tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43019597003410286632024-03-13T06:54:54.126-04:00These things I cannot deny, I fail to understandOne man on his journey home.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-53102286030533330742011-09-25T22:43:00.000-04:002011-09-25T22:43:08.378-04:00Pensive Doubting Fearful HeartPensive, doubting, fearful heart<br />
Hear what Christ the Savior says<br />
Every word should joy impart<br />
Change thy mourning into praise<br />
Yes, He speaks and speaks to thee<br />
May He help thee to believe<br />
Then thou presently will see<br />
Thou has little cause to grieve<br />
<br />
Fear thou not, nor be ashamed<br />
All thy sorrows soon shall end<br />
I, who heaven and earth have framed<br />
Am thy Husband and thy Friend<br />
I, the High and Holy One<br />
Israel's God, by all adored<br />
As thy Savior will be known<br />
Thy Redeemer and thy Lord<br />
<br />
For a moment I withdrew<br />
And thy heart was filled with pain<br />
But my mercies I'll renew<br />
Thou shall soon rejoice again<br />
Though I seem to hide my face<br />
Very soon my wrath shall cease<br />
'Tis but for a moment's space<br />
Ending in eternal peace<br />
<br />
Though afflicted, tempest tossed<br />
Comfortless awhile thou art<br />
Do not think thou can be lost<br />
Thou art graven on my heart<br />
All thy wastes I will repair<br />
Thou shalt be rebuilt anew<br />
And in thee it shall appear<br />
What the God of love can doBrian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-66893193230309418132010-10-11T22:17:00.002-04:002010-10-11T22:21:52.374-04:00Weakness<object width="500" height="304"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5VI0pkRBPZw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5VI0pkRBPZw?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><em>I've tried to stand my ground</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>I've tried to understand</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>But I can't seem to find my faith again</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Like water on the sand</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>A grasping at the wind</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>I keep on falling short</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Please be my strength</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Please be my strength</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Cause I don't have anymore</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>I don't have anymore</em></div>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-89905011330628455672010-10-08T22:53:00.000-04:002010-10-08T22:53:20.692-04:00Wandering HeartHah. Just noticing how I only seem to post when I am in a particular frame of mind. Maybe someday my blog will burst out of its bubble.<br />
<br />
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing has become one of my favorite hymns ever.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><em>O to grace, how great a debtor</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em></em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Daily I'm constrained to be</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Let Thy grace now like a fetter</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Bind my wandering heart to Thee</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Prone to leave the God I love</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it</em></div><div style="text-align: right;"><em>Seal it for Thy courts above</em> </div> <br />
I've been listening to Sufjan Stevens' arrangement of the hymn recently. Here's a youtube link (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sApYYmxhWQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sApYYmxhWQ</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1bSlS6OWTs"></a>).Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-79682154665683034692010-08-29T18:17:00.000-04:002010-08-29T18:17:15.423-04:00RunningI am so conflicted and mixed-up.<br />
<br />
I need someone to sort me out. Jesus.<br />
<br />
But for some reason I turn away when I see him. I plug my ears if it sounds like he might be "saying" something.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-80389406059646234132010-05-24T22:29:00.000-04:002010-05-24T22:29:23.709-04:00I just graduated<div style="font-family: inherit;">An aphorism ripped out of the context of Augustine's <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine/confessions.xv.html"><i>Confessions</i>, book 12</a>:</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">"...the poverty of the human intellect expresses itself in an abundance of language."</span></div>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-54312049247713675812009-12-09T05:41:00.002-05:002009-12-09T05:43:24.301-05:00OatmealSitting here eating oatmeal. Listening to Jon Foreman. Thinking about who-knows-what. At the end (or in the midst) of an all-nighter.<br /><br />It is finals week.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-24910032382724156022009-11-10T03:08:00.002-05:002009-11-10T03:12:11.780-05:00How I feel[This is part of an email I sent to a professor tonight...]<br /><br /><br />I am not sure how to make heads-or-tails of what all is going on in life for me right now, but I am at a point where I feel rather powerless in the face of increasing schoolwork and other stressors. My emotions seem to have been on the fritz as of late and I have not dealt with them well. Spiritually, I feel shot. I have few other words to use. I am beat. My heart and my body and my emotions and my desires and my everything are in deep need of God's touch and restoration. I am not sure how reliable my emotions are right now, especially because I realize that the flu took a lot out of me and I am probably still physically recovering. But I am quite convinced that there is significant stock to be placed in what I've said.