Ultimate Design?

 Logo for our Chi Alpha Ultimate Frisbee team:

Misc Design Projects

New header and companion images for the SFA XA blog:


Ad package for our upcoming camping trip:


Ad package for district Chi Alpha retreat back in October 2008:


Ad package for SFA Chi Alpha event:

Prayer

The reason we do not pray is because we think we can do "it" or we don't think He will.

"I was born in a Christian home, nurtured by Christian parents, and by that fact graciously and tenderly spared from many of the vulgarities of godlessness. Consequently Mount Sinai with its thunder never made me tremble, never brought deep conviction of sin to my heart. I have always sympathized with the young ruler who confronted by the six final words of the decalogue, could yet look into the face of incarnate purity and say, 'All these things have I observed from my youth.' But when I came to stand consciously, not at the foot of the mount which might not be touched, but on the green hill outside the city wall, and saw in the mystery of that passion and pain the revelation of the heart of God, the self-sacrificing, self-denying heart of God, I knew what a sinner I was. When I came into the presence of God as love I found in love a light which bowed me to the dust in shame, and though my sad heart yearned to pray, I dared not take His name upon my lips, for He is love ineffable who has - let me say it reverently - denied Himself in order to help men. In the light of that love I discovered that sin does not consist in incidental acts of passing days, but in the essential attitude of selfishness. It is when Jesus brings me into the presence of the heart of God that I put my hand upon my lips and cry, 'Unclean, unclean.' I want to pray. I dare not pray. I have forfeited all right to ask for anything from such love. I need yet more than the revelation of the Father before I can pray. Thank God there is more."

--G. Campbell Morgan, The Practice of Prayer

Full Circle aka Morning Thoughts (call it a devotion if you want)

The Lord continues to speak about pride, sin, knowing oneself, etc. This morning's email from the Ravi Zacharias team:

Self-Deception and the God Who Sees

I followed that up with two of my favorite verses:

Psalm 139:23
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

1 Corinthians 13:12
12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

I am really good at deceiving myself. I find devil's advocate a fascinating role to play and have perfected my skills over the years - my husband's convinced I should have become a lawyer. A detail-oriented person (that's putting it kindly), I can argue the points of one word in a sentence into oblivion! Applied to others and situations, this trait is particularly annoying - applied to myself it could be downright destructive.

There is something in me that does NOT want to see myself for who/what I really am. So I revert to childhood and pretend, make up stories, etc. But that's not maturity (something I'm learning alot about the last few months) and it's not reality.

Truth is I'm so good at avoiding the truth that if I'm ever going to really know something about myself, I will need someone else to tell me. Someone whose opinion is always just, always accurate, always filled with grace, always loving, always true. I think this was David's cry when he prayed for God to know his heart, to try (or test) his thoughts. Our God is the God Who Sees.

There is something in me that longs to be known. Maybe it's because I'm a female, I don't know. But I want to be heard... to be understood... to be known. In honest moments, I can admit that the reason I allow myself to be deceived is because I am wholly afraid that once known, I will not be accepted or loved. I think we all fear this.

Do you love grammar? I don't, but I do have a healthy respect for it! The statement in 1 Corinthians is particularly packed with grammatical interest. It is set up as a comparion between the state of things now and when "that which is perfect has come." Until you get to the last phrase. It's true that we shall know on that day. But it is not true that we wait until that day to be fully known. In the verb "I am known" a grammatical tense peculiar to the Greek language is employed - it's called aorist. The aorist tense is without respect to time. Stated positively, it can mean at any given time. We would say always. We are always fully known by God! This at once fulfills both my desire to be known and my fear of being rejected - the God of All has embraced fallen humanity!

It's in this revelation I find the greatest joy known to man - that of a sinner washed clean!

1 John 3:1

1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Thoughts from Years Ago

Studying for my small group this coming Monday, I opened an old Word file and found this:

"Cell Group

I’m learning that when leading a small group, you never know what’s going to happen…what questions will be asked…what opinions will be stated…it’s scary…it’s what it’s all about…it’s what makes it fun.

I’m learning to a new degree that life and love are a sacrifice. I don’t always get my way. I commit to things that are hard and sometimes make me sad…things I’m not good at…things I have to work hard at…and sometimes they still don’t work. I am a part of something that is beyond my control…something that’s scary…something that’s exciting…something that fills life with purpose so that when it’s hard I keep on going, and trying, and working.

God never promised that life would be easy…that Jesus was a fix-all solution…that He would make all our troubles go away. Look at Paul, Peter, Phillip, John, Matthew…look back further to Daniel, Joseph, Abraham, Moses, Esther. We call these men and women the forefathers of our faith whose lives are used as examples and yet there were persecuted, attacked, beaten, thrown in jail. Some risked their lives and some actually gave their lives. Why? They learned peace. How so? They understood that God’s ultimate promise of eternal life in His presence was already theirs by faith. Based on their understanding of the eternal promise, they lived.

This is what it means now, as I wrote earlier, to love God enough to be contented, to love him enough in the present world to say thank you in all the ebb and flow of life. When I am dead both to good and bad, I have my face turned towards God. And this is the place in which, by faith at the present moment in history, I am to be. When I am there, what am I? I am then the creature in the presence of the Creator, acknowledging that he is my Creator, and I am only a creature, nothing more. It is as though I am already in the grave and already before the face of God.

But one thing more needs to be sounded. We must not stop here! When through faith I am dead to all, and am face-to-face with God, then I am ready by faith to come back into this present world, as thought I have already been raised from the dead. It is as though I anticipate that day when I will come back. I will be in that number, as will all who have accepted Jesus as Savior, when the heavens open and we come back, following Jesus Christ in our resurrected, glorified bodies. And so now I am ready to come back as though back from the grave, as though the resurrection had already taken place, and step back into this present historic, space-time world. “Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:11)

(Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality)

Troubles are a guarantee, especially if we’re living right before God and men. We cannot let that deter us. We must learn peace. There is something that gets me out of bed in the morning instead of curling up sick for home. There is something that urges me to build another small group lesson instead of giving up in frustration. There is something that keeps my feet and my mind and my heart planted in Texas instead of running back to Ruston. I am learning peace. I’m not saying that I’ve learned it all. I’m learning peace. Peace comes when we understand who God is, who we are, and the assurance of God’s promise of eternal life. We think that a lack of strife in our lives will bring peace; history has proven us wrong. Dissatisfaction is more prominent in prosperous nations than any other. Like Schaeffer said, "We do not live for this life." This life is over. When we became Christians, this life ended for us. Now we live for eternity. Our work on this earth has nothing to do with buying cars, building houses, making money, getting famous. It has only to do with one thing. Pleasing God. In pleasing God, we will preach to men. Not because men deserve it; but that the message deserves to be preached."