Out of whose picture?
Topic: God things


There is a commercial on tv right now that flips my lid every time I see it. Commercials have become somewhat of an art form in themselves the past few years…I wish there was some was to capture and archive them. I’m sure a VCR would work, but how to know when the commercial will air and on what channel…now that is a dilemma. The ad I am talking about is for HP digital photography. It has a catchy tune by The Robins called Out of the Picture and the guy in the ad is sitting in a chair, holding up pictures beside his head of….his head! It is so ingenious….each time he holds up a new picture, his head beside the picture becomes part of the new picture. At the end, he holds up a full sized picture of his head and it becomes just a frame he is looking through and he puts his head through the frame, the object being the realistic quality of photos you can get from the new HP printer. Are you getting all of this? If not, and you haven’t seen the commercial, I found where you could watch it on the internet.
Go to the TV ad entitled Francois 2. You won’t regret it. =)

Photography is a hobby of mine…I wish I had more time to play with it. I plan to get back into this year….with my new digital camera and all my free time. =) (Now if I just had one of those fancy printers!) I love how you can take an ordinary picture, add special effects, make it artsy and give it your own signature style…..take an image from reality and tweak it to become a creation of our own.

Art is something we create, using our God given talents. I once read a quote from the late musician, Rich Mullins, that was a response to someone asking him if he thought that God wrote the songs through him, since there was so much originality and theology in his writing. He responded, of course not! He said God gave us creativity and he thought God enjoyed seeing what we created and used for Him….what we would say about Him, write, sing, paint, and draw. I agree. God created art for us in nature, in animals, plant life, in all the kinds of people He created. And I think He enjoys seeing us create things, express our thoughts, express our love and praise to Him. It’s our part of the sacred romance.

We can create and add our own signature style to things of earth, but it’s a huge mistake we people tend to make to add our own ‘style’ to our image of God. He’s given us the Bible and shown Himself to us through it and through nature. We need to accept who He is and that He is above ‘figuring out’ or making Him into an image of human proportions. He is so much more….so infinite, so holy. He came down to our level to die for us and give us such an easy way to bridge that expansive gap between Creator and creation, caused by sin. I don’t think He would have gone through all of that, becoming the sacrifice for our sin, if it didn’t matter what we believed….if sin wasn’t a big deal. It is a huge deal! And He is so patient with us while we figure that out. (…as we should be with others, by the way, with that big old pole sticking out of our eyes.)

Jesus showed us such a loving, approachable view of God, that sometimes I think we have lost the sense of His holiness and unchanging quality. I see it everyday…on the news, tv shows, in my own church, even in my own mind and life. We justify things that the Bible says are unacceptable. We cannot reinvent our God to suit our own style or beliefs….I think it is awesomely graceful of Him not to just smite us here and now when we do that. **lol** What the Bible teaches us about Him is so far above where we put Him sometimes. So these are the thoughts that came out of my heart today, after seeing that commercial and thinking about art, creative styling and trying to think of what God is telling me through it.

I saw a poster once, I bought it and put it in my room as a teenager. It said, “Eternity will be at once a great eye opener…..and a great mouth shutter!”

Don’t you love it? God is….God. Nothing we say or do changes who He has been since the Beginning. If we all got more into reading His Word (that He gave to us, protecting and preserving it over the years) rather than in listening to who others think He is, we would live differently I think. Maybe we would start seeing things the way He does. I think we would even start to sin less and see others as He does and love them more.

Start today…here is the tool I use online to do word searches on different topics in the Bible.

Rest area 2 miles ahead?get your shoes on!
Topic: God things


Our church is gracious to us. My husband is the pastor and has had a rough year. He has been making lots of changes in how the church does it’s work and had a bout with depression last winter. So our church is giving him a month’s sabbatical…plus some time in the Fall for a trip to Israel that a church member gave to us. I always thought that a sabbatical was a period of time off of one’s regular job to do further research and study in an intense way….i.e. a college professor working on a doctorate degree. On an internet search, I found, http://www.thesabbaticalcoach.com/ which makes me laugh. I guess some people may need a coach to get them to rest. Another sight urged “Relax with God and Minister to Yourself”. Oooo, it seems that there are a whole slough of people out there ready to schedule you and plan your whole ‘rest’ for you. heehee

We are just doing it the old fashioned way, really old fashioned….like from Bible times. It turns out as I have looked into it further this year that a sabbatical is a period off one’s regular job for: rest. Obviously the word comes from the same root as Sabbath, the day of rest. God wants us to rest, He commanded us to rest at least once a week, not only to turn our minds and hearts to Him for that day, but also to physically stop and rest for a day. As some of you may know, a pastor’s Sunday is usually far from restful! So for the month of July, we are resting. I guess you could say we’re taking a ‘month of Sundays’. =)

It begins….tomorrow! We have some plans, including a camping trip to Colorado for 2 weeks, but we are resting from being in charge: of church business, resting from meetings, resting from preparing sermons and organizing stuff. *Whewwwwww* I think it will take a while for it to sink in, but I can already see the relief and gradual relaxation my husband is feeling. Oh, he is not sitting around with a tv remote in his hand. So far, he has mowed, trimmed and weeded the front and back yards, even in his allergy season….he has done a couple of repairs around the house that have long been neglected….he has gone for a walk with me every morning this week….he’s going to ‘town’ with me tomorrow and giving our outside dogs baths. “Yay!!” Clean dogs are my favorite kind!

