About a year and half ago I got a tattoo on my elbow that says ελπίζω: "I hope." When I got it, I new it meant something, but I had no idea the magnitude or the reality of those two small words. As God continues to reveal Himself to me, piece by piece, I recognize the travesty, the horror, the injustice, the sickness, the pain, the hopelessness that I have been saved from. Now please understand that I am not saying that I will not still experience all these things, because I undoubtedly will. The catch, however, is that I will not experience them for eternity. I have a hope. I have a hope that when I die, all the sufferings and plights that I experience in this world will perish in sight of the reality of Jesus Christ. Christ has saved me from hopelessness. He has saved me from meaninglessness. He has saved me from slavery to sin and imprisoned me in love and hope and eternal peace.

I will hope continually

and will praise you yet more and more.

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all the day.

-Psalm 71:14-15

I went out for coffee tonight with a friend... what a mistake. Well, the coffee was a mistake, the friend was not. It is past midnight, I have to be up in less than 6 hours, and I am truly and utterly exhausted but unable to sleep. My mind is racing with ideas, and processes, and over analyzings of conversations, both past and future.

Two main things are contributing to my quickened mental state. I encourage you to click on the links and do whatever it is that you typically do when exploring a new sight, whether it be compulsively giving tons of money or simply using the headings as a platform for prayer (or whatever else have you).

Food for the Hungry

Freedom from Quiet Time

I am particularly fond of the first because of the work that it does to provide a solution to physical hunger as well as spiritual hunger, and the second because of the insight it has given me into the way prayer and devotion were designed to work.

Enjoy.

God I don't hear you calling me, but it is so hard to stay.

O LORD, Deliver My Life

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O LORD— how long?
Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?
I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my plea;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.