“Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” (Psalm 84:5-7)

Blessed are those whose strength is in You. I sure am blessed then, for there is no strength in me this day. I don’t mean to be cavalier about God’s strength. Not at all. But this is the type of day where I have to gather my energy just to pet my cats! Have you ever had that kind of day?

This Psalm is one of a pilgrim expressing his passion for God’s house. The first verse reads; “How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

There are days when I want to go to the dwelling place of the Lord. I do. Not really at times of great pain; but more at the times when fatigue is all encompassing. Like today. My soul does yearn, my body cries out for the living God. But I am setting my heart on Pilgrimage.

My strength is in Him. I trust, lean on, put my whole body and its need for strength in Him. I walk with His strength. I tend to my family, with His strength. I sit at this computer so that I can share this with you…in His strength. And I will go from strength to strength until the time I appear before God.

“As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.” Baca is a place of weeping. The meaning of this is that the pilgrim turns his troubles into blessings. His weeping becomes joy. Notice that his joy doesn’t break out when he arrives at the house of God. The joy is with him, on the journey! Once he has set his heart on pilgrimage, his weeping becomes joy. Even though he isn’t home yet, he knows he is going there. so the journey itself brings him joy!

Beyond our pain. Beyond our weakness. In our fear or worry, we can, as an act of faith, set our hearts on Pilgrimage. We can have joy for the journey. Our weeping can become joy, and blessing. In His strength.

Amen. Thank you Lord Jesus!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandra Platt is a Pastor’s wife and mother of 2 college kids. She lives in Southern Indiana. She has had Fibromyalgia for 18 years, and since then has added numerous illnesses to the list. She has just been diagnosed with Progressive M.S. She lives with the joy of having set her heart on pilgrimage. You may write to Sandra at Rest Ministries, and she also has a Sunroom page there.

Während die Temperaturen heute doch nochmal kletterten, hat sich meine Motivation und mein Befinden ungefragt abgeseilt. Naja, wie gesagt, das kann am Saisonende schonmal vorkommen. Aber das Training heute, v.a. auf der Straße, war echt reine Willenssache. Über 2 1/4 Stunden dicke Beine, einfach ein plattes Gefühl, als hätte man sich tagelang aus den Schuhen gefahren. Beine wie aus Beton, an den Hügeln mehr rückwärts als vorwärts gefahren. Erst beim Spinning ging es etwas besser, aber auch nicht bis zum Schluss. Eins sag ich euch: Et reicht für heute und auch für morgen. Nach 5 Tagen Radfahren, inklusive Wettkampf, muss nochmal ein Regenerationstag eingebaut werden.

Bis demnächst. Ciao, Yannic

James Platt brings you the Persuader Bag. It has a pocket for you phone, of course, and doesn’t use stitching, but interlocking laser cut leather. A cool $579 USD will get you this. And may mean you’re never mugged again!

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.  Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.  For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come ” (Hebrews 13:11-13)

So begins David Platt, in what has been hailed as “the most powerful sermon in Souther Baptist Convention Pastor’s Conference history (watch it at http://www.vimeo.com/5514321).  If you haven’t heard of David Platt, make note of the name .  Senior pastor at Brook Hills Church in Birmingham, AL, the 30 year old Platt is perhaps best none for his passion for the Word of God, evangelism, and global missions.  He can quote chapters at a time from the Bible, including Romans 1-8, he has preached for 7 straight hours, and he holds five degrees (two bachelor’s from University of Georgia, 2 Master’s degrees, and a Ph.D, which he earned at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was a lecturer before moving to Birmingham).  

More impressive to me, though, was the passion with which he encouraged people to “die in our devotion” and not to “die in our religion.”  What does that mean?  According to Platt, that means, as stated in Hebrews (above), going to the poor, going to the dirty, going to the dangerous in order to spread God’s love because  ”Jesus is at work among the dirty places.  He is at work among the dangerous places.”  It is amongst those disenfranchised by society that the Holy Spirit is often most active.  Platt relates a story of a trip to Asia where a group of farmers had come together to hear Platt teach.  They were so thirsty for the Word, that over the next 10 days, for 11 hours a day, Platt walked them through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. 

Why such an emphasis on the Word?  Because “the Word of God…is enough to accomplish the mission of God.”  Are we willing to “risk it all” for the Gospel of Christ?  Am I willing to prioritize the lost and the hopeless above my own needs?  We should be, because only Jesus is worth their glory.  No other person, being, or creation can ever make that claim.

