Living He loved me
Dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
O Glorious Day!
Paintings of Mark 4:35-41
Ludolf Backhuyse -
Christ in Storm on Sea of Galilee
Rembrant - Christ in the Storm
Here's the interview with Rick Warren:
http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=492
Summary Version:
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.
We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.
The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.
We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.
Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.
And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems:
If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is “my problem, my issues, my pain.” But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD." 
John Wesley’s own experience with the Morovians Christians
John and his brother Charles were sent by the Church of England as missionaries to Georgia, in the American colony. On board ship, while sailing to America, he saw a group of German Moravians who were unafraid of a great storm that nearly destroyed the ship. John himself was terrified by the storm. But those German Christians sang songs and had no fear. This impressed him greatly.
John failed as a missionary in Georgia. During this time he realized that he had never been truly converted. As he left Georgia for a return trip to England he knew he had failed. He wrote in his Journal, “I went to America to convert the Indians; but O! who shall convert me? Who shall deliver me from this heart of unbelief? O, who will deliver me from the fear of death?”
When he got back to London John Wesley met Peter Bohler, a member of the group of German Moravians who had impressed him with their courage during that storm at sea. Peter Bohler instructed him in how to experience conversion. The counselling of Bohler and his readings from Luther’s commentary on Galatians, which emphasized justification by faith in Christ alone, prepared him for true conversion.
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society [Bible study group] in Aldersgate, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while [Luther] was describing the change which God works in the heart though faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and had saved me from the law of sin and death.”
Story of Joseph Scriven
In 1875, Mr Ira Sanskey, Moody’s famous gospel singer, was in the midst of compiling the very first Gospel hymn book, came across a hymn in a pamphlet of Sunday School hymns. The completed manuscript was already in the hands of the publisher but he liked the hymn so much, he added the hymn at the very last minute. The composer of the hymn’s tune was his good friend, Mr Charles Converse and they thought the writer of the lyrics belong to a Scottish minister by the name of Horatius Bonar.
But it was years later that they discovered Pr Bonar was not the author but another person by the name of Joseph Scriven. Joseph was an Irishman born in Dublin in the year 1820 and was educated in Trinity college in his home city. In due time, he was to be engaged to a beautiful lady and on the eve of their wedding, she died in an accidental drowning. As a result of that, he became a Christian in his sorrows. Shortly after at the age of 25, he decided to migrate to Canada where he settled. While there, he was engaged to another lady and just before their wedding, she too became ill with pneumonia and died. Heartbroken he never married and but devoted his life in serving the poor and needy.
When he was 35 in the year 1855, he wrote a poem to comfort his mother in Ireland during a difficult period of her life. It was entitled “Pray without Ceasing.” He never told anyone about it but his mother gave a copy of that poem to someone and it ended up in the Sunday school pamphlet. When he was dying at the age of 66, a neighbour who was visiting him saw this poem on a table by his bed and he asked him “Are you the author of this lovely hymn?” Joseph replied: “The Lord and I did it together.” It was then the author of this famous hymn was eventually discovered and known throughout the world after he died.
WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit
O what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations!
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he’ll take and shield thee;
Thou wilt find a solace there.
