"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." Isaiah 40:31
i never realized that the eagle was such a great symbol of the christian life until i recently read a book called A Time to Dance describing how one is a reflection of the other. i don't know how accurate the author's description of the habits of eagles is, but the imagery changed me regardless.
"the eagle is the only bird that doesn't run from trouble, instead it uses the storms to take it to a higher place." like an eagle, we can take the storms of life and allow the Father to work in our lives and come out on the other side stronger, wiser and changed.
eagles provide a model of a christian marriage. "when the female knows the male is interested, she leads him on a chase through the skies, swooping and diving and soaring high above the hills. when the chase is nearly over, she flies as high as she can and flips onto her back, free-falling toward the ground. it is the male's job to place his body over hers and grasp her talons, flapping his wings with all his might to keep her from certain death. moments before they hit the ground, the female pulls out of the dive and circles the male. because he had been willing to stay even unto death, he will have proven himself as a mate. the eagles are joined for life from that point on." in this passage the author alludes to the image of the husband loving his wife as Christ loved the church; a willingness to die for it. this beautiful image also shows what a couple should do when their marriage is in a downward spiral.
this last image is the most touching of all. i have kept this image close to my heart and think about it often. after my confessions blog, this image came to mind and i was reminded just how loving and sovereign God is and how He forgives all transgressions, heals all wounds and restores life to us again. "...the eagle allows the storm to take him to a higher place...the eagle finds a rock when he's in trouble and lets the sun cleanse him from any poison. the eagle doesn't flap around like the chickens and crows and sparrows. it waits patiently on the rock for the thermal currents, and only then does it take flight. not by its own effort, but by the effort of the wind beneath its wings."
Father, help me to be more like an eagle.
peace and love
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
See Below
Hey Yall, this is Shane.
Wow, I am so proud of my wife for being bold in her faith and following the scriptures. She is an inspiration to me. Following suit, I would like to confess my biggest sin. Pride. I think alot of myself and I think I can fix or take care of everything. I need to have more faith that the Lord takes care of things and that all good things come from Him. This pride also makes me unfairly judge others as having weaknesses. When I hear of someone struggling with something, my first reaction is: Suck it up. I need to realize that all of us have weaknesses and we all struggle, just not with the same things or in the same ways. Holly should be an inspiration to us all.
Wow, I am so proud of my wife for being bold in her faith and following the scriptures. She is an inspiration to me. Following suit, I would like to confess my biggest sin. Pride. I think alot of myself and I think I can fix or take care of everything. I need to have more faith that the Lord takes care of things and that all good things come from Him. This pride also makes me unfairly judge others as having weaknesses. When I hear of someone struggling with something, my first reaction is: Suck it up. I need to realize that all of us have weaknesses and we all struggle, just not with the same things or in the same ways. Holly should be an inspiration to us all.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Confessions
"therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:16
this post is going to be a difficult one for me, however, this verse has been replaying in my mind for some time now. confessing ones sins is not an easy thing to do in our private time with God much less with other humans who, in some cases, can be judgemental. a while back our pastor discussed confessing our sins to one another. since then it is something that i have tried to do humbly and honestly with shane mostly. however, as of late i realized that is the easy way out. shane took vows with me and i know without a doubt never judges or betrays my spiritual shortcomings. after having this verse continue to find its way into my thoughts and also listening to my friend kevin talk about the importance of not "playing church" and posing as though we have our acts together because we are christians, i feel the need to confess my sins and ask for those who are willing to pray for me. this is obviously going to be a long post so feel free to read some, all or none of this post.
gossip. while i could blame this on the hen house that work can become, i allow myself to become a part of it and therefore it is something i need to repent for. just as James warns my tongue is a very foul and disgusting part of me and i wish with all my heart i could do a better job of controlling that evil thing. even though i know what i am doing is damaging in both an humanly and spiritual way, i find myself engaging in it often.
