Unto the hills around do I lift up
my longing eyes:
oh whence for me shall my salvation come,
from whence arise?
From God the Lord doth come my certain aid,
from God the Lord who heaven and earth hath made.
-Charles Purday
Longing Eyes
Category: Mountains
Weapons-grade Joy
A friend used the term “weapons-grade joy” today and it reminded me of this day, just over a year ago.
My daughter and I decided to take a student, who was visiting from Germany, on a little hike. She volunteered to carry one of the children in a backpack carrier and my daughter carried the other on her back. I, of course, carried the camera –and some crackers and milk and extra diapers.
On the way back down the hill the lovely student and our little granddaughter, who was about 2 ½ years old at the time, began to sing, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Like all joyful toddlers she shouted, “Again!” at the end of every verse, adding her own suggestions for who God had in his hands this time. By the time we reached the bottom of the trail she had placed every person, pet and animate and inanimate object she could think of in His hands.
There was some weapons-grade joy launched that day. Our young friend couldn’t believe that a walk through the neighbourhood in this part of Canada could look like this, and the rest of us got to enjoy the concert of praise.
It was a good day.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2)
“The joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:11)
Share this:
The Good Mentor
The good mentor always tries to work himself or herself out of a job.
The good mentor is not afraid to say,
“You have caught up with me.
Now pass me.
Keep going.
And don’t look back.”
Share this:
In the Lane Snow is Glistening
Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.
~George Iles
Share this:
Plans for you
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11)
I often wonder if many of the people who buy lovely posters and trinkets with this scripture verse printed on them are aware of the context. Jeremiah gives this message to a people who are in the midst of the worst possible calamity they could imagine. He writes quite clearly that they face a 70 year exile. He tells them to plant gardens, build houses and seek the welfare of the people who destroyed the Judean way of life.
God’s timetable can be so different from ours. We can be assured God is at work even we can’t see what he is up to.
One of the people who read Jeremiah’s letter was Daniel. Think of it, Daniel was in service to a man who destroyed or confiscated his family’s property, removed their rights and freedoms, probably killed many friends and relatives and to top it off turned him into a eunuch, which has got to qualify as traumatic sexual abuse.
And yet, and yet…
Daniel is a faithful and trusted civil servant. When he interprets the king’s dream, which he knows is bad news, he says that he wishes the dream was about the king’s enemies and not the king himself. In spite of severe persecution he is faithful to his God, and God allows him to see beyond his circumstances. God lets him in on his plans, even though Daniel doesn’t have a grid for what he sees.
I stopped for lunch near the Alberta border a couple of days ago and I read my Bible as I sipped a thermos of coffee. The passage for the day was about Jesus taking his closest friends up a mountain where they were allowed to see him transfigured into a brilliant figure talking with Moses and Elijah (the law-giver and the prophet). The guys were overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do with such an experience.
Then came the hard part, the part their Master told them about several times, the part where he was arrested, sentenced, and executed. In those dark days before his resurrection, they must have wondered what that mountaintop experience was all about. What power must have been at work beyond their valley experience! The fulfillment of God’s plans were already in motion as the promise of the ages was arising in that dark place.
As I meditated on this passage I glanced over to my left, towards Crowsnest Mountain. This is what I saw. It was a pay-attention moment.
(Click on photo for larger version)
Share this:
Prisoners of hope
Eastward from the MissionReturn to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
(Zechariah 9:12)
Share this:
Value –added
More black and white photos:
Deborah, the girl with the pen, commented on the first Value blog that black and white photos have a starvation feel. I do think they are bare bones kind of images with a “just the facts, ma`am“ kind of attitude.
Christianity is full of colourful variations in worship style but I feel John gave us a bare bones definition of worship right here:
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:13-16)
Share this:
Value
Photos: November in black and white
One of my painting instructors used to get on my case about my tendency to allow colour to distract me from paying attention to value. Value, in art, is the arrangement of dark and light that gives depth and dimension to an image. She suggested I photocopy a painting or take a photo of it and remove all the colour on Photoshop to get down to basic values.
I’m enjoying the exercise of seeing things sans colour. I’m learning to see differently, to pay attention to texture, highlight and shadow.
November is a month that seems relatively colourless to me after the brilliant summer and autumn seasons. It’s so…so… ordinary.
Our Thanksgiving celebrations take place in early October in Canada when travel is usually easier, so there are no significant holidays until Christmas and ski season hasn’t started yet. The days tend to be overcast and the sun is early to bed and late to rise. It’s a time for home maintenance and personal maintenance. It’s a season for staying inside.
I find this season of black and white values a good time to assess personal values. When the distractions fade in our lives what are the values we hold dear? Where is the source of light? Where does the darkness linger? Is there depth and dimension in our spiritual lives when life is just ordinary?
When it’s all been said and done what does it all come down to? What do I truly value? I am reminded of the first question in the shorter Westminster Confession, which we taught our children as they jumped on the bed in their jammies at the end of the day.
What is the chief purpose of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
Share this:
Cattle Country
Photo: Near High River, Alberta
He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Psalm 147
Share this:
Remembering the Future II
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight
The sky be rolled back like a scroll
(From “It is Well with My Soul”)
Charis: Subject to Change 