I encourage you to take 30 minutes out of your day to watch Platt’s sermon.  You will be challenged.  You will be motivated (to go outside the city gates, and I hope also, to memorize more scripture).  Hopefully you will be convicted.  I know that I was, and I will strive to meditate on Hebrews 13 over the next week.  What a passage.  What a God.

I would like to pay tribute to arguably my favourite ever football man.

Italia ‘90 was the first tournament I can remember.  Great memories and I fell in love with football largely thanks to Bobby and his squad…Gazza, Platt, Wright, Beardsley, Lineker, Shilton, Walker, Pearce and Barnes stand out for me.

But it was more than Italia ‘90 that won Bobby Robson a place in mine, and the nation’s heart.  He simply came across as such an incredible bloke.  Kind, tough, gentle, happy, wise, humble.  He just seemed to have found the right way to live and you always felt good and proud after hearing him talk.

In recent years  I have been astounded by the number of worthy public appearances he made in the face of such trouble.  Even 5 days ago at the 1990 World Cup semi-final re-match to raise money for the Bobby Robson Foundation he was there meeting the players.  (England got their revenge btw – 3-2!)  He never seemed to stop giving.

Bobby Robson was a great, inspiring man.  I will miss him.

Da nich für!

Es gibt sie. Die Hamburger Redewendungen. Entgegen des Trends, dass immer ich diejenige bin, die in Hamburg Sachen sagt, die dort nicht verstanden werden, gibt es auch einige Asudrücke, die ich so nicht kannte. “Da nich für!” ist mein liebster. Heißt soviel wie: “Gern geschehen!” Original ausgesprochen klingt das “Da nich für” natürlich anders und wird auch anders geschrieben: “Dor nich för!” Siehe hierzu das Übersetzungstool Deutsch – Platt und auch Galgenraten Plattdeutsch.

Quiddje ist ja auch so ein Begriff, den ich vorher nicht kannte. Hier heißt es außerdem “rumhühnern”, wenn man Zeit vertrödelt oder nicht so recht weiß was und wohin. Bei uns heißt das lustigerweise “rumeiern”. Dann fällt mir noch “Tüdelkram” ein – das Pendant zu “Schnickschnack” oder schwäbisch: “Kruscht”. Ebenso musste ich “Feudel” lernen, was bei uns ein “Lumpen” oder “Putzlappen” ist. “Krüsch”, das war mir ebenfalls unbekannt. Heisst bei uns “schleckig”.

Wie gesagt ist es aber eher so, dass ich die Hamburger mit komischen Worten erheitere, als umgekehrt. Hier jetzt von der kreativen Vielfalt seltsamer schwäbischer Ausdrücke anzufangen, würde eindeutig den Rahmen sprengen. Ich ernte ja schon Lacher, wenn ich sowas sag wie “Gummibärle”

Kevin, Teague, Kate, and I went to The Church at Brook Hills last night. David Platt, the preacher, gave a sermon on Ruth chapter 2. As much as I have qualms about mega-churches, Platt and Brook Hills have sort of broken the mega church mold for me. There are three identical sermons a day from the single location in Meadow Brook, and based on the attendance at last night’s (summer night service) meeting, I would guesstimate that about 4-5,000 attend on any given Sunday. So its a big church, and granted, it pretty much feels like a big church. But the extremely dedicated focus on the teaching of Scripture as the ultimate truth is amazing, especially for such a large church. Many times the large churches draw people in by teaching shallow, non confrontational messages. Many times the large churches keep people coming by telling them that they are good people for coming to that church, and will be blessed by God (total victory). What Platt does is teach people that they are, as the Bible says, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, gratifying the desires of our sinful nature, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, made us alive together with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions–by grace you have been saved.

On Sunday night, his sermon was titled “The Ministry of Mercy” and it was the second in a series on the book of Ruth. He went through Ruth chapter 2. The title of the series is “Love Story: God’s Epic Tale of Redemption.” The Book of Ruth is actually acclaimed by writers as one of the most beautifully written short-work love stories ever read. Platt’s approach to the sermon, therefore, was reading through the passage, and first, explaining its magnitude verse by verse. He did a great job relating the things in the text that don’t jump out immediately in our culture to us as Americans. He was very passionate about the parts of the text that conveyed extreme emotion, and did a great job of explaining the story in the text. The story in Ruth is one of true Redemption, and there is a wonderful allegory of God’s redemption of man. Platt was able to convey the spiritual meaning of the text as he went through it, adding in some funny one-liners to keep everybody’s attention. When he finished going through the chapter verse by verse, he wrapped it all up by showing the ways the gospel was portrayed in the passage. He highlighted how love was given by Boaz to Ruth, and how love was received by Ruth from Boaz, and how that applies to his church (and all of us who aren’t actually members).

