only one Person ...

Only one Person can step into a life

and give it happiness even when health fails . . .

and give it peace even when possessions fade . . .

and give it security when savings fly away.

That Person is Jesus Christ.

~ Charles R. Swindoll ~

peace like a river ...

with all the stress that our lives in this world can hold ... i'm so glad that Jesus is the one who holds my future ... and when things start to really drag me down - i ask Him for a way to escape the knots in my stomach and the uncertainty clouding my mind ... He provides it ...

a very good friend of ours (leo's high school chum) went to leo's dad's funeral ... he called us tonight to give us details ... he said that leo's mom is looking strong and he chatted with her for a while ... it is always a bonus to get an opinion from someone outside the family ... that was a good thing ...

tomorrow company is coming ... so life continues on ...

sharing my heart ...

lately my blog hasn't reflected my heart ... because i haven't had the heart to blog ...

don't get me wrong ... i am thankful ... God is good ... yet life can still be hard (just like the country song says!) ...

i feel like the dove that Noah sent from the ark ... i fly and fly - searching, yet don't have a place to stop and rest ... tho' i must amend that statement - my bike rides are my rest & prayer time ...

just a brief up-date as to the "why's" of my heaviness of spirit ...

leo's health (or lack of health) ranks #1 ... his chronic pain and the effect of the meds on his body and whole disposition, can sometimes be challenging for us both ... at the moment, we are juggling some pills around - trying to make things a bit better ... tho' sometimes it seems we only make it worse!

then last week leo's dad was put in palliative care (they live 1500 miles away) ... leo's not close to his dad or the sister who does the care-giving ... yet it is still distressing ... there are many factors at work - and i won't be airing any of them here - but boy is it a challenge for me to keep abreast of facts or keep cordial lines open ...

and then the struggles of my family ... i know the pickle that some are in could have been of their own making - and the way they should walk seems to be so clear to me!!! - yet they continue along, getting mired in yuck and sadness ...

everyone has similar problems, i do realize that .... yet, every once in a while they can get so overwhelming ... my wings get tired of flapping and my heart gets heavy from the battle ...

as always, God gives a word of encouragement ... or a word of warning ...

i'll close with what i gleaned from my bible reading today ... and please forgive my bit of complaining here ... it just got to me this morning ...

"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committted to him." 2 Chronicles 14: 9

"Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. ... Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,"' Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" Romans 18:8, 20

UPDATE: today, at 5:20 p.m. Eastern time ... leo's dad died ...

gentle humour on a sunday morning ...

There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country. "Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk. "Only the Ten Commandments." answered the lady.

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While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... "Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust."

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A Sunday School teacher began her lesson with a question, "Boys and girls, what do we know about God?" A hand shot up in the air. "He is an artist!" said the kindergarten boy. "Really? How do you know?" the teacher asked. "You know - Our Father, who does art in Heaven... "

the sunrise in my world ...

tuesday morning i awoke at 5:25 a.m. to bits of light filtering through the bedroom window ... i felt this nudge within me to go see what kind of sunrise the day held ... i had felt that same call monday too, but slept instead ...

but tuesday i said "ok Lord, i'll go take a peek" ... i stumbled into my clothes and went to the living room ... i opened one set of venetians and said "HOLY COW!" ... there was this red, fireball of a sun, just starting it's morning journey in the sky ...

i ran for my camera, slid into my sandals - then started the mad dash to the beach ... the flip-flop flip-flop noise i was making, echoed in the still morning street ...

i was at the beach in 20 seconds ... and what i saw amazed my senses! God's creation IS awesome! ... the breath-taking view was all mine to enjoy ... and i was glad glad glad to have gotten out of bed ... i would have missed this perfect sunrise!

just sharing a few photo's with you ... i took 60 in total ... but i'm sure i could have easily taken 600 ...

hope you can see a little of that "WOW" factor i saw ... and may it bless your senses as well!

psalm 103 ...

i received this picture in an e-mail from my sister this morning ...

i saw it and thought "WOW"!

she captured such a simple truth in this haunting photo ... you see the wild california poppies blooming ... and the graves of those long gone, stand silently in the background ... making the brevity of life so apparent ...

our devotions for today included psalm 103 ... and the words echoed the sentiments of this photo ... my sister graciously let me use it, to share with you ...

let today count for Jesus, because today is all we have ...

