You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May, 2008.
Here’s a really awesome message, Building Your Personal House of Prayer, by Larry Kreider, a preacher and evangelist, who spoke recently at Christ Community Church, in Camp Hill PA. It’s really blessing my private times with my Father. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Spring-cleaning time. I know that because last night I had a nightmare–I was back in my parents’ house trying to clean it amid mountains of clothes, tools, and scrap metal! Every time we got one room cleared out and tried to clean the floor, my parents would drag stuff back into the empty space! In the dream, my sisters were also loading all the clothes in the house into the washing machine. It was so overloaded that when it started spinning, the clothes were flying out from the bottom, top, and even out from behind the control dial. Dreams are weird . . .
Now I realize dreams are all me–even if there are multiple characters in them–so after I woke up this morning, I decided that I’ve been collecting way too much “stuff.” It’s time to clean house! Read the rest of this entry »
(Members of the Third US Infantry Regiment, Arlington Cemetery’s “old Guard,” carry a fallen soldier to a final resting place.)
It’s Memorial Day weekend in the US. Over this weekend, Americans will remember our fallen military members and their families with parades, cemetery visits, flags, speeches, and wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Families across the nation will also gather for cookouts, visits to local cemeteries, and reflections on the costs and impact of war on relationships, families, neighbors, our country, and our world. It’s a poignant weekend.
I was driving home Saturday night in a Spring rain. The ground was fragrant with the aromas of plowed fields, new plant growth, flowers, and wet earth. It was dusk, and the gathering night and humidity created a smoky mist across the fields and mountains that cast shadow clouds along the horizon. Between the light rain, the glistening roads, the fragrance, and the approaching shadows, it was very beautiful and romantic. I wanted to stay in the moment, to stop driving and to rest there, in the beauty of that evening. I love rainy Spring and Summer nights. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been rethinking the notion of “fitness” as our culture and most 1st world cultures understand it. It was that Amish study that opened my eyes–4% obesity rate, 51,000 steps a day, and work as exercise. The Amish are fit, because they work out–out in the fields, out in the barn, and out in their community. They’re living lives in harmony with the laws of creation.
Sunday was Mothers Day in the US. It’s a big deal here. Mothers get calls from their kids, cards, gifts, special attention, and trips to a local restaurant of their choice. Not all mothers celebrate. Some mark the day in pain, remembering broken families, lost relationships, deceased or absent children and mothers of their own. But the day is still a big deal–emotionally and commercially. Our pastor delivered an awesome message, Selfishness to Sacrifice, using the biblical example of Hannah. He gets it.
I was taking 83 North this morning, coming out of the York split onto 581. Ahead of us, a driver in a robin’s-egg-blue pickup kept trying to pull off on the left shoulder of the on-ramp. The van driver in front of me blew his horn a couple of times. In response, the driver in the blue pickup stuck his bony arm out the window at least twice and flipped the van driver a “bird.”
As I moved onto the highway and passed the blue pickup in the fast lane, I noticed a bumper sticker on his left back fender, “Prayer changes everything!” 
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, Your God reigns! (Isaiah 52:7)
A Blue Jay in the back yard!
A Dark-Eyed Junco
A male Cardinal
I have a thing for birds… When we were kids, we always had parakeets in the house and pigeons in the yard. The parakeets would fly into the mashed potatoes, sit on our heads during dinner, and generally fly around the house and sit with us, when we were finally allowed to sit down. They’re awesome creatures. Thank You Father!
Tufted Titmouse–yeh, that’s right “titmouse”!! And one final entry . . .
Northern Mocking Bird!
