Three little birds sat on my window.....

and they told me I don't have to worry.......:)
summmer came like cinammon,
so sweet

Indeed, the start of my early
summer has been superb! So many cool things have happened.

First of all, school ended.

Actually, that part wasn't so cool, as my classes were quite fun....I rather miss chemistry. Ms. Gross was a wonderful teacher.

Anyhow, the following week my wonderful brother and I did a two-week drama camp. It was with Arising Light Productions. Zach and Luke were the leaders. Boy, that was fun! The first week I went early for a faith and film class....that was awesome, watching movies all morning, analyzing them, finding truth in them, and simply enjoying them!

As for the drama camp, it was a blast! So many good friends comming together to put on a fun production. It was the play "Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare...I played "Viola", a transvestite, my mum kept calling me. :)

Sam played a comedic drunkard, Sir Toby Belch....ha! He was my favorite character....Sam was awesome, acting a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow, which of course made it funny.....Elizabeth was the wonderful "Chief of Costume", or something like that...thanks to her I had a mustache on my face for the majority of the play....though I woulnd't want it again, it definately added to my disguise!


So then after camp everything slowed down again....until last week when on Thursday I left for the homeschool conference with such wonderful friends from church....that was a lovely time! I got so many good books, too many probably...here is a list of what I got:

1. Captivating - this book I heard great things about! I got it mostly for Elizabeth, but I hope to read it too...

2. The Suffering of Man and the Soveriegnty of God - This is by C.H. Spurgeon, which is why I got it....it's a compilement of sermons he did on Job. I already read the first one....it's fantastic! As Clint Wells says, "Read more Spurgeon and listen to more Beatles"....I thoroughly agree with him!

3. The Open Door - This is a book by Lamplighter Publishing, I'm really looking forward to it....

4. The Wind in the Willows - such a fantastic book! this one I actually didn't get at the conference but at a neighborhood yard sale....I just started reading it again. It's so loverly! Ratty is awesome.

Those are all I can remember right now, so they must be the only ones worth mentioning.

That week ended up nicely with a famly trip to the beach to visit my Grammy and Pappap. I have such fun grandparents!

Well, I'm sure I've bored you quite enough....so long!

Non nobis domine, domine,
Non nobis domine,
Sed nomini, sed nomini
tuo da gloriam.

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

"Dear friends,

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

-Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ
(Philipians 2)

Fighting for Joy

This is another rad post from daniel hames' blog....you can read it at his blog with the comments here. It's been so inspiring I thought I'd just paste the whole thing up for you to read. Probably because I haven't got anything to say myself. So read on, my friends, and be inspired!

"A few days ago, I met-up with my friend Andy Upton. Andy is the pastor of Knighton Evangelical Free Church, which is near my home. Because he's a pastor, he's become very good at asking penetrating questions such as, "What are your idols?", "What does a Dan Hames quiet time look like?" and others.

Andy asked me how I fight for joy each day. I have to confess it took me ages to understand what he was getting at. I'm assuming it down to my lack of quick witedness rather than Andy's lack of penetrating-ness! Eventually I cottoned-on and Andy rephrased, "You love Piper. You know that finding your joy in God alone is a fight. How do you fight for joy every day? How do you practically make sure that you delight yourself in God? Or are you just all talk?"

We chatted about the ways... listening to talks on the iPod while walking to places, listening to praise and worship music, disciplining myself to swing my legs out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off in order to get a quality quiet time, blogging to record God's goodness, songwriting.

Since then, I've been thinking about this question a lot. How do I fight for joy? Am I just all talk? Well I think I might be a lot of talk, and perhaps not so much fight as I'd like. While on the new leaders' weekend, tim Rudge prayed one morning that God would warm our cold hearts, because we wake-up with stone cold hearts every day. How true that is! When I wake-up from my dreams, my first thoughts are about myself "I'd love to stay in bed", "I'm hungry", "What have I got to do today?". But what if I could wake-up and think Psalm 37:4? Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Today I've been singing an old, old hymn:

Lord, dissolve my frozen heart,
By the beams of love divine;
This alone can warmth impart,
To dissolve a heart like mine.

O that love, how vast it is!
Vast it seems, though known in part;
Strange indeed, if love like this,
Should not melt the frozen heart.

