christallpack - Tumblr blog

[christallpack]

On February 26, the FCC is going to decide if the internet should stay free and fair, or if it should be handed over to the cable companies.

You don’t want them to pick the cable companies. 

Join everybody on the internet to help the FCC do the right thing.

[christallpack]

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare, and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Sometimes it's just so difficult to feel the Lord's presence, but when I read about his promise to meet me when I come to him...I feel so comforted and rebuked. Those words...You call, come, pray & I hear...You seek, find. All I have to do is ask...yet I never do. Pride is a major root of much of my sinfulness. I am the most prideful person I know.

Lord strip me of my pride so that I may become more like you and less like me (the fleshly portion, not the God-designed part :D)...but please don't humble me too quickly!

[christallpack]

So I sent an email to 7 of my friends, including Sarah, and I said, ‘Does anyone want to go see ‘Lost in Translation’ tonight?’ and then I sent an email immediately afterwards to the 6 of my friends who weren’t Sarah and I said, ‘NOT YOU.’

John Green on how he asked out his wife for the first time  (via ctrl-r)

[christallpack]

LOLz. clever

[christallpack]

[christallpack]

[christallpack]

limddavid:

loudhannah:

It’s long, but a highly recommended read for EVERYONE. (click on the title to link to the page)

flyerthanangels:

A great article on the history of dating by Mark Driscoll. Great insight on how the practice of dating started in America, the roots of the current situation that we are in - in regards to sexuality and promiscuity, as well as his advice on what to do to curb it.

ho hum.

[christallpack]

[christallpack]

elizabethcho:

…..pffffttttahahha one of my favorite scenes. 

[christallpack]

Ten Years Later: A Tribute 9/11 My favorite 9/11 tribute in New York City can be found in Bryant Park. 2,819 empty chairs on the lawn facing the site where the World Trade Center once stood, one chair for every life lost. The number of empty chairs captures the enormity of the lives lost and the stark emptiness of it just drives home the point that I hope is never forgotten. 2,819 people were here one moment and gone the next. 2,819 went to work or boarded a plane one morning ten years ago thinking it would be another ordinary day and they never came home.

[christallpack]

Shall be attending a special 9/11 Sunday service at Westminster Abbey. 9/11 impacted more than just the U.S. Ah...can't believe it's already been 10 years

theamericancreative:

This ad was created for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. It’s a very strong image, but something that I felt was, from a advertising perspective, very appropriate & tasteful. Such a beautiful image, and on this milestone anniversary, we all should be thankful and in full remembrance.

[christallpack]

hehe

so cute/funny!

[christallpack]

LOL!

[christallpack]

Max Lucado On How to Overcome Fear

This is a step by step process to help Christians overcome fear.

I'm going to try it! Check it out =]

http://www.beliefnet.com/JesusDaily/Features/Max-Lucado-On-Overcoming-Fear.aspx

Staying Fearless

We subject ourselves to a position of fear, allowing anxiety to dominate and define our lives. Joy-sapping worries. Day–numbing dread. Repeated bouts of insecurity that petrify and paralyze us. Fear will always knock on your door. Just don't let it in. Learn to trust more and fear less.

Follow Max Lucado's eight steps and learn how to overcome fear.

1) Pray First

Don't pace up and down the floors of the waiting room; pray for a successful surgery. Don't bemoan the collapse of an investment; ask God to help you. Don't join the chorus of co-workers who complain about your boss; invite them to bow their heads with you and pray for him. Inoculate yourself inwardly to face your fears outwardly. "Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him... "(1 Peter 5:7 AMP). 2) Easy Now, Slow Down

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. 37:7). Imitate the mother of Jesus at the wedding in Cana. The reception was out of wine, a huge social no-no in the days of Jesus. Mary could have blamed the host for poor planning or the guests for overdrinking, but she didn't catastrophize. No therapy sessions or counseling. Instead, she took the shortage straight to Jesus. "When they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, 'They have no wine'" (John 2:3). See how quickly you can do the same. Assess the problem. Take it to Jesus and state it clearly.

3) Act on It (I love this analogy!!!!)

