Two people I'd ask you to pray for...

There's two special people I'd ask your prayers for...


Little Collin, who is 5.5 months old and has dealt with far too many tests, hospitalizations and "medical stuff" than a little guy should.

Pray for him to make steady progress, and for healing. And for a God-sized dose of peace for his parents...






And this is Dave... about a year ago, Dave had a serious motorcycle accident. By a miracle of God, the right emergency workers just "happened" to be in a car that came on him right after his accident. And with lots of surgery, prayer and support, he's on the road to recovery.

He has surgeries left to continue repairing the spaghetti of his insides, but mostly, prayers for him and his wife, Kendahl, would be huge.








Thanks for being a part of the unseen "cloud of witnesses" surrounding them...

Deb

Daily Blog Meme: Alphabetic Gratitude

I got this idea from MomPriest who learned of it from AltarEgo: Blog every day, going through the alphabet, listing things you are grateful for... It's the beginning of a new month, so it's a great time to play. Join me! It doesn't have to be long, doesn't have to be on the first of the month... just blog!

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Col. 3:16)

HERE we go!!!

APPLES
Obvious. Sorry. I do love a fresh, crisp, unwaxed, warmed-from-the-sun apple. One that's tart on the tongue, and explodes with juice when I crunch it. A freshly-picked apple brings back memories of my grandparents' apple tree...


ASTHMA
OK. I guess that sounds weird. But when I can breathe freely after one of the spells I'm having now, I remember how my daily breath is from God. And that God's creative Breath in the world is a constant reminder of joy and hope and peace.

A-LIST Friends
You know who you are... who have listened, prayed, encouraged and challenged. Love you tons.

ART
I love good art. Photography. Landscapes. Sculpture. Prints. I'm grateful for artistic geniuses in this world.

AYES
I like positive people. Upbeat people. People who are ready to face life, not sit and whine about it. (I can do that fine without help!) I guess ATTITUDES of a positive nature make a huge difference in my life.

ALES
Specifically, the kind that my beloved makes in his homebrews. It may not make for great race relations progress at the White House, but I love the quiet end to a day with my favorite brewer.

AUNTS
My family has been large, extended and caring. My parents made an effort to keep us in touch with our grandparents, aunts and uncles. It gives roots and wings. I'm grateful for all of them.

AMBITION
I believe I was born with it, but I have met enough people in this world to know that not everyone has it. So I'm grateful for the pound of ambition God worked into my personality from the get-go.

AUTHORS
No way can I list all of the formational authors in my life. There's lots.

ASPIRATIONS
I got 'em. And I will continue to pursue them. Langston Hughes said, "Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. "

Feel free to join me in this exercise...

Deb

Friday Five: Child's Play Edition

KathrynZJ of RevGals writes:

While traveling with my 4 year old we were both pleased to find a HUGE indoor playground. Now he can maneuver himself around those things no problem but I have found myself at the top level of what amounts to a glorified hamster tube more than once either rescuing an article of clothing or The Boy himself. There was a small part of me saddened to find that I no longer had the convenient excuse to be a kid and go up in the playground, but mostly my aging knees and back were quite happy to skip the experience.

Maybe you are better at it than me, but my first-born, responsible demeanor rarely lets up enough for me to do frivolous silly things – like playing on playgrounds – without a good reason. My friend will stand up in a crowded restaurant and serenade me with an operatic rendition of Happy Birthday. My sister is very good at grabbing the joy in the moment. I seem to need a child to bring it out in me and even then… it takes a lot.

Today’s Friday Five celebrates the spontaneous child in all of us… or at least the one that we admire in someone else:

1) On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being I can’t do this now I am about to jump into a pit of plastic balls at the mini-mall and 1 being I can’t do this now until I can get all of the fonts on my blog to match – where are you?
Well, a "5" in my mind, but a "2" in reality since I'm still getting over whatever virus/bacteria decided to lay me flat this week. I'm pretty silly a lot of the time. (Hence, this picture...)

