"We will not be able to recover the vision and understanding of God's grandeur until we recover an understanding of ourselves as creatures who have been made to know such grandeur. This must begin with the recovery of the idea that as beings made in God's image, we are fundamentally moral beings, not consumers, that the satisfaction of our psychological needs pales in significance when compared with the enduring value of doing what is right. Religious consumers want to have a spirituality for the same reason that they want to drive a stylish and expensive auto. Costly obedience is as foreign to them in matters spiritual as self-denial is in matters material. In a culture filled with such people, restoring weight to God is going to involve much more than simply getting some doctrine straight; it's going to entail a complete reconstruction of the modern self-absorbed pastiche personality."

- David Wells
99 Balloons

This is love.



If you don't think that there is any way that suffering through the tragedies of life can glorify God, watch this video. It's absolutely beautiful. There's a heartbreaking joy in this, and a deep Christ-likeness in this young couple expressed in their love for their baby.

I'm overwhelmed.

[Grateful hat tip to The Anchoress]

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Comments on "99 Balloons":
1. jen - 05/07/2008 6:40 am CDT

*weeping*

Beautiful.

2. Shrode - 05/07/2008 2:55 pm CDT

wow.

Man, that's horrible. The disease. The pain. The grief.

The reaction to it: beautiful.

As the dad was describing all the things wrong with Elliott at the end, and then giving God glory, I was thinking, "Nonbelievers would watch this and think we are crazy."

3. Meredith - 05/07/2008 3:01 pm CDT

i haven't cried like that since watching emma thompson in "wit."

4. nhe - 05/08/2008 12:44 pm CDT

That couple rocks and should be raising A LOT of children......hopefully God will continue to bless them richly with that opportunity......

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