God's revelation culmination in the incarnate Word, Jesus Chirst, who is the truth (John 14:6). In the Spirit, "the Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth", wherever they may be (Psalm 145:18; cf. Hebrews 4:14-16). Through the revelation of Christ, God invites limited, sinful creatures to claim Him who is the eternal, unchangeable God, as their own God. God is committed to His people through a covenant of divine promises as sure as His own faithfulness (Hebrews 6:17,18).

Leah, how's the baby growin' going?





Here' are a few pictures of hilarous, adorable and crazy Cal.

He loved the swing but only for 2 seconds b/c there is WAY too much to do at the park.

I'm Excited

Even though I know the rest of you won't be. ;)


I found this today:

TRIROCK

It's a site that plays all 70's classic Jesus Freak Music!

I Love it!

I know, Scott, I know......

Nothing

It looks like we're all really boring! Nothing new to report. Leah and Cal were here for Leslie's wedding and it was fun as always.

I have a cold.

My grandma told us a really gross joke at the wedding. This was after she did her jello shot. I'm not sure I should post it though. Scott, are you reading this?

Bally's For The Mind

"Jesus came to raise the dead.

He did not come to teach the teachable;

He did not come to improve the improvable;

He did not come to reform the reformable.

None of those things works."

--Robert Farrer Capon

Bally's For The Mind

"We believe we're all born bad and it is society that makes us good."

-The Creators of South Park



That's sort of Biblical actually.

;)

The Hmmmm... Department.

Oh My.... Rev. Mailor

Leah' Day O Fun

I was a spoiled lady yesterday. Lisa and I are taking turns babysitting so that we can run errands, make appointments or have Me Time. Yesterday was my day and I went to Target to buy a couple things, sat in Borders for almost two hours reading magazines, my Bible and A Wrinkle in Time, and then went to the library to get a card (finally). It was great.
Then, I had Girls' Night Out and we walked around Uptown and ate at Chiang Mai Thai (I didn't really eat, but it was great).
Woohoo for Leah and her Day O Fun!

Bally's For The Mind

"You, you and you - panic. The rest of you come with me."

-Jonas Blane, The Unit, CBS TV

The Dress I'm Talking About

Clarification for Grandma

Just to clarify, the Myfamily.com website is no longer. I think everyone got an email about it, but I didn't pay the fee b/c they screwed up my checking account and charged me 6x and had HORRIBLE customer service. I'll go on the site and see if I can get the email 'updates' to stop. But anyway, most of you know this b/c this great blog is the replacement for the myfamily.com site.

Weekend Report

This weekend was a slow one. We watched all three Netflix that we had on hand(Unleashed, Roll Bounce, and The Weather Man) all three were good, and surprisingly "Roll Bounce" wasn't the worst of them. I gave that distinction to "The Weather Man". I also played about 20 hours of Dragon's Quest VIII(from the Dragon Warrior series on the NES, now on PS2),I guess I kind of dork it up every weekend. We didn't get a poker game together but next weekend we will for sure. We also watched the Academy Awards. If you saw it, what did you think of Jon Stewart as host? I enjoyed it, I'm not sure Hollywood did(sure they thought his political jokes were funny, but the looks/response he got when he made jokes about celebrities makes me think that Kathy Griffin is right about most stars not really getting the joke or being able to laugh at themselves.

Call, your way way too young to be forgetting or not telling the truth or whatever it is your trying to pull. Here I have a picture of you at the zoo. See? That's your head and in the back ground is a giraffe. You said you haven't been doing anything, but I'd say a zoo is pretty exciting.

Another one?!

Cal will be a big brother circa Nov. 4, 2006. It's still kind of a secret, but we are telling family. A good way to keep a secret is to post it on a Blog. Pray for baby #2- that he/she is healthy and safe.

Stairs, running and stealing

This morning as I was running up the stairs to catch the L, I caught a pick-pocket-er instead. This a-hole was trying to get into my bag!!! I could feel someone pulling on my bag so I turn around and there's his hand trying to unzip the pocket as I'm running up stairs! I'm still pissed. I stopped and turned around and yelled "Excuse Me!" b/c that's what came out of my mouth and he started running past me saying "i was just trying to...."... Yeah, trying to what - steal my wallet??

Stupid theives.

He jumped on the L right as the doors were closing and was gone.

Then I had to sit in a seat that looked like someone threw up a little on it. It was kinda a rough morning.

Bally's For The Mind

"I believe that each work of art, whether it is a work of great genius, or something very small, comes to the artist and says, 'Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me.' And the artist either says, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord,' and willingly becomes the bearer of the work, or refuses."

-Madeleine L'Engle

Prison Break Curios

Hi everybody!

Go here

click on Photo Galleries

Look at photo #4

The Weekend Report

This weekend Kari ended up sick again, so that led to more poker playing for me. We did watch Bubble, but I wasn't too excited about it. I did play in a live game(not on the internet) on Saturday night, and Kari actually felt good enough to join me by the third game. I took 2nd all three games, so I broke even(counting Kari's buy-in for the third game). I heard there was some visiting of MN that went on. What else did everyone do?

I love Police Officers

Today I got pulled over for speeding. No license. No current proof of insurance. I got off with a verbal warning.
I don't think it had anything to do with me making out with him, either.
Hooray! I thanked him profusely, thanked the Lord even more and headed onto Sam's Club.
Eric, have you seen my license?

Bally's For The Mind

Say What?!......

"The intelligent design movement belittles God. It makes God a designer, an engineer," said Vatican Observatory Director George Coyne, an astrophysicist who is also ordained. "The God of religious faith is a god of love. He did not design me."

-From CNN