I have to admit, we need a rest because we are not very good at resting in our normal mode of busyness around our house. This year was especially crazy with me taking on a 4 day a week volunteer position at our church school. We are worn out…..a kind of worn out that I am not sure a month off will bring relief from….but we are grateful for it. We are trying to learn to rest from ‘activities’ and spend time renewing our focus and priorities, including God, the Word and family. Simplicity….that is what I am searching to describe. A simpler lifestyle….seems ‘simple’ but in our world of kids’ activities, church, obligations and ministry, life is far from simple….it’s more like ‘catch a few minutes while you can’ to talk, spend time with our kids or to just sit and veg.

Of everything this year has held, I think depression took the biggest toll. King David was a cool guy. He had this godly understanding of human nature long before psychology ‘explained’ it all to us. Psalm 42 talks about depression and the toll it takes on our minds and bodies. I will just include one verse, but do look at it…even if you’ve never been depressed yourself, it can help you understand a smidgeon of what depression is like.

Psalm 42:11
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

So as we rest, I may not blog much in July, especially while gone camping.

…no internet….? I can do that.

’On your sabbatical ye shall rest from thy typing and striving and clicking and info-bites. All other days, ye shall surf, but on the sabbatical, thy fingers shall not type’.

Then again, this is a very restful creative outlet for me, so on the days we have electricity and a phone line, I may be able to get some entries…as well as some pictures. Did I mention my husband bought me a new digital automatic OR manual setting camera for my birthday? (I got it early due to vacation plans.)

Paul Harvey and Prayer
Topic: God things
This entire entry is a Paul Harvey radio program quote from an email I received today. I think it is worthy of being passed along with a whole-hearted AMEN!


Paul Harvey says:

I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue
somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I
don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a
lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory
of evolution.

Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be
endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer
before a football game.

So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there
reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a
God they believe in and asking him to grant safety to the
players on the field and the fans going home from the game.

"But it's a Christian prayer," some will argue.

Yes, and this is the United States of America, a country
founded on Christian principles. According to our very
own phone book, Christian churches outnumber all others
better than 200-to-1. So what would you expect-somebody
chanting Hare Krishna?

If I went to a football game in Jerusalem,
I would expect to hear a Jewish prayer.

If I went to a soccer game in Baghdad,
I would expect to hear a Muslim prayer.

If I went to a ping pong match in China,
I would expect to hear someone pray to Buddha.

And I wouldn't be offended.
It wouldn't bother me one bit.
When in Rome...

"But what about the atheists?" is another argument.

What about them?
Nobody is asking them to be baptized. We're not going to
pass the collection plate. Just humor us for 30 seconds. If
that's asking too much, bring a Walkman or a pair of ear
plugs. Go to the bathroom. Visit the concession stand.
Call your lawyer!

Unfortunately, one or two will make that call. One or
two will tell thousands what they can an! d cannot do.
I don't think a short prayer at a football game is
going to shake the world's foundations.

Christians are just sick and tired of turning the other
cheek while our courts strip us of all our rights. Our
parents and grandparents taught us to pray before
eating; to pray before we go to sleep.

Our Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. Now a
handful of people and their lawyers are telling us
to cease praying.

God, help us.
And if that last sentence offends you, well ... just sue me.

The silent majority has been silent too long. It's time we
let that one or two who scream loud enough to be heard
.... that the vast majority don't care what they want. It
is time the majority rules! It's time we tell them, you don't
have to pray; you don't have to say the pledge of allegiance;
you don't have to believe in God or attend services that
honor Him. That is your right, and we will honor your
right. But by golly, you are no longer going to take our
rights awa! y. We are fighting back ...
and we WILL WIN!


God bless us one and all ... especially those who denounce
Him. God bless America, despite all her faults. She is still
the greatest nation of all.
God bless our service men who are fighting to protect
our right to pray and worship God.

May 2005 be the year the silent majority is heard
and we put God back as the foundation of our
families and institutions.

Keep looking up.

Vacation Bible School week!
Topic: People/Family stories
It’s a busy week with Vacation Bible School and all of our other activities, but here is an off-the-top-of-my-head summary of the week:

-There are 6 children in my kindergarten VBS class and there’s not a dud in the bunch! =) Ok, well no kids are actually ‘duds’ but some can make your life miserable and I am glad to report that I don’t have any of those in my class this year.

-I have 2 very good teenaged helpers for the week who I have watched grow the past 8 years into really great kids…fun, responsible and like to serve others. I love seeing children mature into older kids, then teens and sometimes you get to see them into early adulthood. It’s cool to think I have had a very small hand in their spiritual development through teaching in the church.

-We went for a drive Monday afternoon up the mountain near our town. It rises to over 9,000 feet and it’s a favorite drive for us. We have seen a black bear up there before and this time saw 2 separate bunches (flocks? Herds? Gaggles?) of wild turkeys! We even saw a set of adults turkeys with at least 2 little babies slinking along after them! (turkeys don’t waddle or run, they slink along, neck stretched out in front of them, moving swiftly with a smooth gait) So cute and so rare a sight.

-Also on Monday we woke up to irritating smoke coming in our bedroom window and looked out to see lots of smoke coming from something burning downtown. It turned out to have begun in a local downtown bar and spread to an empty adjoining historic building. It was put out, but later in the day, the fire started back up and was once again sending a great cloud of smoke into the sky.

