iDevotion

Here are some thoughts I shared with our orchestra this morning on one of my favorite choir anthems: The Majesty and Glory of Your Name.

Take a few minutes to absorb this. Think of this as a continuation of our Wednesday Rehearsal .... eRehearsal, if you will!

Read Psalm 8 in your Bible. You can also find it here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%208&version=NIV

Now watch the video. Here's the text of the song if you want to follow along:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bcUhe0qM1k

"When I gaze into the night sky
and see the work of Your fingers.
The moon, the stars, suspended in place.

O what is man that you are mindful of him?

You have given man a crown of glory and honor
and have made him a little lower than the angels.
You have put him in charge of all creation:
The beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea

O what is man, that you are mindful of him?

O Lord, my God, the majesty and glory of Your Name
transcends the earth and fills the heavens.
O Lord, my God, little children praise you perfectly
and so should we, and so should we.

Alleluia, alleluia, the majesty and glory of Your Name.
Alleluia, alleluia, the majesty and glory of Your Name.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia....."

I want you to notice three things about this:

First, notice the CLAIM: Throughout the first portion of the text, the words are uttered in amazement and awe of what God has done. Lord, you created everything in earth and in the heavens. You breathed life into creation!

Next, notice the CONTRAST: What is man that you are mindful of him? The same God that spoke creation into existence knows not only our name, but our every thought and deed. He loves us and desires us to know Him. He is so great and we are so small, yet he chooses to be mindful of us. Isn't that incredible? If you want our smallness to be put into perspective, check out Louie Giglio's video:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4129317/louie_giglio_if_the_earth_were_a_golfball/

Lastly, notice the CRY: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Remember the meaning of this word? Praise, ye the Lord! We cannot just stop in our amazement of God. Our response to Him must be one of praise, love, humility, and devotion.

"O Lord, how majestic is your name!"

Hm, a blog.

A what?

A blog.

A what?

A blog.

OH A BLOG!

Christmas and Feel-like Christmas

Snow! I want to wash my hands, my face and hair with snow!

Snow...

Snow...

Snow...

Well, it happened. It has snowed in the "Deep South"...(is that a proper noun?). We just got in from romping around outside in our yard. Now, we're capping of the excursion by drinking Peppermint Hot Chocolate (now, that IS a proper noun....or at least it deserves to be) out of snowman mugs! Ahhh...the start to a perfect weekend...and a lazy one, at that. This is delightfully paired with caramel & peanut butter brittle. We had to put that away. Now, we have the graham crackers out. It's like Christmas all over again. See, in the South we have a wonderful predicament: When it's Christmas, we celebrate and eat lots of festive snacks, although it doesn't feel like Christmas (which is what merits the hot chocolate and the peanut butter brittle, etc.). Now, it's not Christmas anymore, but it finally FEELS like Christmas, so we get to celebrate all over again! Remember that movie, Four Christmases? It's half as good as that! Bring out the goodies! This isn't good, because we attended a wedding which was between Christmas and Feel-like Christmas so we are turning into snack connoisseurs.

Enough of that (of talking about snacks and eating snacks). This is a short post, I know, but I hope that it shed some light on our precipitous afternoon. I think God has decided to give it a quietus.

'Till next time.