Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Subscriptions...
Today, I have added a subscription availability to the blog. I don't update as frequently as I need to, and I realized that I don't check my friends' blogs but every once in awhile, and when they've been faithful to blog, it takes me forever to catch up. After subscribing to one, I found it alot easier to keep up. So...for those who want to, enter your email address on the right side of the page to subscribe. : )
A New Favorite...
I know it's been a long time since I've updated, and I should write something about what all I have been learning, or how Jinotega was, etc. But I really just wanted to share that I have found my new favorite dish at Bahama Breeze. In case you haven't been, you have to go when it's either fall or spring and sit out on the patio. And when you do go, you need to have the Chicken Santiago. (If you go at lunch, it won't be on the menu, but you can get the lighter portion. Just ask.) Anyway...it's grilled chicken with a great red pepper (?) sauce, fried yucas (a member of the potato family) and a spicy/fruity salsa that is awesome. Anyway...Just thought I'd share. It's hard to pick a favorite dish, you know?
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Tidbits from Chris Rice
On walking with God:
"I would take no for an answer, just to know I heard you speak. And I'm wondering why I've never seen the signs they claim they see. Are there special revelations meant for everybody but me? Maybe I don't really know You, and maybe I just simply believe. 'Cause I can sniff, I can see, and I can count up pretty high, but these faculties aren't getting me any closer to the sky. But this heart of faith keeps pounding, so I know I'm doing fine. But sometimes finding You is just like trying to smell the color 9.
"Now I've never felt the presence, but I know You're always near. And I've never heard the calling, but somehow You've led me right here. So I'm not looking for burning bushes or some divine graffiti to appear. I'm just begging for Your wisdom, and I believe You're putting some here."
On prayer:
"Fresh page, new pen, where do I begin? Words fail, tears come, I need someone to take the thoughts I almost think and carry them to God for me. Deep breath, exhale, breathe in deeper still. Long sigh, I'm still numb. Is there anyone who can find the things I'm barely feeling, and give them wings beyond my ceiling? Right heart, wrong place, it's too far to outerspace. Sorry, I forgot, You're right here. I cup my hands around Your ear. I feel You smile; You feel my breath. You listen while I whisper nonsense. Simple exchange. Your will, I'm changed. And now my prayer ends. Thank You. Amen."
On feeling out of place:
"Fading memories ignored, I crawl across the forest floor. Pool reflects an orphaned child, dirty lost, alone, and wild. Fatherless and nameless still, fallen heart and broken, will there ever be a place where I belong? I cower 'neath the monster trees, and try to stand on tired feet. But gravity knocks me to the ground, where I give up and tears roll down. I claw the dust and beg the end; curse the day that I began to hope there'd be a place where I belong. I hear a sound I recognize. You lift my chin and seek my eyes. The song of love You sing to me, I ache to sing it back to Thee. 'Father love prepares a place, and brother Jesus leads the way. Follow to the place where you belong.' How did I miss this wondrous song? The forest sang it all along. River rinses all your shame, and Father offers you His name. 'Father love prepares a home, and brother Jesus leads you on. Follow to the place where you belong.'"
"I would take no for an answer, just to know I heard you speak. And I'm wondering why I've never seen the signs they claim they see. Are there special revelations meant for everybody but me? Maybe I don't really know You, and maybe I just simply believe. 'Cause I can sniff, I can see, and I can count up pretty high, but these faculties aren't getting me any closer to the sky. But this heart of faith keeps pounding, so I know I'm doing fine. But sometimes finding You is just like trying to smell the color 9.
"Now I've never felt the presence, but I know You're always near. And I've never heard the calling, but somehow You've led me right here. So I'm not looking for burning bushes or some divine graffiti to appear. I'm just begging for Your wisdom, and I believe You're putting some here."