-I helped cook a church dinner Tuesday night and it was fun to get together with a group of about 25 leaders from the church who want to help the church have a more effective outreach. Also had a time of concern, giggling and ‘fishing’ when a friend of mine flushed her car keys down the church toilet! Imagine the comic timing she has to be able to flush the toilet at the precise time her keys are falling out of her pocket! ….I am sorry to report that she never did retrieve them. =(

-Today is Wednesday and we made playdough at VBS and I let the kids choose what color to add to their own lump. My hands are now dark blue with pink and green splotches. (Anyone know how long it takes for food coloring to wear off of skin?)

-At the end of VBS we got a report that main street and 3 blocks surrounding it had been closed off and evacuated due to a possible bomb in the recently burned out building downtown. It was soon opened up again but it was quite a little excitement. The drive home was interesting too with downtown access closed off and construction closing several other main roads in town. For a town of 3,000 and only 2 flashing red lights, it caused a little traffic!

-This afternoon we washed down the abandoned swallow’s nest that I ranted about in an earlier blog. The 2 babies that had hatched had each taken a fatal leap onto the porch…..each too little to fly yet. We have reclaimed our porch now and feel quite firm in our resolve to sit there the rest of the summer without letting swooping birds drive us out.

-Goodnight. There is a feint throbbing in my head, thunder booming outside, the smell of rain coming in my window along with a minty smell from the garden and the light from my monitor here has a psycho moth diving at me in a kamikaze frenzy.

-Well I didn’t post this last night because of the moth problem. After a moth came in to visit my eye, behind my glasses I decided it was time to turn off the computer! I also didn’t sleep very well, thinking about moths being in my bedroom in the night.

-Today is Thursday and the sky is welling up with thunderclouds and there is a cool breeze in the air…very refreshing.

-VBS was good on all counts. Our theme today as we ‘traveled’ each day across the U.S. on a ‘ramblin’ road trip’ was Wyoming and Yellowstone park, so my preschool class played with water, made nature Bible verse bookmarks, and took a walk to find wild strawberries. My helpers hid candy strawberries in the grass around the church. It’s hard to decide sometimes who has the most fun…the children or the helpers!

-Tomorrow is the last day and I’ll miss my little students….you should see and hear them practicing their songs for parents’ night. You just haven’t lived fully unless you’ve watched children singing with all their hearts about God’s love. I hope to post some pictures of them here soon.

Life means so much
Topic: God things
As I begin a week of teaching Vacation Bible School, I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of effort it takes. I found myself wishing it was just over...gritting my teeth and getting it over with. Then...as God always does when we need it....He reminded me....each day is a gift.....none of them are a loss if we take the opportunities He gives us to serve. Oh, I don't mean just teaching Vacation Bible School or sunday school. We can serve the people we're around every day....our family members or friends, coworkers. Or, consider the popular idea of random acts of kindness. =) This week, for me, it's Bible School. The children of our town are our mission field. God cares for them so deeply and wants to use our little Bible school to reach them and their families. So it's not a waste of time or something to be endured...it's a gift.

How did God remind me? I came across these pictures of last summer's mission trip. I didn't get to participate because we had a tragic funeral to help plan and a devestated family to comfort, but my two oldest daughters went. I got to see how serving affected them and it was beautiful to see how God not only blessed them but He worked through them of their own free will. One of the days, they got to go over the border into Mexico and spend time with the children at an orphanage. They brought gifts for the children, but those who went received much more than they gave away. Being used by God to bless others and to spread His message is an awesome privilege.

One boy, Jonson, 11, who went with them befriended a little boy who was playing on the playground barefoot. Somehow Jonson found out that the boy didn't even have a pair of shoes and without a thought, Johson took off his fancy tennis shoes and said, "Oh take these, I have more at the hotel." He rode back across the border that day barefoot and wore his flip flops the rest of the week because those were his only extra shoes.

Here are the pictures I came across....







The other way He reminded me was hearing this song. Sometimes you know God is speaking to you and this song did it for me tonight.

Life Means So Much

Every day is a journal page
Every man holds a quill and ink
And there's plenty of room for writing in
All we do is believe and think
So will you compose a curse
Or will today bring the blessing
Fill the page with rhyming verse
Or some random sketching

Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much

Every day is a bank account
And time is our currency
So nobody's rich, nobody's poor
We get 24 hours each
So how are you gonna spend
Will you invest, or squander
Try to get ahead
Or help someone who's under

Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much
Life means so much
Life means so much

Has anybody ever lived who knew the value of a life
And don't you think giving is all
What proves the worth of yours and mine

Every day is a gift you've been given
Make the most of the time every minute you're living

~Chris Rice~

Now playing....
Topic: Humor/memes
I don’t know why they call these question things meme’s, but it’s not for the obvious reason because I looked it up. I was pronouncing it ‘mee mee’ due to spelling and because the subject is yourself. I was wrong. It’s pronounced ‘mem’ or ‘meem’ and you can look it up yourself if you want the definition….I still don’t get it, but everyone does it, so here is one I came across on one of my favorite subjects.

Movie meme
Total number of films I own on DVD and video:
No idea. I don’t have time to count, but we have one and a half 3 ft rows of dvd’s and 4 more rows of vhs tapes. (most recorded off of television)

Last film I bought: Finding Neverland, National Treasure, and Phantom of the Opera (we usually buy in three’s)

Last film I watched: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Madagascar

Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):

1. You’ve Got Mail: it has a very comforting quality to it…..the setting, colors, language, music….it’s like eating chocolate.

2. A&E’s production of Pride and Prejudice: it is 5 hours long, but always worth watching….especially on a rainy day. Hey, I just realized that the characters in You’ve Got Mail discuss Pride and Prejudice in the movie….hmm.

