Shelter

The sky is closing in, heavy and dense

Waking in darkness, my mind can't make sense

So I make coffee to wake me up

And the steaming goodness fills my cup

But the looming darkness blows in with the wind

Morning grows, but light weakens within

Trouble is brewing, and intense the speed

Reminding me of the shelter we all need

24 Hours: Thoughts during Lent

What would you do if you knew you had only 24 hours to live? Maybe you would try to do something you have always wanted to do, like sky dive or visit some place. Or maybe try to see people important to you. Eat at your favorite place. Watch the sunset and the sunrise.
Would you wash the feet of your friends? Would you give yourself up to authorities and let them take you away to certain death, knowing you had the power to get out of it?
Jesus went into the garden to pray. He was in agony over what was about to occur. He knew His death was coming in the matter of hours, and He even told his friends about it, and they were nowhere to be found. Yet, He continued on.
In this season of Lent I take time to meditate on that fact that all the human emotions that you and I feel when gripped with sadness, pain, dread, and agony were felt by Jesus. He didn't escape those emotions for a purpose. Jesus made himself like us so that we could relate to him. He didn't keep himself above us, but rather beneath us, to endure the worst on our behalf.
It continues to astound me that it was all for the love of us. His love is really that deep, true, and pure. Everything we need. Honestly, it is hard to fathom such a love, because our love tends to be so conditional.

During this season of Lent, let this love wrap around you and allow the actions of Jesus to build in your heart an example to live by.

His divine power gives us everything we need for life. -II Peter 1.3

Moving Pictures

What is love if we don't show it? What good does it do when we keep it locked inside? It doesn't do you any good or make you feel more loved. It doesn't do others any good because they don't know the love you have to offer.

Always clouding my mind is the unknown. I am not always bold enough to break through that cloud. The mystery that surrounds relationships and people leaves me scratching my head, wondering.

But we are not paintings. We are moving pictures.

A painting, in this respect, is complacency. Static. Still. Half-hearted. No forward movement. Those things are the opposite of what I try to be.

Moving pictures are alive, moving and growing toward what they are meant to be. Pursuing dreams and adventures. This is where I strive to live. In a creative place where nothing is impossible.

Sharing Stories and Ginger Cookies

I was recently in North Carolina, touring with my friend Chancie, and we stopped in Old Salem, just outside downtown Winston-Salem. This is the original settlement of the Moravians in the late 1700s. It’s a lovely spot with a little town of history just blocks from a modern downtown. They have the buildings to tour and people working in the traditional roles. We initially went into the bakery for a sample and a little history, and we ended with a long conversation with the older baker who wanted to share stories with us and remind us to enjoy life. He baked bread all day, but really his passion was for people, and that was so obvious when he told us stories of people he met from around the world. He would give them samples of bread while learning their story. And he remembered their stories.



He gave us each a ginger cookie while reminding us that we are a part of history. These things going on, like the protests where the people are forcing their government officials to hear them, is history in the making.



Chancie and I munched on the delicious cookie, digesting those heavy words. I don’t normally think of myself as part of history, but each of us is. Even from afar, we can take part in discussions and hear others views on matters that could change the shape of our country and our world. We can actively involve others through educating them about these issues and how they affect lives.

I think most of us like to hide under a shell, not wanting to see or hear about the distress of the world, unless it’s in our own town. We want to go on with life because we have our own issues, but as Christians we should have a global perspective, even while acting locally. Not all of us are called to work overseas or with global issues, but we are all a part of this world and our prayers are heard by the God of everything whether we are 4 blocks from the strife or 4,000 miles away.

We can treat others with kindness. Diversity is a blessing, not a curse. Our world wouldn’t be so interesting and different if it weren’t for all the different cultures and their traditions. Why did I love traveling through England and Scotland? Because their culture is so different from what I am used to, and while I learned their words, ate their cuisine, and met the people, my appreciation for diversity grew.

When a stone is dropped into a lake, it quickly disappears from sight- but its impact leaves behind a series of ripples that broaden and reach across the water. In the same way, the impact of one life lived for Christ will leave behind an influence for good that will reach the lives of many others. -Ray Lessin

Let the Familiar Become Unfamiliar

Our perennial spiritual and psychological task is to look at things familiar until they become unfamiliar again. 
-G.K. Chesterton

I am re-reading "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton, which is a book I cannot read too many times. In the first chapter he writes about a fancy he once had to write a story about an English yachtsman who set off to discover new land, but he miscalculated his directions and ended up landing right back in England. Yet, when he landed, he thought he had discovered the new land, and saw everything with new eyes. The goal of "Orthodoxy" is to look at all that we probably already know and have seen, but with new eyes, as if it were unfamiliar. We get so accustomed to our immediate surroundings that we lose that sense of astonishment. And that leads to complacency. Chesterton asks, "how can this world give us at once the fascination of a strange town and the comfort and honour of being in our own town?"
It challenges me to look at my surroundings with eyes unfamiliar and a willingness to undertake Chesterton's proposal of "an active and imaginative life, picturesque and full of a poetical curiosity..."

Dream

Dream

To one who can only dream
A reach to the stars is so serene
Soft and gentle, along with mere thought
Or fierce and mean, as one you fought
It's a hunger of your soul to be sure
To leave everything that is secure
For a passion so deep
You can hardly keep
Still to this place you look away
To see the sun rise on a new day
And more than I ought
I keep you in thought
As my dream is aligned
Knock, and you'll find
There is a place here for you
Because our company is so true

Blog Beginnings...

Welcome!
I am excited to start this blog. For awhile people have told me that I should start a blog, as a source for my writing and creativity. So here I am! It only took years of contemplation....

If you know me at all, you know that I am passionate about reading, writing, learning and traveling. To me, it all kind of goes together. While you travel, you learn. While you read, you learn. Then you write about it.
It's a joy. And I am glad to be here.

Visit often. I will keep the coffee pot brewing....