Margaret’s Song

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  There was a king in Thule,  True even to the grave;  To whom his dying mistress  A golden beaker gave.  At every feast he drained it,  Naught was to him so dear,  And often as he drained it,  Gush’d from his eyes the tear.  When death came, unrepining  His cities o’er he told;  All to his heir resigning,  Except his cup of gold.  With many a knightly vassal  At a royal feast sat he,  In yon proud hall ancestral,  In his castle o’er the sea.  Up stood the jovial monarch,  And quaff’d his last life’s glow,  Then hurled the hallow’d goblet  Into the flood below.  He saw it splashing, drinking,  And plunging in the sea;  His eyes meanwhile were sinking,  And never again drank he. “Margaret’s Song” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) in “Faust. Part I.”

Life Rocks

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Last week was the opening of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” (and with that statement I hereby join the millions who are spending this next part of their lives realizing how much harder it will be to rationalize sin). Last week was also our World Christian Week at Columbia International University (and with that identification I hereby declare my love for Christ Jesus and desire to be obedient to raise up disciples to Him).

We heard Dr. Ramesh Richard speak last week on “God’s Heart: My Role” and he opened our University WCW Missions Conference by speaking on three big things we need to keep before us: Passion, Mission and Vision. The first of which actually had nothing to do with the movie; although Providentially blends my thoughts together here. Go here for the whole message: Life Rocks

Dr. Richard helped us with understanding Passion by simply asking: “What do you get excited about? What do you love so much you would die for it? What have you set your heart on ?” He described how our heart is made for one passion, and only one passion and that anything other than this one passion causes stress and tension in life.

Our one passion should be to simply love Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul --the rest will run over onto our neighbor. If we miss out on loving Him rightly, we will love all else wrongly.

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