3. Stepmom, Miss congeniality, Two Weeks Notice

4. Roman Holiday, Meet Me in St. Louis

5. Master and Commander, Count of Monte Cristo, Dead Poets Society

If you could be any character portrayed in a movie, who would it be? Considering it would just be a ‘part’ and not a life, I have a couple of choices:

I love Meg Ryan’s character in You’ve Got Mail because of the setting….her quaint Westside apartment, the changes of seasons, walking to work down charming streets, and of course her really cool bookstore.

I would also like to try being Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables.

I like green
Topic: God things
I have sliced my finger tip (pointer finger, left hand) so I won?t be real wordy for a while?..at least until the stitches come out in 8 days. (It is really hard to type without your r, t, f, g, v, b finger.) While trying to ?fix? the dishwasher, I found something wedged in the spinner, drainish thingie and it turned out to be a piece of broken glass. Waaaa, owwwwie! Amazing, you don?t realize how many nerves are in the tip of a finger til you try to slice a chunk out of it.

So here is one of my all time favorite songs, by one of my all time favorite songwriters, Rich Mullins. Spring comes late here in the mountains?.we live at nearly 7,000 feet in elevation?so it is a song about Springtime. As it mirrors our spiritual seasons, nature has many lessons and illustrations for our lives. I have just finished decking my gardens with annual flowers and have been enjoying the greening up of the yards and scenery around here. It is a gift God gives us each year?.the earth coming back to life, dressed in it?s lovely colors. We always know it?s coming, but are always in awe of the colors of Spring once again after the long winter. =)

The Color Green

And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter's shop
Every house must have it's builder
And I awoke in the house of God
Where the windows are mornings and evenings
Stretched from the sun
Across the sky north to south
And on my way to early meeting
I heard the rocks crying out
I heard the rocks crying out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

And the wrens have returned and they're nesting
In the hollow of that oak where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing for being born again
And the streams are all swollen with winter
Winter unfrozen and free to run away now
And I'm amazed when I remember
Who it was that built this house
And with the rocks I cry out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

The woods are lovely, dark and deep...
Topic: People/Family stories
We went for a long drive on some back roads in our area....here are some pictures I took of the lake where we ended up. It's a nature preserve and we saw all kinds of birds. There were a bunch of Orioles, all orange and black and a really cool falcon that had a huge nest up in the top of a dead Ponderosa Pine. He kept swooping down to the lake surface from way up in the air, but never caught anything with us looking. I never got a picture of him, it was too dark and he flew too fast! Next time we go, I'll take my telephoto lens.

School?s out for summer!
Topic: People/Family stories

Today was my last day of school. I have been working as a 4 day a week volunteer aid in our new church school since last September?.and though it?s been a blessing helping it get started and getting to know the kids, I am ready to be OUT! Next year they hope to have a part time paid aid. (and it won?t be me!)

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

From all the Jails the Boys and Girls
Ecstatically leap?
Beloved only Afternoon
That Prison doesn't keep

They storm the Earth and stun the Air,
A Mob of solid Bliss?
Alas?that Frowns should lie in wait
For such a Foe as this?

~ Emily Dickinson ~

Let summer begin! I look forward to lazy mornings, sitting on the porch with my Bible and a cup of coffee or with my husband for casual, but meaningful conversation. I?ll be tending my newly planted flowers, watering them in the evenings and spending time with my girls. In a couple of weeks I?ll teach Vacation Bible School. In July my husband is on sabbatical and we have some trips planned and I?ll be helping my mom and dad after her hip replacement surgery. In August, I will make sure I have everything we need to begin homeschooling again in September. I look forward to a slower, less structured way of life once more. I definitely found out this year that I do not thrive in a structured environment, doing the same thing each day?.but at least I found out that I can do it if I need to.

My kids still go to school for the next week? taking finals, then having a tennis tournament. Perhaps I?ll get in on that.....if I feel like it. =)

Happy Anniversary
Topic: People/Family stories

Happy anniversary to my husband.

For 21 years now, he's been my partner, my best friend and my greatest source of feeling right with the world, aside from the Lord.

God is mighty wise and caring to give us marriage partners for this life. We need each other and living life as a couple and a family not only gives us comfort and pleasure in life. It gives us a place to belong. I know I need to belong and I appreciate my husband's love and faithfulness all these years.

You are a good man....it's been a great life so far and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead as our kids grow and fly out of the nest. =)


Not much for conversation, I still find need to pray.
Sometimes I get tired of walking through these ordinary days.
If nothing else I get to see you even if we never speak.
The harm of words is sometimes we don't quite know what they really mean.

I don't know where, I don't know how.
I don't know why, but your love can make these things better.

Let me lay down in this field and stare up at the sky.
I hope the days and clouds turn into something as they pass us by.
And maybe you could settle for a skyline faded blue.
I hope that you might settle for this love I have for you.

I don't know where, I don't know how.
I don't know why, but your love can make these things better.
......your love can make these things better.

Song by jars of clay, Eleventh Hour CD

....faded youth
Topic: People/Family stories
I have written before about living in a small town. It?s a fun and interesting place to live. We love our small town not only because it is cozy, nestled against green, beautiful mountains?.not only because of it?s Mayberry qualities of knowing your neighbors, of rejoicing as a town for people who have babies, get married or graduate from high school?but we love this town because it grieves together for those who are hurting. Since we?ve lived here the past 8 years, we have seen several deaths in the community, but none so full of grief and suffering as losing one of our young people.

