and the thing shown,
may not be at all according to the child's expectations.
But never mind.
will take him by the hand,
and the child will learn."
{photo- Tana Lee, the baby my family babysits during the week}
Crush my pride
There are several contraindications for posting the following.
- First of all, these are the first pictures I've posted since purchasing my new camera, and they lack the quality to adequately display the general amazingness of my new camera.
- Second of all, HIPAA the national privacy act, very much dislikes publications of patient photos. In fact, the patient has every right to sue me.
- Thirdly, the graphic nature brought embarrassment and horror when the pictures were taken and will no doubt be the cause of it when viewed.
I had just returned to our table from the ladies' room when I found Harry doing the universal sign for choking.
I didn't tell Harry that he was the first one I'd ever done the Heimlich maneuver on.
Harry is very small, but he is not a baby. So I was unsure of which procedure to perform. Thus the awkward hand positioning and worried expression. All of a sudden I realized we were dealing with syncope.
He seemed to be making a speedy recovery. I kept checking on him and asking how he was feeling. One time, I looked over, and he was in the tripod position-- obviously struggling to breath.
I'm relieved to be able to report that Harry lived through that potentially fatal day, with only slight brain damage. [He now believes he is a snowman].
Please forgive me. I couldn't resist. ;)
I was considering writing about my Monday this week, but then thought “No, I should pick a normal day to share about.” And then I had to ask myself-- what in the world is a normal day? My life is not exciting to the average passerby, but its rarely ever normal.
So without further ado, I am going to tell you about my Monday.
It started off rather normal. I mean its normal for the alarm clock to go off and its normal for me to not want to get up.
5:00 am: The alarm clock went off.
5:43 am: I woke up. If only good intentions counted in the end.
6:00-7:00 am: I was buzzing around getting ready for the day. Read the Psalm of the day. Ate very little for breakfast. Had a brief but pleasant conversation with Dad.
7:05 am: I headed out the door. I stopped in at the coffee shop to get my fix(es) for the day. Chai tea and a quick chat with my dear friend, the barista.
7:20 am: I'm on the road. I work as a care taker for the elderly in their homes. Lately I've been working for a sweet (& spunky!) elderly lady in a town about 40 minutes from mine.
8:00 am: Arrived. 
Rest of the morning: I helped her with little projects around her house. She's quite motivated and keeps me on my toes. We took a trip to the post office and grocery store.
Afternoon & evening: she rested some which gave me a little free time. I did some reading and checked email. I read the end of Revelations. I'm also reading a devotional titled 'A Call to Die'. I'm daily being challenged. But its so much easier to read about dying to self and talk about dying to self, then to actually live about dying to self. I also took this free time to talk through some details with client for an up and coming senior portrait shoot.
When my lil' lady woke up, we went for a drive. We found some pretty fall scenes to take pictures of. She gets quite a kick out of my picture taking and seeing the pictures afterwards. Hey, its a win-win situation for me!! I brought the car to a stop and took a picture of an old antique pickup sitting in someone's yard. She laughed and said “You're easy to please!” maybe I am when it comes to that. I enjoy finding value in the simpler things. [maybe thats why I'm writing this post???]
8:00 pm: My sister showed up for her shift. I was looking forward to getting home. I had a lot to do before I hit the sack.
8:10 pm: I was on the road again
8:15 pm: I was randomly singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and thinking how amazing it was that the words never became dull or meaningless to me no matter how much I sing it. I was silent for awhile trying to remember the 3rd verse. And then I remember whispering a prayer. “Lord, thank you for this car. I'm so blessed to have a car that will get me from here to there safely and effeciently.” How ironic I thought later. But really, God was fixin' to teach me something.
8:15 pm: I was about 15 miles from home and had just gone through a small town. I was increasing back up to highway speed when all of a sudden I started losing speed and my gas pedal was not responding. I pulled over and stopped. I shut my car off and tried to restart it. It wouldn't start. I had a fleeting thought, “Thank you Lord for cell phones”.
