enchantedengland:

   ”Country Seat” in the Lake District (Cumbria, England) Isn’t this a serendipitous place for a bench? It will be 36 C/ 95 F today and (as always) soul-swamping, oppressively muggy and I would do morally reprehensible things for a ticket to the Lake District. (AndyC_pics flickr)

1. After lightnings
2. peel of thunders
3. began to roll,
4. in the heavens.
5. And rain follows 
6. without restraint
7. to empty its
8. heavy dark clouds,
9. with drops of waters
10. impossible to count.
11. Men in ancient times
12. sees beauty in the rain
13. as they are wont
14. to other earthly
15. beauties of beneficent
16. nature, vouchsafed
17. of the gods as they
18. ignorantly do thought.

1. rocks of diamonds,
2. land of silks,
3. spices in India,
4. gold of Ophir,
5. stately horses in Egypt,
6. philosophers, poets, satirists, orators from Greek and Roman;
7. scroll or book of nature,
8. wisdom, knowledge, virtue, love, happiness;
9. lands, scepters, kingdoms, riches, treasures, estates;
10. gardens, orchards, villages;
11. world’s history,
12. art,
13. natural history.
14. These are the delights of the sons and daugthers of men (in ancient times).

1. winter rain drenched my skin
2. as softer water flows
3. beneath brownish and hairy skin
4. and with light it glows

1. music- soothe my ears with pleasant sound
2. art and beauty- do please and delight my eyes
3. woman- make a mellifluous song of love in my heart
4. work- make my idle hands engross
5. dish- do crave my appetite with dainty food 
6. perfume- my nose is spellbind and possessed
7. paper, pen, and ink-  incite my heart and brain to write
8. leisure time- bestir me to repose from my reading
9. amethyst hue- enchanted my eyes and heart with sparkling light
10. precious gems- the delight of the daughters of men
11. sun and moon and the stars- assigned for signs and seasons
12. mist and dew- the ones which adorns the morning leaves and flowers
13. summer- my skin is scorched with extreme heat
14. spring- best time to plough the seed
15. autumn- leaves are falling from its twigs and branches
16. winter- frosty ice, snow, and cold
17. ariel- in Heb. the lion of God.

A poet I am not,

But I won’t leave this place only with a dot.

Monstrous as an Oak tree shall I heighten

This dot for my Christ’s glory; and brighten

This a-long time barren heart with his love.

Sing, O goddess heart!

For like unto a dessert hart

Thou shalt leap hills upon hills,

Yea, Christ’ Holy Ghost would vouchsafe thee with skills.

I behest thee now with a thousand pleasant word,

To sing the joyful sound of Christ the Lord. -Ariel

“Hold I a quill of refined feathers

To engage my soul in my Father’s

Hymn of love and hymn of serenity.

Do I this to boost with pleasant amenity

My soul’s love to his Christ,

For this his beloved son is my prize

To eternity without  an end.

Christ did with love blend

His deity with his human nature,

That he for me may procure

An eternal life for my bliss.

Yea, did he human and divine kiss

Each other that a man like me

May thus  be a man of plea.” -Ariel

Readers,

Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied.

