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I woke to the glorious strains of “Were It Not For Grace” the title track of a wonderful CD by Tara and Nicole Riddell.

“Were it not for grace
I can tell you where Id be
Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere
With my salvation up to me
I know how that would go
The battles I would face
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace.”

During my morning devotions, God was gracious and granted me rich insight into some personal struggles. Then I read a prayer, “The Mover”, in the book “The Valley of Vision”:

O Lord, I am astonished at the difference

   between my receivings and my deservings,

   between the state I am now in and my past

      gracelessness,

   between the heaven I am bound for and

      the hell I merit.

And later in the prayer:

Let wrath deserved be written on the door of hell,

But the free gift of grace on the gate of heaven.

…

Grant me to attain this haven and be done

   with sailing,

and may the gales of thy mercy blow me safely

   into harbour.

Let thy love draw me nearer to thyself,

   wean me from sin, mortify me to this world,

   and make me ready for my departure hence.

Secure me by thy grace as I sail across this

   Stormy sea.

Ah, the Puritans were so insightful.

Were it not for grace, I would be hell-bound, a miserable wretch receiving the just due of my sins. But, God be praised, thanks to grace I can look forward to a Rest I have no earthly right to, I can defeat Sin that was once my master, and I can live in victory through Christ.

All because of grace.

–Douglas MacArthur

America has been on this track for 50+ years. At this point, we must be reaching critical mass. Ultimately, each of us individually is responsible to make a collective difference. What will you choose?

Our responsibility, as I see it, is two-fold:

A) Pursue a spiritual awakening aggressively, starting with our own hearts and minds. We need to be in fellowship with God and immersed in His Scriptures. I would also suggest getting acquainted with the writings of great men of the faith from past spiritual awakenings—starting with Jonathan Edwards, who I believe to be very relevant for this generation.

B) Prepare for a national disaster. Should one occur during our lifetimes, it will provide a wonderful opportunity to minister to the needs of others. Obviously, organizations like the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are wonderful tools for this, but you should also consider getting advanced training in survival, emergency medicine, self-defense, disaster counseling, and so forth. I would consider this a priority for every young man.

From: Doug’s Blog: The Return of Ballantyne the Brave

I speak specifically to the design of the document. It’s clearly inefficient in its purpose to communicate the assessment of threats against the United States. While a better designed document might not save the world, I believe it would help the President (Bush or otherwise) to quickly and more effectively assess the information given to him.

Read the rest at: Airbag – A Better Tighty Whitey.

The Challenge of Effective Presentation

I think he makes several good points. What is particularly challenging, however, is preparing reports/briefs/memos in such a way as to highlight truly important information — making them easily scannable.Things like paragraph separation, indentation, lists, and formatting can make a difference.This is quite a challenge! Add to this that users don’t expect this presentation, thus the design must be such that it grabs their attention.Case Study

On one of the projects I was working on today, I needed about three decisions from my supervisor before moving forward. I assembled a memo with a couple pages of background data and handed it to him. He scanned the first page, without resting particularly on any item, then flipped to the back page. For both pages of data, he had to take a couple seconds to establish context. Finally he flipped back to the front, figured out what I was needing, asked me several questions, discussed some options and then made a decision.How could I have streamlined this process?

• By more clearly indicating what I needed.
• By providing context.
• Through better identification of background information.

Essentially, I should guide the reader through the thought flow/decision process. This is challenging because it requires intent focus on both the design/presentation factor and on what is actually said or written.

Formatting Flow

The author must map the thought process they want to instigate, and then create a document that sets off this process.A lot of this has to do with eye movement—on a single page, the eye will naturally follow a “Z” from the top right to top left to bottom right to bottom left.A designer can control the eyes through formatting elements. A break in the rhythm grabs eyes, dominant elements grab eyes, and continuing elements direct them. Through careful use of these principles, it should be possible to direct eyes where I want them to go—to the most important information.

Making Sense of Information

So, then, what is the important information in this case? I believe that it consists of the following, in more or less this order of importance:1.      Document meta: From, To, Date, etc. This enables the recipient to quickly assess whether or not it is relevant.2.      The context; i.e., “Here is the situation, remember our previous discussion, here is what has changed since then, etc.”3.      The data supporting your conclusion (in a summary form).4.      The decisions that need made.This information must then be presented in a creative manner that is straightforward and directs attention to what is important. I’ve come up with a memo template in Word that accomplishes this fairly well. There are two versions you can download:

•  example_memo.pdf

• example-memo.doc 

Please, comment on how you can see improving these. I see a couple limitations right off of the bat: 1)These are limited to decision-request memos; surely there are dozens of other situations possible; 2) This works well for a single page memo, but what happens when the information requires multiple pages? 