I don’t know how the church functions as a body of believers, because I am not a member there, but I was extremely impressed with Platt’s dedication to the Scripture, and his passion in teaching it. I would hope that they have a good discipleship network that keeps the members accountable, and is able to make sure the church is applying the strong truths that Platt is teaching on Sundays. So all in all, this is my statement of being impressed with the Church at Brook Hills. The real deal is even better than the podcast, which is awesome.

This is a quick one for ya:

Recently got a chance to play with the new Blackout! by Brian Platt. I’m gonna break down the DVD (without giving away too much) and what I think.

The DVD begins with an explanation of the gaff (that’s all I will say), it’s history, how to use it, and how its made. As with most DVDs about a single gaff I wonder why this section is here. It half teaches you how to make it but is half just convincing you that you couldn’t.

The Tricks:

Blackout comes with several routines from a simplistic one coin routine, to a devilishly good Tenkai Pennies routine. Overall the effect that the gaff lends is the same. You can vanish a coin.

Dont take this lightly. The ability to vanish a coin with clean hands (not clean LOOKING but actually clean) hands is priceless and Platt has thought of some good uses for it.

The downside? Platt himself is a slightly clumsy handling the gaff and I’ve already seen people do it live better than he does in the DVD. I dont think I give too much away when I say that after you vanish the coin you must be cautious of movement afterwards. If you want to keep working with the gaff UNTIL you can openly put it away then you’ll be fine.

All and all I think this DVD is a great product that you’re going to have to make your own way with. This isn’t the case. You buy DF’s for Mac’s Aces. You’re not usually going to “think of” a better routine. This is not the case with black out. You may get some IDEAS from the DVD but dont expect to have the perfect use handed to you. PLAYING with this is how you will get the most out of it.

As usual your best magic will come from when you DONT know.

-TAM

En del nöjer sig inte med att slänga burkar på marken. De måste ju plattas till också. Här kommer veckans andra skräpbild på en grön Fanta exotic.

Nu är den här … världens första svanenmärkta platt-tv! Det är samsung som visar framfötterna genom att skapa en tv med väsentligt lägre energiförbrukning under både drift och i stand-by än övriga jämförbara modeller och dessutom innehåller den inte kvicksilver. Eftersom tv:n är så pass tunn innehåller den även mindre material och vid transport kan fler packas, vilket också medför till mindre miljöpåverkan.

Läs mer om tv:n på Samsungs hemsida eller på svanens webb. Läs också om Sharps energisnåla tv som jag skrivit om tidigare.

Aujourd’hui, j’ai recu un mail de ma maman avec tout ce que represente ma moselle natale. et j’ai envie de vous le faire partager car ca m’a trop fait rire, car c’est notre facon de parler et jamais je n’ai pensé que je parlais le patois, je comprend mieux mon mari quand il me reprenais tout les 5 minutes et ne savait pas de quoi je parlais mdr Ce mail est humouristique mais tellement vrai !!!

C’est METZ, C’est LA MOSELLE:
 
