Saturday, October 27, 2012


          If flowers could talk and the lame could walk, I think the world would consistently smile. We'd dance more and learn more and on no account focus exclusively upon ourselves.
          When I was smaller than I am now, I wished my dolls could speak. I wanted them to convey what they thought of me and to twirl around with me because worries are so silly. One day I woke up and comprehended that not all things can be so light, and I began to mimic my mother's fears. I did not yet know why I should be afraid, but I wanted to worry because that was the thing to do. I do not blame my mother or my father or my teachers or my peers; I just wanted to be like them, and to be liked by them, and for some reason I got it in my head that no one wants a child as a friend. So I tried to grow up, and when I tried to grow up I got caught in that odd mix of desiring after innocent things and craving the things I did not understand. After some time, though, I began to understand those things. It was bound to happen, but I really have spent a lot of my life since speculating how situations may have been different if I had just let myself figure stuff out on my own. Life gets fast and there's nothing we can do about it. 
          Anyway, I believe sometimes it is healthy to dream. Not to worry or lust or envy or even strive, but to just sit and think. I don't want to spend time thinking of how matters may have gone differently, but I want to be a child again some; hence, some afternoons I like to sit in my room and literally stare at my wall. I'll get a pen and my notebook and write about things you'd expect from an eight year old. My childhood was cut off early, but do not pity me. It is so in these times that most everyone's is, and we learn to learn and that is that. 
       
          I've always enjoyed thinking, and the older I've gotten probably the less I do it and the more I want to. I also want as I grow to make other people think, and it's sort of become a hobby and a cycle. 
          When I was about five years old, I truly believed with my whole heart that the world would be a better place if everything was a cartoon. People would not be, obviously (humorously), but my bed would be! The trees would have leaves you could use as fleece coverings, and my bed would be the brightest pink a person could ever experience! It's the bounciest bed of all, and my parents let me jump on it routinely before I lie down to rest at night. When I sleep I have dreams that come true, but only when I want them so. I can read minds and everyone enjoys me. We have many somethings syrupy throughout the day and I climb trees the size of mountains with skill and quickness. I run at speeds people can hardly comprehend, and I can be by myself whenever I want to be. But when I want a buddy, I don't even snap my fingers before he or she is planning fun for the two of us right next to me. I'm never wrong, I'm never disappointed, and some days I live in the ocean. All the boys in the world are handsome and witty but don't make me feel embarrassed at all. They're impressed when I beat them in sword fights or run faster than them, and the other girls are not jealous: they have their own boys who are less cute than the ones I surround myself with- and they're content. I don't get nervous that much and I'm allowed to dance all the time. I can also talk as much as I want when I want, but the world doesn't revolve around me. 

          Several of the reveries listed are things I no longer want. I have new dreams to replace them. My dreams are less selfish now, yet my actions are not. The way that time affects us is the strangest thing I've ever come into contact with. 

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Our God is Greater


     Saying that my God is greater also means that He has conquered sin. He's defeated death, and He constantly loves and raises us sinners into a new life. He cares for us eternally and He changes us for His glory. He is bigger than other "religions." A religion is a way to live one's life, summed up. It's just one of the many things we try to do and to be with and for our lives. We all want meaning, and Christians, Agnostics, Catholics, Buddhists, Mormons, Jews, Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, everyone is looking for that. My God is bigger than the gods people try to justify. My God is bigger than our limitations and our weak, sick bodies. We pervert His goodness and He forgives us with those open arms and big eyes if we change our lives for Him. But the greater wonder of that is that He changes our lives. He's bigger than our idols; He's bigger than the seemingly huge things we turn into our gods. So yes, He is greater. He is The Greatest. But saying that implies so much more than what is said. My prayer is that you see that; my constant prayer is that He would make you see that.
     I posted this as a note on my Facebook page a while back because the song "Our God," had been brought up in a discussion I had with a friend of mine. He visited the church service I attend on Wednesday nights one evening and our praise band led the group in worship through this song. He didn't really understand what the words were supposed to mean and took it as chauvinistic. The lyrics read, "Water You turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind. There's no one like You. There's none like You. Into the darkness You shine, out of the ashes we rise. Oh, our God is greater, our God is stronger. God, You are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, awesome in power. If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, what can stand against?"
     Once he told me what he thought, I tried to take into consideration all the things that should be considered in my opinion. I considered his home life, I considered his peers, but above all, I considered the condition of his soul. He isn't expected to understand the words to that song, and he isn't expected to agree. As a lost person, he is unable to worship God, and that is the sole purpose of that song and its being played. It wasn't even the song that I was really even thinking about though... It was his perception of the worship and his soul's present condition. Of course he isn't going to understand what it all means- before I was a believer, I thought the same exact thing. 
     The point of my saying all of this was to explain the situation and circumstances behind the note above. I ask that you would pray for my friend, and pray that he sees what God is trying to make him see. I don't know if I posted that in hope that he would read it and that it would spark something more inside of him, but I know that it's truth. God is sovereign and greatly to be praised. For whoever read this far, much thanks, and for whoever goes on to pray for my friend, I'm very grateful.