As a young man I am not interested in politics, though, inevitably I cannot evade politics from its prevailing influence as a citizen of this country. Nowadays politics has its black teeth gaping for government’s treasures. Gone are the days when the faithful leaders are truly pious; and the subjects of the ruling leaders were truly dependent upon the ability, wisdom, and piety of their noble characters as in the time of king David, king Solomon, and king Josiah. Few there are who truly lift up the banners of unfeigned desire for government’s reformation. When we take bird’s eye view politics will appear to us as poor as the urchin in his rag begging mercy for his food. Politics is now tainted with rampant corruption because of evil politicians. The once unblemished beauty of politics is now wrinkled, stained, and deformed. There must be a change of heart in a man; and only God can purge out those evil propensities in man before there can be a complete reformation in man’s government. I am neither a philosopher nor a theologian, but in point of divine and moral knowledge I am not ignorant of man’s and the world’s problem. I am well aware what is the problem of one’s country, and that is, sin: sin of covetousness, sin of greed, sin of pride, sin of false fame and honour, sin of excessive pursuing of worldly riches, sin of chasing after the higher position in the government, and the least could go on and on. Take this sin away from the heart of man and we will surely have a peaceful government in every corner of this world. Man’s heart is the problem. If God will not touch the heart of man with his grace, to remove the sting-sin, man will truly appear as miserable as the infidels and atheists of this world. And verily we cannot obtain the government we want to have, without God acting his powerful grace to change our leaders’ evil propensities, to the betterment of their ruled countries and subjects. Though I may here appear like a religious preacher, yet I am here telling you the truth that God must be the center of a leader; yea, all the highest leaders beneath heaven and above the earth like the Emperor, Monarch, Sovereign, President, King, Prince, etc. If you want to be more instructed read the copy of your holy Scripture in the book of Kings (first and second), there you’ll see how good and bad kings will appear to you. How a good king flourished in his kingdom of righteousness, and a bad king as well, as he flourished in his kingdom of wickedness. Also, read Samuel Rutherford’s Lex Rex or The Law and the Prince if you can have a copy of this masterpiece. There is not a country above the land of this groaning earth which is not corrupted with evil politicians. Witness Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, US, Philippines, Korea, Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Israel, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Chad, Turmenistan, Uzbekistan, Sudan, Myanmar,Democratic of Republic Congo, Guinea, Bangladesh, Equatorial Guinea, India, China, Russia, and Nigeria, to name a few. Lo! even the rogue countries are corrupted. Nay, we are so blind as the bat in noon-time day if we cannot admit it.The world is losing its pious, competent, abled, and learned leaders. What more can I say to this? We must pray for REVIVAL and REFORMATION in our country’s government if we want to have a better government (or as the ancient poet said, “who knows the gods in Parnassus will grant our humble prayers”). Without God stamped in the very foundation-heart of a leader his government will truly lead to corruption, yea, shall perish altogether with his ruled subjects. An organized and pious leader is truly a blessing to his beloved country and people. It is an ill to a country and its people to have a wicked king as its ruling power. As Rutherford excellently says, “It is no contradiction to assert that a King is a servant to his subjects.” President Aquino was right when he said, “I am your BOSS.” A truly enlightened leader will easily admit that he is a servant. All leaders must be a servant first before they can be a leader, otherwise they are not fit to lead the people. How can you lead other people when you yourself do not know how to lead. You must be a servant of your self first. Bear this in our heads. BUT, as if this “but” is a diamond rivet to fasten a two separate parcel of testament; this BUT I enjoined with man’s desire to be ruled first by God. A leader’s adage is this, “If God is for me, who can be against me?” Romans 8:31. Do all the morals and righteousnesses you can, and even gather those mountains of righteousnesses in the world with you, and yet without God your desire to have a preferred, excellent, improved, and exceptional government will ruin your whole building of government; it is as if you made a sand castle in the seashore, and when the waves arrived at the shore the entire sand castle was all flatted to the level. I think this may suffice to enlighten the reader. I bid you all farewell in the Lord with peace and love!

Yours always as servant in the Lord Christ, Ariel.

XCVIII.

To My Future Wife

My dearest love,

In God’s grace I humbly greet you with peace and love. Silence has long tarried with me. I was in this state restrained to speak with you for sometime. The worm-sin has its sting to make me dumb and deaf and blind in this grotto of silent-place. Christ’s wooing love was fenced with high-wall of my unrepented sins. His Father’s anger though blended with love divine appeared to me with bitterest taste of rebuke; my conscience still seared with hot coal of amber wickedness did make me a man of sorrow, nay, an Adam filled with soul-killing sins. My sins unrepented drowned me day and night with salty tears of affliction. I was as if all-born Ichabod, the glory has departed. No! the Spirit within me who was purchased by Christ’s precious blood for my sanctification, salvation, assurance, comfort, etc. cannot of himself leave me in the path of labyrinth sin of sin, and make me again a man of misery. Nay! it cannot be. Christ’s purchased love cannot be repented neither withdraw he his Holy Ghost as purchased guarantee of my redemption from all my deadly sins. Thus, my love, in this gloom of silence my mind was confounded by my sin of unbelief. Suffice this word to further increase the shameful remembrance of my wicked actions in this state of silence.

My heart, if you did commit sin against our heavenly Judge I encourage you to promptly made haste to come with shame, humility, repentance, and assurance of forgiveness to the throne of grace. We cannot obtain forgiveness, pardon, and justification upon the highest majesty of this world. The world’s supreme court is tainted with blunt of justice and deprived of true-saving divine knowledge. Our crowns in Christ cannot be fetched upon the highest pinnacle castle of this vain world. His Father does reserved them for us in our holy abode in the blissful Jerusalem above.