2) What is the silliest/most childlike thing you have done as an adult? Probably flamingo-ing my sister's yard one Christmas. It was memorable!

3) Any regrets?
Nope. We still talk about it.

4) What is the silliest thing you have ever seen another adult do on purpose?
Well, you see, I do Christian mime, so I've seen and done a LOT in this regard.

5) What is something you wish you did when you had the chance?
Waterski? Hanglide? Ride a mechanical bull? No clue really. I haven't done any of those things, and I'm a pretty happy person. :)

BONUS: For our ‘I told you so’ sides – what thing did you skip doing and you’re really glad you did!
This one is EASY. All of those "throw-up machines" at the County Fair or Boardwalk that people begged and begged me to ride, I refused, and they barfed afterwards. Still ain't happenin'...

Deb

P.S. Here's a moment of silliness with Reedy Girl and The Harpist when we were on Spring Break. Salvaged a rainy day by shopping and trying on all KINDS of hats. Tres chic, non?

I have warped my daughters... and I'm proud of it!

I have warped my daughters... and I'm proud of it!

Next week The Harpist leaves on a mission trip. This is the third year in a row that she will visit the kids at the Casa de Hogar in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Each year she learns something new about herself, and about God. And she gives away a ton of hugs, smiles and TLC to the kids there.

SOoo... earlier this week The Harpist was helping sort and pack toys and supplies for the upcoming mission trip to Casa de Hogar. There were lots of little things to sort. Little stuffed animals, plastic toy animals, etc. Everything was great except... she was told to sort them into BOY and GIRL toy piles. It bothered her that the boys got all the dinosaurs and toy snakes, and the girls got dolls and jewelry. And it flummoxed the team leader that she argued for letting the girls have dinosaurs and snakes, too. I guess it is predictable, though, since this was from a girl who has a pet snake... and whose favorite stuffed animal was a dinosaur.


But I realized as we laughed about it that I had taken a great deal of effort in her "formative years" (gad, what a phrase) to introduce her and her sister to all kinds of situations, events, and yes, toys. So when she was curing Rainbow Dinosaur of a "chicken pock" or tromping down enemies with Prince Caspain, I guess it made an impression.

Her sister is no less independently minded, rolling her eyes when she tells us about the girls she has at daycamp who are afraid to play in the rain, or don't want to get dirty. She has little tolerance for classmates who insist they must have the lastest fashion or they will DIE, and she resisted reading all of the vampire-du-jour series because she thought it was just a little, well, dumb as far as the plot goes. (No offense, Ms. M., but you could have been given a better editor...)

It just drives home to me the little choices that we make with our lives, as parents, role models and teachers have a bigger impact than we realize on our children, and on their peers. That I don't spend hours on my appearance each week has its own repercussions, I grant you. But I would rather raise daughters who have been taught to think critically, serve humbly and act kindly. And everything else... is really not that important.

Unless, of course, we are denying snakes and dinosaur toys to little girls...

Just proud to be a radical feminist mama...

Deb

P.S. We would appreciate your prayers for The Harpist and the rest as they travel to San Luis Potosi August 4-11...

[edited to add...]
P.P.S. To learn more, please see a video of last year's trip HERE! You'll find The Harpist at about the 1:30 mark.

None but Jesus

We didn't sing this song by Brooke Fraser last Sunday, but it has been on my mind....

In the quiet, in the stillness I know that you are God
In the secret of your presence I know there I am restored
When You call I won't refuse
Each new day again I'll choose

There is no one else for me, none but Jesus
Crucified to set me free; now I live to bring him praise.

In the chaos, in confusion I know You're sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness you give me grace to do your will
So when You call I won't delay
This my song through all my days

There is no one else for me, none but Jesus
Crucified to set me free; now I live to bring him praise.