We saw this community pull together after we had been here only 2 years. There is a train that runs through our town, it is a major train route between the west and the east, so there are a lot of trains that come right through our downtown area. The loud blasts the trains make as they get close to the crossings are simply lost on us because we are desensitized to them. People here are used to them and don?t think much about the trains, except that they are a minor nuisance when you?re in a hurry to get somewhere. One day a 17 year old girl from our high school either didn?t see the train coming (she was running late for work) or she might have tried to beat the train over the crossing. It really doesn?t matter which scenario it was?.because she died, hit broadside by an iron locomotive going 45 miles an hour or more. There is now a totally new crossing signal at that intersection?it has flashing lights, huge gates that come down and loud bells that signal a train coming across. Everyone knew Karen because she was the flower delivery girl. If you ordered flowers for someone, her mother?s shop was the only place to get them in town, and Karen would come to your door with them. There was a massive funeral, the crowd flowed out into the parking lot of the church her family attended?..a crowd of all ages, but mostly of classmates, young people who were facing their own mortality, the cruel fact that we are fragile....and you never know when it's going to be your time to go.

In September of 2001, two days after the terrorist attack on New York City, we lost a dear friend, a young man named Brian, who attended our church. He took his own life. He thought his world was falling apart with the attacks on the U.S. and his girlfriend breaking up with him. The music he listened to planted the idea in his mind, deeply rooted itself there. He thought suicide was a way out of the pain, a valid escape, and a way to show his frustration and anger. The school had to call in counselors and pastors and anyone who would come to talk to the kids about their grief. We watched for signs of copycat plans for suicide in other kids in the community. The family is still dealing with their loss and the aftershocks of grief almost 4 years later. The funeral was at our church?we knew the whole community would be there, as well as almost the entire high school?..so a man who does it professionally put up televisions in the fellowship hall and out in the parking lot so that people could watch the funeral from a camera set up in the sanctuary. It was packed, the rows of chairs as well as the isles, fellowship hall and parking lot had family, friends, kids from the school and community leaders who come to support the family, as well as just to be with each other in a time of great pain. My husband gave a wonderful sermon....full of hope and the gospel message.

The people in this town really care about each other. It doesn't seem like it sometimes because, but when things like this happen, we all pull together and put down our differences. We all feel like we?re a part of each others? lives somehow??it?s a strong connection.

This past Memorial Day weekend it happened again. We lost a beautiful young woman due to a stupid, reckless accident. It was the last day of school about 11am, school had just let out?.graduation was that night. It is a tradition with some of the kids to ride around town in the back of pick up trucks, throwing water balloons and making noise, celebrating the end of school. One truck driver, a 19 year old girl, decided to race another car full of kids down a town street. As they started, Dulce, who was sitting in the back of the truck fell out, head first, then was run over by the back tires. There were a lot teenagers in the back of that truck? she did not survive long afterwards, and all these kids watched her die on the street, waiting helplessly for an ambulance. These kids are so shaken, so out of their minds from grief and from seeing all the traumatic events that night, that again counselors were brought in all afternoon on graduation day and are still available if anyone comes in or calls. One of these kids who was in the truck is a 15 year old girl who goes to our small church school, a good friend to one of my daughters. Life is so fragile?.so temporary?.so much more precious now to this group of kids. Some of them feel guilty for being alive?for being the ones who didn?t fall out. Pray for these kids and their families, especially the driver of the truck.

Dulce had just had her quinceanera, a traditional Mexican coming out party for a girl who turns 15. She is from a big family here in town, everyone knows someone who is related to her. Everyone is grieving?.all the shops in town have donation buckets at their registers to help the family with expenses. A huge wave of grief came over me as I went into the grocery store on Monday afternoon. Dulce?s cousins and siblings were standing at the doors collecting for the funeral, a large poster of her pictures beside them?..it?s a good thing I only needed a couple of things, because I couldn?t think or breathe in there after seeing those kids with their sad eyes and the haunting picture of Dulce at her recent birthday celebration. I remember her only as the little 7 year old girl who used to come walk with my daughter to school in second grade. I didn?t even recognize the beautiful young woman in the picture. Still?..there?s a connection. And there is the fact that my daughter is the same age and could have been the one to recklessly sit on the edge of a pick up bed and fall out.

The funeral will be tomorrow at the Catholic church. I?m sure it will be packed out and extremely emotional. It will be a hard, sad day for our town.

Although these three stories sound very similar, they are actually very different in the scope of eternity. The first two, Karen and Brian, were believers. I know Karen was because of the testimony of several people who knew her well, one being her pastor. I know Brian was a believer because, even though he was misguided in the last couple of years of his life, I had talked to him about faith and God and he knew Jesus. He was rebellious, but he knew Who he was rebelling against and I could see that he was miserable doing it. The third teen though??she grew up in a family who I really don't know and by the way she was living, I doubt that she knew Jesus. I can't say for sure, because I don't know....only God knows. But it makes me cringe about our obligation to the kids and families in this community. Maybe she had never had the opportunity?.maybe our Christian community had dropped the ball and never reached out to the group that she hung around with.....although I know one of her male cousins, who she hung around with, did become a Christian at winter youth camp a couple of years ago and has been a part of our youth group ever since then. So maybe people had reached out and she decided that she would have fun now while she was young and think about eternity later when she was older, when life got more serious. It is a sad fact that many teens feel this way, thinking they have all the time in the world to deal with God?..that the here and now is for friends, partying and self indulgence.

