“We are immensed in beauty, but our eyes have no clear vision.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posted by: jakinnan | December 23, 2012
Natural Vision
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: beauty, conservation, earth, enviroment, hiking, literature, local, mountains, nature, personal, photography, Ralph Waldo Emerson, spirituality, travel
Posted by: jakinnan | December 23, 2012
Man & Woman Becoming One
After creating this stunning portrait of a total union, the man and woman becoming one, God turns the universe on its head when he tells us that this is what he is seeking with us. In fact, Paul says it is why God created gender and sexuality and marriage-to serve as a living metaphor. He quotes Genesis, then takes it to the nth degree:
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:31-32)
A profound mystery indeed. All the breathtaking things in life are. The Cross is a great mystery, but we are helped in understanding it by looking back into the Old Testament and finding there the pattern of the sacrificial lamb. Those early believers did not understand the full meaning of what they were doing, but once Christ came, the whole period of ritual sacrifice was seen in a new light, and in turn gave a richer depth to our understanding of the Cross.
We must do the same with this stunning passage; we must look back and see the Bible for what it is-the greatest romance ever written. God creates mankind for intimacy with himself, as his beloved. We see it right at the start, when he gives us the highest freedom of all-the freedom to reject him. The reason is obvious: love is possible only when it is freely chosen. True love is never constrained; our hearts cannot be taken by force. So God sets out to woo his beloved and make her his queen.
-John Eldredge, Desire, 130
Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: faith, God, Jesus Christ, John Eldredge, literature, love, marriage, mountains, nature, photography, Ransomed Heart, salvation, woman
Posted by: jakinnan | December 23, 2012
12/23/2012 Scripture
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.
-Luke 2:1-5 NLT
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, Christmas, faith, God, Jesus Christ, life, local, love, personal, photography, salvation, travel
Posted by: jakinnan | December 22, 2012
Waiting to be Blessed
“Long, blue, spiky-edged shadows crept out across the snow-fields, while a rosy glow, at first scarce discernible, gradually deepened and suffused every mountain-top, flushing the glaciers and the harsh crags above them. This was the alpenglow, to me the most impressive of all the terrestrial manifestations of God. At the touch of this divine light, the mountains seemed to kindle to a rapt, religious consciousness, and stood hushed like devout worshipers waiting to be blessed.”
-John Muir
Picture Credit: Murray Lundberg
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: Alaska, beauty, conservation, earth, enviroment, God, John Eldredge, life, local, mountains, nature, photography, spirituality, sunrise, travel
Posted by: jakinnan | December 22, 2012
A Divine Relief
The more you give the parts of your life over to Jesus, the more his life is able to invade yours. The relief alone is worth the price.
Last night Stasi and I were at a dinner party with friends we love and enjoy. It was one of those occasions where, for some reason, my internal world was not in sync with the external. All night long I was constantly aware of awful things inside me—wanting to be the center of attention, getting irritated at people for their idiosyncrasies, pride puffing up when someone told a story of personal failure—just a nightmare of sin. This morning when I woke the temptation was like New Year’s Day—rushing to make all sorts of resolutions to be a better person. As I sat down to pray, I felt myself resolving to do this and that, despising this and that about me—basically, trying to kill the unattractive parts and buttress myself to be good.
The Achilles’ heel of this sort of “repentance” is that it is all still based in self effort. Thank God I saw it, and turned to Christ in me—asked Jesus to come and have my life more deeply. The relief was almost immediate. Not in the sense that all those flaws went poof like in a fairy tale, but rather that first, I was rescued from days and weeks of striving and self-resolve. Second, that the presence of Jesus in me does make those flaws recede into the background—some crucified, others to receive his healing grace. But the point being, this time I was able to turn to Christ in me as my only hope of transformation, and the fruit of this turning-to is profound relief.
