The internal life of animals

As you open your eyes, what do you see?

When you turn old who will you be?

Will you splash in the ocean, swim in the sea?

When you close your eyes, what do you see?

the God i don't understand - A Book Review

Christopher Wright has done it again!

(If you missed Mission of God go get it!)

His latest book, the God i don't understand, is a cut-the-guts-out-and-examine-them look at faith and the questions people ask about God and the world around them.

Why do we hurt, and hurt others?
Why do some of us believe in something called 'evil'?
What on earth was God thinking in His actions recorded in the Old Testament?
And how is this world really going to end? Really???

Wright uses scripture artfully and wisdom prudently to peel the layers of faith back and look into a sometimes mysterious, often misunderstood, sometimes confusing core. The mass of material and open attitude to learning and finding answers is refreshing. Rarely does a book ask the hard questions and then offer explanations and possibilities with the encouragement to keep seeking more answers and solutions.

Again and again i was reminded to head back to the Bible, to dig in, struggle with the questions that do pop up and then hold on to my hat as more of the world and God are pulled into the light.

A lesson from snow

Each branch has a snappy hat of snow and the ditches have all developed pot bellies, bulging with piles of snow. The mailboxes are all cozied up in chin deep drifts. The lake is hiding under a chunky quilt of ice and snow.
And all around is an amazing sound of silence.

There is a verse in the Bible that says this:
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. -Isaiah 1:18

The whiteness of the snow can be glaring, blinding in the light of the sun. There is nothing brighter than snow shining in the sun.
Amazing that we are promised to be white, pure, clean, blinding in the eyes of the Son! The shine of purity will be seen. You can't miss shining snow.

What gets me the most about the snow is the quietness it brings. The world gets muted with a layer of snow on it. And it is in the silence, the hush, that it is easy to reflect, to listen to God, to ask to be made white and pure. There is time to ask to be made clean and whole.
The quietude of eternity sits and listens and waits to do what had been promised;
transform us each and every one.

And now it's '09

I looked back at my list of 8 wondrous things to accomplish in 2008. So handy to have the list easy to find.

I did one. Well, two if Dad and Mom will let me count the yowlings in the car as a serenade. I accomplished one item on my list. It was a busy year....

But for 2009. One of my favorite fun songs says it all.

This Year by Chatal Kreviazuk

This year, is gonna be incredible
This year, is gonna be the one
All the planets are lining up for me
This year, I'm gonna have fun

This year, I'll paint my masterpiece
This year, I'll be recognized
I can feel like I'll fall in love for real
This year, this year

January, I'll learn to fly
February, love's gonna find me
March, April, May, I'll get carried away
Oh, oh...

This year, I'll reach the pinnacle
This year, I'll get to the top
People will ask where she get that energy
This year, I'm never gonna stop

January, I'll learn to fly
February, love's gonna find me
March, April, May, I'll get carried away
Oh, oh, oh, oh...

This year, is gonna be incredible
This year, is gonna be the one
All the planets are lining up for me
This year, I'm gonna have fun

I'm gonna have fun
Just watch me now
This year
This year

This year

Oi Oi Oi

History is an amazing study. Not only the proven stories amaze, but the rarely heard and little known stories, the mistold and misrepresented stories. Even as a kid I loved the stories of people who lived in the homes, castles, towns that I was touring (or being dragged through by my bedraggled parents). I remember visiting old Etruscan ruins and knowing that the ruts in the road had been there for about a thousand years. The carved names in the old tombs meant people had lived and moved and breathed and died here. And the feeling of walking in the footsteps of people who shaped the world as I encounter it stuck with me.

I always had some romantic notions of far off places and how the old days were so much more magical. How noble to fight the battles (little did i know girls didn't fight), to build towns, to man ships, to discover new lands. How adventurous to encounter new people, to try new foods, learn new patterns for life. What a world!

And how wrong I was. In the first century the life expectancy of someone my age in the Middle East? 30 years. How glad I am to live in a time of antibiotics, drive through coffee joints, and bathing consistently.

A recent trip to the Oriental Institute in Chicago reminded me that history and the present intertwine. The old is entangled with the new. Today is wrapped in yesterday.

We have to keep our eyes open. Even if we just have one.

I spy the north land

Took a trip to the northern bits of Michigan with friends. Am amazed to see the beauty and lushness of this part of the world. I thought perhaps all of the beauty had moved south of here. Happy to be proved wrong.

We saw trees. Lots of lovely fall foliage laden trees.

And Tequahmenon Falls. Amazing falls, with mist hanging thick in the air and making everything ethereal.

And mushrooms. I have thought seriously about becoming a mushroom photographer after this trip.

And Mackinac Island. Lover-ly. It reminded me of the UK in many ways.
The Village Green

Arch Rock

The Stone Church

Amanda joined the cannon brigade

And of course, the token, yes-i-am-kooky shots. So, might be noted, are my friends!

Ruminations for another year

The best way to spend time is with the ones dearest to your days, dreams, heart. To be full and to fill.

And so i began this new year of life with dear friends.
Dinner. A trip to the theater.Rage enjoying water, in both liquid and solid forms.


It's best to keep at least one skeptic about you. It keeps you balanced. Or weird. Or something.


And keep smiling people. More flies with honey right?

And on to the theater.
With real actors!
Amanda in the shadows.

WereCoo, Rage, Papa Lucio and J chillin' at the theater

They let me go on stage!After my screaming performance