I don?t want these reminders of life?s fragility to go for naught. We need to take each opportunity to share God?s love, the hope we have in Jesus, and the knowledge that He has a purpose and a plan for us if we'll follow Him. It is the greatest news on earth?.and, Christian brothers and sisters, WE are the torchbearers?.let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) Let's draw them to Him....

??remember, some may not have tomorrow.

Life with swallows
Topic: Humor/memes
Each year we?ve lived here in northern Arizona, we?ve had a group of swallows come to nest under the overhangs of our roof on any little ledge they can balance on. Actually they build in the exact place they nested the year before?.even when we?ve prayed the nests down in the Fall. They are really cute little birds, about the size of a sparrow, but thinner, with flitting, swoopy flight patterns and adept balancing acts as they build their nests each year with mouthful by mouthful of mud, sticks of grass too. The have these very expressive faces and heads and I am always in awe of their cute little shoulders?they are the only bird I know of that has shoulders. I almost expect them to shrug at me when they cock their heads, wishing I?d leave the porch. Every year I think aloud to my husband, ?We should knock those nests down before they lay their eggs.? Before you think I?m cruel, I will tell you the reason.

While swallows are quite charming and they do eat a bazillion mosquitoes each day, they become like any guest who has overstayed their welcome?annoying!! This morning I was awakened by swallows?their nest built directly above my bedroom window, which is wide open at night. The problem was that it was around 4am?.my husband said they had been making noise since 3:30am. The noise they made was like a war cry or torture session! They were actually shrieking and screaming. So I?m a little perturbed at them. I came out here on the front porch with my laptop to enjoy a little outdoors while typing today but there is another nest directly over my husband?s porch rocker. My rocker is a few feet away, but they are still fussing at me, one in the nest (laying the eggs I think), and the other is on the porch light squawking and twittering in my general direction. A few minutes ago, as I started this, the male swallow swooped almost on top of my head while squawking. I refuse to give in to that little cute-shouldered twerp though!

"This is MY porch, for crying out loud" I want to shout!

?.but I just turned to him and told him, "I'm not going to mess with your nest. Would you just chill out?"

I think he shrugged his shoulders at me?.he definitely cocked his head in a mighty sassy way.

While they were building this front porch nest, they would routinely drip mouthfuls of mud on my husband as he sat in his rocker. He would just keep talking to me and flick off the mud as if it were lint. This cracked me up! I told him they were doing it on purpose?that we would soon be driven off our own front porch once the eggs were laid and that the babies would just fall out and die again this year. (Another story in and of itself...trying to rescue wayward baby swallows last summer!) We should have knocked it down! But my husband is a bird lover and wants them there?.so now we are swooped upon and spat upon. Last Sunday night we had our small group meeting out on and by the front porch because it was too warm in the house and it was just right outside. So the swallows?there were 4 of them?..were lined up on the edge of the roof cussing us out. Of course the small group people just thought they were cute, but I know?.I know them....those horrid pests, taking over our porches. Yes, our back porch has a nest too?..

I wonder how many baby swallows will fall prey to our new puppy, Winnie, on the back porch this year. She brought in a dead bird chew toy to the family room last Fall. Maggie, our 7 year old, was so mad at her for killing a bird that she called Winnie a wolf and wanted us to return her to the woods if she was going to act like that. She got over it in time, but for a while every time she went in to the backyard to play, she would scold and chastise the poor goofy dog, who didn't have a clue about what she was saying. I saw her take a leap and snap her jaws at one of the swooping swallows a few weeks ago as it dove through the porch, so I think we are in for an interesting June.

*10 minutes later*?.I have to admit defeat. I have come back into the house, afraid that I was going to become a poop target. That male swallow was getting pretty aggressive. =( Gilmore Girls was starting though, so it was a good thing I came inside. My oldest daughter Hannah and I are enjoying watching reruns of the episodes where Rory goes to college, as Hannah is staring college in the Fall and moving 30 miles down the interstate to her first apartment. Did I mention this is traumatic?

More later?..

Hotel California Rwanda
Topic: God things
Last week I was privileged to jaunt off to California for a week long conference on the Purpose Driven Church…..the offspring of the Purpose Driven Life book and philosophy. My two faithful readers may have noticed the lack of posts for the week. =) The conference was at Saddleback Church which is a huge, growing church in Lake Forest, California. Everything was inspiring and well done….I have never been to a more professional, well equipped conference. And I am not a conference person. It drives me crazy to sit and listen for hours on end, no matter what the topic or who the speaker is. In fact, after the first day of general conference time, I opted to sit on the patio area, listening to speakers on the glass wall of the church. (through which we could gaze upon all the little conferees who were sadly stuck in rows, wondering if they could scoot out to use the restroom without too much distraction) I could move when I wanted to, put my feet up and watch all the patio people while hearing the inspirational speakers and music.

One of my favorite things to do is people-watch. I like to watch people relate to each other, I like to watch what they do when they think no one is watching, when they are bored or distracted, when they are trying to attract or detract attention and (this week) when they are listening in a church (or conference) setting. I even read a blog that someone writes about the conversations he overhears in the various coffee shops or restaurants he goes to throughout the week….eavesdropping or creative curiosity??? I saw 3500 people from over 47 different countries and about every Christian denomination worshipping, listening, agreeing, wondering, meeting each other….trying to talk to each other. That was interesting, trying to talk with people from another language group and sharing the space around the lunch tables each day. People sat in all kinds of places to eat their lunch, which was a box lunch provided by the conference each day. They sat on the beautiful green grassy areas, on benches under trees, and on large round table under awnings. One day I ate lunch somewhere between Brasil and Rwanda! Our new Brasilian friends were a pastor’s family, husband, wife and adult son. (who translated for us) He talked about coming to America to start a Brasilian church in Florida. Can you imagine leaving the country you live in to minister to people in a totally new country who are from your original country? …..interesting….

