Jim Stephens' Blog

Buddy Trusts Me

2010-07-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

I should be in bed because I get up really early. But I'm sitting here with my dog Buddy lying in my lap. He's crying softly with pain. I picked him up from the vet's at 5. He had another surgery on his leg today.

He teaches me so much about me and God. I made the decision to take him for the surgery that's causing his pain. I know it will be better in the long run. He just knows it hurts.

Right now, he's in a lot of pain, pain I decided to inflict on him, and he looks at me with moist pain-filled eyes and trusts me with his life.

I want to be God's dog. I want to trust God as much as Buddy trusts me.

Brennan Manning - Ruthless Trust Part 3

2010-04-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Wallowing in shame, remorse, self-hatred, and guilt over real or imagined failings in our past lives betrays a distrust in the love of God. It shows that we have not accepted the acceptance of Jesus Christ and thus have rejected the total sufficiency of his redeeming work. Preoccupation with our past sins, present weaknesses, and character defects gets our emotions churning in self-destructive ways, closes us within the mighty citadel of self, and preempts the presence of a compassionate God.

Brennan Manning - Ruthless Trust Part 2

2010-04-07T05:39:00.000-07:00

The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of a pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee of the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise.

Brennan Manning - Ruthless Trust

2010-04-06T20:58:00.001-07:00

In the arc of my unremarkable life, wherein the victories have been small and personal, the trials fairly pedestrian, and the failures large enough to deeply wound me and those I love, I have repeated endlessly the pattern of falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up. Each time I fall, I am propelled to renew my efforts by a blind trust in the forgiveness of my sins from sheer grace, in the acquittal, vindication, and justification of my ragged journey based not on any good deeds I have done but on an unflagging trust in the love of a gracious and merciful God.

More Expert Predictions

2010-04-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." --Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this," --Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." --Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." --Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." --Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, 1899

"The supercomputer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." --Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." --the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." --Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." --Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

Expert Predictions

2010-04-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." --Admiral William Leahy, U.S. Atomic Bomb Project

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." --Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." --Popular Mechanics magazine, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." --The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." --Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television"

"But what ... is it good for?" --Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." --Western Union internal memo, 1876

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." --A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." --Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in Gone With The Wind

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." --Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles, 1962

Jimmy

2010-03-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

13 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. 14 But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.” 16 Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16 NLT)

When I was a little boy everyone called me Jimmy. I thought Jimmy was a little kid’s name and when I reached my teens I demanded to be called Jim. That was about the time I stopped calling my Father “Daddy” and started calling him “Dad.”

About ten days ago my Dad’s sister Edna, the last surviving member of that generation in the Stephens family, died. We had lost contact with Aunt Edna years ago after Uncle Clarence died, and didn’t know where she lived. Letters we sent came back.

Then just a week and a half ago my cousin Georgia, Aunt Edna’s youngest daughter, called us from Texas and told us about Edna’s death. I haven’t seen Georgia since my early teens, fifty years ago. Georgia kept calling me Jimmy on the phone and at first I wanted to tell her that my name, my grownup name, is Jim. But I didn’t make a big deal of it as we talked again several times in the next few days. It was kind of nice to be Jimmy again.

This morning, after I read the verses above from Mark 10:13-16, I felt as if Father God said to me, “Do you mind if I call you Jimmy?” And my heart replied, “That’d be great! Can I call you Daddy?” He said, “Sure.”

Icon or Idol?

2010-01-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

The primary currency of our culture is image not words. The church is the last entity to recognize this. You willingly have a star, because an image-culture requires an image. You have to decide if you will be an icon or an idol. Icons you look through. Idols you look at. If you’re talking about leadership, you’re moving on the idol path. If you’re talking follow me as I follow Christ, you’re on the icon path. Len Sweet

This is Cute

2010-01-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

Taking the X out of Christmas

2009-12-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Recently I wrote "Xmas" instead of "Christmas" in a Twitter and Facebook post and didn't think much about it at the time. However, I got a couple of responses expressing some disappointment in my sacrilegious language--taking "Christ" out of "Christmas."

For those who have had the same concern, you might find this article, by R.C. Sproul, interesting:

The simple answer to your question is that the X in Christmas is used like the R in R.C. My given name at birth was Robert Charles, although before I was even taken home from the hospital my parents called me by my initials, R.C., and nobody seems to be too scandalized by that.

X can mean so many things. For example, when we want to denote an unknown quantity, we use the symbol X. It can refer to an obscene level of films, something that is X-rated. People seem to express chagrin about seeing Christ's name dropped and replaced by this symbol for an unknown quantity X. Every year you see the signs and the bumper stickers saying, "Put Christ back into Christmas" as a response to this substitution of the letter X for the name of Christ.

