Grace

Listen to U2's  Grace on YouTube. The words are below.

Bono's comments on the song. "There are a couple of my favourite people rolled in to that lyric but the most important thing is that they personify my favourite word in the lexicon of the English language. It's a word I'm depending on. The universe operates by Karma, we all know that. For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. There is atonement built in: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Then enters Grace and turns that upside down. I love it."

Grace



Grace, she takes the blame


She covers the shame


Removes the stain


It could be her name


Grace, it's the name for a girl


It's also a thought that could change the world


And when she walks on the street 


You can hear the strings


Grace finds goodness in everything





Grace, she's got the walk


Not on a ramp or on chalk


She's got the time to talk


She travels outside of karma, karma


She travels outside of karma


When she goes to work 


You can hear the strings


Grace finds beauty in everything



Grace, she carries a world on her hips


No champagne flue for her lips


No twirls or skips between her fingertips


She carries a pearl in perfect condition


What once was hurt


What once was friction


What left a mark no longer stings


Because Grace makes beauty 
Out of ugly things


Grace finds beauty in everything 


Grace finds goodness in everything


"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians ２：８−９

Picts….

May 18th, mini concert with Alex

Me reading books at Starbucks, yesterday.

Seeing Dan and Tina off to Hawaii, today.

(Momose's praying)

I felt my heart strangely warmed.

Blaise Pascal had an extraordinary experience of the love of God…. 

This day of grace 1654

From about half past ten at night, to about half after midnight Fire!

God of Abraham, God of Isaac God of Jacob

Not of the philosophers and scholars.

Security, feeling, joy, peace

God of Jesus Christ . . .

Greatness of the human soul . . .

Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy . . .

Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ

May I never be separated from him.

A. W. Tozer speaks of this experience too….

We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found him, we need no more seek him. . . . In the midst of this great chill there are some who will not be content with shallow logic. They want to taste, to touch with their hearts the wonder that is God. I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God.

John Wesley also experiences God's grace….

About a quarter before nine, while he (Luther in his commentary on Galatians) was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given to me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Jonathan Edwards wrote of his extraordinary experience…. 
I had a view, that was for me extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God . . . and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love.

"Oh, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge (experience) of him." Ephesians 1:17 

This place is the Cross of Christ.

"If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever would find him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our nature at all, it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24 

Recent picts

Speaker's meeting last week primarily for Abundant Life Church and Azumino Family Chapel. We rotate our speakers.

This Sunday, barbecue at Jon's w/ Dan and Tina. They will be returning to Hawaii this month.

Monday, walk on the town w/ Naho's sister Minako and her husband Makoto. We visited Nakamachi, Nowate and the former Kaichi School. 

Manhood Restored….

Manhood Restored: How the Gospel Makes Men Whole: Eric Mason: Amazon.com: Books 

"In Manhood Restored a section on the Problems in Manhood analyzes the false icons that lead to cultural caricatures of men - the businessman, the thug, the playboy, the athlete…In Christ men are pointed toward the gospel as the vision for renewal…"

Check out these Vimeos on Manhood by Doctor Mason….

Part 1 "Manhood, Purity, and the Gospel" Eric Mason on Vimeo 2011

2 Peter 1:3, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…." 

Part 2 "Manhood, Purity, and the Gospel" Eric Mason on Vimeo 2011