• God promises a radical deliverance of Israel (vs. 1)
• God reaffirms His covenant (vs. 2-8)
  He affirms His authority (“I AM”), He reviews the history of the covenant, He expresses His reaction to Israel’s bondage, and He promises deliverance—through His covenant promises.
• Moses tells this to Israel as the word of the Lord. (vs. 9)
• Israel rejects it. Why? Because of:

a)      their broken spirits

b)      their harsh slavery.

I find this intriguing. The Psalms are full of phrases like, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Ps 34:18) and “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Ps 51:17).

The problem, I believe, comes in their discouragement. They wanted to believe that God would save them. When Moses first spoke to them (Ex 4:29-31), their reaction was belief and worship. And the result? Their hardship and suffering increased (Ex 5). So, it is understandable that they would reject God when He spoke a second time.

Ultimately, then, it must be God and God alone who saves them.

This has several implications, especially for counseling: When I’m counseling someone, it must be God who delivers them. I can’t, they can’t, only God. My role, then, is somewhat akin to a prophet: I must deliver God’s word of promise to them. They can accept it or reject it—ultimately God will deliver. This underscores the importance of intercessory prayer in counseling.

See also 2 Timothy 2:24-26 and Mark 9:14-29.

He has allowed me to pursue my passion in ministry as part of an exciting program with an inestimable impact.

He has provided me with excellent food and a great room 5 minutes from my desk.

He has equipped me with tools, experience and skills uniquely adapted for the work I do.

He has blessed me far beyond the simple “expected” necessities of life…where do I even begin? A nice office with a great view, a fast computer, 2 large, gorgeous desks, a vehicle, a cell phone; so much…

I love God because of who He is; because He loved me and regenerated me. That God would see fit to bestow such blessings on me blows my mind; it makes me aware of my responsibilities in return.

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/daily.light/?date=2007-05-30

Particularly meaningful for me is a verse in the middle of the passage: “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”

One of my major struggles this year has been trusting that God’s ways are best. Our culture tells me that I, as a 20-year-old young man, should be going to college, getting a career started, getting a gf and/or a wife, amassing fun and toys. God tells me I should be working at a ministry, foregoing the accolades and the accomplishments and the activities that mark the “wide way.” In a way, I am laboring for “enduring food” — my “wages” are in heaven.

The reality is that I have been called to this ministry and others are called to other things—careers, college, marriage. We are to be diligent to make our calling and election sure. (Of course, this verse has a lot of depth; I won’t unpack it here). We live in a war, not in a blessed paradise (yet). Therefore, we must seek to fight this fight, to run this race in such a way as to win the prize. I would challenge you: Are striving for the Kingdom of God? Are you violently seeking His Kingdom first?

Each Saturday, we had a detailed inspection and then were “thrashed” for failing (The standard of passing was extremely high, and things as small as having dust on top of the doors or having your socks folded the wrong way or having a speck of dirt on your boots would be cause for failing). These thrashings involved intense physical exercise to the point of muscle failure. This particular Saturday, I was standing “at ease” by my bunk awaiting the inevitable pain when I pulled out my pocket NT and started reading in Phillipians.

God spoke to me through Phillipians 3:10: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” This verse sustained me through that thrashing that afternoon and on through the rest of Basic.

Recently, God has challenged my relationship with God to go deeper–to go to a level of intimacy, of experience, of really knowing.

Alex & Brett Harris wrote a great article on this subject at The Rebelution. In it, they say:

“As Christians—as rebelutionaries—we must never be content with simply having a relationship with our Savior. Is it growing? Do we delight to talk to Him? Do we hunger to read His Word?…Do I value the promised gift of sweeter communion with my Savior? Then let me demonstrate it by seeking after Him with my whole heart, through constant prayer and meditation on His Word. It will be hard, but it will be good. And someday I’ll be able to say, without a moment’s hesitation, that I have known my God.”

Read the whole article at The Rebelution: To Say, I Have Known God

– John Angell James,  in A Young Man’s Guide through Life to Immortality, 15th ed.

The copy I’m reading was published in Birmingham, England in 1880.