Our new Rwandan friend made the biggest impression on me of the whole week. We introduced ourselves and it’s hard to chit chat with someone from Rwanda. I haven’t seen Hotel Rwanda, but I plan to when it is out on video. Knowing it is one of those emotionally devastating movies, I waited until I could watch it in the privacy of my own home, just in case heavy crying jags resulted in the viewing. But I have heard of the genocide, how the death total was near or possibly surpassed the Jewish holocaust in Germany. How can you chit chat with someone who has come through something like a holocaust? So I asked him how we could pray for his church, for people in that country. And he began telling me, very eloquently with his lovely accent about the needs. I was soon rustling through my purse to grab my notebook and write down what he was telling me. The main things were that there are a lot of pastors in his area who have not been trained in studying the Bible or in basic Bible teaching. They have a newly established seminary to train their indigenous pastors, but need scholarships, books and supplies to keep the school running. Also Rwanda is one of the African countries ravaged by HIV/AIDS. They need training in lifestyle and morality to avoid spreading the disease and also care for orphans left in the wake. HIV in Africa is most commonly spread because the men of the country are used to having mistresses. The third thing he wanted us to pray about is the hatred in his country….there is still a lot of hatred between races there, resulting in genocide and war. His country is full of strife, full of disease and ignorance about the disease, and it is full of people who want to be effective ministers, but need to be properly trained and prepared. During the general conference, Rick Warren was telling how the government of Rwanda voted to implement the Purpose Driven Life ideas into not only their churches but the government! They are becoming the first Purpose Driven country!! So Saddleback church brought a lot of the pastors from Rwanda to California for a week to learn more about the principles of PD Life.

Please, please pray for Rwanda and especially for these pastors who are serving their people and Christ there.

Something really hit me while I looked around and watched us all intermingle. These people from most other countries in the world are so humble, so grateful and so strong in their faith. The comparison would be the Americans I observed who love the Lord and want to serve Him, but we are so prideful, so demanding and need our constant entertainment to add to our faith. (myself included) I needed a reality check and I got it. We should be so grateful for our freedom, protection and opportunity to share our faith and spread God’s Word…..we have the resources to be so generous, yet we are so self-centered.

I have no excuse…I need to be more like Christ…what would He do if He came to live in America today….I wonder…

Conundrums
Topic: People/Family stories
Life is a conundrum.

Remember our creek? Well every year about this time, the banks of the creek grow full, green, lush, tall grass called Timothy grass. It looks like wheat?it waves in the wind, which is pleasing to the eye as well as to my ears. My husband and I LOVE to sit on our front porch and gaze out at the sky or the creek or the birds and animals. It is such a great place to rebuild your mental and emotional energies after a long day. It is also a wonderful place to visit and talk the day through?.you can think and communicate more clearly without all the household noises and distractions. But every year also about this time, my poor husband gets itchy nose and eyes?..his face and eyes turn red from irritation, and his nose becomes a fount of gunk. The creek that we hold so dear all year long becomes a scourge of irritation in May and June. He is so allergic to that Timothy grass, that the doctor gives him a steroid shot (sometimes 2), prescription nasal spray, prescription oral medication and an oral steroid to use?..just because of the grass. And the worst thing is, it drives him in to hiding in the house for 6-8 weeks of the year. He started running an air purifier that someone gave us, put in our window unit air conditioner and shut the house up today because it?s started. The beautiful green creek bank has driven him to be a prisoner in his own house.

Just to make it interesting, when I came home today, there was a foul odor in our house. I went down the hall to see who was using this terrible smelling cleaner or glue or whatever it was. No one knew what I was talking about. Finally I noticed this noise in the living room as I walked by and thought it was my husband?s computer, went to investigate?..and found the source of the icky smell. It?s the air purifier! Ew, it smells! It?s hard to describe?.kind of a metallic/cheap bleachish smell. (my spell check doesn?t want me to say ew or bleachish, but I have to, so I?m ignoring it) Here?s the conundrum?.the thing that he is hoping will give him the best year yet allergy wise is going to drive me out with it?s weird smell! The person who gave it to us said her husband wouldn?t let her run it due to a smell he didn?t like, but I didn?t realize how irritating it would be til it?s been running in our home for a day. I?ve had this sour look on my face all afternoon smelling it.

Now this is a temporary, silly conundrum, but life is sometimes a more serious unsolvable puzzle that looks like it?s going to absolutely choke us out of existence. I have a friend whose life has been like that for over 3 years now?..life altering situations that just seem to be going from bad to worse to unbearable. What do you do when life is such a series of unfortunate (or ridiculously insane) events? I don?t know if I could handle it. Yet my friend is holding on?.she is smiling and holding her family together by threads. She says that at times she just knows she will fall apart, but she doesn?t. There is something unseen there. Something supernatural and strong is undergirding her, holding up her head and helping her keep it together. She has learned how to let God work and to trust Him with all these tragic events in her life that seem like they will not let up. Everyone who mentions her though says the same thing?.she is at peace?has a deep joy and hope that is confounding to us who are looking on with horror as things unfold in that family. It is a hideous, seemingly unsolvable puzzle that bad decisions and poor choices have caused. The Sunday School answer of course, is that God knows their situation?.He is going to bring good out of the bad and we can trust Him. I am not sure I could say that if I were in her shoes. She doesn?t know what will happen and if any good will ever come of any of it. But she is holding tightly to God and His Word. And I am seeing, all of us are seeing, how that is affecting her ability to handle and survive this time in her life. If Satan was ever shaking someone?s tree, he is there shaking hers and she is holding on tight and is not being shaken. I don?t understand it?but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. (1 Cor. 1:27)

So you go, girl! We are in awe of how God solves the unsolvable?.His wisdom and ways are beyond any Sunday School answer we?ve ever heard.