<br /><br />As far as the assignments go, I don't want to let you or my classmates down. It bugs me that I feel like I'm giving up - I don't want to be defeated. But I think I am defeated right now. I need to get adequate sleep tonight and I think I need to take a moment and look at where I am - to look at what is truly important and to allow that to inform my priorities. I think - perhaps I am wrong - that at this moment, these matters of the heart are very important. I am tired.<br /><br />I am truly not seeking leniency grading-wise. This email is sent partly to ensure that you understand that I mean no disrespect by these incomplete assignments. This email is also admittedly self-serving in that I wish to "save face." But I'm tired of saving face, too... so really, finally, I desire your thoughts and prayer as (I hope) God works with me through this time.<br /><br />And that's what it comes down to, in a lot of ways. I'm tired and frustrated. With a whole lot of things, in a whole lot of ways. I desperately need to encounter God and for him to give rest to my restless soul, and for his love to overcome my irrational "desire" ("fear" is probably a more accurate term) to run to everyone and everything but him.<br /><br />[Have you ever heard the song "Jealous Kind" by Jars of Clay? Here's two lines: "I'd rather feel the pain all too familiar / Than be broken by a lover I don't understand"]Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-75154637790700785462009-11-01T23:58:00.003-05:002009-11-02T00:03:07.279-05:00Quotes<div class="UIComposer_InputArea_Base UIComposer_InputArea"><div class="UIComposer_InputShadow"><div style="width: 518px;" class="Mentions_Input" id="c4aee655245ef344f874e8_input" contenteditable="true">"The widespread postmodernist attitude that, since there are so many religions with a claim to truth, no one religion matters in the end, thus allowing us to ransack religions to suit our personal tastes, merely strengthens the status <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">quo</span> by driving religion from the public sphere into the private, with the weakening of religion going side by side with the growth of state power." (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Lamin</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Sanneh</span>)<br /><br />"The most dangerous enemy today is no longer the dark forces of totalitarianism, the various hostile and plotting <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">mafias</span>, but our own bad qualities. My presidential program is, therefore, to bring spirituality, moral responsibility, humaneness, and humility into politics and, in that respect, to make clear that there is something higher above us, that our deeds do not disappear into the black hole of time but are recorded somewhere and judged, that we have neither the right nor a reason to think we understand everything and that we can do everything." (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Václav</span> Havel)<br /></div></div></div>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-55845661118115351892009-09-02T11:49:00.004-04:002009-09-02T11:55:54.085-04:00Gil Deuck on Charles TaylorI have found that Gil Deuck's blog is consistently interesting and thought-provoking. This is definitely true of the two most recent posts, which flow out of his engagement with Charles Taylor's <span style="font-style: italic;">Sources of the Self</span>. I suggest you check it out.<br /><br /><a href="http://hepburnmusings.wordpress.com/">Gil Deuck :: Just Wondering (http://hepburnmusings.wordpress.com/)<br /></a>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-39152523498946247502009-08-16T23:10:00.008-04:002009-08-16T23:53:57.117-04:00Witnesses to Grace.I have been encouraged this summer:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">witnessing</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">many times</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">many ways:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">although broken,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">God's people - His church -</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">witnessing</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">to His grace</span><br /><br />It has been an encouraging summer. When I am drawn to view the church with disdain, I need to remember these experiences. But most of all, I need to remember that God loves this, His church.<br /><br />I cannot pretend to follow God in the midst of growing distaste for some or all of these people for whom Christ died, and for whom he will return.<br /><br />I have many words, lofty ambitions... but the question remains, <span style="font-style: italic;">will I be an active witness to God's grace and His faithfulness?</span><br /><br />By His grace alone, I will. And when I forget and fail and fall, His grace will challenge me and teach me and develop me into a more faithful witness. Not because of who I am, but because of who He is.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Hey unfaithful,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I will teach you to be stronger</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Hey ungrateful,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I will teach you to forgive each other</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Hey unloving,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I will love you.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I will love you.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(Underoath, "Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Will Escape")</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The devil's singing over me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">An age-old song</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">That I am cursed and gone astray</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Singing the first verse so conveniently</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">He's forgotten the refrain:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Jesus saves!</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(Shane & Shane, "Embracing Accusations")</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: right;">I don't want to forget the first verse or the refrain.