bradwrage blogg

This evening I was listening to a song by Hillsong United called “Beautiful Exchange” and was almost brought to tears when I started reading Isaiah 53:5-7

“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we were healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one- to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

How beautifully does this passage show how God humbled himself and suffered as a man so that we may have salvation.  I am in awe that God would make this exchange knowing that we would not only spit on him before he went to the cross but continually…

June 28, 2010, 10:43pm   Comments

You know when you’ve been through trials when you flip through your bible and find wrinkles in the pages from old tears.  I love this because the tears bring me back to that exact moment.  Now you’re probably thinking why would anyone want to remember hard times?  Yes these were tears during a difficult time, but they were tears as a result of joy, peace, grace, and comfort from Jesus my savior.  It happens when despair and anxiety are so overwhelming that there is nothing to do but go to God’s word.  It’s in this moment that while reading the scripture I come across a passage that is so unmistakably my Father speaking to me the tears are impossible to hold back.  It’s so awesome to come across those pages and see how God not only comforted me, but delivered and made me stronger in Him.

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.  -psalm 33:18

September 16, 2009, 9:36pm   Comments

It’s now been a month since I’ve moved up to the bay area, and let me say it’s been nothing of what I originally expected.  It’s been a major transition moving away from home, family, and comfort especially since I envisioned it so differently and secondly because I am a person who does not like unfamiliarity (which I am working on).  I am incredibly blessed to be up here with an incredible job and an incredible church right down the road from me.  The theme of this time in my life?  Change.  But not just any change, a change that has been one of the hardest and most important times of my life.  One that has given me no other option but to rely on God throughout the day and night and come to really find who he is.  2 Corinthians  1:8-10 talks about trials and tribulations with the emphasis on “But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises from the dead”.  God allows hard times to bring us closer to him and then for us to encourage others.  This verse has become incredibly comforting and my daily theme.  There are times when I find that I want a quick fix, but pastor John Mcarthur’s advice really hits home; “Being obedient to the word of God and letting God do his perfecting work in your life, that is the answer- not running all over the place to have your troubles fixed.”

September 13, 2009, 2:18pm   Comments

With only a handful of stitches on my knee, there is no doubt about it that God saved me that day.  I took these pictures only a couple of hours after the accident and being released from the hospital.  Seventy mph on cruise control and one concrete pillar later I somehow crawled out the back window in one piece.  Enjoy.

July 18, 2009, 1:55pm   Comments