Psalm 103: 14-17

14 For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children,

to read the whole psalm, click HERE

consider the ......

when we moved into our condo last december, we had no idea of what kind of flowers were growing in our little flower garden ... plus we never realized that the side of our garage was actually a thriving flower bed!

take a look at the variety of lily that has been gracing my life with their smiling faces!!!!

God knows the song i have hummed to myself for decades ... and now - in love and probably a bit of humour, gives to me a summertime reminder of His grace and blessings in my life ...

coincidence you say? i think not!

consider the lilies, they toil not nor spin ...
they bask in God's sunshine, they drink in God's rain ...
if God cares for them in such marvellous ways ...
how much more, how much more, how much more ...
will He care for you and supply all your needs every day ....

Against All Odds ...

my cousin hot air ballooning in Finland

this excerpt is copied from Ruth Bell Graham's book, Legacy of a Pack Rat.


Vero Beach
Spring 1971

The little plane lifted off the runway, disappearing into the light cloud cover.

The next day Franklin called from school to say they had arrived safely, adding matter-of-factly that they had had some trouble on the way and had to make a forced landing in Jackson. Nothing more.

So when Calvin Booth, his flight instructor, wrote, we opened his letter eagerly. Racing through his opening remarks, we came to . . .

"You are probably still a bit hazy as to the details surrounding our return trip, so I will seek to briefly cover the events.

The odds are probably at least one in ten thousand against this particular failure, but i feel that the Lord placed us in this position to prove His goodness and constant care in a very dynamic way.

A check of enroute weather at Mobile revealed an area of thunderstorm activity across southern Mississippi and Louisiana so we decided to go north to Jackson and west to Longview. This course took us over a number of larger cities with lighted airports, whereas a direct flight would have taken us over a sparsely settled area in Mississippi and Louisiana. In the area of Jackson, while flying in the overcast, the generator failed and the battery ran down, leaving us without lights, navigation, or communication capability. A quick prayer provided the necessary calmness and we decided to descend out of the cloud and look for Jackson, as we were only thirty or forty miles west of there. Frank and I were mutually thankful for each other and I have only praise for his help and performance during that seemingly endless fifteen or twenty minutes.

When safely settled on the ground, we went up to the tower to express our appreciation for what we thought was a great deal of help on their part, only to find that they didn't even know we were around until lthey saw us on the runway. We were thrilled to see the miracles unfold as the controllers told us that they were demonstrating the airport lighting system to a couple of visitors at the time. They had turned the lights up to full brilliance just as we approached the field and also turned on the flashing strobes which we thought to mean indication of their assistance. We were happy to see the lights and were even happier to be on the ground.

It seems that Franklin is getting more than his fair share of learning experiences lately, but I can assure you that this was a very worthwhile experience for him as well as for his instructor. A lesson learned under this type of circumstance is not soon forgotten. I think that something like this is good from time to time as it renews our awareness of God's role as guardian of our lives."

To what extent God had guarded them that night, we did not learn until four years later.

During the Jackson crusade, someone sent my husband a newspaper article from Jackson dated April 15, 1971, by Wilbur M. Irwin, Pastor, Forest Hill, Jackson.

". . . Gary Cornett, minister of music at Forest Hill Baptist Church, and his wife, Pat, had arrived at the airport at Sydney's invitation to see the various operations. They were allowed to go up into the tower, and Sydney began demonstrating the various equipment. He had received a call from Memphis concerning the small plane but assumed that they had made contact with each other and passed on to other matters. Sydney demonstrated a light-gun which has tri-colored lights. He turned on the red light and a white light while the gun remained inside the tower, but for an unexplained reason he held the gun out the window when he demonstrated the green light and said, 'If I were going to give a pilot clearance to land I would point this light directly at him and turn the green light on.' A fellow worker asked Sydney if he would demonstrate the run-way lights. Sydney started to turn them on, and gradually they got brighter and brighter until they reached the state of high-intensity. The latter degree of lighting is for emergency, and the lights are designed to pierce fog and clouds to give pilots in emergency situations a view of the run-ways.

