Thy mighty grasp

‘Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt
Our feelings come and go;
Our best estate is tossed about
In ceaseless ebb and flow.
No mood of feeling; form of thought
Is constant for a day;
But thou, O Lord, thou changest not:
The same thou art always.

I grasp thy strength, make it mine own,
My heart with peace is blest;
I lose my hold, and then comes down
Darkness, and cold unrest.
Let me no more my comfort draw
From my frail hold of thee,
In this alone rejoice with awe –
Thy mighty grasp of me.

John Campbell Shairp, 1819-1885.

It Changed My Life

Heather recently posted a list of things (in no particular order) that changed her life. Here are some of mine:

• Getting on that boat w/ my future wife @ a Wesley Foundation retreat in Mississippi
• Moving back to Oxford and mistakenly receiving a former tenant's CD of Tim Keller in the mail
• Being adopted by Maddie and Webb
• Listening to "Transit" @ Allan's urging
• Dave Roberts stealing second
• Going to Sydney Stevens' baptism @ Christ Church
• My first dip of Copenhagen
• Learning to read
• "The Gospel in a Pluralist Society" and "The Cost of Discipleship"
• MHD and the original Monday Night Group
  
• Dunkin' Donuts "regular"
  
• Discovering I could manipulate people by singing near them
• Cookouts on Bart Stevens' deck
• CPE
• Some threes: C. S. Lewis, Lesslie Newbigin and Tom Howard; Chris Carter, Aaron Sorkin and David Simon (watch the interview that follows Remnick's to see just a few of the myriad reasons I love David Simon); Michael Card, DWebb and David Wilcox
  
• Finding the Sacrament of Confession
• My iPod
  

These are just some of mine, and the list is likely to grow as I think about this more. Following Heather's lead, I ask: What are some of yours?