rest ...

picture taken in the laneway where i walk ...

loved ...

"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." John 11:5

Jesus does not want all His loved ones to be of one mould or color. He does not seek uniformity. He will not remove our individuality; He only seeks to glorify it. He loved "Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."

"Jesus loved Martha." Martha is our Biblical example of a practical woman; "Martha served." In that place is enshrined her character.

"And her sister." Mary was contemplative, spending long hours in deep communion with the unseen. We need the Marys as well as the Marthas - the deep contemplative souls, whose spirits shed a fragrant restfulness over the hard and busy streets. We need the souls who sit at Jesus' feet and listen to His word, and then interpret the sweet gospels to a tired and weary world.

"And Lazarus." What do we know about him? Nothing! Lazarus seems to have been undistinguished and commonplace. Yet Jesus loved him. What a huge multitude come under the category of "nobodies"! Their names are on the register of births, and on the register of deaths, and the space between is a great obscurity. Thank God for the common place people! They turn our houses into homes; they make life restful and sweet. Jesus loves the common place. Here then is a great, comforting thought: we are all loved - the brilliant and the common place, the dreamy and the practical.

"Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus."

- Rev. J.H. Howett, D.D.

"Does the wildflower bloom less carefully and are the tints less perfect because it rises beside the fallen tree in the thick woods where mankind never enters? Let us not bemoan the fact that we are not great, and that the eyes of the world are not upon us."

page 244 from August 28th's Springs in the Valley ...

* * * * * * * * * *

i loved the reading this morning ... i loved it because i needed to be reminded that God loves me - me, who lives a quiet life ... unknown ... simple ... yet, my life IS the Lord's ... to do with what He wants ... and if He chooses to mould me in this way - so that i can bloom for His eyes only ... then i rest in that ... there are many like me ... and each one IS beloved to the Lord ...

you know the saying "they broke the mould when they made you" ... well, i think that God broke the mould when He made me ... He broke the mould when He made you ... after each of us was made - the mould was broken ... so our lives may be "common place", but there is nothing common place about the child of God - we are well loved by our Father ...

Psalm 91:1

photo copied from web

our medal count is 18!!!!

Canada's medal count is 18 ... yay for Canada ... it's one of our better summer olympic showings ... leo and i had so much fun watching ... and cheering our athletes on ...

which reminds me of a much greater race we are all in ...

I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 1 Corinthians 9:23-25

keeping an eye on eternal life - which is ours in Christ Jesus ...

scooter

we were outside, saying goodbye to our overnight company ... and look who was peeking through the screendoor, feeling all left out! ... he didn't cry, just stood at the door - probably making sure that they actually did leave!! ... scooter really got scrappy with the teenage son of my girlfriend ... you should have heard all the growling from this itty bitty critter!

after i changed the beds, we lost scooter for about 5 hours ... turns out he had hauled his weary little body under the covers and snoozed away the hours!

tonight he is playing with all his toys ... probably making sure that they are all accounted for! i think scooter is definitely starting to act like a spoiled only child ... yikes! we are creating a monster! ... but what a cute little munchkin type monster he is!

The smallest feline is a masterpiece. - Leonardo Da Vinci

book reports

we are just finishing off this terrific book by greg laurie

here is a quote from page 216:

"How do we reach the goal of becoming more Christlike? The answer is found in 2 Peter 1:3: "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue." If God says you can do it, you can do it. The calling of God is the enabling of God. These words are not written to a group of spiritual elitists. They aren't directed to a special little holy club out there somewhere. They are to all people who call themselves followers of Christ.

Everything we need is given to us in God's Word. He has put everything there for our use. We cannot add to it. It doesn't say He has given to us some things that pertain unto life and godliness. It's not Jesus Christ plus emotional experience. It's not Jesus Christ plus psychology. It's not Jesus Christ plus this or that. It's Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Everything we need to live a godly life is found in Jesus Christ and is taught to us through His Word. We need go no further. We don't need to find some self-proclaimed prophet to tell us his latest revelation (for a fee, of course). We need to apply the Word of God and realize that God's Word and power are sufficient. When we fail to see that, we sell God short."

i highly recommend "the God of the second chance" ... it had leo and i nodding "amen!" ... also, while in the midst of reading this book, we heard that greg laurie lost his eldest son to a traffic accident in late july ... we went to greg's website (http://www.harvest.org/greg/) and heard him preach - he impressed us as a man who was living his faith in the most difficult place a parent could possible inhabit ...

