Hallelujah Chorus: Food Court Flash Mob Version

Grand Canyon

Another trip! Here are a few pictures from our Grand Canyon adventure!



Grand Canyon - day 1
South Rim Entrance - Visitor Center - Hopi Point

Grand Canyon - day 2
South Rim Entrance - Yaki Point - Desert View - Lipan Point - Tusayan Ruin and Museum - Moran Point - Grandview Point - Yavapai Point - Hopi Point

Grand Canyon - day 3
South Rim Entrance - Yavapai Point - Grandview Point - rained out!

Remembering Today

Today is a day to remember the Moms, Dad, Wives, Husbands, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts, Uncles, Nieces, Nephews. The list just seems endless. We remember all that were lost that day nine years ago.

We also remember all that have put themselves in harms way to protect us. Thank you.

Also see I Remember, Eleven Tears and In Remembrance

Yellowstone - Grand Teton

We'll update throughout our trip!



Yellowstone - day 1
Yellowstone West Entrance - Madison - Old Faithful

Yellowstone - day 2
Yellowstone West Entrance - Madison - Norris - Canyon Village - Tower Roosevelt - (Pebble Creek) - Mammoth Hot Springs

Yellowstone - day 3
Yellowstone West Entrance - Madison - Norris - Canyon Village - Fishing Bridge / Lake Village

Yellowstone / Grand Teton - day 4
Yellowstone West Entrance - Madison - Old Faithful - West Thumb - Grant Village - Yellowstone South Entrance - Grand Teton National Park

Grace Is a Story and Grace Is a Gift

This is an amazing blog post!

Do you understand the majesty and practicality of the grace you have been given? If you don't, in subtle and not so subtle ways, you are looking to other things to get you through. You don't need to go out searching for hope and help, because they are already yours in the resources of grace that you have been given as God's child.

Grace is the most transformational word in the Bible. The entire content of the Bible is a narrative of God's grace, a story of undeserved redemption. By the transformational power of his grace, God unilaterally reaches his hands into the muck of this fallen world, through the presence of his Son, and radically transforms his children from what we are (sinners) into what we are becoming by his power (Christ-like). The famous Newton hymn uses the best word possible, maybe the only word big enough, for that grace—amazing.

So grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God's character and it is your only hope. Grace is a transforming tool and a state of relationship. Grace is a beautiful theology and a wonderful invitation. Grace is a life-long experience and a life-changing calling. Grace will turn your life upside down while giving you a rest you have never known. Grace will require you to face your unworthiness without ever making you feel unloved.

Grace will make you finally acknowledge that you cannot earn God's favor, and it will once and for all remove your fear of not measuring up to his standards. Grace will humble you with the fact that you are much less than you thought you were, even as it assures you that you can be far more than you had ever imagined. You can be sure that grace will put you in your place without ever putting you down.

Grace will enable you to face shocking truths about yourself that you have hesitated to consider, while freeing you from being self-consciously introspective. Grace will confront you with profound weaknesses, and at the same time bless you with new-found strength. Grace will tell you again and again what you aren't, while welcoming you again and again to what you can now be. Grace will make you as uncomfortable as you have ever been, while offering you a more lasting comfort than you have never before known .

Grace will work to drive you to the end of yourself, while it invites you to fresh starts and new beginnings. Grace will dash your ill-founded hopes, but never walk away and leave you hopeless. Grace will decimate your little kingdom of one as it introduces you to a much, much better King. Grace will expose to you the extent of your blindness as it gives you eyes to see what you so desperately need to see. Grace will make you sadder than you have ever been, while it gives you greater cause for celebration than you have ever known.

Grace enters your life in a moment and will occupy you for eternity. You simply cannot live a productive life in this broken-down world unless you have a practical grasp of the grace you have been given.

Are you living out of this amazing grace? Does it shape the way you respond to your personal struggles, your relationships, and your work? Does your trust in this grace form how you live with your husband or wife? Does it propel the way you parent your children? Does it give you comfort when friends have disappointed you? Does it give you rest when life is unpredictable and hard? Does it make you bold and give you courage in places where you would have once been timid? Does it make the idols that tempt you less attractive and less powerful? Do you wake up and say, "I don't know what I will face today, but this I do know: I have been given amazing grace to face it right here, right now."

May God help you to understand and rest in the grace that you have been given!