8:25 pm: I reached into my purse and pulled mine out. No bars. I sat there for a minute, praying and turning the key. Praying and turning the key. Nothing. I hopped out of the car and stood behind my car, checking again for a cell phone signal. YES! One, then two bars. I called my daddy. To make a longer story shorter he was soon on his way. I sat in my car waiting for him. I knew the Lord was teaching me something. “Will you still know I'm faithful when something goes wrong?” “Will you still trust me when I don't provide a car that runs?”
I sang out loud and clear making sure the devil, the messenger of doubt, could hear me.
“GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS
O GOD MY FATHER.
THERE IS NO SHADOW
OF TURNING WITH THEE.
THOU CHANGEST NOT.
THY COMPASSIONS
THEY FAIL NOT.
AS THOU HAST BEEN
THOU FOREVER WILT BE.”
8:40 pm: A car pulled up behind me. A state trooper came to my window and asked if I was ok. [had he heard me singing??? ;)] I told him my dad was on the way so I was good to go.
8:43 pm: I had Dad on speaker phone. The trooper came back and offered to stay in the area till Dad got there. He paced in his patrol car between a half a mile in front of me to a half a mile in back of me.
8:50 pm: Trooper pulled up again and offered for me to get in his car with a heater. By this time Dad was close by so I declined but thanked him.
8:55pm: Dad showed up. Trooper shared his flashlight and then was on his way.
9:10 pm: We were back on the road! I actually thought it was a lot of fun being towed- steering and maintaining a speed that kept the tow rope tight.
9:30 pm: I “coasted” into the driveway. It was good to be home!
Sometimes my spunky side tries to find an adventure in everything. I'm a little impractical at times. While I was sitting in my car excitedly plotting what might happen next 'on this a dark and windy night', my mom was at home worrying. I wasn't really thinking about the implications of being broken down in the dark and alone on the side of the road. Looking back I can see that God was showing His faithfulness through the circumstances instead of taking me around them. How clearly this illustrates to me that His faithfulness is unchanging even though life always is. Someone please remind me of this when or if we can't get my car running again!! :)
Okay. So my car stalling on the side of the road, doesn't happen everyday. But if I'd take the time to slow down and think through every day, I think I would find God's faithfulness to be the reoccurring theme. So yes, there is something normal and consistent about my life, but it has nothing to do with me. Only Him.
Whew, long post. But hey. I'll make you a deal. You post about your "normal" day and leave a comment here telling me you did, and I promise to read it! You can enter it over there too. For those who don't have blogs, email me about your day !
... Twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last."Life is too short, too precious, too painful to waste on worldly bubbles that burst. Heaven is too great, hell is too horrible, eternity is too long that we should putter around on the porch of eternity."-John Piper
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation..."
Its so easy to forget. In the middle of the conversation with a total stranger its easy to forget my available Resource. When confronting someone about their spiritual beliefs is easy to forget to 'Look up'.Sometimes I hesitate to say something for fear I don't know enough about it. Other times I hesitate to quote or look up a scripture, afraid that I might not be able to quote it correctly or find where its at in the Bible.
But today? Today was amazing. GOD is amazing. Words just aren't adequate. Alex and I were talking to a young man who came from a Catholic background, but had long ago given up on living a "religious" life. Alex shared that she also use to be in a Catholic home and so our conversation started off with some good conversation and testimony with opportunity to just relate to the young man in a simple sort of way.
The conversation proceeded and he indicated that he didn't believe that God exists. Immediately a verse came to mind. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."
I wished I knew where it was in Scriptures, so I could read it as God's Words and not just me accusing him (the young man) of being a fool.
These thoughts passed through my mind so quickly, but next thing I knew I was opening my Bible and thinking "If God wants me to read it, He'll show it to me."
I kid you not, the most incredible thing happened. I opened right up to Psalm 14:1 and it was the first verse that my eyes saw. I was floored. I doubt I will ever, ever forget that reference after today. I KNEW at that point that God wanted me to read the verse. I wasn't even sure it would fit in our conversation, but I knew that verse was for him. So I read,
"The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, no one." [Ps.14:1-3]
We were able to proceed with the conversation and I shared the entire Gospel. But only after that point. Only after I opened the Word, obeyed the promptings to read, and just let the Lord speak through me. There's no telling what kind of impact that time was in that young man's life. But I KNOW God's word will not return void. Don't forget. Look up. God is there listening in. God is seeking to use you. Listen up!