anger. ire in certain circumstances is permissible, however, typically my anger does not stem from those situations. i allow myself to generate anger because of my own selfishness (another sin) and instead of acting appropriately when this human emotion occurs, i can react with a hatefulness that is shameful. i can also hold onto this anger which creates another road block in my spiritual life.
false fronts/exaggerations. as ashamed as i am to admit it, i am not truly a humble person who is devoid of a desire to be recognized and praised. while i like to say i don't want those things, i do. i also some times implore exaggerations to lift myself up rather than exuding the perfect integrity Christ compels me to. in fact i am trying to be very careful that my intentions for writing these confessions does not become corrupted and become a means of selfish promotion.
comfort zone. i often say that i love others and i do, but only when, how and where i want to love them. truly, i don't want to love people if it is outside my comfort zone. it is really hard for me to go to extremes to show God's love to others. as of late i have been asking the Lord to move me from my idleness and to give me the boldness in Him that i lack.
disbelief. while i am confidently a believer of Christ, i am sometimes not a believer in Christ. for example, i some times carry the weight of my sins not to mention earthly burdens around with me constantly. with this i am really saying that God's love is not enough; God's power is not enough; God's grace is not enough. while i know that God's grace cleanses all my sins, i often can't let it go which demonstrates my disbelief in His transforming grace. this is the sin that hurts my heart the most. God freely pours His grace out upon me and yet i still don't completely accept or understand it.
while these are only a few of the multitude of sins i commit on a daily basis, they are the ones i struggle with the most. i ask that if you are still reading this that you pray for me. i am a horrible sinner who doesn't deserve it, but i need it all the same. please ask God to open my mind and my heart to Him and to break my heart for His cause and His kingdom. thanks for listening.
peace and love
this post is going to be a difficult one for me, however, this verse has been replaying in my mind for some time now. confessing ones sins is not an easy thing to do in our private time with God much less with other humans who, in some cases, can be judgemental. a while back our pastor discussed confessing our sins to one another. since then it is something that i have tried to do humbly and honestly with shane mostly. however, as of late i realized that is the easy way out. shane took vows with me and i know without a doubt never judges or betrays my spiritual shortcomings. after having this verse continue to find its way into my thoughts and also listening to my friend kevin talk about the importance of not "playing church" and posing as though we have our acts together because we are christians, i feel the need to confess my sins and ask for those who are willing to pray for me. this is obviously going to be a long post so feel free to read some, all or none of this post.
gossip. while i could blame this on the hen house that work can become, i allow myself to become a part of it and therefore it is something i need to repent for. just as James warns my tongue is a very foul and disgusting part of me and i wish with all my heart i could do a better job of controlling that evil thing. even though i know what i am doing is damaging in both an humanly and spiritual way, i find myself engaging in it often.
anger. ire in certain circumstances is permissible, however, typically my anger does not stem from those situations. i allow myself to generate anger because of my own selfishness (another sin) and instead of acting appropriately when this human emotion occurs, i can react with a hatefulness that is shameful. i can also hold onto this anger which creates another road block in my spiritual life.
false fronts/exaggerations. as ashamed as i am to admit it, i am not truly a humble person who is devoid of a desire to be recognized and praised. while i like to say i don't want those things, i do. i also some times implore exaggerations to lift myself up rather than exuding the perfect integrity Christ compels me to. in fact i am trying to be very careful that my intentions for writing these confessions does not become corrupted and become a means of selfish promotion.
comfort zone. i often say that i love others and i do, but only when, how and where i want to love them. truly, i don't want to love people if it is outside my comfort zone. it is really hard for me to go to extremes to show God's love to others. as of late i have been asking the Lord to move me from my idleness and to give me the boldness in Him that i lack.
disbelief. while i am confidently a believer of Christ, i am sometimes not a believer in Christ. for example, i some times carry the weight of my sins not to mention earthly burdens around with me constantly. with this i am really saying that God's love is not enough; God's power is not enough; God's grace is not enough. while i know that God's grace cleanses all my sins, i often can't let it go which demonstrates my disbelief in His transforming grace. this is the sin that hurts my heart the most. God freely pours His grace out upon me and yet i still don't completely accept or understand it.