Paul David Tripp is the president of Paul Tripp Ministries, a nonprofit organization, whose mission statement is "Connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life." Paul is an international conference speaker, Pastor (Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA), seminary professor (Redeemer Seminary, Dallas, TX), Executive Director of the Center for Pastoral Life and Care, and the author of many books.

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Forsaking All Other ... Social Media

Oh blog, do you feel forsaken for Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare?

Farewell Flight of the Concorde

So after more than a year of the Chrysler Concorde needing continuous repair for some cable-munching rodent and other unrelated repairs, it was time. In addition, I'm not even sure how long the heat and the air conditioning haven't been working.

So this is the new used vehicle that has come to live with Brian & Ellie. We hope it will treat us as well as the Chrysler Concorde has that we just donated to 2C8 today!

Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!

Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day,
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then
Nailed to a cross of wood.

This the pow'r of the cross.
Christ became sin for us,
Took the blame, bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Oh to see my name written in the wounds,
For through your suff'ring, I am free.
Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live,
Won through your selfless love!

This the pow'r of the cross.
Christ became sin for us,
Took the blame, bore the wrath.
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Do This in Remembrance of Me

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Luke 22:19-20

This Takes Cow Tipping to a Whole New Level

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Gospel is For Christians

Of course Christians, more than any other, should realize how much we need continually the gospel. Although, I think we are sometimes the first to forget that.

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot ever be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be trust as long as we live. Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing; nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter, no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in behavior may be. It is always on His “blood and righteousness” alone that we can rest. ~B.B. Warfield
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We Aren't in the Mid-Atlantic Anymore, Toto!

How I would love to report that this equipment was clearing out our street, and along the curb and driveway. Alas, I had to come to the upper Midwest to see scenes likes this. I believe it's just taunting us now.

If You're Reading This Post, Please Send a Plow!

This truck has been stuck in the snow on the street up from our house for at least an hour. Why? BECAUSE WE STILL HAVEN'T SEEN A PLOW ON OUR STREET! Yes, six days from the first storm, and counting.

Blizzard Encore

With today's white-out, comes a a century old record!

AS OF 2 PM TODAY...WITH THE 9.8 INCH TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL MEASUREDAT RONALD REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT...THE SEASONAL SNOWFALLTOTAL IN WASHINGTON DC STANDS AT 54.9 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THEPREVIOUS ALL-TIME SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD FOR WASHINGTON DC OF 54.4INCHES SET IN THE WINTER OF 1898-99. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FORWASHINGTON DC DATE BACK 126 YEARS TO 1884.

It's great to have a husband who likes to drive in the snow!

Flag at the Navy Memorial
View from my office
View down Pennsylvania Ave toward the Capitol Constitution Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue

Dump trucks waiting to haul snow on Pennsylvania Ave

Lovin' the Snow!

The official snow totals reported at Reagan National Airport: the top 10 snowstorms:

1. 28.0", Jan 27-28, 1922
2. 20.5", Feb 11-13, 1899
3. 18.7", Feb 18-19, 1979
4. 17.8" Feb 5-6, 2010 (Snowmageddon)
5. 17.1", Jan 6-8, 1996
6. 16.7", Feb 15-18, 2003
7. 16.6", Feb 11-12, 1983
8. 16.4", Dec 19-20, 2009 (Snowpocalypse)
9. 14.4", Feb 15-16, 1958
10. 14.4", Feb 7, 1936

Here are the snow totals at the airports for the storm, with their seasonal snowfall totals:

DCA: 17.8"/45.1"
BWI: 24.8"/60.4"
IAD: 32.4"/63.5"

Two storms in one season in the top ten, that's pretty impressive. Also, National Airport is almost always on the low-end for snow reports in our area. In both of this year's storms, the totals were closer to 24 inches where we live.

Digging out the fire truck that got stuck right in front of our house.
Minimal melting so far.Walk in the neighborhood.

Sunny with more snow on Tuesday.

"Snowmaggedon"

Snow has ended: 23 inches (View out the front door)

Front of the House: 22.5 inches Shoveling #4: 22.5 inches Shoveling #4: 22.5 inches

Backyard at 22.5 inches:

Backyard at 22 inches:Backyard at 19.5 inches: 19 inches: Backyard at 7 inches:

"Snowpocalypse"

Point Of Know Return

I love this commercial

White Deer in Wisconsin