Become a worry-slapper. Treat frets like mosquitoes. Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? "I'll take care of it in a moment." Of course you don't! You give the critter the slap it deserves. Be equally decisive with anxiety. The moment a concern surfaces, deal with it. Don't dwell on it. Head off worries before they get the best of you. Don't waste an hour wondering what your boss thinks; ask her. Before you diagnose that mole as cancer, have it examined. Instead of assuming you'll never get out of debt, consult an expert. Be a doer, not a stewer 

4) Compile a Worry List

Over a period of days record your anxious thoughts. Maintain a list of all the things that trouble you. Then review them. How many of them turned into a reality? You worried that the house would burn down. Did it? That your job would be outsourced. Was it? 5) Evaluate Your Worry Categories

Your list will highlight themes of worry. You'll detect recurring areas of preoccupation that may become obsessions: what people think of you, finances, global calamities, your appearance or performance. Pray specifically about them. 6) Focus on Today

God meets daily needs daily. Not weekly or annually. He will give you what you need when it is needed. "Let us therefore boldly approach the throne of our gracious God, where we may receive mercy and in his grace find timely help" (Heb. 4:16 NEB). An ancient hymn expresses the heart this patient waiting creates.

"Not so in haste, my heart! Have faith in God, and wait; Although He linger long, He never comes too late. He never comes too late; He knoweth what is best; Vex not thyself in vain;  Until He cometh, rest. Until He cometh, rest, Nor grudge the hours that roll; The feet that wait for God Are soonest at the goal. Are soonest at the goal  That is not gained with speed; Then hold thee still, my heart, For I shall wait His lead."

7) Unleash a Worry Army

Share your feelings with a few loved ones. Ask them to pray with and for you. They're more willing to help than you might imagine. Less worry on your part means more happiness on theirs. 8) Let God Be Enough (MOST IMPORTANT STEP!!!!)

Jesus concludes his call to calmness with this challenge: "Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need" (Matt. 6:32–33 NLT).

[christallpack]

shalomhaemibay:

Paul endured to the end but Demas, as far as we know, did not (2 Timothy4:7,10), even though he was once a fellow worker (Philemon 1:24). This is a sobering thought because so many of us are still very young. Finishing well is guaranteed to none of us, apart from the grace of God. How can we, like Paul, endure by God’s grace?

1) Daily time of focused personal communion with God. It must be daily, otherwise we will find ourselves drifting in the wrong direction. Demas was in love with this present world. Our time with God must build in us affections for God that trump the temptations to love this world. It’s helpful to have a plan, but the plan must direct us to God himself.

2) Daily appropriation of the gospel. The gospel is for sinners. Before we spend time in communion with God, we must come to him with the attitude of the tax collector who prayed,”Have mercy on me, a sinner,” and trust God alone to make us righteous.This alone will give us the confidence to approach God and have communion with him.

If we don’t daily appropriate the gospel then we will begin to base our spirituality on our performance, which will eventually lead us either towards pride or despair. But reminding ourselves daily that we are sinners and that, by God’s grace, we’ve been clothed with the righteousness of Christ, will equip us with true and pure motivation to continue following Jesus and renouncing the desire to love this world. We ought to work hard, not in order to earn God’s approval but because we already have it.

3) Daily commit yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Romans 12:1. The Old Testament sacrifice that Paul alludes to was daily performed by the priests. He carries that same significance over to new covenant saints. Our bodies are on loan from God, and we must daily re-consecrate ourselves to him. Just as Paul appealed to Philemon (Philemon 1:8-10), even though he had the right to command him, so also he appeals to us to give ourselves to God. The sheer wonder of the mercy of God should cause us to spontaneously give it, and this we will do if we daily bask in his love.

4) A firm belief in the sovereignty and love of God. Lamentations 3:37-38. Life is full of pains, through natural circumstances and the ill will of others. But God is sovereign over all such evils, and—by faith—we can give thanks for them. God is using them to conform us to the image of Christ and will never leave us or forsake us. The gospel and the promises of God will never fail, nor will he take them from us.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/four-essentials-to-finishing-well

Four Essentials to Finishing Well

[christallpack]

spiritualinspiration:

www.getoutthebox.org

[christallpack]

shalomhaemibay:

  T may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before Him; tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. 

Express your unstaggering confidence in Him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until Thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if Thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon Thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for Thee in the full conviction that Thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”

http://www.spurgeon.org/morn_eve/this_morning.cgi

"Wait on the Lord."—Psalm 27:14.