(to the tune of "Winter Wonderland")
North wind howls, hear it whistling,
Sets your neck hairs a’bristling
Hey, we’ll be all right!
We’re caught for the night
Stuck here in our winter wonderland.
Snowflakes fell while we slumbered
Our provisions are numbered
I wonder how long
We’ll all get along
Stuck here in our winter wonderland.
Someone got sent out to check the gas can
And found out the level’s really down.
We stared at each other and said, “Oh, man!
“We should’ve pick up more last time in town!”
I would like to inquire,
“Could we please start a fire?
“I’m cold! I’m afraid!
“Relief’s been delayed--
“(We’re) stuck here in our winter wonderland.”
Went back out again to check the gas can.
Spilled the last eight ounces on the ground.
We’ll just have to come with a new plan
To stay warm when the power lines are down.
Fam’ly life--so fulfilling!
So far there’s been no killing....
I guess we just stay
‘Til sometime next May
Stuck here in our winter wonderland.
© 2007
(Sorry, folks! It was stuck in my head—I had to let it out!)
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Passing Loaves and Fishes
In a recent online conversation with my friend, Robin, she said something so beautiful, so meaningful to me, that I was in tears as I read it. Then, I printed it out and shared it with some friends at church. Then, they wanted to get copies, or have me post it here! So...I contacted Robin and asked her permission. Her only request is that I/we credit her, so that when she uses her own words in the future she won't appear to be plagiarizing me. In fact, here's part of her response:
"The most important thing is hearts are fed. And my heart was not the only heart God intended to feed with those words. So break up those loaves and fishes and pass them around, girlfriend!"
So, without further ado, here's what Robin had to say:
If anyone would like to respond to Robin, I'd be happy to forward your comments.
"The most important thing is hearts are fed. And my heart was not the only heart God intended to feed with those words. So break up those loaves and fishes and pass them around, girlfriend!"
So, without further ado, here's what Robin had to say:
...Emmanuel means God with us. Even in our kitchen when we are arguing—God with us...During the "O, Holy Night" while the "stars were brightly shining," Mary was lying there on straw, bathed in blood, sweat, and tears—laboring...When we are in painful labor, when we are sweating and bleeding and crying, and all we can think about is our pain and "just keep breathing"...it's in that moment of personal agony that the Glory of God is being birthed in our life. But we miss it. We don't see it until later...Sweating out the boundaries...and trying to see past our own heartache, to behave in a Christlike, appropriate manner...It's in those crucible moments that the glory of God is appearing in our lives.
© 12/2/2007, Robin ________
If anyone would like to respond to Robin, I'd be happy to forward your comments.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
"Double" Post
A week ago, I met "Mike". Nice guy. However.... "Mike" leads a double life! When I first met him, it was in his "normal life" role—an employee of a Christian organization. We were at a conference together, and had a couple conversations over the two days. He never led me to believe that he had secrets.
That Saturday night, at a party, I discovered that on the weekends.... "Mike".... is a.... ROCKER *shocked gasp*! He was playing guitar with the band at the party!
Oh, wait! I was at the party! Guess that means that I have a double life, too. *sheepish eye-roll*
I think most people keep secrets. Some have deep, dark secrets like a hidden attraction to a married coworker. Other people have sily, embarrassing little secrets. Maybe they eat the filling from Oreos and throw the cookie away. I'm not convinced all facets of a double life are wrong. Sure, some, like an affair, need to see the light of day. But others, like a wedding night, or the birth of a child, or a parent's dying words are too special, too precious, too sacred to share indiscriminately with the world. Sometimes, complete honesty is the epitome of bravery. Other times, it's just shameless indiscretion. We need to discern when it's more prudent to tell, and when it's better to keep silent.
As a counterpoint, we need to use discretion when we happen across information about someone else's "double life." We need to be accepting of other, "outside the box" choices, provided they don't violate biblical guidelines. Not only that, we should be asking for God's guidance to tell or not to tell what we know, and we need to exercise restraint. If we decide that it's needful or acceptable to tell, we have to do it in a way that nurtures the truth, instead of leaving truth suffocated by deception and innuendo.
