the way we are

Thought I would start the love month with a repost from the archives. I posted this little slideshow year before last on our 43rd anniversary. Can we just pretend the late seventies never existed as far as hair and fashion go? Speaking of fashion and decades, you MUST, I say, SIMPLY MUST, check out Boomama's post today. That woman is hilarious.

This is one of my favorite love songs but I wish it was "The Way We Are." Thank God for His grace and mercy and that we STILL ARE. (If you are reading this post after February 1, 2010, I have probably changed the music on the sidebar) It was playing THE WAY WE WERE by Barbra Streisand when I posted this.

BTW, if you want a good love story to read this month, try Nicholas Sparks' A WALK TO REMEMBER. I cried for the last fifty to seventy-five pages today when I read it. He is the author of THE NOTEBOOK.

from job

Seems

Weekend Worship-I Want to Pass It On

the hand of my precious husband

Everything is white and quiet here. Don't know if we will be able to make it to church tomorrow because of road conditions.

Flipping through my pictures for inspiration for weekend worship, I notice some pictures that I didn't get a chance to post because the Christmas season was so busy and there were just too many things going on.

So, my dear friends, I pass on the warmth of Jesus Christ and the message of hope and love depicted in these pictures of the candlelight worship service we attended with our middle son and family over the holidays.

My husband passing the spark to our granddaughter--

The lyrics to "Pass It On"

It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around
can warm up to its glowing.
That's how it is with God's love,
Once you've experienced it,
You spread His love to everyone
You want to pass it on.

I wish for you my friend
This happiness that I've found,
You can depend on Him,
It matters not where you are bound.

I'll shout it from the mountaintop,
I want my world to know,
The Lord of Love has come to me,
I want to pass it on.

and the spark goes the entire length of the pew to son and wife and two other granddaughters--

and up each aisle and down each row as we sing the wonder of that "Silent Night,"

and lift the candles high, higher, highest,

to the King of Kings

AND LORD OF LORDS FOREVER!

I want to share this YOUTUBE version of "Pass It On" with you. It is not the most professional clip you will ever see but it is good, sincere, and sweet. I first heard this song in Glorieta, New Mexico at a national youth camp about forty years ago. The meaning and message is timeless.

Pass it on,
Dianne

All photos were changed to watercolor in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6

Let It Snow!

Guess you heard about the sleet and ice storm here in Arkansas.

Late this afternoon I walked through the kitchen and heard voices coming from my driveway. I was not expecting company. Practically the whole city is shut down. Going over to the window to peer out, I saw the following.



A single solitary little lonely soul in my driveway--NOT!




I don't know how many there were, but the cul-de-sac neighbors were using my driveway for a downhill sledding event.



I remember last summer after our yard sprinklers had been on the grass to the other side of the driveway, they did the same thing and it worked great. I couldn't believe it. But on sleet, it worked much better. We are getting a little snow right at the moment but when I took these pictures, it was all sleet. I'm not sure but I would guess that we got at least an inch of sleet.



That is so much better than freezing rain. Many times in Arkansas that is what we get, especially in central Arkansas. People to the south of us are without power but thank God so far we are warm and lit. (well, you know what I mean)



I took these pictures from inside my kitchen. I thought about going out (for a millisecond). I thought they turned out pretty good especially since it was dusky dark. I didn't use a flash but I brought up the exposure and took the shadows out on IPhoto.

One sad little note: I haven't seen snow in several years and it is snowing right now but it is very hard to see in the dark. I very seldom took breaks when I was raising three little boys but on the days it snowed, I always stopped whatever I was doing and sat and stared at it for hours. Maybe it will still be snowing a little tomorrow morning and I will get to see it.

Update: The day after writing this post I happened upon this verse from Job. I think it is from Job 37.

6 “He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. 7 Then everyone stops working so they can watch his power.

Wow! God's Word NEVER ceases to amaze me.

Happy Sledding,

the bic building

When our youngest son was about five or six years old, there was a building he referred to as "the giant typewriter." It was the main building at the Ford Glass Plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here is a link with a picture but it is not the best angle. The big roller on top is what made it resemble a typewriter so much.

Every Sunday on the way to church, we not only would play "Beaver, Cleaver," (remember the Volkswagon Beetle game--orange ones were worth more points--of course I was always pulling for my sons to beat their daddy but invariably he would see an orange one parked in a very obscure place behind a building that you could barely see--he is an expert at spotting things you can barely see when he is driving--it has made for a very interesting lifetime on the road) but would have fun discussing the architecture of the building and how much it resembled Meemaw's typewriter. Wish I had my own picture of it but forgot to take one the last time I was there.

UPDATE: When I was browsing my picture files, I found these pictures of "the giant typewriter" that I had forgotten I took a couple of years ago.





I did remember to go by this building though. It is also in Tulsa. To me, it looks just like a Bic cigarette lighter. It is tall and sleek and narrow and has those little bumpy things on one edge. Yea, it really looks like a Bic lighter.




A picture of the "lighter" reflected in the windows of the adjacent building.


The little bumpy things on the side called balconies!