My love, I am a man slave to his lust, though, enlightened with moral and divine knowledge in Christ. Lust have been in my previous days the sovereign prince who ruled me with iron hand like that of Rehobo’am’s. Sin and Grace lives within me. I cannot in this present life be freed from the golden fetters of lusty sins, as it is impossible for the sun to be deprived of its eye-dazzling effulgent and transparent-snowy light. Love, I shall not further lengthen this unworthy letter.

Thou art an exquisite-gorgeous daughter of the King of kings, thus, always engraved this immortal truth at the doorpost of thy hopeful heart, so that when thou art afflicted with earthly troubles it will be thy place of refuge to shield and comfort thy heart and rein.

Remember me always in our Father’s love.

As always do I remember you in my heart, so I leave your precious soul to our Christ.

Your future husband, Ariel.

A Wedding Bows (of Eric and Becky)

At the end of a VERY long and winding road through the forests of Central California, at the base of dwarfing granite slabs, sits a small chapel. This was the perfect setting for two people that adore each other, to make promises that are as strong as the mountains that surrounded them. There is so much meaning and story behind Becky and Eric’s unique wedding in the valleys of Yosemite National Park. Seven years of growing together and serving God side by side, culminated into one day of excitement and emotion. All the details of the wedding were a direct reflection of who they are, and the experiences they have been through. It was an honor to witness the vulnerable vows this couple shared; they were completely transparent. We didn’t force them to read their cards from one another (which we never do), everything that we were able to capture was 100% authentic. For Becky and Eric this day wasn’t about the flowers and the dinner menu, it was about them, their love and God. SO RAD!

We took advantage of the opportunity not afforded very often, of shooting in Yosemite National Park. We woke up earlier than roosters to head out into the freezing cold, and get morning time lapses and scenery shoots. It was rad to have that opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and capture some of the most amazing creations on the earth. We knew that this location was so important to Becky and Eric and we wanted to do our best to incorporate its vast beauty into the film that they would treasure for a life time. You often don’t see a lot of “establishment” shots in our films. When a wedding is held in a hotel or other venues that don’t have as much meaning to the story, we feel there are better ways to show who the couple really is. However in this case… the scenery compliments the couples story and who they are perfectly.

There was so much meaning and emotion behind the conversation that happened throughout the day that we picked a sound track from Tim Halperin that would match the emotion and pacing of the days of events. So not distract in anyway from the dialogue of the day, we used both the instrumental and lyrical track for the song. Both of these are licensed through The Music Bed. Using both tracks gave us the ability to use only instrumental during the dialogue heavy parts of the film, and then bring in the lyrics to break it up and fill in where there is not as much dialogue.

The chapel was extremely dark with yellow lighting. Lets just say that New Blue FX, color fixer plus saved our tushies on this one. We were able to take extremely under exposed and yellow footage and make it look more natural and radtastic.

We can’t thank Becky and Eric enough for letting us be a small part of their lives…

worldlyanimals:

JAGUAR CROSSING WATERFALL by Eddie Evans on Flickr.

They Tempt the Devil to Fall in Love with Them!

Thomas Watson, “The Mischief of Sin”

“I hate pride and arrogance.” Proverbs 8:13

Pride runs in the blood.

Augustine calls pride, “the mother of all sin!”

Some people would be better—if they could pluck the worm of pride out of their head!

Pride ruins our virtues—and poisons our mercies.

Some are proud of their estates. Riches are fuel for pride. Ezekiel 28:5, “Your heart has become proud because of your wealth.” Men’s hearts rise with their estates.

Some take pride in their abilities. The Lord enriches them with wit and talents—and pride fumes from their heart into their head—and makes them giddy.

Some are proud of their bodies. Pride is seen in long and meticulous dressings. They spend that time between the comb and the looking-glass, which should be spent in prayer and holy meditation.

Pride is seen in painting their faces—overlaying God’s work with the devil’s colors! But virtue is most beautiful to God. “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty that depends on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should be known for the beauty that comes from within—the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” 1 Pet. 3:3-4 

Pride is seen in the outlandish fashions with which some people dress—or rather disguise themselves. They clothe themselves like the rainbow. Adam was ashamed of his nakedness; these should be ashamed of their clothing. They are so plumed and gaudily attired—that they tempt the devil to fall in love with them!

“The Lord detests all the proud of heart! Be sure of  this—They will not go unpunished!” Proverbs 16:5

arielithream-thelionofgod:

Michael Buble, Always On My Mind

XCVII.

