Photo of the Week

Puerto Rico, 2007

What is consecration?

When I was in England I heard of a brother by the name of C. A. Coates. Someone once gave one of his books to the Queen of England. The Queen read the book and was helped by it. However, Coates had written eight books. When I was in England, I asked the British brothers, "Since Coates has eight books, why would he not give the other seven books to the Queen?'' The brothers did not say anything. They acted as if I had said something wrong. Later, I asked some other people and learned that a common English person could not give a book to the Queen. Even if you tried to give her a book, she might not necessarily accept it.

Consecration is God honoring us. It is not a favor we grant to God. Rather, it is God's acceptance of us and of our possessions. Hence, it is God's honor to us. We are not granting Him a favor; He is granting us a favor. For God to accept persons such as we is the greatest privilege He can grant to us. If I kneel before God and He sends a fire to consume the sacrifice, it is His favor to me in accepting my service. Man thinks that he is sacrificing himself by consecrating to God. Little does he realize that God's accepting him is His mercy. Why do we have to calculate so much? We have to learn to push our way through to serve Him, to crawl before Him, and to kneel before Him. A man should learn to humble himself before God. We are not begging you to go to God. Rather, you should beg to go to Him yourself.

(Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 3) Vol. 57: The Resumption of Watchman Nee's Ministry, Chapter 20, p. 205)

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

"How easy it is for us to make proposals, and how easy it is for us to act without prayer. How easy it is for us to develop confidence apart from God. God had to touch our natural life in a drastic way; He has to break apart our natural life and show us that we can do nothing by ourselves. From that day on, we will be lane men. Being lame does not mean that we cannot walk; rather, it means that every time we walk, we realize our weakness and our lameness. This is a common trait of all men who know God." - Watchman Nee.

Sent from my iPhone

Dana Point Harbor

About the Sea

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can."


"Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?- Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster- tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?"


(Moby Dick, chapter 1)

yes these are nachos

Venice Beach, LA

Quote of the Week

"I would like to say a word to the young people who have the heart to serve the Lord full-time. I must tell you that hardships await you and that there is no future for you on earth. You will have nothing earthly on which to rely for your security and for your human living. You may feel that you will be very useful to God, but in the end you will be ashes. Everyone wants to be somebody, but if you would serve the Lord Jesus full-time, you must prepare yourself to be nobody, even to be ashes. Are you willing to be burned? To be burned to ashes is a matter not of enjoyment but of suffering. The destiny of a full-timer is a life of suffering. What is offered to God as a burnt offering must be on the place of burning, not on the place of anything glorious or high. Eventually, the outcome of such a life, a life of suffering, a life without a future and without security, will be a heap of ashes." 

- Witness Lee, Life-study of Leviticus.

The National plays D.C.

Hip and somewhat upbeat, with somber lyrics and Leonard Cohen vocals. This is an old favorite: The National. Take a listen, and tell me what you think about the last piece on the set, it's "About Today."

What is the church?

In the past all the churches tried to invite gifted co-workers to work, preach the gospel, and edify their saints. But I would ask a question: What is the church? The church is where everyone rises up to serve. The church is not just a few people like Witness Lee, Watchman Nee, and Peace Wang. Only when the entire Body rises up is there the church. The church is the Body of Christ, and everyone is useful. We should never think that we have the church as long as we have a wooden table to conduct the Lord's table or that we have the church as long as we have a few strong members. The church involves all the material, that is, all the one-talented ones coming together to serve. Not everyone has to be like Brother Lee before he can be a piece of material. The church is not a conglomeration of five-talented ones; it is not a corporation of two-talented ones. It is a Body composed mainly of one-talented ones. When men like you and I come together to serve, we have the church. When all the one-talented ones are coordinated together, that will be a potent force. Only by serving this way will we have a strong church.

You should not put your hope on better and stronger ones coming to join you. You can gospelize the place where you are with the number you have now. In a strong church a great evangelist would be treated just like one of the brothers. Suppose there is a church with two or three hundred people. There may not be any five-talented and two-talented ones. Perhaps all the saints are one-talented ones. You may think that something is lacking, but if all these so-called "untalented" ones would coordinate together, God would have a way to go on. Never think that you are too short. A person like yourself is more than qualified. I believe that the age of giants is over in the church life. Perhaps in the next generation, the so-called "giants" that we have now will disappear altogether. Today is the end time forgiants. What God wants today is the service of the whole Body. Today God forbids any member from becoming too strong. What He wants is a strong church.

(Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 3) Vol. 62: Matured Leadings in the Lord's Recovery (2), Chapter 2, Section 4)