There were other buildings in Tulsa that reminded us of other things. One we called the "Flying Nun Building." It had concrete coverings to protect from the elements. They were big and pointy and wavy just like the hat of the Flying Nun.

"

I would love to have a coffee table picture book with photographs of buildings around the world that resembled different items.

1 Cor 3:11-15
11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Deut 32:4
He is the Rock , his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

Am I building on the solid rock ?

Lord, teach me to build eternal works upon You. Amen



P.S. The building is NOT really named "The Bic Building" and yes, the day was as gray and drab as it looks in the pictures. Maybe next time I'm there, it will be bright and sunny.

i'm expecting

Last week when I read the assignment for today's post (Experiencing God: How you have recently experienced God) I couldn't help but start looking more for his presence.

At first, I was somewhat dismayed because it seemed as though I had not really experienced Him lately.

As the week wore on, I came to notice Him in places where I might not have before. When I opened the blinds on the dining room window to welcome the early morning rays of flaxen sun, I was suddenly taken with the shadow it cast on the table and floor. But, I thought, it will be changing in a matter of moments. Immediately, a verse from James 1:17 came to mind:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Sunday morning as my husband and I walked through the yard before heading to church, I noticed the resurrection fern surviving by clinging to the host tree. It can go for long periods with no water and then when there is a heavy dew or rain, the fern will unfurl its doille-like fronds in all their glory much the way we do when we drink of Him and experience the living water.--I had experienced His presence.

And as I listened to the morning's sermon and scripture declaring how fearfully and wonderfully we were knit together in our mother's womb, I was rubbing elbows with the fearfully and wonderful creation that God had knit together in my womb 44 years ago. From womb to elbow, yes, I experienced God right then and there with a lump in my throat and eyes that stung with unshed tears. I pondered the glorious workings of God's Holy Spirit in my own womb. How wonderful to be worshiping beside this creation of God--this son from the seed of my husband, who was seated on my right.

When I went out to shake the rugs on Monday morning, I walked out the door, looking..........expecting. Behind me was a sudden loud noise which made me think someone was there. I turned and it was only a gust of wind that whipped up some brittle leaves. I thought of the Holy Spirit and this scripture:

John 3:8
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

And how ironic that on the day I was writing this post, Oswald Chambers' short devotional for the day included these wise words.

"Do not look for God to come in any particular way, but look for Him. That is the way to make room for Him. Expect Him to come, but do not expect Him only in a certain way. However much we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that at any minute He may break in. We are apt to over look this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. All of a sudden God meets the life - 'When it was the good pleasure of God. . .'

Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes."

So, thanks to Ann at Holy Experience for the suggested post for the week. As a result, I lived in a state of expectancy all week. And I was not disappointed!

Grandpa

For a while before the holidays I was dedicating Tuesdays on my blog for sharing writings of my former students. Most of what I shared was their thoughts on the children of the Holocaust.

Today I want to share a poem that a student wrote about his grandfather. Jasper was a 7th grader I taught several years ago. I thought he evoked several emotions in this poignant poem.


Grandpa

Grandpa was really funny.
Last time I saw Grandpa,
He was in the house in the country,
In Minnesota.
It was in the summer,
With a million mosquitoes.
He had a milk mustache,
And he said the funniest word I ever heard.
Skunkabalunka.

He said when he was my age,
He started working on a little farm,
Loving cows and selling milk.
He worked a lot, and he worked hard,
And he worked all the time,
Until he got a job
Selling machines that milked cows.
He got real good at selling,
So that he moved up in his life,
All the way to the top of his company.

I didn't know him well enough,
Because I was only nine when he died.
All I remember was my cousin Hugo,
Standing at the door to the funeral.
And I remember this old gray box of ashes.
When they buried it in this hole in the ground,
I felt sad.
And I remember they planted one Swedish tree,
They call it a Linden tree.

Someday I would like to go back and see that tree,
And see how big it has grown.

Even though Grandpa died,
He was like the roots of my family.
He got planted in the ground,
And now a tree is growing up to stand for all he left behind.

by Jasper


Dianne
2010-the Year of Longings

PHOTOGRAPH: A picture I took of my husband and our only grandson, Kendall, several years ago.

fit: dying to live and the resurrection fern

One of my longings for 2010 is to become FIT. I am sorry to say that I have not exercised as I should nor eaten as good as I should for several years. I am paying a high price now with different health problems.

Our pastor is preaching a series of sermons entitled FIT: DYING TO LIVE. He will be concentrating on these areas of fitness the next few weeks: spiritual, physical, emotional, relational, moral, and financial.

Today he focused on the physical aspect of being fit overall. His scripture was taken from 1 Corinthians 9. The following is just one of the many scriptures he used.

25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.

27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Although Paul in this scripture is preparing for spiritual battle, we know that our enemy comes at us from all directions, especially the ones listed above that we will be studying the next few weeks.

I wrote a post recently entitled, "Weapons of Mass Distraction." As our pastor said today, sometimes Satan doesn't have to destroy us to ruin our witness and our testimony--he just has to distract us. The more fit we are in all these areas, the more likely we are to lay hold of the prize that Paul speaks of.