 Si tu es fier de tes 2 jours fériés de + que le reste de la France…
 Si pour toi aussi les cours de religion étaient obligatoires au primaire…
 Si tu dis de qqn qu’il a du ‘schpeck‘… ( le schpeck c’est la graisse !!!)
 Si tu mets des déterminants devant les prénoms des gens…( ex : le didier)
 Si tu ‘spritzes’ du lave-vitre pour laver tes carreaux ou du liquide lave-glace pour ton pare-brise…
 Si tu sais ce que sont une ‘rackia‘ et un ‘racklo’…(diminutif de racaille, mauvaise frequentation)
 Si au moins un de tes amis s’appelle Muller ou Schmidt…
 Si pour toi le Luxembourg ou l’Allemagne c’est pas l’étranger parce que tu y vas toutes les semaines…
 Si tu as déjà mangé des ‘knepp’…
 Si tu ne comprends pas pourquoi on te reproche de dire ‘ui‘ et pas ‘oui’…
 Si tu fermes la lumière…
 Si tu fais un ‘flot‘ avec tes lacets ou sur les paquets cadeaux…
 Si tu ‘clanches’ ta porte…
 Si la seule piste de ski indoor de France est dans ton département…
 Si tu as un ‘katz’ et pas un chat…
 Si tu dis ‘oyéééé’ quand tu es surpris ou déçu…
 Si tu demandes aux gens si ‘ça geht’s?‘…
 Si tu dis ‘besch nexte mol’… (bon d’accord ça vous êtes pas tous obligés de connaître lol)
 Si tu prends tes outils dans le ’stahl‘… (et ça c’est pas obligatoire non plus mais quand même c mieux de le dire lol)
 Si toi aussi tu manges ‘entre midi’ et pas ‘entre midi et 14h’…
 Si tu aimes manger des ‘Spritz‘…
 Si tu prends un ‘Stück’ et pas un morceau…
 Si tu mets un ‘stampel‘ et pas un tampon…
 Si tu dis que quelqu’un est tout ‘klatz‘ et pas qu’il est chauve…
 Si tu es ‘getz‘ et pas content…
 Si tu demandes à qqn de sortir en disant ‘Raus‘…
 Si tu manges des ‘shneck’ et pas des ‘pains aux raisins’…
 MAIS si pour toi UN ’schneck’ et UNE ’schnek’ c’est pas du tout pareil !!
 Si tu bois un ‘baron‘ et pas une pinte…
 Si tu fumes des ’schmers’ et pas des ‘clopes’…
 Si tu ne dis pas vite mais ’schnell!’…
 Si tu fais de la ‘boulibatsch’ et pas de la gadoue…
 Si tu prononces le T de ‘vingt’ parce que le ‘vin’ ça se boit c’est pas un nombre!…
 Si tu ‘ratches’ avec tes potes…
 Si tu as déjà dit qu’une personne est une ‘quetsche’…
 Si le saint nicolas venait dans ta salle de classe au primaire…
 Si tu as de la ’schnudel’ qui coule du nez…
 Si tu avais peur du père fouettard…
 Si pour toi les allemands sont des ‘Spunz’…
 Si quand ça pue tu dis que ‘ça schmek’… plutot ça ’stink’
 Si un sale jeune est un ‘raoudi’…
 Si tu dis que tu ‘fais bleu’ et pas que ‘tu sèches les cours’…
 Si tu dis ‘comment qu’c'est?’ et pas ‘comment tu vas?’…
 Si tu ne dis pas ‘moineau’ mais ‘Spatz’…
 Si tu bois du ‘schnaps’ et pas de ‘l’eau de vie’…
 Si tu sais ce que veut dire ‘narreux’…
 Si tu connais ‘la reine de la Mirabelle’ et ‘les Fraises de Woippy’…
 Si tu sais ce qu’est le PLATT…
 Si tu bois un ‘shlouk’…
 Si tu demandes aux gens de fermer leur ’schness’ …
 Si étant petit tu devais mettre tes ‘schlapp‘ pour ne pas salir tes chaussettes…
 Si tu as déjà mangé des sandwich chez ‘Steinhoff’…
 Si pour toi il commence à faire chaud à partir de 15°C…
 Si tu as déjà allumé ton chauffage au mois de mai…
 
 ALORS TU VIENS DE CE MERVEILLEUX DEPARTEMENT QU’ON APPELLE LA MOSELLE

A FAIRE SUIVRE A TOUS LES LORRAINS (et surtout aux autres)
  
  
Dans le cadre de fouilles dans le sous-sol russe jusqu’à 100m de profondeur, les scientifiques russes ont trouvé des vestiges de fil de cuivre qui datait d’environ 1000 ans.
Par provocation les Russes en ont conclu publiquement que leurs ancêtres disposaient déjà il y a 1000 ans d’un réseau de téléphone en fil de cuivre.
Les Américains, pour faire bonne mesure, ont également procédé à des fouilles dans leur sous-sol jusqu’à une profondeur de 200m. Ils y ont trouvé des restes de fibre de verre. Il s’est avéré qu’elles avaient environ 2000 ans. Les Américains en ont conclu que leurs ancêtres disposaient déjà il y a 2000 ans d’un réseau de fibre de verre numérique. Et cela, 1000 ans avant les Russes !
Une semaine plus tard, à Longwy, en Lorraine, on a publié le communiqué suivant : « Suite à des fouilles dans le sous-sol des fortifications de Vauban, jusqu’à une profondeur de 500m, les scientifiques lorrains n’ont rien trouvé du tout »… Ils en conclurent que les Anciens Lorrains disposaient déjà il y a 5000 ans d’un réseau Wifi.
Ce n’est qu’un peu plus tard que Dieu inventa le Picon et la mirabelle afin d’éviter que les Lorrains ne deviennent les maîtres du monde…