The Na String Ensemble dressed in our Morning Whites.


C.J. Mahaney - The Troubled Soul: God's Word and Our Feelings - Psalm 42
"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me continually, 'Where is your God?' ...Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God."

-I am the most influential person in my life, because no one talks to me more than I do. How faith-driven and Christ-centered is the conversation that I have with me every day?
(Good Read: Instruments in the Redeemer's Hand by Paul Tripp)

-Troubled souls cannot be trusted and our circumstances often lie to us.

-God hasn't forgotten the Psalmist, the Psalmist has forgotten God. So he reminds himself.
"Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him..."

-Search for scriptures that carry promises for my situation, and then bring them to God. God intended His promises to be used. He delights in keeping them.



Luke, Nikki, and Shelly dressed in their Evening Pinks.
The guys thought it was funny until a little girl saw them in the elevator and shouted, "Look! They match!"


Eric Simmons - What's the Point?: Growing in Vision for Diligent Study

-The Scriptures reveal Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches me about Christ and salvation, and gives me inexhaustible ways to see and know Him. Does that excite me?

-The Scriptures give life. They are God-breathed. And when God breaths life happens.

-The Scriptures equip us for God's mission. I have a part to play. The call is sobering, humbling, and demands equipping.

-"Don't settle for a life that's not blowing up. Diligently search the Scriptures."



The single ladies of Crossway in their Traveling/Airport Clothes.


John Piper - Fighting for Faith with God's Word

- "The fight is a mortal fight to the death... If you stop swimming you go backward, you don't stay at your level of sanctification."

- The fight for faith is a fight for joy, for treasuring and being satisfied in Christ.
1) Joy = Faith (2 Cor. 1:24)
2) Receiving = Believing that Jesus is my Savior from Hell and that He saved me to love, know, and embrace Him (John 1:12)
3) Believing = Coming to Christ so as to satisfy soul-thirst (John 6:35)
4) Conversion = Stumbling on the treasure wich is King Christ and finding Him so valuable that everything else can be sold and you have everything you need (Matthew 13:44)
5) Believing = Enjoying Christ

- I cannot make progress until I believe that God is not 99% for me, but 100%. Whatever happens, He is not against me.

- Have a time, place, and plan for my reading of the Word. If I can't focus, write it out.
"There are more eyes on a pencil than you know."


Crossway shuttling back to the airport.
(Erin's knee, Joel's back, Shelly, Shelly's apple, Luke, Dave's arm... just to clarify)


Here we are staying hydrated and well versed in Bach while waiting for our delayed flight.
By the end of the weekend I had almost enough change for a coffee from Dunkin Donuts.


And here we are again, proving that waiting on a runway for three hours can be fun and relaxing even when you have to work twelve hours or play in a viola recital the next day.

The shuttle pulled us to the port
where all the planes were landing.
Our spirits high, soon downcast were
while at the Check-in standing.
The aid announced our flight was not
just as we had been wanting;
With plane delayed, connection lost
the future seemed quite daunting.
Half hour past, and then at last
were made arrangements needed,
but not 'til after headaches rose
was everything completed.
Complete you say? Why not at all!
The fun was just beginning.
Our group was split, our tickets vague,
it seemed we were not winning.

Perhaps I'll skip to takeoff time
about an hour after.
Sandwiched in with businessmen
our trials soon brought laughter.
A storm was raging on and on,
the clouds were thick with doom.
Enroute so long- we could not land-
I used the bathing room.
Circled Newark's airport did our
plane with all it's inmates.
"No landing here 'til traffic clears!"
Said Newark fearing our fate.
We then touched down in Allentown
to fill and wait the rain.
The businessmen, dismayed, by then
would miss their Dublin plane.

Our next flight came. We fin'ly went,
though foodless, through the gate.
We boarded, then they spread the news,
"We have three hours' wait."
I thought then of that Phili Guy
whose frisbee hard had hit me,
"He's prob'ly home in bed by now...
I can't believe he hit me!!!"
And then I thought of all those friends
(remember, we'd been split)
Their flight had landed close to ten,
"And now at home they sit!"
But surely life had ended not!
To keep from feeling blue
We watched the steward do his act
and clapped when he was through.
We joked around and pictures took,
ate peanuts for our meal,
And midnight came and went before
my mom heard luggage wheels.

Last August I received a gift card to Barnes and Noble. None of the Barnes and Noble locations near our house are actually near our house, so I waited. But as April is really the opportune time to use gift cards given to one August, my parents, sister and I piled into the car last night after dinner and made it a family outing.
Upon arrival I headed straight for the CD section ("I need that Tchaikovsky String Serenade in C! If not that, then Schubert Quartets might be nice, or maybe Beethoven. Yeah, Beethoven!"), coming out roughly 45 minutes later empty-handed. (When it comes to music and books and the use of gift cards, speedshopping has never worked, and I don't think it ever will.) So, since I really have no shortage of reading material and journals, and therefore, don't need to buy any, I rushed to the bargain section. (Never underestimate the power of a good bargain section.)
My final decision that evening, made in only a few minutes' time, consited of two journal-type hardcover notebooks (Their's something about unused white paper that inspires me to be a better person.) and The Complete Sherlock Holmes, goldleafed and bound in "Genuine Leather Blah Blah Blah" (Well, everyone needs one!).
I almost bought a set of three colorful magnet bookmarks with cartoon bugs on them. But I didn't.
And that about raps things up.



"Great Is The Lord" by Starfield

If all I've done, at last should come to nothing
And all I love, like sand be washed away
Still I will sing of Your unfailing glory
On bended knee, I'll lift my voice and say

Great is the Lord, Great is Your name
Til my last breath I will proclaim
Great is the Lord, Great is Your name
I give my life to sing Your praise

If you should speak, or should remain in silence
Should give me light, or lead me through the dark
Whatever the cost, whatever joy or sorrow
I'll worship still, because of who You are

When death becomes the end of all my labors
And Christ alone my rest and reward
May all I've done be one enduring echo
Resounding on to shout, Great is the Lord