Thank you Jesus, Sovereign Grace.
The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend
The agonies of Calvary
You the perfect Holy One, crushed Your Son
Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me
Your blood has washed away my sin
Jesus, thank You
The Father’s wrath completely satisfied
Jesus, thank You
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table
Jesus, thank You
By Your perfect sacrifice I’ve been brought near
Your enemy You’ve made Your friend
Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace
Your mercy and Your kindness know no end
Lover of my soul
I want to live for You
I know it's been quite a while since I posted, sorry about that. It's been pretty good crazy at work, which means I'm busy with lots of stuff. So here you go.
Have you ever been to a formal banquet? Maybe this is a place where not really sure what to wear, or who might be there. Questions come to my mind such as; Will I know anyone, is what I'm wearing appropriate (I really like to be dressed correctly, no I'm not a girl), am I going to have any idea what they are speaking about...
I was thinking this morning of this song we sing at GBC and the line in the song that says, "once your enemy, now seated at your table". I was once an enemy of Christ, working as hard as I could to thwart the things He loves, and now He has seated me at His table. That's crazy. Crazy Good.
So now think about the same banquet and you have all those same questions when you walk in the door, BUT, previously you have been an enemy of the host. This looks a little different now, doesn't it? You very hesitantly walk in the door and the Host eagerly greets you and ushers you to His table. He is excited to have you at His table as His guest. We get to sit at the "big" table; the special table. This night just got a lot more special. It doesn't matter what we may be wearing, we're at the big table. It doesn't matter if we know anyone else, we know the Host; we know the King. We're with Him. WOW, why would He do this for me? It's only because of His love for us that He would choose any. If He has chosen us to sit at His table, we had better be thankful.
What was the cost of the invitation? Jesus' blood shed on the cross for me and you was the highest cost we can possibly imagine.
Tonight is graduation at GA. Congratulations to all who are seniors. "Good job" to Chris McAuliffe and Sung Lee. These are 2 seniors from my small group. Also another "good job" to Marty and David for being the male Sr. and Jr. high "IMPACT" students of the year at GA. In my opinion that is the highest honor. Also, our friend Jessica was the Sr. high girls "IMPACT" student of the year. These kids have been through a lot of struggles and testing and have shown spiritual leadership throughout. GREAT JOB!
Remember where you're sitting.
2 comments:
June 6, 2008
This came in today, but was posted on an earlier date. Please read it.
Hi,
You don’t know me I came across your blog from the May 15th story on your son. Let me go ahead and introduce myself my name is Katie and I live in Seattle WA. I have been reading all your blogs this morning while at work crying non-stop. I am crying for a few different reasons…. I am crying one because I am so happy that your son had received a second chance on life but also sad because I have received that phone call that you dread. Let me explain 4 years ago my 16 year old brother died in his sleep from sudden cardiac arrest. He was a member of the varsity football team and a very serious athlete. A year earlier he had been diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, but had sense been cleared by a team of leading cardiologists at Pittsburgh’s Children Hospital (when he found out he couldn’t play football he moved back home with my dad hoping that my mom and Seattle’s children’s hospital was lying to him) well he got his wish he was cleared and healthy and able to play football again. He played in a few varsity football games and 1 JV football game and passed away in his sleep on Monday September 6th. We were devastated we are a VERY close family even with my mom and dad living on different sides of the US we grew up a happy very east coast family in Pittsburgh and my mom my 2 brothers and I had just moved to the west coast. I lost all faith in god we grew up very catholic and I just couldn’t imagine why god would do this to my brother he had never done anything bad in his life all he cared about was football and his family. After about a year of yelling at god and deciding I didn’t believe in god anymore because no god would ever do this to my family we didn’t deserve this. I realized something everything does happen for a reason and I truly believe god is the one that helped Nicks heart heal for that few months so he could play football. It’s hard for strangers to understand but football was his life it was the only thing in life that really made him happy. He wore his football socks EVERYDAY to school once football season started he was a special kid….. I still am angry a lot and my heart literally hurts for my brother I would do anything to hold him. I really related to a lot of the things you have said in your blogs, on that day September 6th EVERYONE was in the correct place they needed to be when we found out about Nick it was so strange looking back on it today I really believe Nick and God were working together on his plan. Maybe it wasn’t the plan we had for our family but I really believe it was the plan god had all along for our Nick I believe he was an angel from the moment he was born. So much good has come out of Nick’s death. My mom and my Aunt started a foundation in memory of Nick and we are doing so much good I know Nick is watching over us with a beautiful smile on his face so proud of my family. We held the 1st ever FREE cardiac screening in Puget Sound earlier this year and literally saved some kids lives that had NO idea there was anything wrong with their hearts. We are working on passing legislation to make it mandatory to have AED’s in schools and most importantly awareness to everyone that this doesn’t just happen to your Grandpa but also to you brother, your son, your grandson, your nephew, your cousin, you best friend. God is powerful and never again will I ever not believe in his power on earth, I still sometimes question why us but know that in the big picture we are saving lives all in Nicks name. I do not know why I was so compelled to write you, a lot of stories have come across our email having to do with teens and sudden cardiac arrest I just really felt comfort and joy when reading your blogs. Embrace everyday with your son he is one of a kind and god really does have much bigger plans for him. Please tell your kids to cherish everyday they have together as siblings. I have my older brother and sister as my support and we all have regrets and wish we would have embraced each other more. All 3 of us hurt for our baby brother and would do anything to have another moment just the 4 of us siblings hanging out. Tell them to embrace every family moment and memory they have with each other, there will always be a void in all our family memories from September 6th and on. I wish all the best to your family and to Grant and am excited for what the future holds for him. If you would ever want to look at some of the stuff our foundation is doing feel free to visit our site it is www.nickoftimefoundation.org.
Thank you for taking the time and reading this.
Katie Varrenti
Katie@nickoftimefoundation.org
June 6, 2008 10:50 AM
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that song can be listened to here.
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