To My Future Wife

My beloved and dearest daughter of the King of kings,

Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied upon you and yours. I shall in this letter confess by and by some of the horrible deeds that I have done against our omniscient God, knowing that there is not a thing most hidden which his penetrating eyes cannot see, nor his infinite justice cannot bring to light, nay, those loathsome deeds of men, for his eyes is like of those Ezekiel’s wheels full of eyes.

There are two heads that I want you to acquaint with, today.

First, how I was greatly affected by my bosom-friend present predicament and

Secondly, my confession, which is the gist of my today’s love-letter.

For the first, I shall here acquaint you how my heart was greatly saddened by the news I have received today from my mother concerning my friend and fellow heir in Christ, namely, Mark Paul Isla. My beloved, my heart cried when I first heard that gloomy news from the mouth of my beloved mother, yea, my ears tickled with sadness; for I was surprised with the sudden gust of this sad news. This mournful song like soft waters with bitterest taste flowed down beneath my heart to swell it with sadness. Mark is a very precious friend to me, though, when I left the church in its raging sea and tempestous blast of winds in this world-ocean I haven’t had a constant conversation with him; yet my dear soul still fastened to his person. The last time I saw him was when I attended the first day of my year in our old church, that is in the Zarephath Christian Church, where he is once devoted in serving the Lord in the Music Ministry. Though I only had a short conversation with him there that time, yet I was glad that I met again the man whom I do not saw for years. Mark didn’t know how I greatly honoured him as my fellow brother in the Lord Christ, for I am not a kind of a person who will tell you personally “Brother, You are the man whom my heart delights and greatly honour and love.” This is not what I am. I would prefer to write those words than I would tell them, though, it is preferable to do them, and shows a most noble act of love than in dumb letters. Arvie our common friend is the man whom I also greatly honoured. Though sometimes I had a bad conversation with him; for his unthoughtful words annoys me which he delivers without caution. I mentioned this man because he is the only person (in the church) whom I can know how Mark is behaving within the church and his private life, especially his most private life, that is, his love-life. You can seldom find a friend like him (Mark). Though he is of my same age, yet he is still my mentor and older brother in the faith. I have learned a lot to him (worldly and heavenly, that is, when we talk of trivial things and spiritual things) . When there are things which I cannot understand I run to this man to enlighten my dark apprehension, especially in spiritual matters which concerned with deep spiritualness and divine wisdom and understanding. I always err in my explanation. I am good in writing than in speaking, though, I can speak. I cannot expound a text from the Scripture without a deep understanding from the Spirit of God and Christ. Pardon me for this digression. My love, I am not here to emblazon this man for his kindness neither for his constancy in the Lord. I know he has plenty of negligence, transgression, and indiscretion suffice for this man to be hanged upon the gibbet or gallows of hell.

My love, I am consciously aware that you would probably ask what made me sad when I heard the news from my beloved mother. Here I tell you: I became sad when mother told me that Mark cannot now attend in their beloved church. (I am not well aware of the entire reason of his [temporary ejection?]). This is what made my heart sad and cried. Surely he was reprimanded by our pastor for his unrestrained behaviour, if I may say it with liberty of speech. I am looking forward to meet Mark again and talk about this matter. Mark knew that I am somewhat an ambiguous man. And that he doesn’t know me well (He admitted to Arvie). It is my frailty that I am not an open book to the man whom I consider a true friend. Suffice to speak of this matter I shall now come to my second head, that is, my confession which is the gist and end of this today’s love-letter.

Secondly, My love, in my life and in my 27th year of existence in this vain-perishing world this confession is the most horrible thing that I ever deed against you who is my future wife; yea, against my light, my conscience, my body, my Christ, and my God. It would have been better for me not to be born and not saved from the cruelty and devilishness of this sinful particular act of damning sin; for this will surely ride me to the haven of eternal fiery flame of endless torment and agony and misery &c. My love, I had defiled my bed with the woman whom I do not love. The truth is, I have blemished this letter with this blackish contemptible act of the devil. O what a horrible deed is this that I have committed against you and our most revenging God! I have come to the Lord for forgiveness of this sin and plea for his mercy to pardon me. I am ruined. Also, I corrupted the woman whom I said I do not love. I lusted for her. Ah! what is this? a monstrous act of a fleshy man.