On prayer:
"Fresh page, new pen, where do I begin? Words fail, tears come, I need someone to take the thoughts I almost think and carry them to God for me. Deep breath, exhale, breathe in deeper still. Long sigh, I'm still numb. Is there anyone who can find the things I'm barely feeling, and give them wings beyond my ceiling? Right heart, wrong place, it's too far to outerspace. Sorry, I forgot, You're right here. I cup my hands around Your ear. I feel You smile; You feel my breath. You listen while I whisper nonsense. Simple exchange. Your will, I'm changed. And now my prayer ends. Thank You. Amen."
On feeling out of place:
"Fading memories ignored, I crawl across the forest floor. Pool reflects an orphaned child, dirty lost, alone, and wild. Fatherless and nameless still, fallen heart and broken, will there ever be a place where I belong? I cower 'neath the monster trees, and try to stand on tired feet. But gravity knocks me to the ground, where I give up and tears roll down. I claw the dust and beg the end; curse the day that I began to hope there'd be a place where I belong. I hear a sound I recognize. You lift my chin and seek my eyes. The song of love You sing to me, I ache to sing it back to Thee. 'Father love prepares a place, and brother Jesus leads the way. Follow to the place where you belong.' How did I miss this wondrous song? The forest sang it all along. River rinses all your shame, and Father offers you His name. 'Father love prepares a home, and brother Jesus leads you on. Follow to the place where you belong.'"
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Lessons...
Mom and I took a drive this evening. I haven't driven what I call "the loop" in almost a year. At first because of gas prices, and now because I've moved. But I used to drive this one little loop around the farms in Marion. In May and early June, if you drive shortly after the sun goes down, the fireflies are everywhere. I think, after June, it's too hot for them. Anyway...the milo is about ready for harvesting, and the color is spectacular. I'll post a picture soon. (My PC is on the fritz, and I'm having to use Mom's, and I don't have my camera's software on this computer.) Anyway...it was really nice to slow down a bit and enjoy the time. I have really been pretty busy lately, with work, play rehearsal, and running errands.
But I've been thinking alot lately. I think I mentioned memorizing James several months (sadly) ago, and I'm almost finished. I can't believe how much I have learned just by chewing over some of those scriptures. I guess the better way to put that is that I can't believe how much there is to be learned from those scriptures. Much self examination has taken place. I've been especially staying around chapter 4 in the latter verses. 13 "Come now you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city, spend a year there, engage in business and make a profit.' 14 But you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live, and also do this and that.'"
As I was thinking about these words, my mind went to: "If the Lord wills, we shall live." And I realized that I'd never seen that before. In my mind, verse 15 had always read "If the Lord wills, we will do this and that." As if to say that God is only action and goal oriented. He only cares about what we do. But that is not true. He has plans for us for whether we live or we die.
I've been thinking alot lately about living and dying. I guess I can't seem to help it. I also feel guilty talking to people about some of what I'm learning and struggling with, because I get the feeling that people are uncomfortable talking about such things. I don't blame them. Unless I was going through or had gone through something like this before, I don't know that I'd know how to respond. Fear and discomfort steer us to avoid such subjects and people. A quick word about that, though, to anyone who's listening: avoidance isn't the way to respond. It makes that person feel even more isolated and alone. (I am still trying to understand the differences between a "load" and a "burden." One is to be born; the other is to be shared. I won't go into all of my questions on that tonight.)
Sorry for digressing...back to what I was saying earlier...I guess I have been listening for the first time and learning a great deal in the process. I have been learning about the battle that is prayer. I have questioned that often quoted verse in James 5 about the effective, fervent prayer of the righteous. I've been pondering God's promises and why He should even make promises to us, filthy and faithless as we are. There are some truths, which I'll call hurdles, that I've had to stop and examine. Hurdles that I never saw before. It's not as if I even remember stumbling over them...perhaps, I just wasn't even running in the race. I have been just standing somewhere between start and finish.