All my delight is in You, Lord,
All of my hope, all of my strength
All my delight is in You, Lord, forevermore

There is no one else for me, none but Jesus
Crucified to set me free; now I live to bring him praise.

- Brooke Fraser, Hillsong United

Thought you'd like to know...

I have discovered the true reason for the demise of the Huguenots in France...

Nom de Church!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

You heard it here first...

makes me chuckle...

So Abraham was a friend of God... and now, on Facebook, I am too. (Well, actually I am a "fan" but let's not get picky!)

Strong Tea...

I have been trading emails back and forth with a friend, another woman pursuing God's call. She's also taking seminary classes, though not where I am a student.

Our conversation has been centering around this question of pursuit, and knowing that you know that you ARE called, ARE on God's path, ARE listening to God's direction for your life's work.

It's harder than it would seem. There is this defining moment where you KNOW that you KNOW. This is God's Call to ME.

Get busy. Go love my sheep.

But then there's the questions that pop us. Life situations stir up your angst. Time management and focus get trashed when you are busy pouring into folks with needs, and then you realize not only is your laundry not done, you've had frozen pizza or take-out Chinese for dinner again because you didn't remember to start dinner before 8 p.m. You miss a birthday, a celebration, an "event" that you wish you had time to go to, but you are behind schedule and will miss it... (because you were busy loving and caring for God's people...)

Then you serve on a ministry team and get, well, slammed. You don't dress correctly. Or you don't "act" like a pastor, whatever that means. You offer some well-intentioned advice to someone who comes to you for counsel, and get chewed out for butting in. And the people who seem to spend their waking hours letting you know that you shouldn't "be" a pastor because they believe that the ministry is limited to one gender? Let's not even go there...

Can we get delusional? Sure. But when I've been stubbornly choosing the stupid, God doesn't drop peace in my lap... What I have seen recently is that in spite of change, and the fear of my next steps of faith... there is still that peace. Huge. God-sized. PEACE.

And when it's hard, that's what I hang on to. And I keep steeping myself in God, in the places where God soaks into my heart. You know - the places that you say - WOW. Hi! :)

But it is not in God's nature to give the go-ahead for an obvious step towards ministry, and then slam the door shut.

HA!! PSYCH!! I didn't mean it!

That's not in character with the Shepherd that I want to emulate, the Leader I follow.

Sometimes, you pursue an open door because it's there. And you think, "well, God may not want me to do this, but I am at least going to pursue it." Sometimes you are being led, step by step, into a new ministry challenge, and you didn't see it coming. You're ready, deep down, to give it a go. God says "yes - GO!!" and yet there are doubts.

It's a bit like making strong tea. You let it sit. You wait. You watch. You stir. You wait a little longer. And the fine, strong flavor comes out. Tea. Not brown water. And it all starts by getting into hot water...

So here I am... cooling on the counter... learning, growing, waiting... wanting to be as strong as I can be. I don't manipulate or change the process, or pursue another path.

I'm meant to be strong tea. I trust the person who cooked this up... Because I'm not the One who made the plants to become... Strong tea.

Deb

Taking the other road...

Instead of obsessing about my paper (due this evening), I blew it off to go see Star Trek with my husband and kids. I know, I know. Just about everyone else has seen it. What can I say?

At any rate, mission accomplished. We saw it in the itty-bitty theatre at the multi-plex, a sure sign that it was about to leave the theaters. It was grand. Enjoyable. Altruistic. Funny. And had enough of that Star Trek ethos to make me happy.

The paper got submitted with 30 minutes to spare. I probably missed some typos and didn't get my Turabian formatted 100% correctly. But quite honestly, I don't mind.

Now, if I could drop the angst on this Church History final that's next weekend (and for which I have not studied, not even one paragraph or dateline) that'd be... perfection.

But I'll settle for a B.

Perfect peace and rest...

I'm enjoying my Sabbath rest.... how about you?