Saviour, let thy love be felt,
Let its power be felt by me,
Then my frozen heart shall melt,
Melt in love, O Lord to thee.

The love of Jesus will warm my heart, renew my mind, and show me where I can find true Joy. And I need to remind myelf of this love everyday, because I'm liable to forget it, and prone to leave the God I love for other treasures that are really no treasure at all. Keeping hold of joy is hard work! So I'm going to fight for it by trying to get up earlier as Andy has suggested, and I'm going to try and think about the words of that hymn when I wake-up each morning. It seems that discipline and joy are really quite closely related.

How do you fight for joy?
What practical, everyday ways do you feed yourself?
What are the other treasures that most easily fool you?
How do you stop idols reigning in your life?
Let's share."

"Clouds may hide tomorrows sun..."

how dark this day
this day of night
the weather, though it seemed so right
blows winds of sorrow 'cross the light
tears of loss
tears of pain
a numbness in me, so far away
but theirs is sorrow in this slay
this thoughtless act
but why?

a song that's so good in times like these, a reminder of something bigger, is "Beams of Heaven" by Charles Tindley. here I'll write the lyrics.....you can listen to it here(just click number 15)



Beams of Heaven

Beams of heaven as I go,
through the wilderness below,
guide my feet in peaceful ways,
turn my midnights into days.
When in the darkness I would grope,
faith always sees a star of hope,
and soon from all life's grief and danger
I shall be free someday.
I shall be free someday.

Often times my sky is clear,
joy abounds without a tear;
though a day so bright begun,
clouds may hide tomorrow's sun.
There'll be a day that's always bright,
a day that never yields tonight,
and in its light the streets of glory
I shall behold someday.
I shall behold someday.

Harder yet may be the fight;
right may often yield to might;
wickedness a while may reign;
Satan's cause may seem to gain.
But there's a God that rules above
with hand of power and heart of love;
and if I'm right, he'll fight my battle,
I shall have peace someday.
I shall have peace someday.

Burdens now may crush me down,
disappointments all around;
troubles speak in mournful sigh,
sorrow through a tear-stained eye.
There is a world where pleasure reigns,
no mourning soul shall roam its plains,
and to that land of peace and glory
I shall want to go someday.
I shall want to go someday.
I shall want to go someday.

The Lord has risen.

He has risen indeed!! You know one of my favorite blogs to read is that of Dan Hames, in England. He sent out an e-letter last spring to his readers, and it's truth and simlicity impressed me so deeply that I never deleted it from my inbox.

I thought that, since it's that time of year again, it would be worth posting up for everyone to see. Here's what he wrote:


~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello boys and girls of the wired world,

Well... the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the world is coming back to life. It is a strange thing how Summer slips away so gradually that it's not until the first rays of the Spring sunshine that we realise we have been living in Winter. Yesterday, as I walked in the little wood near my house, I noticed how things look so much greener- that nature was fighting back.

So we're heading for Easter and we can see that all around us, Life wins over Death. It's because creation is relfecting the big win one day 2000 years ago when bizarrely, one man killed death by giving himself up to die.

Of course death has its mark on us all and it means to be our downfall, but something huge happened in Jerusalem- we can see our own death get killed and we can come to life just like those trees after Winter which break-out into leaves and buds and life.

I can see that God was my biggest problem, God provided the solution, God justifies the wicked and God is the whole end and goal of it all. Amazingly, this wild story is all symbolised in that very common symbol that we see hanging around people's necks, tatooted on their arms and stuck on churches. And there's a little phrase that we like to use to talk about that: "the gospel". Let me tell you that the gospel changes everything because the more I know about myself, the bigger the cross gets. The more I see how being a rebel has damaged me, the more I understand how earthshaking the cross is.

I'm so excited about the gospel that I borrowed a poem from a lady called Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane who died in 1896 and I made some news music for it. It's on my Myspace now. Go and listen- I hope you like it.

Here's to Easter. Here's to life. Here's to the cross.

Love,
Dan

Springtime at our house! For my friends faraway....

Hey Schmidts! Here is a glimpse of NC this early spring....we wish you were here with us!

The video will probably make you dizzy......it's a bit cheesy and unprofessional, but it's just a practice.

The song is "Your Love Broke Through" by Keith Green.....enjoy!