Thanks for looking at my bimonthly blog. With great excitement, much planning is being done for a new church plant which will commence in August, 2009… but that has led to a concommitent decrease in thoughts on practical grace.

Which is a bit grevious… my continued walking as a Christian in the depths of Christ, who he is, what he has done and continues to do for us, is both the theme of this site and the single greatest component of my insignificant life.

I was stopped in my tracks last week by this beautiful little book from C.J. Mahaney, titled The Cross Centered Life. It is a small gift book, only 85 pages, but it was wonderfully refreshing. Here is one of his illustrations, along with a few excellent quotes.

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C.J. Mahaney: “On Monday, Alice bought a parrot. It didn’t talk, so the next day she returned to the pet store. “He needs a ladder,” she was told. She bought a ladder, but another day passed and the parrot still didn’t say a word. “How about a swing?” the clerk suggested. So Alice bought a swing. The next day, a mirror. The next day, a miniature plastic tree. The next day, a shiny parrot toy. On Sunday morning, Alice was standing outside the pet store when it opened. She had the parrot cage in her hand and tears in her eyes. Her parrot was dead. “Did it ever say a word?” the store owner asked.

“Yes,” Alice said through her sobs. “Right before he died, he looked at me and asked, ‘Don’t they sell any food at that pet store?'”

Just as no amount of parrot-cage amentities can make up for a lack of parrot food, nothing can replace the gospel in a Christian’s life. Without it our souls will become like Alice’s pet — starving in a crowded cage.” (The Cross Centered Life, 18-19)

D. A. Carson, on Paul: “He cannot long talk about Christian joy, or Christian ethics, or Christian fellowship, or the Christian doctrine of God, or anything else, without finally tying it to the cross. Paul is gospel-centered; he is cross centered.” (The Cross & Christian Ministry, 38)

Sinclair Ferguson: “The evangelical orientation is inward and subjective. We are far better at looking inward than we are at looking outward. Instead, we need to expend our energies admiring, exploring, expositing and extolling Jesus Christ.”

Also Ferguson: “Our greatest temptation and mistake is to try to smuggle character into God’s work of grace.” (Know Your Christian Life, 73)

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May we continue to grow in the incredible grace and knowledge of our Savior!