Joy To The World - Seabird

Musical Muse: Joy To The World

By Seabird

In the Spirit of Christmas I share one of my favorite arrangements of Joy to the World by one of my favorite bands-Seabird.  Check them out! They have some amazing music.  Hope you enjoy! Merry Merry Christmas to you and yours.  God bless!

If you can't see the video click HERE

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love

God,Christmas,Time & Some Football For Good Measure

Okay so I know this might come as a surprise to a lot because this is...in essence a video about football.  Yes, that's right people.  I have posted a video about football...whoa! For those of you who do not know me personally, it will not be a big deal. But for those of you who do, I know it will..lol.

Click HERE if you can't see the video

Because...I do not follow any type of sports whatsoever...never been interested in them...ever. And I probably never will...lol. Anyways, getting to my point.  I posted this video because it struck a cord me with me about something else.  Here is a man who is resigning from what is known as a very prestigious position in the world of collage football for one reason-more time with family.  He realized that he will never get the time not spent with family back.  

With only a few days left in 2010 this really spoke to me. It's made me think about how I've spent my time this year and what I wanna do with it next year.  I originally saw this video at Pete Wilson's blog.  He wrote this on his post which lead me to mine.  Think about this...

"Despite what you might think, your greatest commodity is NOT money. It’s time. You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. Do you have many regrets on how you’re spending your time?"- Pete Wilson

So as the year comes to an end which for many of us can be a very stressful time because we are busy with  all that is expected of us.  Party's, buying gifts, wrapping those gifts, baking, cooking, getting the house company ready etc.  Think about how and where and with who you're spending your time.  We must not forget the reason why Christmas even exist. Seek God! Keep Him as number one and He will direct your steps and make sure your most precious commodity is well spent-not only now but in the years to come.  He won't let you down-ever.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" -Mathew 6:33

Narnian Thoughts

Last weekend I went to the movies and saw part three of

The Chronicles of Narnia: The voyage of the Dawn Treader

The whole movie was awesome. I even cried.

There were two quotes from the movie(among the many many many great ones) that really resonated with me.

The first one was from a little mouse by the name of Reepicheep.  He was talking to a boy named Eustace who was having a difficult time in believing Narnia was real.

“We have nothing if not belief” -Reepicheep

There’s a lot of truth to that.  Without belief we don't have faith  Without faith we don’t have hope. Without either- we have nothing.  They are all interconnected and intertwined.  We cannot fully have one without the other. 



King Caspian (far right)

The second quote was said by King Caspian at the end of the movie when he was reflecting at the end of his “voyage” right in front of Asland country. (Asland Country is what I believe to be is C.S. Lewis’s version of heaven in the World of Narnia.) Caspian asked Asland if his father was in there and Asland responded that he could only find that our for himself by entering. But he advised him that if he entered he could never return. In the rush of emotion of knowing that he could see his father, King Caspian turned and started to walk to enter Ashland’s country but then stopped himself and thought for a moment. and then with tears in his eyes he said:

 “I’ve focused on what was taken, rather than what was given. I was given a kingdom”- Caspian

In king Caspian’s case he was longing to see his father, and was even willing to leave it all to satisfy that desire to see him but then he realized how that would only benefit himself. He realized that for the greater good he must stay and be King to his people-he was given a kingdom.

WOW! Yeah that stuck with me. Wow, so many times as believers we focus on all the things that we had in the “good” times of life and we forget the promise that God has given us when the going gets tough. He gave us His kingdom to be enjoyed with Him. He is sharing HIS kingdom with us because He loves us that much! Not because we deserve it but because of His grace...wow. I think sometimes we forget to look at all that we gain in Christ rather then what we “lose”. Many times that happens to us when we feel alone  because we’ve been ostracized by family and or friends for believing in Christ. But with God there’s always a silver lining…We are never alone. We must be faithful in our walk and believe that God will be with us ‘till the end when He says “Well done my child. Enter in and rest”

"Though my father and mother forsake me,

the LORD will receive me.

 Teach me your way, LORD;

lead me in a straight path

because of my oppressors.

Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,

for false witnesses rise up against me,

spouting malicious accusations.

 I remain confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;

be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD." - Psalm 27:10-14

God is always with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He gave us His only son-He gave us Himself.

Reflections

I thought this painting was absolutely beautiful.
It's by a lovely artist named Helen Brooke.
Check out her beautiful work HERE

"Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope." - Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:20 is one of my favorite passages of the bible. I find that the more I read the word of God the more He surprises me. The Lord is the ultimate romantic, and writer…there’s just something about His choice of words. The fact that He took that time to write us this love letter mesmerizes me. Who am I? Who are we?...Such fickle people, individuals, humans, sinners…That the King of the universe….think about that…THE UNIVERESE…took the time and effort to write a whole book detailing how and why He loves us and why we’re worth it in His eyes.

It breaks my heart to think about how many people don’t know God and even worse..choose to walk away from Him. I sometimes wonder about the latter. Did they ever really know Him?

I think that if one would just give God the chance a real chance I think he would blow peoples minds…(More than “we could ever dare to ask or Hope” Eph 3:20 )

I think a lot of people are on the band wagon of “I’ll believe in God when He reveals himself to me”(..or something along those lines.)

Unfortunately that’s not always how it works…yes God does and can “show” Himself to you but we must acknowledge Him first.

He comes knocking on your door and you must open the door to Him.

Think about it in the natural…One must first hear a knock and recognize that someone is at the door.

Then believe that they are there and it’s not our imagination and then act upon opening it.

Our Super natural relationship with God begins that same way.

We must recognize when He is knocking on the door of our heart.

We must then make a conscious decision to open it to Him

And once we do that we will see Him in all His glory and He will astound us.

(now of course this is all hypothetically speaking because no one has literaly seen God but it is an example in the natural that the Lord give us so that we can understand the supernatural.)

We will not “see” God or anyone for that matter if we do not at least open the door.

Happy Day To You! :D