I have prayed that God would lead me out of the mediocre Christian life. I didn't, and don't, want to merely soak up the air conditioning and play my part in the hug-and-greet-ministry that is being a contemporary Christian. I have struggled with being in the world but not of it. I think I would love to live and work in a totally Christian environment, but then how would I grow, and how would the lost meet Jesus? I want God to use me and be glorified. Yet even with all the fire and passion of pleading to be used, when the messiness of life comes, I beg to be released. Did I not expect the refining process to be painful? Did I expect to be put into the fire, in order to purify my faith like gold, and for it not to hurt or surprise me, even just a little? Oh that this simple existence of mine would run untiringly the race set before me! That forgetting what lies behind, I would press on toward the goal. That I would cast off the things, little and large, that so easily entangle me and run. Lord, thank You for a second wind.
But I've been thinking alot lately. I think I mentioned memorizing James several months (sadly) ago, and I'm almost finished. I can't believe how much I have learned just by chewing over some of those scriptures. I guess the better way to put that is that I can't believe how much there is to be learned from those scriptures. Much self examination has taken place. I've been especially staying around chapter 4 in the latter verses. 13 "Come now you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city, spend a year there, engage in business and make a profit.' 14 But you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live, and also do this and that.'"
As I was thinking about these words, my mind went to: "If the Lord wills, we shall live." And I realized that I'd never seen that before. In my mind, verse 15 had always read "If the Lord wills, we will do this and that." As if to say that God is only action and goal oriented. He only cares about what we do. But that is not true. He has plans for us for whether we live or we die.
I've been thinking alot lately about living and dying. I guess I can't seem to help it. I also feel guilty talking to people about some of what I'm learning and struggling with, because I get the feeling that people are uncomfortable talking about such things. I don't blame them. Unless I was going through or had gone through something like this before, I don't know that I'd know how to respond. Fear and discomfort steer us to avoid such subjects and people. A quick word about that, though, to anyone who's listening: avoidance isn't the way to respond. It makes that person feel even more isolated and alone. (I am still trying to understand the differences between a "load" and a "burden." One is to be born; the other is to be shared. I won't go into all of my questions on that tonight.)
Sorry for digressing...back to what I was saying earlier...I guess I have been listening for the first time and learning a great deal in the process. I have been learning about the battle that is prayer. I have questioned that often quoted verse in James 5 about the effective, fervent prayer of the righteous. I've been pondering God's promises and why He should even make promises to us, filthy and faithless as we are. There are some truths, which I'll call hurdles, that I've had to stop and examine. Hurdles that I never saw before. It's not as if I even remember stumbling over them...perhaps, I just wasn't even running in the race. I have been just standing somewhere between start and finish.
I have prayed that God would lead me out of the mediocre Christian life. I didn't, and don't, want to merely soak up the air conditioning and play my part in the hug-and-greet-ministry that is being a contemporary Christian. I have struggled with being in the world but not of it. I think I would love to live and work in a totally Christian environment, but then how would I grow, and how would the lost meet Jesus? I want God to use me and be glorified. Yet even with all the fire and passion of pleading to be used, when the messiness of life comes, I beg to be released. Did I not expect the refining process to be painful? Did I expect to be put into the fire, in order to purify my faith like gold, and for it not to hurt or surprise me, even just a little? Oh that this simple existence of mine would run untiringly the race set before me! That forgetting what lies behind, I would press on toward the goal. That I would cast off the things, little and large, that so easily entangle me and run. Lord, thank You for a second wind.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
4th of July Memories...
Today is one of my favorite holidays. Why? I guess because it's a fuss-free time for family and friends to get together. I can remember going to see the fireworks show (I think it was in Jonesboro) every year. We'd break out the picnic blankets and coolers, claim a good spot, and run around until the show began. I remember one year we had 3D glasses. And another year, my dad began to think that the ash from the fireworks wasn't good for our eyes, so he bought us these sunglasses. These were no ordinary glasses. They were huge, and they had a little battery attached that powered the mini-lights along the top rim. So we wore light-up sunglasses to watch the fireworks in the dark that year.
