Am I Humble?

Do I trust God for everything?

The heart of humility is acknowledging you utter dependence on God.

Am I grateful for what God has given me?

If you truly recognize God as your sole provider, who supplies you with every good thing that you have, you will be thankful to Him for all of His gifts.

How well do I receive help from others?

Whereas it’s easy to acknowledge your need for God, it’s another thing to acknowledge your need for another person. When God uses someone to pay your rent, buy you lunch, pray for you, babysit your kids, fix your car, or teach you a biblical lesson, how quick are you to receive these gifts with thanksgiving as from the Lord? Stiff-arming help can be a sign of pride.

Do I become envious quickly?

Your level of envy toward others is a practical gauge to see whether or not you are truly grateful for what God has given you. Gratitude and envy don’t really mix.

Am I easily offended?

If you are proud, you will become defensive when someone degrades you. Of course it's never fun when someone puts you down, but humility doesn't feel the need to defend its own reputation (e.g. Jesus on earth).

Am I able to acknowledge my strengths without boasting?

The key to humility is not pretending that you don’t have strengths or trying to diminish them. Rather, if God has truly gifted you in an area (and He does give Christians spiritual gifts) then you are allowed to be honest and as objective as possible about that. In fact, it is a sign of ingratitude when you try to ignore or diminish the gift that you have received from God as if it was not even given but self derived.

Would I care if no one ever recognized my gifts and strengths?

Humility is being able to wait for the recognition of one’s gifts and the exaltation that ensues. It is not seeking out how one’s strengths might be made visible here and now at every possible moment.

Can I ponder my weaknesses without becoming hopeless? 

If you come to the end of your strength and find that you have no hope whatsoever, then you are probably putting your hope in your own strength. Weakness is a constant and necessary reminder that we need God for everything. When we come to the end of ourselves, our hope in God and dependence on Him should only be strengthened. Weakness is the garden of humility. So how do you handle situations that draw out your weaknesses? 

Do I always need to make my opinion known? 
Social media has revealed that everyone has an opinion and wants it to be heard. The ability to remain silent when wisdom calls can be a sign that you don't feel the need to defend yourself. 

Love's Hinge

I recited this poem to Emily today as a sequel to the proposal poem. It seeks to express how our relationship/love changed after getting engaged and expressing love and lifelong commitment toward one another for the first time. 

Love’s Hinge

A question,

An answer.

Everything changes, 

Nothing changes. 

I fall in love, 

In love was I.

And on that starry night 

Did fall 

Into a river;

A coursing river

Course unchanged, 

Newly found

And yet the same. 

When did I fall? 

A question,

An answer.

Everything changes, 

Nothing changes. 

I fall in love, 

In love was I.

And on that sunny morning

Did something hatch; 

Soft, warm feathers

Betray a lifeless source, 

Newly born

And yet the same. 

When was it born?

A question,

An answer.

Everything changes, 

Nothing changes. 

I fall in love, 

In love was I.

And on that windy autumn day

An oyster’s mouth did open; 

A pearl of beauty

Grown unseen

Changes not,

Yet newly beams.

When did it shine?

To fall, to hatch, to shine;

To love. 

Within a moment

To change the changeless course

We trod. 

My love for you

Is not the same; 

My love for you 

Is not different.

I love you.

Proposal Poem

Here’s a Question

I love you, Emily

I love you. 

These three words I’ve longed to say, 

But did delay

That they might prove even sweeter. 

Like a pearl within an oyster, 

The beauty of this phrase 

Grows and thrives

Enclosed in words unspoken; 

Within my heart abides

Such love for you

It cannot be hidden

It should not be hidden

It will not be hidden

I love you. 

And if you find within your heart

A pearl of likened beauty

Which from the start 

Did grow unseen, 

I ask you, “Will you marry me?” 

Big Brother and Big Sister

Before I forget the unwritten poem. ;) Thank you Daniel and Christina for all that you have done in my life. I see you as my older siblings not only for age but also for maturity and godliness. Thank you for modelling Christ and pointing me to Him.


Big brother and big sister
Thank you for showing me
The wounds of our big Brother
Hanging on the tree

Big brother and big sister
What more is there to say?
You've helped me see the risen Christ
I say to you this day,
"Thank you."

Christ the God-Man

The Mediator between God and men must be both God and man. There is none other than God who can bring us up to Him. Yet God cannot bring us to Himself apart from living out our obedience, suffering, and dying as a man on our behalf. Jesus could not suffer and die without being man, yet he could not pay the infinite ransom required for our offense against the infinite God without being God himself. None but God can pay an infinite ransom, yet man must be the one to pay it. Blood must be slain, yet God cannot die. Turretin says that Jesus must be “Man to suffer, God to overcome; man to receive the punishment we deserved, God to endure and drink it to the dregs; man to acquire salvation for us by dying, God to apply it to us by overcoming . . . this neither a mere man nor God alone could do.” The hypostatic union makes Christ as Mediator possible. He represents man to God and God to man. He is Immanuel, God with us. 

A Brother's Love

My feet still trod this darkened path

In vines and chords entangled

Through thickened air the demons laugh

My plight, my pain, my sadness

These are my friends tonight 

In gloomy night I stand alone

Surrounded by my family

With trembling heart I see the bones

Of those who found no pardon

How could the stories long ago

Say this was once a garden? 

I touch a tree with sides still wet

Look at my hand now dripping red

These drops of blood are not my own

Yet I can find no flesh or bones

A bloody trail leads down a path

My heart drops to my stomach

Though fear excels, yet I press on

The wind blows gently forward

Into a cave it leads me down

Shows me the nails and thorny crown

Shows me a man with man’s blood stained

The marks of one who just was slain

Through pain-struck tears and smiling gaze

He proudly calls me brother

I look at him, “Can this be true?

We do not share a mother”

He holds my hand to lead me out

“I’ll take you to our Father's house

I made this world; I hold it up

This place was once a garden

The son of man became corrupt

His sons have found no pardon

I came into the world I made

To finish what I started

Now I am making all things new

The demons laughed, but if they knew

My plight, my pain, my sadness

Now comfort you tonight

Through tear-filled eyes I ask him “Why?”

He says “Because I love you.”

Mercy at the Fall

The Lord warned Adam & Eve that the day in which they ate the forbidden fruit, they would surely die. Despite all of the goodness and favor God had given to them in the garden, Adam & Eve reached out and snatched the forbidden fruit. In a moment of sheer panic, shame and guilt surged through their bodies. It must have felt as if they were standing in a crowded place and all at once their clothes were stripped off. Blameless innocence was now a blissful memory. In this moment, there was no peace; there was no bliss.

The presence of God, which yesterday brought comfort and peace, now brought the impending judgment from which they hid. 

But see here the patience and mercy of God. He did not approach in a pillar of fire and thunder to smite them for their sin; rather he came walking in the cool of the day. He did not (justly) pronounce accusations and condemnation on them; rather he asked them questions and allowed them to respond. However, they did not choose their words very wisely, but acted in line with their recently acquired sin-nature. Even God's curses were better than the death they deserved. And even the pronouncment of painful childbirth anticipated the children they would later receive. 

Behold the mercy of God in that before he uttered a single curse to Adam or Eve, He promised to crush the seed of the serpent through the seed of the woman. God spoke this promise knowing that it would cost him the life of his Son, Jesus Christ, in order to keep it. Yet the Lord gave mercy. But he did not overlook their sin or sweep it under a rug. From the first few pages of Scripture, it is clear that God is willing to pay the full price for our sin in order to be both merciful and holy. 

Thanks be to God.