Speaking of nurturing the truth, that reminds me! About "Mike".... (see the first comment for this post)
That Saturday night, at a party, I discovered that on the weekends.... "Mike".... is a.... ROCKER *shocked gasp*! He was playing guitar with the band at the party!
Oh, wait! I was at the party! Guess that means that I have a double life, too. *sheepish eye-roll*
I think most people keep secrets. Some have deep, dark secrets like a hidden attraction to a married coworker. Other people have sily, embarrassing little secrets. Maybe they eat the filling from Oreos and throw the cookie away. I'm not convinced all facets of a double life are wrong. Sure, some, like an affair, need to see the light of day. But others, like a wedding night, or the birth of a child, or a parent's dying words are too special, too precious, too sacred to share indiscriminately with the world. Sometimes, complete honesty is the epitome of bravery. Other times, it's just shameless indiscretion. We need to discern when it's more prudent to tell, and when it's better to keep silent.
As a counterpoint, we need to use discretion when we happen across information about someone else's "double life." We need to be accepting of other, "outside the box" choices, provided they don't violate biblical guidelines. Not only that, we should be asking for God's guidance to tell or not to tell what we know, and we need to exercise restraint. If we decide that it's needful or acceptable to tell, we have to do it in a way that nurtures the truth, instead of leaving truth suffocated by deception and innuendo.
Speaking of nurturing the truth, that reminds me! About "Mike".... (see the first comment for this post)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
The Language of Love
Are you still wondering what Language Department's purpose was in making you take a foreign language? Well, if you took high school Spanish—here's a short video on how to win the heart of your true love, even with your limited vocabulary!
Useful Spanish
Useful Spanish
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Somewhere Under the Rainbow
On New Year's Eve last year, just two days before the wreck that took my dad, God gave me a double rainbow. It was there a long time—I'd say at least half an hour. Coming on New Year's Eve like it did, it seemed significant...like a promise for the new year. So I took pictures.
Then, just the other day, on Dad's birthday, God gave me another double rainbow! Once again, it stayed for more than half an hour. And coming as it did on Dad's birthday, after losing him so suddenly, it seemed significant again. So once again, I took pictures.
And yesterday, I suddenly remembered a conversation that I had with Dad as a teen, when spring was late in arriving, and I suggested maybe we wouldn't have a spring that year. Dad had pointed out that we can always count on the seasons because that's part of the promise of the rainbow! (Genesis 8:22, 9:8-9, 11-13) Seeing the rainbow on his birthday was just a neat little reminder from both of my dads that life will go on!
After the storm of sorrow, after the flood of tears, after the days of lonely isolation when the Land of Hope is nowhere in sight—after it all—comes the rainbow. Quietly, gently, catching us by surprise—it soars above the horizon. The rainbow—God's promise that the seasons will arrive again this year. His promise that life will go on.
Then, just the other day, on Dad's birthday, God gave me another double rainbow! Once again, it stayed for more than half an hour. And coming as it did on Dad's birthday, after losing him so suddenly, it seemed significant again. So once again, I took pictures.
And yesterday, I suddenly remembered a conversation that I had with Dad as a teen, when spring was late in arriving, and I suggested maybe we wouldn't have a spring that year. Dad had pointed out that we can always count on the seasons because that's part of the promise of the rainbow! (Genesis 8:22, 9:8-9, 11-13) Seeing the rainbow on his birthday was just a neat little reminder from both of my dads that life will go on!
Genesis 8
22 "As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."
Genesis 9
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you.
12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant....”
After the storm of sorrow, after the flood of tears, after the days of lonely isolation when the Land of Hope is nowhere in sight—after it all—comes the rainbow. Quietly, gently, catching us by surprise—it soars above the horizon. The rainbow—God's promise that the seasons will arrive again this year. His promise that life will go on.
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