As a follow-up to this sermon, our church (yes, it is large) divided into two teams--the pastor's team against the youth pastor's team) for a six-week weigh-in and exercise challenge. For many of us, it probably will take at least six months to reach our goal.

An example of my ineffectiveness was evident in 2003 while on a mission trip to Brazil. The weather was quite warm and humid and we were pretty high up in altitude and on foot to get to the hillside residences when I started feeling poorly. My blood pressure shot up pretty high and I had to go to the pastor's home and rest that afternoon while the rest of the group got to go about the business of winning souls to Christ.



This was the afternoon that I started feeling bad. Oh, what a great time I missed because of that abbreviated afternoon. May I also just interject that the Brazilian people are some of the most fun, loving, and beautiful people (inside and out) in the whole world. I fell totally in love with them.



I wish I had prepared as much physically for that trip as I did spiritually. Our pastor reminded us that our motive to become physically fit should mainly be that of being prepared to serve our Lord and Savior.

I won't belabor the topic but I will say that my motive here is to try to inspire you to become more physically fit than you are today.

I know that all of us are at very different levels of age, fitness, certain limitations that we may have been born with BUT most of us can at least do something today that we didn't do yesterday.

I remember, after back surgery many years ago, driving by a local park in our neighborhood that had a 3 mile running track around the outer edges. I would look with longing at those people running and think that was something I never would be able to do. Subsequently, I did walk and run that track and lift weights for several years.

So the challenge today is this:

1. Put on your tennis shoes and tie them.--that's all--well, you might walk to the end of your driveway and back. How's that for an easy opener? This may seem crazy to some but in those early days after back surgery, I thought I might never be able to tie my own shoes again. Thank God for the ability to do even that!

2. I would like to encourage you to eat better today also. I won't tell you what to eat. There are many healthy suggestions online from reputable sources or your doctor would be a good source for information. I am on a specific eating plan. I started two weeks ago and have lost almost seven pounds. It will be much slower after this--maybe 1 or 2 lbs. a week. I am going to stick to it. I will report my results each Monday.

About the photo above: This is a picture of a resurrection fern growing on a tree in our yard. I took the photo this morning.

Wikipedia has this to say about the Resurrection Fern:

This fern is an epiphyte, or air plant, which means it attaches itself to other plants and gets its nutrients from the air and from water and nutrients that collect on the outer surface of bark. The Resurrection fern lives on the branches of large trees such as cypresses and can often be seen carpeting the shady areas on limbs of large oak trees. However, it is known to grow on the surfaces of rocks and dead logs as well. It is often found in the company of other epiphytic plants such as Spanish moss.

The Resurrection fern gets its name because it can survive long periods of drought by curling up its fronds and appearing desiccated, grey-brown and dead. However, when just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, appearing to "resurrect" and restoring itself to a vivid green color. It has been estimated that these plants could go 100 years without water and still revive after a single soaking.

We are much like the resurrection fern in that with just a little tender loving care, a little exercise, a little pushing back from the table, a few good decisions, our soul and our body will thrive once again.

We may have to die to some of our desires to be able to truly live and become FIT but it will be worth it.

Weekend Worship at Shiloh Baptist Church

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:5-2 Cor. 5

Dianne
2010-the Year of Longings

ten thousand years .................but who's counting?

Isn't it interesting how sometimes we want time to slow down, to halt, to beckon us back and forth to the same moment--and other times we want time to fly, to say sayonara to this moment and hello to the next as fast as we can--the Sunday morning sermon that God surely meant for someone else--the waiting room while appointment is pending--the college class with the oh so boring lecturer for an instructor--

As I sit here and ponder this, I wonder, "Lord, how do I wait upon you?--what do I do to ensure that I am conserving time for you to show yourself to me, time for me to commune with you, time for us to be together?"

Yes, there is always the morning time--time that I need, time that is heavy with desire for your validation upon my day, time that has become a lifeline for me. "But more than that, Lord, I want more than that. How do I wait upon you? Show me Lord. Please show me Lord. How do I wait for you?"

I think about the years that have passed so swiftly and my mind is pregnant with the weight of wanting to make every moment that I have left count--count, counting?

-----Anxious thoughts go to an old classic hymn, Amazing Grace, and to last stanza--"When we've been there 10,000 years, we've no less days to sing Your praise than when the 10,000 years first begun." How long would I have to carry that thought before the full significance is birthed in my being?

For now I will relax and live this life you have given me. Will start my day with you--preparing old jar of clay to pour out mixture of divine love and mercy whenever and wherever you lead.

In the meantime, I will stay my mind upon you. Yes, I think that is what it means--slow down and wait for you. Not that I change my activities so much, but change my thinking.

I remember one of my favorite scriptures--Isaiah 56:3--Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.

I will go about my daily chores, routines, hobbies, and volunteering with my mind stayed upon You--KNOWING that one day I will never have to be concerned about running out of time. One day when hello and goodbye, now and then, yesterday, today, and tomorrow will have no distinction--





photograph: a picture I changed to watercolor filter of some of my calligraphy