Complete in Your presence.Secure in Your love,
You make me who I am
Because of Who You are.
I'm satisfied completely.
Contented just to be by Your side.
How could I ever ask for more
than what you give me Lord?
I find it all in You
Yes I find it all in You. [sung by Meredith Andrews]
I don't have a god I can put on a stand I have a God Who's holding me .
...
He's the Lord of all the earth
The maker of all things
He alone is the one true God
Kingdoms rise and fall
But even through it all
He remains
The one true God
...
I don't have a thing that I got on my own
I don't have a care that I carry alone
But I have a God who's carrying me
I don't have sin that He doesn't forgive
And I don't have a heart that is worthy of His
But I have a God who still loves me
So I don't need a temporary man made deity
picture: river scene on my way home from class the other day.
I've been rather neglectful of this blog lately. Which is rather sad, as it has just barely gotten of the ground. I shall try to be more faithful, though life 
doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
I'm going to attempt at keeping this blog up to date. If nothing else, as place for peeps from home to come and get updated. So keep checking back and keep me posted on your lives too!
....And helpless as a man on the cross.
"We in our foolishness thought we were wise.
He played the fool and He opened our eyes.
And we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong."
have the courage to say: 'I believe'.
For the power of paradox opens your eyes,
and blinds those who say they can see."
God is so much bigger than my plans.
"The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"Commit your works to the Lord, And your plans will be established." Proverbs 16:3
These verses give me peace because I know He holds my tomorrows. These verses give me joy, because I have felt that He held me yesterday. He never fails.
Part 2
When we arrived in Loreto, of course many memories from last year came flooding back. When I was at home it seemed like it had been forever since I’d been there. Now that I was there it seemed like it was only yesterday.
Its hard to decide what to limit my stories and memories too. Everything from food to people are worth writing about. I had really missed my cousins. We’ve always been close, but living with a family for 2 months causes you to get to be about as close as cousins can be. Ethan, the cousin who was born 2 days before I left last year, was now a toddling 1 year old. And did I mention, even more adorable?
Getting together with the church family was definitely a highlight. They welcomed me back as if they’d known me forever. They did the same for my family.
Probably one of the most memorable things that happened while I was there, is that this family informed me that they had named their baby girl, Kaylene. Being foreign and different sounding I guess they had grown to like it. I was pretty honored and excited about that. I assumed they were going to spell it different being that the pronunciations are different in Spanish, but I was surprised to find out a few days ago that they had decided to spell it the same way. Just a fun tid-bit. And I should mention she’s about the sweetest-natured, cutest little girl in Mexico. Curly hair, huge brown eyes, long lashes… . Of course there’s no reason that I would be biased in that opinion. But I’ve got about 20 pictures to prove it. (see above)
The Sunday we were there church was pretty emotional. It was my Uncle’s family last Sunday there, and the people were very sad though very understanding that the leadership of the church was their responsibility now. They acknowledged that their dependence was on Christ not my Uncle or themselves. I think it was extremely rewarding for my Uncle and his family to see. As person after person gave testimony I was inspired to serve as a missionary like never before (how ever it be, in whatever capacity). My Uncle had over 15 years ( 5 of them there in Loreto) of his life in Mexico. He’s learned the language, become a part of the culture, all for the sake of Christ. He’s the furthest away from anyone I’ve ever known, to wasting his life. I was definitely challenged to follow Christ and seek for accomplishment and success in the name of Christ and not my own.
I wish I could adequately describe the sacrifice the Christians have made in order to follow Christ. Some have given up good relations with family, reputation, and more, all in order to follow hard after God. There's no walking the line--its all or nothing. Its something that's hard to appreciate until you hear their personal testimonies, which they love to share.
I hope I get to go back, meanwhile I'm praying for my friends there. That God will keep them strong in the faith.
