a brother in Christ. adam young from owl city.

i love owl city’s music. i loved it before i knew anything at all about adam young (the musical genius that is owl city). several months ago i stumbled across adam’s owl city blog and this amazing blog post. talk about being overwhelmed by the goodness of our Lord and seeing this stranger i know nothing about, and likely will never meet during my life here on earth, use his talents the Lord has blessed him with to spread the Gospel and put it on display for his fans. so awesome. you should read the owl city blog and you should support his music. here is an excerpt from another great owl city blog post. christian men, rise up.

“She is out there. My Cinderella. She is real. She exists. I pray for her constantly. May God satisfy the desires of her heart, draw her close, consume her. May He claim her passions, her identity, her refuge, her hopes, her strengths and weaknesses, every fiber of her being. May she treasure and cherish her Savior more than anything of this world and cling to His will with every ounce of her stamina. By all that she is, does, and strives to be, may He draw near to her and she to Him.”

go here to read the rest of adam young’s blog post.

a beautiful picture

i borrowed this quote from one of my new favorite blogs: http://www.wonderfullymadeblog.org/ you should check it out.

“the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
–Frederick Buechner

what an incredible picture that is! at this point in my life, i like to think of “my place” as any and all of the physical therapy clinics i have had rotations at during my time in school. practicing physical therapy provides me with a deep gladness and i am thankful to the Lord for leading me to this field and helping get through school (i’m almost DONE!). and when i think of my patients (esp my current patients in my neuro rotation), i see many people with a deep hunger. most of my patients’ lives changed in an instant. one second they are going about a normal day with a “whole” body and the next second they’ve had a stroke or been in a horrific car accident and their bodies are no longer considered “whole”. i am easily overwhelmed when i see the hope that God provides these people through me. but i know that the healing that does occur in my patients’ lives can all be attributed to our loving Father. oh praise Him for He is worthy of our praise!

desperate

there is a lot going on right now.

good stuff. my best friend (since i was 5) is getting married in roswell GA next weekend. crazy! but so joyful about getting to be her maid of honor and spending such a special day with her.

hard stuff. i’m not going into details. i will ask for your prayers though. please. i am going to be having a tough conversation with a family member soon (and i’m talking literal family, not midtown. just to clear things up a bit). really tough. i don’t particularly want to, but God has made my heart so heavy over this situation for the past several weeks and i can’t deny Him anymore. i shouldn’t have tried to ignore Him for as long as i have.

when my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who know my way. in the path where i walk men have hidden a snare for me…i cry to you, o Lord; i say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. listen to my cry, for i am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.
Psalm 142:3, 5-6

my easter song

i’ve been singing and meditating on this song for the past couple of weeks leading up to the celebration of the resurrection of Christ on Sunday.

To the cross I look, to the cross I cling
Of its suffering I do drink
Of its work I do sing

For on it my Savior both bruised and crushed
Showed that God is love
And God is just

At the cross You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees, and I am
Lost for words, so lost in love,
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered

What a priceless gift, undeserved life
Have I been given
Through Christ crucified

You’ve called me out of death
You’ve called me into life
And I was under Your wrath
Now through the cross I’m reconciled

In awe of the cross I must confess
How wondrous Your redeeming love and
How great is Your faithfulness

the sweetness of God

“One day I remember, in particular, (I think it was in June, 1740,) I walked to a considerable distance from the college, in the fields alone at noon, and in prayer found such unspeakable sweetness and delight in God, that I thought, if I must continue still in this evil world, I wanted always to be there, to behold God’s glory. My soul dearly loved all mankind, and longed exceedingly that they should enjoy what I enjoyed. It seemed to be a little resemblance of heaven.” –David Brainerd’s Diary, 1740

travesty.

you know what breaks my heart? when people who don’t love the Lord and/or aren’t following Him think that their life is “free” or “fun” or “fulfilled” or any other adjective (it doesn’t have to begin with “f”) they would use to describe it. i remember when i thought that same way…how terribly wrong i was.

“…you can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing–not caring about others, not caring about God–the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? and how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

“as long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. but do you call that a free life? what did you get out of it? nothing you’re proud of now. where did it get you? a dead end.

“but now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! a whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. but God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”
–Romans 6:19-23 (from The Message: Remix )

oh, the freedom He offers…ain’t nothing better!

so i’ll stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the ONE who gave it ALL

we are broken and messed up and our sin is nasty. we are vile. yet, God loves us. and He sent His Son to die for us so we could have eternal life with Him in heaven. how AWESOME is that?!

i’ve heard the gospel thousands of times, but sometimes it just hits me so hard. right in the gut. and i am just overwhelmed. these moments are my favorites.

emotional purity

britt gave me this book to read. i don’t agree with everything in it, but here are some good nuggets about trust and contentment from one of the chapters…

*”to be envious is to doubt God’s love for you and His sovereignty in your life”

*who are we to think we deserve [insert something you want] anyway? we don’t deserve anything except judgment. God sent His Son to die on the cross so that we would have the hope of eternal life. we must find contentment in that hope.