while these are only a few of the multitude of sins i commit on a daily basis, they are the ones i struggle with the most. i ask that if you are still reading this that you pray for me. i am a horrible sinner who doesn't deserve it, but i need it all the same. please ask God to open my mind and my heart to Him and to break my heart for His cause and His kingdom. thanks for listening.
peace and love
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Three mile runs, slip n slides, and bolting dawgs
Hey yall, this is shane. Summer has been fun and as always, it slipped by too fast. I had a hundred projects I wanted to do but only got to a couple. I am happy to say that i did get the backyard brush cleared and a 25 by 35ft slab poured for our soon to be "stand alone two bay garage". Pictures will follow as soon as I figure out how to get them off my phone and downloaded.
I finished my summer out with cheerleading boot camp. Three days (18 hours) of cheerleading. I closed boot camp out with taking the girls on a three mile run through some beautiful scenery and out into an old neighborhood with big yards. some cheer parents set up a slip n slide at the end of the run as a reward for the girls and it was needed because the heat index was 102 that day.
Of course, Coach Martin had to take a few runs down the slip n slide too. This included some races with my seniors.
That night, I am walking out to the garage and Milly squirts pass the door and my leg and bolts. I lunged to grab her and tripped over a car battery. I was sprawled out when I hit the concrete.
All of that is to stay that I might have blown out an ab muscle or two that day.
Good thing I am still 19 years old and recover quickly.
Thats all I got to say about that.
I finished my summer out with cheerleading boot camp. Three days (18 hours) of cheerleading. I closed boot camp out with taking the girls on a three mile run through some beautiful scenery and out into an old neighborhood with big yards. some cheer parents set up a slip n slide at the end of the run as a reward for the girls and it was needed because the heat index was 102 that day.
Of course, Coach Martin had to take a few runs down the slip n slide too. This included some races with my seniors.
That night, I am walking out to the garage and Milly squirts pass the door and my leg and bolts. I lunged to grab her and tripped over a car battery. I was sprawled out when I hit the concrete.
All of that is to stay that I might have blown out an ab muscle or two that day.
Good thing I am still 19 years old and recover quickly.
Thats all I got to say about that.
Back to School
well the summer has finally come to an end for the martin family. it's time for school again. shane began school last thursday and my first day will be monday. to be honest, i have never felt so unprepared to start the school year. i am teaching advanced placement european history for the first time this year and i don't feel as prepared as i should be. i attended an ap institute this summer which helped and there is a veteran teacher at school that i can talk to which does ease the nerves a bit. still, for some reason i don't feel the magic that i normally do at the beginning of the year. i'm not sure what to attribute that to, but i hope that it passes quickly. i'm hoping that once we get back into the swing of things my mojo will return. i hope all of you had a blessed summer and i look forward to hearing all about it. as summer finally closes i am comforted by one thought in particular....21 days until college football. GO DAWGS!! (Oh, and go Jackets too...sorry Captain).
peace and love
peace and love
Friday, August 1, 2008
A Family Affair
this summer one of my cousins, elizabeth got married. it was a wonderful time for all the family to get together and reconnect. my grandmother made the comment that this wedding was the first time all the family had been together in a very long time. as such it was really special. i have posted some of the pictures below for those of you who know my family and would like to see them. i was blown away at how stunning my cousins are. they have all grown into beautiful women with beautiful hearts and i am so thankful for the time i got to spend with them. for those of you who know her my cousin rachael recently got engaged. we are very excited for her. her older sister laura was married in december 2006 and her twin sister robin, as well as rachael will be graduating college soon. it's hard to believe. also in attendance were all my aunts and uncles as well as my great aunt and her son barry whom i haven't seen since i was probably 7 or 8. it was just a really precious time. oh, and by the way...can you tell who shane's favorite family member?
peace and love.
peace and love.
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