Thinking on these things . . .

These lights fascinate me. They just sit there out in the yard all day long looking nondescript and inactive. Yet as soon as the sun goes down, on pops their light spilling a circle of illumination onto the grass lighting a pathway to show me the way. They soak up the sun all day and when the darkness comes, they are ready to shine a light into the shadows. Can I emulate one of my lights? Can I soak in the Son and then when things get dim and obscure have a light to shine that will show the right path to follow?

Good morning Lord. The sun is rising - it's a new day - there will be new mercies and more demonstrations of Your loving kindness. More joy awaits and there are more opportunities to delight in you. There will be more challenges that can teach me how to trust you and I will have the ability to love those around me and bring honor to Your name. It's a new day to walk with your arm around my shoulder leaning close to you as you direct me where to go and we'll be able to talk heart to heart as we're journeying together. Thank you Father for this new day.

(It's not like it takes a whole lot but...) The ocean boggles my mind - the rising and falling of the tides, the constancy of it's motion, the strength of it's waves but mostly it is the sheer immensity of it. When we flew out of L.A. to Hawaii it was a six hour flight. We cleared land in about ten minutes which left us over the Pacific for six hours; it's something like 2500 miles of water! The Pacific stretches from the Bering Strait in the North down to the Southern Ocean by the South Pole, and from the coast of North and South America to Asia! It covers, all by itself, 1/3 of the earths total surface! It's big! (I had to include a map, it's both the teacher and the amazement in me, but it's relative I promise! The Pacific is so big that all 30,000 islands in it's waters, including big ones like New Zealand and Japan, added together, have land surface that only amounts to one-quarter of one percent of the ocean's surface area!) The Lord is king...

Here in Hawaii these trees are everywhere - and I literally mean everywhere! Each tree is filled with these aromatic flowers, even the newest of trees only several feet high have just a few leaves but a lot of flowers. The flowers themselves are beautiful and they have a wonderful delicate scent but there's another reason I want to be like a plumeria tree. Around the base of every plumeria, you will find flowers fallen off it's branches. These are not dead withered up flowers but beautiful whole blossoms. It's a simple thing, wherever you go, to find a perfect one lying in the grass to put behind your ear for both that tropical look and an occasional sweet perfumed whiff as you move your head. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks ( Matthew 12:34,35 ) and that out of the good treasure of the heart good things come forth. I want my heart to be like a plumeria tree - full of good treasure and beautiful things. To "fix (my)your thoughts on...

Since I'm traveling I keep incurring this feeling of being displaced. Each time, luckily, it's been very short as in the time between the flight arriving and check in at the hotel but it's such a disconcerting feeling to be there, with all your baggage, and have no place to call home; which makes finally holding a hotel key card in my hand even more precious because now I have a place (even if it's only till 10 the next morning...) Scripture refers to as "strangers and pilgrims" (1 Peter 2:11, Hebrews 11:13) which makes us a displaced people if you would because this world is not our home. I forget that. I get comfortable here on this earth and in this culture that acts as if there is no God when I know there is and I know Him as Father. I am not at my intended destination. I am not meant to feel at home here for I am still on my way. And someday I will be to where there is a place for me at the table and my Father waits for me with open arms and once and ...

Sixty-five years ago there were men who fought in Word War II, many of them among the troops that stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. They are all old men now - well into their 80's - yet a beautiful story (click to see it) was told of one group in the June 1oth edition of the Daily Herald. You'll want to read this story for yourself and it's gotten me to thinking... Whatever lives these men have lived for the last sixty-five years, they are forever marked by what they did when they were 18 - 20 years old. If they've lived lives of fame or infamy, all we see are those actions from a lifetime ago, when they were, especially in today's culture, just kids. What marks us? It's fascinating to reconnect with people through Facebook because it covers such a broad span of relationships - from childhood friends, to high school classmates, college buddies, old boyfriends/girlfriends, co-workers, relatives and all the way to current friends and colleagues. Most of ...

I've just endured...(um, scratch that) come, yes, I've just come from a two hour school awards program. I really dislike awards programs. It seems to me that there are a small percentage of the kids who get 90% of the awards and the remaining awards are scattered throughout the rest of the student population. Doesn't it? I had two children in today's awards program and one had a chest full of medals that clinked every time he walked up to get yet another award and then there was the other one who had her soccer pin and a lone trophy, which was quite reflective of her mother's experience in elementary school...maybe that's why I'm not so fond of these programs...? I don't think I'm competitive enough for the awards game. A shiny trophy or the possibility of being "the best" does not motivate me to do whatever is necessary to be THE winner. These Olympic athletes that are at the pool, or rink at 4am every day, they just amaze me- and the par...

everywhere. The big word is omnipresent - all present, everywhere, at the exact same time. I wish I could do that. I find that God is everywhere greatly comforting when I pray. That while I cannot be in the OR waiting room with a friend, God is. While I cannot be with my kids who are sleeping away from home tonight, God is. For all the situations where I wish my physical presence could be to be a comfort, God is there. And God is all powerful - omnipotent. So even if I could be in the hospital, at camp, physically present in the situation; it doesn't mean I have the ability to do what is needed there, but God does. God knows it all - He is omniscient -even if I could be present and have the ability, I don't know what the best thing is to do. God does. He knows our hearts. He knows the plans He has for us. He knows what to do. God never changes - He is immutable. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. All the promises He made to his children as recorded in the Bi...

"Do you know the problem with a clean kitchen?" "Um, no ..." I replied. I couldn't imagine how it could be a problem having a clean kitchen. My girlfriend on the phone continued, "Well, it’s because the kitchen’s so clean it makes me want to bake, and so I've already made two batches of cookies." "And the problem with that would be ...?" I queried. "All those cookies are not going to help me lose any weight!" Ah, that perennial striving, to lose just "ten more pounds"! And though I share her dilemma, I told her I'd be happy to come over and enjoy the cookies with her! For my friend, what had seemed like a great thing at the time now led to a few unexpected ramifications once the flour had been cleared off the counter. Regrets: Some are pretty harmless, like a few extra calories, but others could have eternal implications. And this week I found myself facing that very problem. There's a new young teacher at...