I've had it to here, being where love's a small word:
a part time thing, a paper ring.
I know it's been done, havin' one girl who'll love me:
right or wrong, weak or strong
I don't know that it will, but until I can find me
a girl who'll stay and won't play games behind me,
I'll be what I am: a solitary man.
Here's Johnny Cash's rendition of this song.
My hay fever is killing me...or at least causing me to embarrassingly drip all over my vest every 5 minutes.
So I promised my thorn that I wouldn't publish our text conversations (he just got an iPhone, so his conversation IQ level plummeted, naturally), but here's a bit of his manly advice from personal communication.
Joe, I don't think any of us are "looking for a relationship;" they just sort of happen. My advice is that it's best to just get it out in the open; there's nothing worse than not knowing.
A few observations:
1. Right he is! Knowledge is good; the fear of the LORD is the beginning thereof!
2. Most people's speech could use semi-colons as opposed to periods, as we often qualify or explain previous sentences with subsequent ones, thus making semi-colons the preferable choice. Or that might just be me.
3. I think Thorn's "us" refers to young Christian adults.
4. I think he's on to something when he says that these things just happen.
This is a topicI'm fond of of which I'm fond, for I had been listening to Pastor Viggiano's marriage lectures on my commute to Irvine, and one of the points he brought up involved God's sovereign hand being involved in courtship / dating / whatever. Obviously it's me picking up the phone to call a girl, but Jesus says
"For the hardness of your [Pharisees'] heart he [Moses] wrote you this precept [that a man could write a bill of divorce and lawfully put his wife away]. But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female' (Gen. 1:27). 'For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;' (Gen. 2:24) and they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." --Mark 10:5b-9
This is cool because it demonstrates that marriage (and all the stuff leading up to it!) is done by God.... and a man and woman. I may be over-enthusiastic about marriage, but God is too, since He gave us marriage as the closest continuer to the relationship God created for/with His people. At the same time, this also helps me understand God's sovereign providence, for marriage is an example of God working with His people, as is the case with evangelism.
A couple quotes:
Evangelism: "You and I aren't called to use our extensive powers to convict and change the sinner while God stands back as a gentleman, quietly waiting for the spiritual corpse, His declared spiritual enemy, to invite God into his heart. Rather, we should resolve to preach the gospel like gentlemen, persuading while knowing we can't regenerate anyone, and then stand back while God uses all His extensive powers to convict and change the sinner. Then we'll see clearly who it is that can really call the dead to life, and although he'll use us in the doing of it, it's not you and I who are actually doing it.
Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Q11. What are God's works of providence?
A. God's works of providence are his most holy [Ps. 145:17], wise [Ps. 104:24], and powerful preserving [Heb. 1:3] and governing all his creatures, and all their actions [Ps. 103:19; Matt. 10:29; Job 38-41].
Q12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience [a]; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death [b].
[a] Compare Gen. 2:16, 17 with Rom 5:12-14; Rom. 10:5; and Luke 10:25-28 with the covenants made with Noah and Abraham.
[b] Gen. 2:16-17; James 2:10
Getting to know God: "How do you keep the candle burning? Maybe a better question is 'Why would you want to?' If it was the norm, what would you be working towards? Is a drug addict always high? People are always talking about how they want to get to know God; you people don't want to get to know God! God is horrifying! God will screw you up. God will turn everything on your head; He'll make all your leasts your greatests and all your greatests your leasts. He'll make you come to grips with the reality that you aren't in control of anything. God might be love, but Love is terrifying. Don't be messy, and get to know God."
-Blimey Cow
a part time thing, a paper ring.
I know it's been done, havin' one girl who'll love me:
right or wrong, weak or strong
I don't know that it will, but until I can find me
a girl who'll stay and won't play games behind me,
I'll be what I am: a solitary man.
Here's Johnny Cash's rendition of this song.
My hay fever is killing me...or at least causing me to embarrassingly drip all over my vest every 5 minutes.
So I promised my thorn that I wouldn't publish our text conversations (he just got an iPhone, so his conversation IQ level plummeted, naturally), but here's a bit of his manly advice from personal communication.
Joe, I don't think any of us are "looking for a relationship;" they just sort of happen. My advice is that it's best to just get it out in the open; there's nothing worse than not knowing.
A few observations:
1. Right he is! Knowledge is good; the fear of the LORD is the beginning thereof!
2. Most people's speech could use semi-colons as opposed to periods, as we often qualify or explain previous sentences with subsequent ones, thus making semi-colons the preferable choice. Or that might just be me.
3. I think Thorn's "us" refers to young Christian adults.
4. I think he's on to something when he says that these things just happen.
This is a topic
"For the hardness of your [Pharisees'] heart he [Moses] wrote you this precept [that a man could write a bill of divorce and lawfully put his wife away]. But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female' (Gen. 1:27). 'For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;' (Gen. 2:24) and they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." --Mark 10:5b-9
This is cool because it demonstrates that marriage (and all the stuff leading up to it!) is done by God.... and a man and woman. I may be over-enthusiastic about marriage, but God is too, since He gave us marriage as the closest continuer to the relationship God created for/with His people. At the same time, this also helps me understand God's sovereign providence, for marriage is an example of God working with His people, as is the case with evangelism.
A couple quotes:
Evangelism: "You and I aren't called to use our extensive powers to convict and change the sinner while God stands back as a gentleman, quietly waiting for the spiritual corpse, His declared spiritual enemy, to invite God into his heart. Rather, we should resolve to preach the gospel like gentlemen, persuading while knowing we can't regenerate anyone, and then stand back while God uses all His extensive powers to convict and change the sinner. Then we'll see clearly who it is that can really call the dead to life, and although he'll use us in the doing of it, it's not you and I who are actually doing it.
Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Q11. What are God's works of providence?
A. God's works of providence are his most holy [Ps. 145:17], wise [Ps. 104:24], and powerful preserving [Heb. 1:3] and governing all his creatures, and all their actions [Ps. 103:19; Matt. 10:29; Job 38-41].
Q12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience [a]; forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death [b].
[a] Compare Gen. 2:16, 17 with Rom 5:12-14; Rom. 10:5; and Luke 10:25-28 with the covenants made with Noah and Abraham.
[b] Gen. 2:16-17; James 2:10
Getting to know God: "How do you keep the candle burning? Maybe a better question is 'Why would you want to?' If it was the norm, what would you be working towards? Is a drug addict always high? People are always talking about how they want to get to know God; you people don't want to get to know God! God is horrifying! God will screw you up. God will turn everything on your head; He'll make all your leasts your greatests and all your greatests your leasts. He'll make you come to grips with the reality that you aren't in control of anything. God might be love, but Love is terrifying. Don't be messy, and get to know God."
-Blimey Cow
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