"Sydney had scarcely completed these demonstrations when his co-worker said in excitement, 'There is an unlighted plane coming in.' Sydney responded, 'There isn't a plane within 50 miles of us in the air.' Upon closer examination with the aid of binoculars it was quickly learned that an unlighted single-engine plane was coming in for a landing.

". . . In one sense Sydney McAll was demonstrating the lighting and signal system to Gary Cornett, but the pilot of that plane is positive that God's providential Hand was in it all. He commented, 'God's hand was in it. You see, we just left Billy Graham there in Florida and he prayed for our safety before we departed.'"

The writer of that article did not know who the copilot of that little plane was [Franklin, Billy & Ruth's eldest son].

* * * * * * *

"I think that something like this is good from time to time."
Calvin Booth, Franklin's flight instructor, had written us after that flight,
". . . it renews our awareness of God's role as guardian of our lives."

* * * * * * *

The following year Calvin Booth was killed in a plane crash.

it's in the little things ...

it's in the little things, that i feel God's love towards me ...

the picture i've posted today is taken from my flower garden ... the "condo central" surprise from the Lord ...

the orange tiger lillies had already bloomed ... i thought the unopened ones were going to be the same colour ... i was wrong ...

instead this lovely lovely shade of lilly appeared ... and do you know that i had just been admiring this very colour in a friend's garden ... lo' and behold - it appeared in my own ...

it's in the little things ...

this morning i woke up sad ... i am generally a happy person and on most days my glass is half-full, if not downright overflowing ... not this morning ...

leo's chronic pain and his inability to do so many things we used to do ... that is sadness personified ... the fact he can't go bike riding with me, or just enjoy a walk around the neighbourhood ... or even go visiting ... the loss of those simple pleasures - well i want to cry sometimes ...

so today, when i wanted to close my computer - turn off the phones - and just have a pity party ... the Lord gave me a hug ... He used the extra e-mail from by BC sister ... which in turn spurred me to go for a bike ride and visit with my aunt and cousin ... then later in the evening, old friends surprised us with a little 30 minute visit ...

the day is ending better then it started!

i love the Lord ... more importantly - He loves me! ...

it's in the little things ...

peace ...

the world seeks for peace ... but their definition of peace depends on where you live and who is in power ... Jesus offers peace ... unseen ... free ... wholly attainable ... and it sets the captive, troubled, heart free - regardless of circumstances ...

These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. John 3:16, 17

a compliment

i was in the city yesterday ... visiting ... it turned out to be a really lovely day ...

i also received a genuine compliment that made me feel good ... i was told that i was "nice" ... i know, that doesn't sound like something earth shatteringly wonderful ... but it came from a 3 year old ... and after only 4 minutes (or less) of being with me ... she openly grinned up at me and said " you're nice!" ... i thanked her, and said she was nice too ... then she looked at her mom and said "she's nice!" ... and grinned some more ... i love kids - they either like you, or not ... either way, they let you know!

it is another warm, sunny, summer day here ... i must get my household chores done - then maybe head out for a swim at the beach ... i guess my blogging is suffering from my summer vacation - but you guys are in my thoughts and prayers - and i've posted many a mental note, it just didn't get into the computer!

blessings sent your way!

Happy Canada Day!

here are some scenes of our Canada Day celebrations!!!! we had some awesome fireworks last night ... we watched it from our front deck ... and i took dozens of photo's ...

and we also had a parade march by our place!!!! with candy being thrown from the quaint little floats ...

it has certainly been a wonderful celebration of being Canadian! and all happening right outside our door in small town Manitoba!

Happy Canada Day, eh!