The woman whom I had an intercourse with is not a believer and I was not the first who entered in her private part. But still I deserved to be stoned to death for this particular sin I committed. I hinted this damnable act in my XCVth letter. There I gave a clouded confession of this act. I blurred my confession with flowery rhetoric, for I do not want to appear before the public with horrid and ugly face of sin. BUT, if a spiritual man would read that letter it will appear to him as crystal-clear as the Jordan river. I intended that letter to appear as such. Pardon me for this ruthless act, my darling. My love, I do not want to enlarge this letter with this profane confession of pre-marital sex and fornication, thus, to cast an image of deformity upon the gorgeous face of this love-letter, which I always cherish in my heart.

My beloved, if you are well aware of the dates of my writings you will find out that I am negligent in my writings. It is not because I cannot write but because I cannot think well; for the sin of commission beclouded my mind with dark understanding. This made me barren and slothful. And that I cannot engage my mind and heart in writing to you. This is the reason why I cannot come with boldness to the Lord. I abandoned the throne of grace. I despised the sweet wooings of Christ. I slighted the Spirit’s graces. I provoked God to wrath and ignored his precious commandments. The good has become bad to me. I dishonoured God’s precepts. I transgressed his holy presence with the filthy goods of my worldly cares. There is nothing good in me unless God would vouchsafe a holy seed of virtue in me. Hard it is to combat against the flesh, the world, and the devil without the whole armour of light, which is Christ Jesus. I am tired of serving my flesh with my heart’s evil desires. The Sun’s light will soon withdraw from me. Dark clouds are not ready to empty its heavy waters. My dearly garden for a short period of time will tarry under the means of mixed extreme scorching heat from the sun and intense pouring of waters from heaven to ruin this once beautiful garden which is graciously filled and embellished with fragrant and sweet flowers of grace, love, joy, peace, hope, faith, gentleness, self-control, &c. My love, though, I still do want to further enlarge this letter yet I cannot now carry it. My mind fails as I go on thinking.

I here end this letter with hope and love and patience.

In Christ’s loving and gracious Father’s love I humbly recommend your precious soul.

Your future husband and beloved sweetheart, Ariel.

l-i-o-ness:

worldlyanimals:

Baby Cheetah by Barry Lloyd on Flickr.

click for more big cats :)

White Feathers—but Black Skin

Thomas Watson, “The Godly Man’s Picture”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:27-28 

Here is a sharp rebuke to such as are “glittering dross” Christians, who only make a show of godliness. These our Savior calls whitewashed tombs. Their beauty is all paint! Many are painted over with a religious profession, whose seeming luster dazzles the eyes of beholders; but within there is nothing but putrefaction!

Hypocrites are like the swan, which has white feathers—but black skin; or like that flower, which has a lovely appearance—but a foul scent.

The hypocrite deceives others while he lives—but deceives himself when he dies! What good will it do a man when he is in hell—that others think he has gone to heaven? Oh, beware of this!

Counterfeit piety is double iniquity. What is this but to abuse God to His face, and to serve the devil in Christ’s livery?

To have only a pretense of godliness will yield no comfort after death. Will painted gold enrich a man? Will painted wine refresh him who is thirsty? He who has only a painted holiness shall have only a painted happiness! Let us take heed of this pious pageantry and devout stage-play!

XCVI.

To My Future Wife

My most beautiful darling and Christ’s heiress in grace,

Pardon me if I am not able to write a daily love-letter to you. It is my fault that I am always in this state of gloom and sadness. I cannot blame the devil for his horrid temptations. I am that ingratitude sinner who should be blame. Christ has always been good to me. Short though this letter may appear to you in this time, yet it is filled with sadness of heart and grievousness of spirit against my indwelling sin. I am no man as far as I consider myself in the state of nature, though, a saint in grace through the vicarious death of Jesus Christ my All, by faith alone. My soul is downcasted. The earth within my heart is parched. I am earnestly longing for the water of life to rain down upon this parched garden of mine. O my heart, I weepingly ask your forgiveness for this negligence on my part. O Lord God, do not let your precious child wallow into that quagmire of sadness and pit of sin. The strength of my soul wholly lie within your unchangeable love. O let me see the beauty of your beloved Son Jesus! for he is the quintessence of all purest love, comfort and joy. I cannot conduct myself before you with uprightness of spirit neither can I look up to the light of your dazzling Sun, for I am a filthy wretch filled with loathsome sins. Your Sun’s light dazzled my eyes with blackness. It beclouded my spirit with confusion of understanding. My affection is unpurged. My will is unregulated. What can I do? I am what I am without you- that is, a damned sinner. Dead in trespasses and sins.

My love pardon me for this abrupt letter.

With much love,

Your future husband, Ariel.