God loved us when we were dead in sins.

There is no fact which seems to be so staggering to faith. Such action is so utterly at variance with all the feelings which we experience, or witness in others. Our love is excited by what we deem lovely; our hearts are warmed by the charms of extraordinary worth and grace; we turn with disgust from the hideous deformities of vice and iniquity; we loathe and reprobate the dark features of undisguised evil. Who ever loves that which is altogether hateful? Our love lies dead and dormant until aroused and kindled by something from without.

Such is the manner of man. How different the manner of our God! He loves us with a great love before one particle of divine grace enters our souls. . . What a wondrous thought is here! Oh, for more grace to see it distinctly, and to realize it abidingly! God has greatly loved us, when we were nothing but sin, when we did nothing but sin. Whence then sprang this love? . . . Whence then did it originate? Surely from nothing belonging to us. It sprang entirely from His own nature, which is Love. "God is Love." He loved us, because it was His will to love us. We may search and reason until all our powers fail, and we shall find no motive or cause out of God Himself. Let us then adore our God, and the freeness and the riches of His love! Who is a God like unto Him, who so greatly loved us, vile, hateful sinners! What an instance of God-like grace!

~ Meditations on Ephesians: Henry Law

Have a blessed Valentines Day as you ponder the overwhelming love of Jesus!

In all criminal prosecutions. . .

. . .the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

~Amendment 6 to the US Constitution

I have not committed a crime, but I am going to court. Today I will fulfill my civic duty and report for jury duty. Most people groan at the prospect, but I'm one of the few geeks, nerds, and apparently mentally "messed-up" people who actually enjoys going. Not that I LOVE to spend my time sitting in a courtroom, but I do find a deep-lurking sense of pleasure and fascination with our legal system.

I--for one--am thankful that we have the right to a trial by jury of our peers--and I will do everything I can to support that right--even if it means interrupting my work week to sit for 8 hours listening to (if I'm lucky) attorneys and judges rapid-fire questions at that poor specimen in the jury box, or (if I'm unlucky) reading in it's entirety the biography of Noah Webster I kept intending to pick up but never quite got around to.