* * * * * * * *

for fiction reading, william p. young's book, "the shack" was absolutely absorbing ... it was easy to see why eugene peterson thought this book has the potential to encourage our generation like john bunyan's pilgrim's progress encouraged his generation ... i read it in 3 days ... and afterwards, felt like God had given me a hug ... i can't compare this book to anything else, because it stands alone ...

to read more go to http://www.theshackbook.com/

* * * * * * *

now it's back to the olympics - we have 13 medals at this point ... *smile* ...

anniversary time ...

pic taken in 1996 ... at our niece's wedding ...

boy does time go by quickly ... it seems like we just celebrated 33 years of marriage ... and now it's 34!!! ... how are we celebrating? you might ask ... we're still watching the olympics together ... and cheering the 3 medals canada got today ... yayayayayayay!

now i must get back to the olympics - leo and scooter have saved a spot for me, beside them ... *smile* ...


A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year. ~Paul Sweeney

focus ...

i snapped this photo last week ... from the dining room window ... and today i stumbled on a perfect quote ... isn't it good advice? ... now, to just try and put it into practice! ... blessings on ya ...

olympic break ...

just hanging out ... watching the olympics ... hoping that canada will win at least one medal (we're better in the winter games)!!!! finland has won a gold & bronze so far ... :o) ... just saying "hi" ...

Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential. ~George A. Sheehan

singing in the rain

August 9th reading from Springs in the Valley:


"His praise shall continually be in my mouth."

Psalm 34:1

"I heard a joyous strain -
A lark on a leafless bough
Sat singing in the rain."

I heard him singing early in the morning. It was hardly light! I could not understand that song; it was fairly a lilt of joy. It had been a portentous night for me, full of dreams that did disturb me. Old things that I had hoped to forget, and new things that I had prayed could never come, trooped through my dreams like grinning little bare-faced imps. Certainly I was in no humor to sing. What could possess that fellow out yonder to be telling the whole township how joyous he was? He was perched on the rail fence by the spring run. He was drenched. It had rained in the night and evidently he had been poorly housed. I pitied him. What comfort could he have had through that night bathed in the storm? He never thought of comfort. His song was not bought by any such duplicity. It was in his heart. Then I shook myself: The shame that a lark has finer poise than a man!
- Rev. G.A. Leichliter

"Nothing can break you as long as you sing."

all creatures great and small

i was visiting a friend last week ... take a look at her "little puppy"!! his head must be 3 times the size of mine ... he was a gentle giant tho' ...
this little guy was visiting the lillies in my flower garden ... i took the photo through a window - trying to make as little sound as possible ... my camera isn't good enough to really zoom in - but i was glad for what i was able to capture ...
and here is scooter with a new friend ... as wicked as scooter can be with leo & me (yes, he STILL bites and scratches), he was ever so gentle with my cousin's daughter ... they played without incident the whole duration of their visit ...

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

Ce­cil F. Al­ex­an­der

the harvest ...

Why do you wait, dear brother?

The harvest is passing away;

Your Savior is longing to bless you,

There's danger and death in delay.

~ Root

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

~ John 4:34-38

a prayer request (an exciting one!) from billy graham assoc. ... here is the e-mail:

Follow Franklin Graham’s Footsteps through North Korea

Billygraham.org and FOX News covering developments

Touching ground this morning [july 31, 2008] for an historic four-day trip, Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse, is now visiting Pyongyang, North Korea. He is being accompanied by Greta Van Susteren of FOX News.

In addition to meeting with government officials and church leaders, Graham will visit medical, dental, and development projects. He will preach Sunday at the newly constructed Protestant Church in the capital city of Pyongyang.

Be sure to visit www.billygraham.org throughout the weekend for the latest news and features. The projected air date for “On the Record” with Greta Van Susteren is Monday, Aug. 4. Check www.foxnews.com/ontherecord to verify the specific date and time.