Psalm 5:7-8

But I, by Your great mercy, will come into Your house; in reverence will I bow down toward Your holy temple.  Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies–make straight Your way before me.

Mercy means “compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power; also, lenient or compassionate treatment.” God’s mercy is a GREAT thing.  Since He’s perfect, our sins are beyond completely repulsive and offensive to Him.  Even so, He loves us.  The punishment for sin is death, yet Christians don’t pay for their sins by their death.  Christ’s death was sufficient.  God’s mercy has been shown to man since the banishment of Adam & Eve from the Garden of Eden.  At the time, it didn’t seem merciful, yet it was the most merciful and loving thing God could have done.

Coach Headley.
Pop-Pop.
Ben.

On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. On the average day, we don’t consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor.–Francis Chan, in Crazy Love

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. –Hebrews 11:13

A toss-up between

Meeting Jeremy Cowart

and

Meeting Joel Houston

Heights, even though I love flying. If I’m in a tall building, etc., looking out is fine, it’s just the looking down that freaks me out.

February 23, 2009.

This is from Passion 2010 and one of my favorite images from my senior exhibition at college.

This prompt stumped me for awhile. God has blessed me with more amazing days that I can even remember–His grace is overwhelming. In the end, I settled for an image of a day that marked a huge shift in my relationship with God–March 15, 2008.

I laid my heart before God, and as a result, fell more in love with my Savior every day of the trip. As a direct result of truly encountering Jesus, my priorities in life have been shifted. To me, truly nothing else matters anymore, save following Jesus, no matter what. I don’t know where that path will lead me, but I know that I’ll be on the right path, doing what matters.

Nothing.

Yes, there are situations in my life that at the time were painful and hard. I didn’t want to go through them. However, God has a plan for those times in my life.

Romans 8:28
More Than Conquerors
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Everything that I’ve gone through and everything that I will go through is all just part of God’s plan of making me more like Him; He is equipping me for the future that only He can see.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. –Ephesians 2:10

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Other than the Bible, the book that has challenged me the most has to be Crazy Love by Francis Chan