Chris leaves in 16 days!

http://clarkid.blogspot.com/2008/01/separation.html

http://clarkid.blogspot.com/2008/01/time-to-fly.html

"the Source of life that makes us holy ... you must be holy"

"the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the love of the Father and of the Son, is the Source of life that makes us holy, “because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Nevertheless, it is not enough to know the Spirit; we must welcome Him as the guide of our souls, as the “Teacher of the interior life” who introduces us to the Mystery of the Trinity, because He alone can open us up to faith and allow us to live it each day to the full. The Spirit impels us forward towards others, enkindles in us the fire of love, makes us missionaries of God’s charity."

"you must be holy and you must be missionaries since we can never separate holiness from mission"

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/youth/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20070720_youth_en.html

Hat tip to http://www.armybarmy.com/blog.html whose source was http://theworldforgod.blogspot.com/2008/07/part-of-world-youth-day-celebrations.html

40th anniversary

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1133

Happy anniversary, HV.

a few points

"commit to a pro-life stance (not a fence-sitting stance); exclusively offer harm removal; preach the Gospel (that is, present the Gospel persuasively - give people a chance to repent and believe); get holy (don't just teach people how to behave as if they were holy)"
http://www.armybarmy.com/blog.html

As always, I'm in! Are you?

Evelyn

"militant call to prayer"

"This is me crying out my frustration at living in a fallen world. But I know there's still hope. And God is that hope. He is the only hope. So please pray with me. I don't know what to pray. Just pray."

Read the whole post here:
http://chrischronicles.blogspot.com/2008/07/abstinence-something-ive-been-wanting.html

SASB!

http://www.ismckenzie.com/2005/12/the_salvation_army_song_book.html

"all human beings are called to the heights of holiness"

In Jesus, God unites himself to an entire human nature. He fully enters into human experience, with all its peaks and valleys. And a part of that human experience, with more than its share of peaks and valleys, is family.

Jesus spent over 90% of his years in the obscure nitty-gritty of family life. Though only a few chapters are devoted to this lengthy period, what they reveal is significant....

All things created by God are good, with human beings and human life very good according to Genesis chapter 1. Yet in assuming a human body, the Divine Word elevated its dignity, sanctifying it, and ennobling it.... The family, up til now naturally good, becomes an instrument of sanctification and growth in holiness.

As a teen, I thought a serious pursuit of holiness required opting out of marriage to enter a monastery. Holiness was about lots of quiet prayer and apostolic work. Noisy family life was a distraction to all this....

All human beings are called to the heights of holiness; ... all states in life, including student, teenager, and parent, offer abundant opportunities to grow in faith, hope, and love; ... the nitty gritty of family life, if approached right, can be a road to profound personal transformation and communion with God.

Think about it. The creator of the universe spent most of his human life as a craftsman, working with dad in the family business and ultimately taking it over. Mary, the holiest of all creatures, spent most of her time changing diapers, cooking, and cleaning. The secret to holiness is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things with extraordinary love and gratitude (Col 3:15-17)....

Family, in God’s plan, is a community where everyone has growing to do. Maybe that’s why Col 3 talks so much about forgiveness and forebearance!

The bottom line is this–we don’t become holy despite the hustle-bustle of family life, but in and through it.

excerpted from http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/318/Feast_of_the_Holy_Family.html

cancer

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/july/25.30.html?start=1

The Complete Guide to Estonia

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/holidays/cultural-holidays/the-complete-guide-to-estonia-860317.html

As we continually say to each other: we get to LIVE here! :-)

Mission and Culture

http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/use/www_use_missionen.nsf

we will celebrate tonight at 18.00 at the corps!

