Ramblings and Other Such Things

It's been an age since I have written anything here. Maybe it's because I've been too busy. Maybe it's because I've not had anything to write. Maybe it's because I haven't had the mind set to listen and have a profound thought. Whatever it is, I had a thought today. I was watching a post of my granddaughter this morning on FaceBook. I edited and posted the video myself, so it wasn't new to me. But it struck me profoundly. There's my two and a half year old granddaughter playing in our living room pretending to have a conversation over an old non-working telephone with Santa. She is so excited. "Oh, hi Santa. He's looking for me! He's looking for me!" Faith like that of a little child. We all need that. Here's this little girl talking to Santa, and He is looking for her. We have someone who is looking for us too. "Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my he...

I came across this quote the other day from William Shakespeare's Henry V , it is the Crispain Day speech, where the troops, out numbered and out manned, are inspired to take on a greater French forces. I thought it was appropriate as we go into this Memorial Day weekend. Read it and remember... remember those who have come before. Who have paid dearly with life and blood, to provide you and me with the freedom we now take for granted. Please remember freedom is never, ever free. Generations past have known this, but I fear our current generation has lost its way. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be fo...

Mysterious Ways by U2 Johnny take a walk with your sister the moon Let her pale light in to fill up your room You've been living underground Eating from a can You've been running away From what you don't understand... Love She's slippy You're sliding down She'll be there when you hit the ground It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain Let her talk about the things you can't explain To touch is to heal To hurt is to steal If you want to kiss the sky Better learn how to kneel (on your knees boy) She's the wave She turns the tide She sees the man inside the child It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways It's alright, it's alright, it's alright Lift my days,...

"POPS! Where's POPS?" I hear that these words are said about me when I am not around. They get said by my two year old granddaughter. Yes, she calls me "Pops." When our grand children started to arrive my wife and I decided to choose fun names for ourselves. We felt we were too young to be called Grandma or Grandpa so we decided on Grams and Pops. We figured either the names would stick or we'd get picked up by Kellogg's as a breakfast cereal. I think that "Pops" is easier to say than "Grams". She has only called my wife by Grams a couple of times. Pops, when you think about it, is really only one sound that has to be made. Grams has like three, the "G" the "R" for "gr" then you have to add an "A" and the "MS" at the end: Gr-a-ms. So it was kind of fun that she started saying my name, "POPS." Over the last few months, I've been trying to find and relate to God in a d...

Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I'm assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you're in this for good and holding fast.) The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I ...

It's been a awhile since I posted a blog. I not surprised. For me writing is something I have learned to do, I learned that all that it is, is telling the story you would normally tell with your mouth, but you use your fingers. My issues is somewhere between the mouth and the fingers at times the story gets lost. Anyway, just a couple quick thoughts. First off there is a thought about polarization. Not sure exactly what the thought is, but it has something to do with the fact that polarization is the extreme. Extremes are usually always intense. Everything seems polarized today, politics, views of how people should live there life, etc... Intensity is another thought, there is way too much intensity in my life. I need a lot less intensity in my life. I know it is for a season, so that is OK. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is way off, and I am just hoping it is a light at the end of the tunnel rather then the light of the locomotive. I know there is a pile o...

Sometimes at night I am afraid I cover my eyes, Cover my shame So here in the dark Broken apart Come with your light And fill up my heart Oh great light of the world Fill up my soul I’m half a man here So come make me whole Oh great light of the world Come to impart The light of your grace To fill up my heart The wind of this world Can push us around Folding us up Backing us down But here in the dark I’m not alone So come with your strength And carry me home Oh great light of the world Fill up my soul I’m half a man here So come make me whole Oh great light of the world Come to impart The light of your grace Oh great light of the world Fill up my soul I’m half a man here So come make me whole Oh great light of the world Come to impart The light of your grace To fill up my heart The light of your grace To fill up my heart GREAT LIGHT OF THE WORLD Bebo Norman

It's been a while since I posted anything, but I have been wandering around trying to fine myself. I usually see myself on a regular basis but the challenge is I am either heading out the door or have some other pressing issue that I am attending to at the time. So hopefully I'll get an opportunity to sit down with myself and catch-up on life and see how I am doing. Once that's done I'm sure something will dribble out on this semi-blank white page. Till then...

I'm reposting this from an email from Ransom Heart: January 17, 2010 A Loss of Heart It was to the most religious people of his time that Jesus spoke his strongest warnings about a loss of heart. It is tragic for any person to lose touch with the life of their heart but especially so for those of us who once heard the call in our heart and recognized it as the voice of Jesus of Nazareth. We may remember him inviting us to a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure that we thought was lost. For others of us, when he called, it felt for the first time in our lives as if our heart had finally found a home. We responded in faith, in hope, and in love and began the journey we call the Christian life. Each day seemed a new adventure as we rediscovered the world with God by our side. But for many of us, the waves of first love ebbed away in the whirlwind of Christian service and activity, and we began to lose the Romance. Our faith began to feel more like a series of problems that needed t...

Today was January 3rd, the weather today was cold...very cold, in fact, and windy. The windchill put us into the single digits most of the day. Light snow was flying with little or no accumulation from the big storm that was pounding the northern states of New England. I remember the weather one year ago, it was a very sunny day. It had snowed the week prior and most of the snow had melted and refroze a couple times but all in all one year ago the weather was beautiful. The temperature was in the low 30s. The reason I recall the weather so vividly last year, was that afternoon Dawn and I took a little hike. We hiked nice and leisurely up Sleeping Giant State Park to the castle. On the way down, I slipped and fell, shattering my left wrist plate. A couple hours later, I was home from the hospital emergency room, pain pills in hand with a cast up to my bicep. I can't say that I would want to relive the experience, but I think I will never forget the lessons learned from that bro...