*when you look to anything but God to bring you contentment and happiness, you will always be disappointed.

*God’s ways are not our ways, and He knows what is best for us. we just need to trust Him.

i hope these words can encourage you like they’ve encouraged me. praise Jesus.

mix

so i made a mix of some of my favorite songs (& you need to realize that i have a lot more favorite songs than this, but i condensed) for britt and georgina per request….

*storm – lifehouse
*cinematic – cool hand luke
*for the widows in paradise, for the fatherless in ypsilanti – sufjan stevens
*hoppipolla – sigur ros
*skinny love – bon iver
*eyes on fire – blue foundation
*crawling towards the sun – the hush sound
*glory/us – acceptance
*a day late – anberlin
*the mistress and her heart – surprises
*now that you’re home – manchester orchestra
*hurricane – something corporate
*dark blue – jack’s mannequin
*she’s a lady – forever the sickest kids
*there’s no ‘i’ in team – taking back sunday
*seventy times 7 – brand new
*electric feel -mgmt
*that’s classy – breathe carolina
*reinventing your exit – underoath

and done.

heart for africa

i just watched this video and i want you to watch it too.

the boys in this video lived in the neighborhood i grew up in. i used to babysit them and play with them. i love these boys. and i loved their mom. she was one of mom’s best friends. this video is an amazing story of what the youngest brother (chandler) is doing in africa.

it is long, but so worth it.

Protected: reverend ed bacon is not a very wise man

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

grace

i know i will never be sinless.

but i don’t know if i have ever appreciated Your grace as much as i do right now.

laughs

i think this kid is so funny.

this is my favorite one.

el box

shoes.

i am tired but will post anyway.

dustin’s sermon tonight moved my soul. well, God used dustin’s sermon to move my soul. i came home and put 8 pairs of shoes in a bag to bring to midtown offices tomorrow. by doing this i saw yet another example of just how sinful i am. these are 8 pairs of shoes that i NEVER wear…i’m talking some of them have not been worn for 3+ years…and i still had a hard time putting some of them in the bag. i kept thinking…”you never know when i might need to wear shoes like this” and “these sneakers are flippin cool and i got them for free, i don’t know that i want to give them up”. i am so pathetic, BUT God is good and He convicts me (even when i don’t want to be convicted) when necessary and He is my strength always.

the giv campaign for shoes also motivated me to get off of my butt and start doing something that i have been wanting to do for several months now, but i have been using school and busyness as my excuse for not doing it. this past summer my friend (amanda) and i started going out to finley park every wednesday evening to serve the homeless with project 153. we began to form relationships with some of the homeless women who came to get food. our first friend was a woman named elyse. we met her and her friend jethro (aka james). we were able to see her for several weeks throughout the end of summer and the beginning of the fall (we haven’t seen them for a few months now, but we are trusting that the Lord provided them with the housing they were working toward obtaining). i remember looking at elyse’s shoes once and they looked so old and worn down and i just couldn’t imagine that they gave her any support or comfort. i asked her about them and she confirmed my suspicions. i had just run through (literally) another pair of shoes, meaning that i had run roughly 300 – 400 miles in my shoes and they were no longer sufficient for running in (aka new shoes were needed). normally my old running shoes would sit in my garage back in ga or i would throw them in the trash, but i decided that could no longer be done. just because my shoes were not good for running long distances anymore, that did not mean they were not good for walking around in. i gave elyse my shoes. seeing her face and hearing her response when i gave her the shoes is a moment i will not soon forget. that was my favorite gift that i have ever given to anyone.

anyway i decided this summer that i wanted to start a project involving runners in columbia. most of the time when running shoes get worn out, they are still in great condition for walking around and standing in. and most of the time old running shoes sit in people’s closets or get thrown away. this is unacceptable. i want to start a project that collects old running shoes to give to the homeless in columbia. i want to partner with local running stores (fleet feet, strictly running, etc) to have collection bins there. this is a dream of mine. i have more developed ideas about it, but it took a backseat once the fall semester started. the holy spirit convicted me tonight. he told me to stop being lazy and start doing this thing.

so i need a team. a small team, yes, but still a team. if you run and are interested in helping, or are just interested in helping (you don’t really have to run), please e-mail me at rabunc@mailbox.sc.edu. also, it would be cool if someone that can do awesome looking graphic design things could e-mail me to. i need some help with fliers and such. :-)