     Our God is greater than our misunderstandings and misinterpretations, our God is greater than the hold Satan has on the world's minds. Our God is also greater than our word-limitations, and where I fail because I'm weak, He prevails for He is strong. May the Spirit move.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Track 03

  

    His power is great and His love is changing. 
    Come speak to me and show me Your might.  Hold me, lift me, shift my face in Your direction. 
    Bring on the conviction and mold me to be Your vessel. 
    Show me beauty and show me knowledge; show me what they truly are. 
                                                                                                                         You

    Keep me and guide me and don't hide Your gentle spirit, oh my God. 
    I want to serve and I want to learn.  I need to. 
                                                                                           You. 

    I see to. o
           k
              You. 

    This can't be all; I know it's not.  I'm reaching, I'm running, I'm climbing and finding 

You. 


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Awe-Inspiring


Absolutely incredible. Just a few minutes- please take the time to watch this. You won't regret it. 

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Sayings of Agur- Clips from Proverbs 30

"There are three things which are never satisfied, four things which never say, 'Enough.': 
The grave; 
and the barren womb; 
the land which is not filled with water; 
and the fire, which never says, 'Enough.' 
The eye that mocks his father and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. 
There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I know not: 
The way of an eagle in the air; 
the way of a serpent on a rock; 
the way of a ship in the middle of the sea; 
and the way of a man with a young woman."
"Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear: 

Under a servant when he reigns; 
and a fool who receives plenty to eat; 
under a shameful woman when she is married; 
and a servant who replaces her mistress. 
There are four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: 
The ants are not a strong people, yet they prepare their food in the summer; 
the conies but a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the rocks; 
the locusts have no king, yet they forth together in ranks; 
the lizard can be held with the hands, yet it is found in kings' palaces. 
There are three things which go well in their stride, four which move with stately bearing: 
The lion which is mighty among beasts and who turns away for nothing; 
the strutting rooster and the male goat; 
and the king, against whom there is no revolt."

This is absolutely beautiful. There is more within this chapter which I encourage you to read, but I decided to share these lists. 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Please Read

I am sharing a video with you of a sermon that a man by the name of John Piper gave concerning the issue of abortion. It is a powerful message and I recommend that you watch it. I am also going to post the link to a video that shows an actual abortion taking place. It is very graphic and in warning I share that it begins immediately. I had a hard time watching it, but I do ask that you watch it whether you are "pro-choice" or "pro-life." It is informing and I do believe that anyone reading this should strongly consider viewing it. The sermon video is below and the video link is found here: http://www.abortionno.org/ 




Tuesday, January 10, 2012

"Dance on My Heart," by Allen Koepke (with recording)

Once two handsome gentlemen asked a fair young maid a question:
"What must we do to win your hand and gain your kind affection?"
One said he was "stronger by far," than any other man that she'd meet.
Also being braver than most, said, "Please marry me- I'm adoringly sweet."

Then, said the other, "What if I give you diamonds and pearls, would you be my bride?
I can offer power and riches. All through your life you'll be satisfied!"

"Well," she replied, "I'd make my selection,
and you'd receive my love and affection
if you danced on my heart, if you sang to my soul.
But alas! My heart is not pounding
and your songs are not sounding.
Therefore, I cannot marry you."

Then a kindly gentleman asked the fair young maid the question:
"What must I do to win your hand and gain your kind affection?
I can only promise to love you, be at your side through all of my life.
I will be your faithful companion! Come take my hand, say you'll be my wife."

"Sir," she replied, "you are my selection,
and you'll receive my love and affection
for you dance on my heart, you sing to my soul.
I'll take your hand,
wear your wedding band.
Yes, kind sir, I will marry you!"
















Above is a recording of "Dance on My Heart," beautifully performed by The West Plains High School Women's Chorus.

Friday, January 6, 2012

"One Boy Told Me," Video & "Famous," by Naomi Shihab Nye

Famous 

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way the pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

This is a link to see a video of the writer (Naomi Shihab Nye) reading her piece, "One Boy Told Me." Video provided the Poetry Foundation.
(Video produced by WGBH & David Grubin Productions, fimmaker Leitra Luchetti, & student filmmakers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's docUWM media center.)

A Children's Garden of Poetry: The Poetry Foundation; Daffodils, The Tropics in New York, & Hope Is the Thing With Feathers



"Daffodils," by William Wordsworth. Read by Dave Matthews.


"The Tropics in New York," by Claude McKay. Read by Ziggy Marley.


"Hope Is the Thing With Feathers," by Emily Dickinson. Read by Claire Danes and signed by Rachel (age 9).

Each is a link to small clips from a "movie," I watched last night. It's thirty minutes long, but it's absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend it. It was created by The Poetry Foundation, it's called "A Children's Garden of Poetry." I really, really enjoyed it and actually plan to watch it for the second time this evening. It is available for order on Netflix and I know that it can also be purchased on Amazon. I want it! Again, this is a tiny bit that only shows a couple sides to this video. I encourage you to watch the full thing any time you get a chance. You won't regret it!