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Thank you, God, for your faithfulness and for your people and for opening my eyes and encouraging my heart. You are patient as you open my eyes, a blind and broken and arrogant sinner.<br /><br />I don't want to continue to take you for granted. Thank you. So much.<br /></div>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-51793076358738533752009-08-02T13:08:00.002-04:002009-08-02T13:09:46.710-04:00Quote"Western inclusivism is really covert exclusivism." (Tim Keller)Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-42333592308657095422009-07-12T15:03:00.004-04:002009-07-12T15:24:28.536-04:00Read it."Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalized society at difficult times like the present" (5).<br /><br />"Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (cf. John 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development" (9).<br /><br />... these are words found in a recent encylical, "Charity in Truth" (<em>Caritas in Veritae</em>) issued by Pope Benedict XVI. They are quoted in an article, authored by Francis J Beckwith. Beckwith reviews the recent Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical, commenting on its content and meaning.<br /><br />It is a very worthwhile read, I think: <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/julyweb-only/127-53.0.html">http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/julyweb-only/127-53.0.html</a>. It's a short article, too.<br /><br />Additional links:<br /><br />The full text of the encyclical in English: <a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html">http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html</a><br /><br />An op-ed piece talking about the difficulty that many have in understanding the full depth and breadth of this encyclical (or of much Christian thought in general): <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0710/1224250386825.html">http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2009/0710/1224250386825.html</a>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-39345384817590311112009-05-11T01:00:00.002-04:002009-05-11T01:12:21.143-04:00Return?I hope that I am on the threshold of a decisive step back towards God.<br /><br />I too have gone astray, I wish to return to my Shepherd. Yet my desires are impotent and fleeting.<br /><br />I pray my Shepherd comes and finds me and brings me home.<br /><br />I am highly skeptical of my authenticity in stating what I have written above.<br /><br />I need you, God - this is a call.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-7490263088967233132009-04-15T20:57:00.003-04:002009-04-15T21:10:06.976-04:00Sentiment<div style="text-align: center;">You are like a beautiful tree<br />With roots in the ground so deep<br />That they could never be seen.<br />I'm a leaf that's ready to fall.<br />And the wind's going to blow me,<br />Someday, away from it all.<br /><br />I just want to write you in a song,<br />Put your smile on paper so you can sing along.<br />I just want to bottle the sun,<br />Keep your light a secret I can find when you are gone.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Jason Reeves, "You in a Song"</span><br /><br />...And, yes, I am a softy sometimes.<br /></div>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-13490827115115111152009-04-14T19:32:00.003-04:002009-04-14T20:01:45.910-04:00I don't believe in the power of prayerI believe in God, attentive to his creation, present in history.<br /><br />I do not subscribe to the belief that belief itself is credible. It is not. Faith is only as reliable as its object.<br /><br />"Credulity is no virtue."<br /><br />Prayer itself has no power.<br /><br />If there is no hearer...<br />If there is a hearer who is not interested in responding...<br />If there is a hearer who has no capacity to respond...<br />then prayer is a pep talk at best, willful self-deceit at worst.<br /><br />I think we should not pray for the sake of praying.<br /><br />I think we should pray as the consequence of the belief (no matter how tenuous) that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the God of Jesus - is attentive to His Creation and present in our human affairs.<br /><br />And so I do not agree whatsoever with the statement, "I believe in the power of prayer." For I do not believe in prayer; I believe in God.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-61026778663102674322009-03-15T20:43:00.004-04:002009-03-15T21:41:52.920-04:00More musicIt's been awhile since I've posted. I really think I should write more - not necessarily on this blog - but in general.. it is very healthy, I think.<br /><br />But if you're thinking that this will be some sort of intelligent or clever post, you are wrong. I am just sharing a couple of artists who have really occupied my time the past few days... Current favorite songs in parentheses...<br /><br />Alli Rogers ("Eden")<br />Kendall Payne ("I will show you love")<br /><br />Listen to them. Seriously.<br /><br />A couple more...<br />Josh Garrels ("Zion & Babylon")<br />Jon Foreman ("Again")Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-62161376124755313492008-12-22T17:25:00.001-05:002008-12-22T17:27:59.921-05:00Beautiful MusicCheck it out. I've met him a couple of times before. He often plays keyboard at our church.<br /><br /><a href="http://andrewrrogers.com/music/">http://andrewrrogers.com/music/</a>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-37922446209422506632008-11-24T09:15:00.004-05:002008-11-24T09:25:41.940-05:00"Word of God" ?I was asked this question this morning..<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Does it bother you when people refer to that book as the 'word of God'?</span>"<br /><br />My response was perfectly vague and noncommittal. And I do not think that my response should've been vague and noncommittal. I think it is important that I start to develop an articulation and defense for what I believe. And I think it needs to begin very soon (possibly waiting until the semester and its papers are finished).<br /><br />So, turning the question back to you...<br /><br />Does it bother you when people refer to the Bible as the "word of God"?Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-85248531692377018742008-11-18T00:12:00.005-05:002008-11-18T00:28:20.826-05:00Who am I<p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >Dietrich Bonhoeffer</span><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Who am I? They often tell me</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I stepped from my cell's confinement</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">calmly, cheerfully, firmly,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">like a Squire from his country house.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Who am I? They often tell me</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I used to speak to my warders</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">freely and friendly and clearly,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">as though it were mine to command.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Who am I? They also tell me</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I bore the days of misfortune</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">equably, smilingly, proudly,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">like one accustomed to win.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Am I then really that which other men tell of?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Or am I only what I myself know of myself?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">thirsting for words of kindness, for neighbourliness,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">tossing in expectation of great events,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p> <p face="verdana" size="11pt" style="margin: 0in;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Who am I? This or the Other?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Am I one person to-day and to-morrow another?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">and before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in;font-family:verdana;font-size:11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Or is something within me still like a beaten army</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?</span></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!</span></p>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-86652615950090533252008-11-16T19:18:00.000-05:002008-11-16T19:19:06.348-05:00Pray.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-40584721569556578272008-10-22T08:47:00.004-04:002008-10-22T08:55:50.945-04:00Welcome to Our World<p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Tears are falling<br />Hearts are breaking<br /> How we need to hear from God<br /> You've been promised<br />We've been waiting<br />Welcome, Holy Child<br /> Welcome, Holy Child</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Hope that you don't<br />Mind our manger<br /> How I wish we would have known<br /> But long-awaited<br />Holy Stranger<br /> Make Yourself at home<br /> Please make Yourself at home</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" > Bring Your peace<br />Into our violence<br /> Bid our hungry souls be filled<br /> Word now breaking<br />Heaven's silence<br />Welcome to our world<br /> Welcome to our world</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Fragile finger<br />Sent to heal us<br /> Tender brow prepared for thorn<br /> Tiny heart<br />Whose blood will save us<br /> Unto us is born<br /> Unto us is born</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" > So wrap our injured<br />Flesh around You<br /> Breathe our air and walk our sod<br /> Rob our sin<br />And make us holy<br />Perfect Son of God<br /> Welcome to our world</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style=";font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:78%;">("Welcome to Our World," Chris Rice)</span><br /></span></p>Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-14918657932057967972008-10-18T21:25:00.005-04:002008-10-18T21:30:52.751-04:00Saturday of Midterm BreakI think I could miss New Guinea right now.<br /><br />And by that, I mean to say that I miss free, careless home.<br /><br />I'm glad it's midterm break right now. The past 48 hours have been quite good, memories of home notwithstanding :)Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-80634904238606367942008-09-21T09:50:00.004-04:002008-09-21T09:59:30.476-04:00Thoughts to come, hopefully....<br /><br />Thoughts on solitude and community.<br /><br />Suspicion as the enemy of community.<br /><br />Is the value of an individual within a given community contingent upon that individual's potential/real contribution to that community? What about within the redeemed community? How does it affect our interpretation of Scripture? How does it affect our understanding of sin - original and personal?<br /><br />Love, unity, division, marginalization, peace, Friday's message in chapel, humility, preaching.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-73129195602451952008-07-31T23:41:00.005-04:002008-07-31T23:46:17.227-04:00RunSurrender is one of the most difficult things for me, I think.<br /><br />It's fight or flight for me, even it seems when the right thing is to submit.<br /><br />So I fight it for all it's worth or I drown it in distraction.<br /><br />God, please help me. I'm not yet ready and I don't know if I ever will be. But I want to be.<br /><br />I think "Surrender" by BarlowGirl is probably pretty accurate.<br /><br />Yep.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4301959700341028663.post-14891756257896914262008-07-19T00:04:00.003-04:002008-07-19T00:07:41.196-04:00Feeling and writing, but not nowSometimes I really feel like writing. Things I've been thinking about and want to share. Or sometimes just expressing memories.<br /><br />The latter is driving my current desire to share.<br /><br />But I think I'll leave it locked up right now.<br /><br />Words aren't adequate and I feel that words won't satisfy, not yet. I'm gonna miss my home for a little longer.<br /><br />It's pleasant. In a strange sort of way.<br /><br />God is good.Brian Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08087917273552690904noreply@blogger.com3