Comfort
Topic: God things

Sunday nights are one of my favorite times of the week. We have had small group meeting at our home on Sunday nights for the past two years or longer. I love our small group! It could be any group of people, but we have settled in at the maximum capacity for small groups…..twelve people (just the size of Jesus’ small group)…..there have been a few changes in our make up, but it is a very good variety right now. We have a sampling of older and younger couples, a representative of almost every stage of child rearing, as well as one woman who is married and has never had children. We laugh a lot together, eat together and have become very honest and vulnerable with each other over the past two years. I don’t think this particular group of people would have ever come together in any other venue or would have stuck together as friends if it were not for the small group setting and how it brings people into a wonderful bond with each other. We started out by doing the 40 days of purpose campaign, reading and discussing the book, The Purpose Driven Life. We have since studied books on prayer, Jesus’ life and ministry, a book on Christian apologetics and most recently the Holy Spirit.

The last two chapters in the book on the Holy Spirit were on the fruit of the Spirit and the Spirit as the Comforter. So, being the creative and fun people we are, we decided to have the food themes for these weeks to be fruit night and this past week, comfort foods. I found it interesting when discussing what our favorite comfort foods are *as our ice breaker* what a variety of foods were represented as comforting. Most of the foods brought to the meal were sweets! While I am a sweets eater and I do love desserts, that is not what brings me comfort. When I think of comfort foods, I think of homemade, labor of love types of meals that families would sit down and eat together as an occasion. We’re talking pot roast with homemade rolls, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. And while my husband’s favorites went back to his childhood favorites of southern foods like chicken fried steak, fried okra or pan fried pork chops, you could tell where I grew up by my choices also, like my mom’s homemade chimichangas with homemade guacamole and taco salad or tamale pie. Several people in the generation just above mine in our group recalled loving one of the staples in a modest home life, pinto beans with ham hocks and cornbread. These were usually made with drippings from the ‘fat pot’, a jar or pot kept by the stove, where grease and fat drippings were saved (as well as ‘aged’) and used to add to dishes to give them that special touch. Now, I didn’t grow up in a well to do family or anything, but we didn’t have a fat pot. Thankfully my mother was kind of paranoid about food spoilage and didn’t keep things that weren’t refrigerated and preserved well. We also didn’t have pinto beans much because they reminded my mom of hard times during the depression, eating nothing but beans and cornbread.

Why are those homemade meals were so comforting and remembered with such fondness? I think it was the love that goes into preparing a meal from scratch, of spending time, investing in a project that was soon devoured and gone….yet brought such wonderful feelings to a family. In this generation of fast and convenient packaged and restaurant foods, a good homemade, lovingly prepared meal is a rarity! Since becoming the one who is responsible for my family’s cooking, I really appreciate, more than ever, the effort and care it takes to make a meal from scratch. It takes precious time to prepare a meal like that, just to have it disappear in a matter of minutes, all cut up, pulled apart, spooned out. But what a blessing it is to watch the joy and simple pleasure it gives to a family to sit down to a good meal together, enjoying and talking and knowing someone took time to prepare for you, to nourish you and comfort you.

As I smelled my own crockpot of beans cooking all day Sunday to please our small group, I remembered all the times I walked in on a Sunday afternoon to smell a pot roast cooking or fresh bread baking, or chimichangas frying, knowing someone had been preparing something special for us, thinking of us and going just a bit above and beyond making a regular meal to please us and love us.

Jesus said He is the Bread of Life, He’s the Comforter who sustains us when we’re hanging by a thread to sanity and just keeping it together. The comfort we receive from Him is much more lasting and real than any food every prepared. He is the real deal. And He wants us to enjoy the meat that He has to nourish us instead of the baby milk that just sustains us as Christians. There is a difference between eating to survive and eating to nourish and strengthen us for health. A lot of us Christians are like the starving millions in third world countries, bellies hanging out, full of worms and disease, when the nourishment that can help us become healthy is sitting there on our shelf, untouched or ignored. And we don’t need healthy foods and vitamins once a week or month or year, we need it each day to grow and have health.

We need to ingest for the feast He has for our spiritual life. It’s much more satisfying and comforting, but we settle for the fast and convenient food that we can ‘catch’ by the wayside as we travel through our life as a shallow Christian with our own agenda. And what happens when you eat fast food in a hurry, not taking time to properly digest and chew it well….it doesn’t usually sit right, does it? I personally have seen lots of Christians who take in a Sunday sermon quickly, without chewing on it, digesting it and processing it…and it makes them say, “Bleh, that doesn’t sit right.” God has given us a labor of love, a preparation of treasures and richness for the spirit beyond what the world or our own agenda could ever give us. I think I may be at the point in my spiritual life too where I can more fully appreciate and enjoy the labor of love God’s given us in His Word, like a woman who becomes a mother and can more fully appreciate the labor her mother went through to provide for her family. I can always use some nourishment, comfort and assurance of love, can’t you? =) Take, eat, enjoy and grow. It’s free for the taking….and will set you free as well.