“The belief that people cannot live in constant union with the spiritual God throughout their daily life shall one day appear as odd as the belief that metal bodies cannot float on water or fly through the air.” Dallas Willard
Why my father-in-law loved Dallas Willard
“A goal without a plan is merely a wish. It takes planning and sacrifice.” Ron Poole
“The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Dallas Willard
How to not let serving God get in the way of loving God
“O Lord God, Thou hast made me a pastor and teacher in the church. Thou seest how unfit I am to administer rightly this great, responsible office; and had I been without Thy aid and counsel, I would surely have ruined it long ago. (more…)
Does God speak to ordinary people?
“For my part I should loathe to be the pastor of a people who have nothing to say, or who, if they do say anything, might as well be quiet, for the pastor is Lord Paramount, and they are mere laymen and nobodies. (more…)
I won’t back down
“Well I won’t back down, no I won’t back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down. (more…)
Our Times
“The greatest problems of our time are not technological, for these we handle fairly well. They are not even political or economic, because the difficulties in these areas, glaring as they may be, are largely derivative. The greatest problems are moral and spiritual, and unless we can make some progress in these realms, we may not even survive. This is how advanced cultures have declined in the past.” D. Elton Trueblood
Some help for the long Minnesota winters…
How tedious and tasteless the hours
When Jesus I no longer see;
Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers,
Have all lost their sweetness to me;
The midsummer sun shines but dim,
The fields strive in vain to look gay.
But when I am happy in Him,
December’s as pleasant as May.
Lyrics by John Newton
How denying our self and taking up our cross makes us hopeful people
“For God’s promise to believers that he will help them in their trials, they experience to be true when they persist in their patience supported by his strength and not by their own. Patience, therefore, affords a proof to the saints that God will actually give them the help he has promised whenever there is need.” John Calvin
The enduring life of the ministry of Word and Spirit
“The effort to force the basic genius of evangelicalism into the armor of a more particular orthodoxy—a recurring tendency running rampant on the heels of Luther and painfully oppressive at later times including post WW II America—is perpetually resisted by the stream of spiritual life flowing from scripture and from the intermingling of human life with the Trinitarian presence.” Dallas Willard
Our treasure
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
Rob Gillgrist 