Like a dog drags his chain...

"Don't get caught up in the trap of neurotic guilt. 'Christ died for your sins!' Your sins have been imputed to Christ if you have trusted him and his righteousness has been imputed to you. To drag around your sins like a dog drags his chain, is to disregard the salvation of the Lord. Let not this commandment be like a chain, but like a challenge -- a word from your dear heavenly Father urging you to obedience and to 'a life worthy of the gospel.'

Your Father speaks to you. Can you hear him? 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.' If you are sorry for things in your past: repent, believe the gospel of forgiveness and imputed righteousness, and get on with the matter at hand in your calling as a child of the Kingdom of God, trusting in him and representing him in the various connections and relationships of your life!" - Dr. Dan Orme

"A New Lifestyle" by James Tate

"Eight O'Clock Coffee, 1935" by Ralph Steiner

People in this town drink too much
coffee. They're jumpy all the time. You
see them drinking out of their big plastic
mugs while they're driving. They cut in
front of you, they steal your parking places.
Teenagers in the cemeteries knocking over
tombstones are slurping café au lait.
Recycling men hanging onto their trucks are
sipping espresso. Dogcatchers running down
the street with their nets are savoring
their cups of mocha java. The holdup man
entering a convenience store first pours
himself a nice warm cup of coffee. Down
the funeral parlor driveway a boy on a
skateboard is spilling his. They're so
serious about their coffee, it's all they
can think about, nothing else matters.
Everyone's wide awake but looks incredibly
tired.

Photography of Willy Ronis.

Le Petit Parisien, 1952 (This is my favorite one.)

To School, 1959

Vincent Sleeping, 1946

Prague, 1967

Aubagne, 1947

Venise Fondamenta Nueva, 1959

Nuit au chalet, 1935

Le Vigneron Giroudin, 1945

La Ciotat, 1947

To learn more about the French photographer Willy Ronis, click here or here. Isn't he great?

it is likely God is testing your faith

"Is there here this morning, someone whose faith is being tested, right at this very time in your life? Is it a fear, or an internal disability? Is it something physical? Is it some great anxiety about the future? Does it have to do with a great loss in your life or with a conflict regarding another person? Is it something you have wanted for a long time, and now it seems that it is not to be in God's plan for your life? If you are a true Christian, it is likely that God is testing your faith --not to show it up as bogus faith, or weak faith, but as a means to growing that faith and of making that faith of yours into a matter of 'praise and glory and honor' to the Triune God." - Dr. Dan Orme