Covet the Dust

my brother was the first to truly explain to me about having a quiet time with the Lord.  i shared with you before my story of heading into my closet in the wee hours of the morning, only to fall asleep, wake up and drag myself back to bed muttering about the idiots who do that on a daily basis.  {click the link for the story, and fat baby pics of yours truly}

only later did i discover that getting up early did not mean 2 a.m.

my brother was also the first to introduce me to someone i now consider an old and dear friend.

oswald chambers.

i found this when we moved, having packed it away some time before with all my other books i can't seem to part with.  {you true book lovers get me on that one}

i had read him online, even read another copy we have....but nothing, and i repeat NOTHING, beats my original copy.  it is scribbled all over, in every spare space, and underlined in single, double, and triple lines.  words, phrases, sentences are circled.

and yet, much like our Lord, when i read chambers i find something "new every morning."

this morning it was this:
"It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us."

isn't that delicious?  isn't that like man to want the limelight?  want the attention?  i know it is for this chicka.

he goes on to say:
"If you are rightly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the sublime height where no one ever thinks of noticing you, all that is noticed is that the power of God comes through you all the time."

wow.  good stuff, right?

he concludes with this:
"Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited."

looking for a new daily devotional?  consider chambers.  he rocks.  you can read more about him here and here.  and you can read him online here.  you don't even have to buy a book!  all his devotionals are right online.  awesome.

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and speaking of reading....i just finished a great book (once again recommended by my brother).

Surprised by Oxford:  A Memoir by Carolyn Weber is the true story of an Oxford graduate student who is confronted with the Gospel.  it is a wonderful read and i highly recommend it.

{i will caution you, it is not free of bad language.  she quotes and tells real conversations with friends, colleagues, professors...in other words, REAL people.  there isn't much, but if you are offended by this then you've been warned.}

it is such a good and easy read, full of symbolism, metaphors, and delicious quotes from john donne, c.s. lewis, samuel taylor coleridge, william blake, william butler yeats, t.s. eliot, john milton, edna st. vincent millay.....i could go on and on.  she was getting her doctorate in literature studies, specifically the Romantics. 

it's also a bit of a love story.

see why i love it so?

enjoy.  and happy wednesday.  i'm cleaning bathrooms today.  while listening to ABBA.  what about you?