-John Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw, 234-235
Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: faith, God, Jesus Christ, John Eldredge, life, literature, love, mountains, nature, personal, photography, Ransomed Heart, river, salvation, survival
Posted by: jakinnan | December 22, 2012
12/22/2012 Scripture
John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”
-Mark 1:7-8 NLT
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christmas, faith, God, holy, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, love, mountains, nature, photography, river, salvation, waterfalls
Posted by: jakinnan | December 21, 2012
Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Quinoa
Description
High protein cereal
Ingredients
| 1⁄3 | c | instant quinoa flakes |
| 1 1⁄2 | t | brown sugar |
| 1⁄4 | t | ground cinnamon |
| 1 | c | water |
Notes
Find instant quinoa flakes in natural food stores.
Instructions
Pack everything in a pint freezer or snack size bag.
FBC method:
Add 1 cup near boiling water to the dry ingredients. Start stirring and keep stirring for a minute. Let sit in a cozy tightly sealed for 5 minutes. It will thicken up considerably.
Mug method:
Add 1 cup boiling water to the dry ingredients. Start stirring and keep stirring for a minute. Let sit in a cozy tightly sealed for 5 minutes. It will thicken up considerably.
One pot method:
Using a Ti or aluminum mug, cook this over a low flame for 90 seconds, stirring constantly.
Posted in Backpacking Recipes | Tags: backpacking, breakfast, food, health, hiking, outdoor cooking, quinoa, recipes, survival, travel
Posted by: jakinnan | December 21, 2012
Unhindered Bodies
“Perhaps walking is best imagined as an ‘indicator species,’ to use an ecologist’s term. An indicator species signifies the health of an ecosystem, and its endangerment or diminishment can be an early warning sign of systemic trouble. Walking is an indicator species for various kinds of freedom and pleasures: free time, free and alluring space, and unhindered bodies.”
-Rebecca Solnit
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: backpacking, beauty, books, conservation, earth, enviroment, health, hiking, literature, local, nature, personal, photography, spirituality, travel
Posted by: jakinnan | December 21, 2012
Reviewing What We have Encountered
Allow me, then, to review what we have encountered. First, our lives are not a random series of events; they tell a Story that has meaning. We aren’t in a movie we’ve arrived at twenty minutes late; we are in a Sacred Romance. There really is something wonderful that draws our heart; we are being wooed. But there is also something fearful. We face an enemy with vile intentions. Is anyone in charge? Someone strong and kind who notices us? At some point we have all answered that question “no” and gone on to live in a smaller story. But the answer is “yes“-there is someone strong and kind who notices us. Our Story is written by God, who is more than author, he is the romantic lead in our personal dramas. He created us for himself, and now he is moving heaven and earth to restore us to his side. His wooing seems wild because he seeks to free our heart from the attachments and addictions we’ve chosen, thanks to the Arrows we’ve known.
And we-who are we, really? We are not pond scum, nor are we the lead in the story. We are the Beloved; our hearts are the most important thing about us, and our desire is wild because it is made for a wild God. We are the Beloved, and we are addicted. We’ve either given our heart to other lovers and can’t get out of the relationships, or we’ve tried our best to kill desire (often with the help of others) and live lives of safe, orderly control. Either way, we play into the hands of the one who hates us. Satan is the mortal enemy of God and therefore ours as well, who comes with offers of less-wild lovers, hoping to deceive us in order to destroy our heart and thus prevent our salvation or cripple our sanctification. These are the stage, the characters, and the plot in the broadest possible terms. Where do we go from here?
-John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance, 147-48
Posted in Ransomed Heart | Tags: faith, God, Jesus Christ, John Eldredge, life, literature, love, mountains, nature, personal, photography, Ransomed Heart, salvation
Posted by: jakinnan | December 21, 2012
12/21/2012 Scripture
This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.
-Mark 1:4-6 NLT
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: beauty, Bible, Christianity, Christmas, faith, God, Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, life, love, nature, personal, photography, salvation
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