more shameless rip-offs of http://www.armybarmy.com/blog.html

Wednesday, July 02, 2008
July 2, 2008.Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.He is risen!How's your soul?----Holy Founders' Day!Now, you'll note that the apostrophe is after the S in Founders. It used to precede the S. And then people realized that there were two founders (not one - William, and not three - as the Year Book strangely suggests - can't someone correct that Year Book mistake? If BB must be included then GSR must be). So the apostrophe moved (hat tip Commissioner Wesley Harris).Commissioner Harris showed me a photograph of a dedication stone for a church in Ninfield, Sussex from 1871 that notes, "this stone was laid by Mrs. Catherine Booth, assisted by her husband Reverend William Booth, founders of the Christian Mission" (for those not up on their dates the Christian Mission became The Salvation Army in 1878). It is nice to see that "assisted by her husband" bit, too.The date marks the first preach at Mile End Waste (try googling "Mile End Waste" with "Salvation Army" for more; or, for an alternate take, "Mile End Waste Blessing"). And, I'm led to believe, Founders' Weekend is becoming a big deal in some cities. What are you doing this Sunday to advance the Salvation War by playing up the big date?----The Kingdom of God is at hand.----"You must make the children understand that God expects them to do their share of the fighting, and encourage them to do it" (William Booth, The Training of Children).----"Children should be taught that there is an inseparable connexion between goodness and happiness." (WB). My Dad (and his dad) always say, "Life is more fun when you're good!" They are on the same page (hat tip GNP).----We're big on the Junior Soldier war. Let's train them up and deploy them. I know some pre-JSs (they are a bit young to be JS yet) who are memorising the doctrines and JS pledge and evangelising their school mates and seeing results. Hallelujah! Let's not wait until they get old. And, God forbid that we don't promote Junior and Senior Soldiership for our children (which, believe it or not, I've actually heard about - secondhand, of course - most don't drop that type of mutinous scandal on me firsthand).----The Army seems to be pressing more books these days. IHQ is on a publishing rampage. AUS Territory is not far behind. And others are producing titles as well. I look forward to the day when the average Salvo anticipates the next title by Major ______ as much as the forthcoming album by HillSong or Matt Redman. There is good stuff out there. Read some of it.----Remember the poor.

Five Life-Shaping Books

http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article10-50.html

Five Life-Shaping Books
from JAC Issue #26JAC asked a number of people to describe five books that most helped shape their life. (beside the Bible of course!)

...

Captain Danielle Strickland

Obviously this is a hard question to answer. I have included five books (besides the Bible) that have deeply impacted my life. For all of them there are ten others that have helped shape me. I love to read and perhaps above all other influences reading remains the way that I acquire knowledge that changes me. I love that God created words.

Chasing the Dragon: the life story of Jackie Pullinger. I read this book as a new Christian and it inspired me to go the distance with God. It also created a hunger to see the hand of God at work in supernatural ways in my ministry. This booked shaped me into a person sold out to mission, wanting to work for and among the poor, and it gave me a thirst for God's supernatural power.

No Future Without Forgiveness: by Bishop Tutu. This book both amazed and inspired me. It helped me to understand the power of forgiveness not just on a personal level, but also on a national one. It gave me a glimpse into the work that God is doing on an international level in our world - during my lifetime. It also helped me to see light at the end of the tunnel in a world that will be cleaning up the debris of racial hatred and civil wars for years to come. This book continues to challenge and shape my thoughts on the future of our world.

Pope John Paul II: the biography, by Tad Szulc. The story of Pope John Paul's life rocked my world, not to mention my prejudices. As the strong story of faith and surrender to God unfolded I was challenged to live a life that would be as committed and sold-out to the gospel. I was convicted of a deep prejudice towards Catholicism that I didn't even know existed. This book was instrumental in changing my mind and exposing the places in my heart that needed to be free. This also helped me appreciate the deep faith of Catholicism and her place in the world - and our place along with her. I found my love for the bride deepen and widen to embrace rather than exclude my Catholic brothers and sisters.

Intercessory Prayer, by Dutch Sheets. Before this book I was very unclear about Intercession. I was often quite perplexed about what people were doing when they prayed fervently (including wailing and travail). I struggled within the Word to get a grasp of what intercessory prayer meant and how I could enter the party. This book changed that. It gave me a practical and Biblical explanation of Intercessory Prayer- the importance of it and the form of it and the freedom of it all. It inspired me to not only pray but also to equip, mobilize, and unleash the prayer warriors that I knew. This has impacted my heart and hanged my ministry for the better.

Life Together, by Bonhoeffer. The classic on community. This book (along with others by Tom Sine who I would say is the contemporary classic on community) has shaped my life in major ways. Bonhoeffer challenged by core belief that my 'devotions' had to be done in isolation from anyone else... now I understand that my time with God can be both individual and communal. I now spend my morning devotions reading and praying with my family as a unit of one together before God. Both Bonhoeffer and Tom Sine have challenged me to live the Gospel out in rough, and poor neighbourhoods, to live the opposite of the world, to challenge the status-quo. Bonhoeffer did it by his words but also his life (going back into the fire of Nazism) and Tom Sine by his practical examples in his books (The Mustard Seed Conspiracy, and Mustard Seed versus McWorld). Both have brought me to a place today where I live in an inner city, in order to live out the Gospel and see His Kingdom come.