Another fond memory is of going to the Twist's house in Earl, AR to have a huge buffet/picnic, parade, and a homemade fireworks display. My grandmother sent us a video the other day of 1982 that had July 4th, as well as Will's and my birthdays on it. It was pretty funny. There were these fireworks that had parachutes attached, and that is where the video starts. All of us kids (girls: ponytails on the side of the head, strawberry shortcake t-shirts; boys: knee-high white socks with colored stripes on the top, shorts with stripes down the sides) running around collecting them. THEN you see the men (in the same clothing as previously described for the boys) setting up the fireworks and running away when they were finally lit. There is the sound of my dad's voice calling out to me and Will to watch out and not get too close. Dad was always behind the camera and very seldom in front of it. My dad was pretty country. Mom liked to make fun of me when I came back from college, but as I watch our old home videos, I am discovering that the potential for a deep southern accent has run in the family for years. It's good to hear my dad's voice sometimes.
I remember the year the youth group decided to do our own thing, and we set off our own fireworks. There was one that went straight up the driveway and split the crowd. We all hit the pavement.
It's a time for potato salad, swimming pools, and bug spray...Iced tea, apple pie, sparklers, and staying up late. There's not really any stress involved. No picking whose family to spend it with; no presents to buy; no fuss over the menu. It's all simple and pleasant. It's a time to enjoy the people closest to you.
God has been, and is, so very good to us.
Another fond memory is of going to the Twist's house in Earl, AR to have a huge buffet/picnic, parade, and a homemade fireworks display. My grandmother sent us a video the other day of 1982 that had July 4th, as well as Will's and my birthdays on it. It was pretty funny. There were these fireworks that had parachutes attached, and that is where the video starts. All of us kids (girls: ponytails on the side of the head, strawberry shortcake t-shirts; boys: knee-high white socks with colored stripes on the top, shorts with stripes down the sides) running around collecting them. THEN you see the men (in the same clothing as previously described for the boys) setting up the fireworks and running away when they were finally lit. There is the sound of my dad's voice calling out to me and Will to watch out and not get too close. Dad was always behind the camera and very seldom in front of it. My dad was pretty country. Mom liked to make fun of me when I came back from college, but as I watch our old home videos, I am discovering that the potential for a deep southern accent has run in the family for years. It's good to hear my dad's voice sometimes.
I remember the year the youth group decided to do our own thing, and we set off our own fireworks. There was one that went straight up the driveway and split the crowd. We all hit the pavement.
It's a time for potato salad, swimming pools, and bug spray...Iced tea, apple pie, sparklers, and staying up late. There's not really any stress involved. No picking whose family to spend it with; no presents to buy; no fuss over the menu. It's all simple and pleasant. It's a time to enjoy the people closest to you.
God has been, and is, so very good to us.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
A picture is worth...
a thousand words (and memories).
This picture is from The Office, one of the few shows that I adore. How excited am I that the season finale is playing again this Thursday? Answer: very (since the power went out when I had tried to tape it the first time.) I had to wait almost a week before I could find out what happened.
Lyrics..In Christ Alone
This is probably an old song, but I think I'm just hearing it recently, even though the first time I heard it, it felt very familiar. But maybe that's just a quality of a great song. Anyway...my favorite is in bold.
"In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought or storm. What heighths of love?! What depths of peace!? When fears are still, when striving cease, my Comforter, my All in All. Here in the love of Christ, I stand.
"In Christ alone Who put on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones He came to save. 'Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ, I live.
"There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again. And as He stands in victory sin's curse has lost its grip on me, for I am His, and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.
"No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry 'til final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. 'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I'll stand."
"In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought or storm. What heighths of love?! What depths of peace!? When fears are still, when striving cease, my Comforter, my All in All. Here in the love of Christ, I stand.
"In Christ alone Who put on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones He came to save. 'Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ, I live.
"There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again. And as He stands in victory sin's curse has lost its grip on me, for I am His, and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.
"No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry 'til final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand. 'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I'll stand."
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