To Hate Sin and Love Holiness

"He shall save His people from their sins." — Matthew 1:21

Many persons, if they are asked what they understand by salvation, will reply, "Being saved from hell and taken to heaven." This is one result of salvation, but it is not one tithe of what is contained in that boon. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ does redeem all His people from the wrath to come; He saves them from the fearful condemnation which their sins had brought upon them; but His triumph is far more complete than this. He saves His people "from their sins." Oh! sweet deliverance from our worst foes. Where Christ works a saving work, He casts Satan from his throne, and will not let him be master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body. Sin will be in us--it will never be utterly expelled till the spirit enters glory; but it will never have dominion. There will be a striving for dominion--a lusting against the new law and the new spirit which God has implanted--but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of the tribe of Judah shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out. Professor! is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, He has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace which does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves His people, not in their sins, but from them. "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." If not saved from sin, how shall we hope to be counted among His people. Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honour my Saviour.

Charles Spurgeon

Whose respect do we live for?

What has been like water from the well of Bethlehem to you recently? Love, friendship, spiritual blessing? Then at the peril of your soul you take it to satisfy yourself. If you do, you cannot pour it out before the Lord. How am I to pour out spiritual gifts, or natural friendship, or love? How can I give them to the Lord? In one way only- in the determination of the mind, and that takes about two seconds. If I hold spiritual blessings or friendship for myself they will corrupt me, no matter how beautiful they are. I have to pour them out before the Lord, give them to Him in my mind, though it looks as if I am wasting them, even as David poured the water out on the sand, to be instantly sucked up.

The Birkman Method

I've been working at UCLA Anderson for over a year and a half now and recently my work-study job transformed into an "internship". I have exactly the same responsibilities but now we are no longer allowed to use facebook in the office.

my work place.
The annual budget for this particular office in Anderson is only about 7 million dollars. I know this because much like NBC's The Office, everyone can hear everything, including the things we don't wish to hear. I don't work with the accounting or sales department so I don't know how much a week's worth of lectures cost, but I do know the cost of some other expenses; One example: before the recession hit the office used to spend $1000 a week on coffee for the executives who attend our programs. At one point we even had a Starbucks coffee machine... My emphasis here being, executives will shovel over thousands just to have a corporate experience. (I still can't get over it. $1000 bucks for coffee. My god)

But here's something interesting (still expensive), all the executives who attend programs also get to take $475 personality tests called The Birkman Method. Look it up if you're curious. It's a 250 question test that takes about 45 minutes and results in a 68 page spread of analysis on effective behavioral style, organizational focus, interests, stress triggors, etc. Basically, a person who takes the test can find out their strengths and weaknesses in relation to working for a company.
Every week I print dozens of results and prepare them for program participants. Last week, the office had all the interns take them too.

In the test, people result in 1 of 4 categories/colors.

Expediting - Doers (Operations/Technology)
Communicating - Talkers (Sales/Marketing)
Administrating - Counters (Admin Fiscal)
Planning - Thinkers (Design/Strategy)



I am still awaiting my $475 results.

5000 Calories in a day

The Superbowl did not let down this year.

Highlights

• Harrison passing out in the endzone after making the longest sprint of his life

"Why is Harrison down? Did he fall on his neck?"
"No he's just fat and out of breath"
The Steelers switch from defense line to an offensive caravan was crazy too.

• Anquan Boldin's 45-yd catch. Nothing special I guess. I'm just a fan. (The few times I watched Monday night football this year, key word being few, I was watching the Cardinals because of him. No juggernaut action displayed in this game though)

• My favorite: Bruce Springsteen slamming his crotch into the stage camera during halftime
  

• Warner's pass to Fitzgerald in the 4th quarter (9:00) even though Fitzgerald had 6 guys on him. Warner really didn't want to pass to anyone else.

• And of course Holmes' impressive touchdown completion, oddly resembling Ray Lewis' ballet stunts from the Sobe Lean commercial a few minutes before. The pass was more impressive than the catch though.

Anyways. I only got one hour of sleep last night. I stayed up studying for a midterm, writing a paper, and then at 5am this morning, I had to go into my work to help out with mid-year inventory. Here's where I'll begin to document my calorie intake.

5am: Blueberry Bagel with cream cheese
9am: McDonald's DELUXE Big Breakfast with Orange Juice and Coffee (Deluxe includes pancakes and bacon) (1000?)
4pm: Bacon-wrapped Downtown LA hot dog (600 calories?)
5pm: 2 Filet Mignon Sliders (At least 800 calories each) The guys at my church, including my pastor, are amazing chefs.
6pm: Sausage Penne Pasta
8pm: Slice of white birthday cake
10pm: Big Chill - Mocha Custard Fudge Frozen Yogurt with Gummi Bears

All this with my metabolic energy at Zero.

I normally don't eat this much but if someone offers me food I don't like to refuse. Especially if they've put in a lot of hard work. Like, my pastor - He bakes his own bread from scratch!

Anyways... I have an incredibly busy week but I won't let RESTAURANT WEEK go by without a taste.

http://www.dinela.com/restaurantweek/

Phillis Wheatley

On Being Brought from Africa to America (1773)

Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
Thatt there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neigher sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd and join the'angelic train.

- Phillis Wheatley

A year since.

April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008


I miss Heath!