³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

New York is dangerous, littered with thieves
We've no morals here, we just do as we please....
But I don't wanna go home where they all stare at me
cause I'm tattoed, and fired up, and drunk, and obscene...

You wear your religion like a War Sweater.
You ask for the truth, but you know you could do so much better,
and you sat on your fences, you've screamed no retreat...
So now what will your legacy be?
(We...)

Battle lines drawn if you wonder which side speaks the truth
then look closely to which speaks from pride
I love you. I swear it. I would never lie...
But I fear for our lives and I fear your closed eyes...

You wear your religion like a War Sweater.
You ask for the truth, but you know you could do so much better,
and you sat on your fences, you've screamed no retreat...
So now what will your legacy be?
So what will your legacy be?
So what will your legacy be?
(We...)

I'm in the mood where I come all untied,
I'm in the mood to say things that'll change people's minds...
I love you. I swear it. I would never lie...
But I fear for our lives and I fear your closed eyes...

You wear your religion like a War Sweater.
You ask for the truth, but you know you could do so much better,
and you sat on your fences, you've screamed no retreat...
So now what will your legacy be?
So what will your legacy be?
So what will your legacy be?

The tree begins with a single see. An acorn or its equivalent falls into the earth: tiny, vulnerable, alone. It germinates and puts out roots down into the dark earth. Simultaneously it send up a shoot into the light and air. The roots quickly diverge and probe all over the place, looking for nourishment and water. The shoot becomes a trunk, again a single upright stalk, but this, too, quickly diverges. An oak or a cedar will spread far and wide in all directions. Even the tall, narrow poplar is far more than just a single trunk. The river flows from many into one; the tree grows from one into many.
We need both images if we are to understand the church.
The church is like a river. In the last book of the Bible, John the visionary sees a huge throng of people from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue coming together in a great chorus of praise. Like the river, they all started in different places, but they have now brought their different streams into a single flow. The image of the river reminds us forcibly that, though the church consists by definition of people from the widest possible variety of backgrounds, part of the point of it is that they belong to one another, and are meant to be part of the same powerful flow, going now in the same single direction. Diversity gives way to unity.
But at the same time the church is like a tree. The single seed, Jesus himself, has been sown in the dark earth and has produced an amazing plant. Branches have set off in all directions, some pointing almost directly upward, some reaching down to the earth, some heading out over neighboring walls. Looking at the eager, outstretched branches, you'd hardly know they were all from the same stem. But they are. Unity generates diversity.
N.T. Wright-Simply Christian

Been processing some thoughts. For those of you who have looked in here from time to time this is maybe an in between post.
I have been struck with the fact that Jesus descended after His death on the cross to the very depths of the earth(Ephesians 4:8-10 and also 1 Peter 3:18-20). Some say that it was hell that Christ descended to. Maybe it was. Either way the question needs to asked. Why? He was going to be resurrected and why wait? Why not take a few hours or days off and just chill before your glorious ascent? I mean, I think that's what I would do. It's like when you know alone how something that will completely change someones day into a glorious memorable date. The feeling that a wife would have when only she knows that the pregnancy test has come back positive after months of trying to get pregnant. You probably would want to explode with "SURPRISE!"
But Christ waited and descended to the places of deep hurt and pain and anguish. I ask again why?
What I have come to understand, and this is most certainly only a tiny piece of what the resurrection accomplished, is that by descending to the very depths of earth Christ's defeated everything to do with the fall. There was no place left unchanged in all of heaven and earth and under the earth like it says in Philippians 1. Christ rose not by Himself but with everything and everybody clinging to who He was. He defeated everything that our rebellion had taken from Him. There is no place left untouched by the power of death's defeat.
So, what does that mean for us? Who are we to claim to be too good to dive to the depths of humanity and reflect Christ there? Who am I to think that I shouldn't go to the depths of creation to reflect the image of my Saviour. The One that went deep for me.

This is an old dream that I had. Probably 5 years ago, I had a dream that I was going to meet all my friends at an abandoned church with a manse attached to it. It looked kinda like the church above.
It was night and the church was on a hill. It was big and stone and was quite creepy. There was an entrance on the side that led to the inside of the manse that was attached to the back of the church. As I got to the door all my friends came rushing out scared out of their minds. They said there was something very evil in there and that I shouldn't go in. I boldly ran inside with a half smirk on my face, confident in the fact that with God going before me and after me there is nothing for me to fear. I know it is a dream but that is the only way I can explain the way I felt. I was cocky in God's ability to protect me. I went up the stairs to a door leading somewhere that the evil was. I was about to go in and all my friends came and begged me not to go in. They were scared and felt that it was dangerous. I agreed to go with them but I still was cocky and knew that if I had gone in the presence in there would be in trouble. I knew I would be back.
I don't know what this means but I felt like I should share this.

I used to write

I used to write letters, I used to sign my name

I used to sleep at night

Before the flashing light settled deep in my brain

But by the time we met, by the time we met

The times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter

I never took my true heart, I never wrote it down

So when the lights cut out

I was lost standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast

Now our lives are changing fast

Hope that sonething pure can last

Hope that something pure can last

It may seem strange

How we used to wait for letters to arrive

But what's stranger still

Is how something so small can keep you alive

We used to wait

We used to waste hours just walking around

We used to wait

All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

We used to wait

We used to wait

We used to wait

Sometimes it never came

Sometimes it never came

Still moving through the pain

I'm gonna write a letter to my true love

I'm gonna sign my name

Like a patient on a table

I wanna walk again, gonna move through the pain

Now our lives are changing fast

Now our lives are changing fast

Hope that something pure can last

Hope that something pure can last

We used to wait

We used to wait

We used to wait

Sometimes it never came

Sometimes it never came

Still moving through the pain

We used to wait

We used to wait

We used to wait

We used to wait for it

We used to wait for it

And now they're screaming:"Sing the chorus again!"

We used to wait for it

We used to wait for it

And now we're screaming:"Sing the chorus again!"

I used to wait for it

I used to wait for it

Hear my voice screaming:"Sing the chorus again!"

Wait for it!

Wait for it!

Wait for it!