First of all, you have to understand that it is not the letter X that is put into Christmas. We see the English letter X there, but actually what it involves is the first letter of the Greek name for Christ. Christos is the New Testament Greek for Christ. The first letter of the Greek word Christos is transliterated into our alphabet as an X. That X has come through church history to be a shorthand symbol for the name of Christ.

We don't see people protesting the use of the Greek letter theta, which is an O with a line across the middle. We use that as a shorthand abbreviation for God because it is the first letter of the word Theos, the Greek word for God.

The idea of X as an abbreviation for the name of Christ came into use in our culture with no intent to show any disrespect for Jesus. The church has used the symbol of the fish historically because it is an acronym. Fish in Greek (ichthus) involved the use of the first letters for the Greek phrase "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." So the early Christians would take the first letter of those words and put those letters together to spell the Greek word for fish. That's how the symbol of the fish became the universal symbol of Christendom. There's a long and sacred history of the use of X to symbolize the name of Christ, and from its origin, it has meant no disrespect.

Taken from Now, That's a Good Question!
©1996 by R.C. Sproul. Used by permission of Tyndale on the blog of Ligonier Ministries.

X-Files - The Christmas Episode

2009-12-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

Mulder: We're too late: it's already been here.

Scully: Mulder, I hope you know what you are doing.

Mulder: Look, Scully, just like the other homes: Douglas fir, truncated, mounted, transformed into some sort of shrine; halls decked with boughs of holly; stockings hung by the chimney, obviously with care.

Scully: You really think someone's been here?

Mulder: Someone -- or some thing.

Scully: Mulder, over here! It's... fruitcake!

Mulder: Don't touch it! Those things can be lethal.

Scully: It's OK. There's a note attached: "Gonna find out who's naughty and nice."

Mulder: It's judging them, Scully. It's making a list.

Scully: Who? What are you talking about?

Mulder: Ancient mythology tells of an obese humanoid entity who could travel at great speed in a craft powered by antlered servants. Once each year, near the winter solstice, this creature is said to descend from the heavens to reward its followers and punish its disbelievers with jagged chunks of anthracite.

Scully: But that's legend, Mulder -- a story told by parents to frighten children. Surely, you don't believe it?

Mulder: Something was here tonight, Scully. Check out the bite marks on this gingerbread man. Whatever tore through this plate of cookies was massive -- and in a hurry.

Scully: It left crumbs everywhere. And look, Mulder, this milk glass has been completely drained.

Mulder: It gorged itself, Scully. It fed without remorse.

Scully: But why would they leave it milk and cookies?

Mulder: Appeasement. Tonight is the Eve, and nothing can stop its wilding.

Scully: But if this thing does exist, how did it get in? The doors and windows were locked. There's no sign of forced entry.

Mulder: Unless I miss my guess, it came through the fireplace.

Scully: Wait a minute, Mulder. If you are saying some huge creature landed on the roof and came down the chimney? You're crazy! The flue is barely six inches wide. Nothing could get through there.

Mulder: But what if it could alter its shape, move in all directions?

Scully: You mean, like a bowl full of jelly?

Mulder: Exactly. Scully, I've never told anyone this, but when I was a child my home was visited. I saw the creature. It had long white strips of fur surrounding its ruddy, misshapen head. Its bloated torso was red and white. I'll never forget the horror. I turned away, and when I looked back it had somehow taken on the facial features of my father.

Scully: Impossible.

Mulder: I know what I saw! And that night it read my mind. It brought me a Mr. Potato Head, Scully. It knew I wanted a Mr. Potato Head!

Scully: I'm sorry, Mulder, but you're asking me to disregard the laws of physics. You want me to believe in some supernatural being who soars across the skies and brings gifts to good little girls and boys. Listen to what you are saying. Do you understand the repercussions? If this gets out, they'll close the X-Files.

Mulder: Scully, listen to me: It knows when you are sleeping. It knows when you're awake.

Scully: But we have no proof.

Mulder: Last year, on this exact date, SETI radio telescopes detected bogeys in the airspace over 27 states. The White House ordered a Condition Red.

Scully: But that was a meteor shower!

Mulder: Officially, maybe. Two days ago, eight prized Scandinavian reindeer vanished from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Nobody -- not even the zookeeper -- was told about it. The government doesn't want people to know about Project Kringle. They fear that if this thing is proved to exist, then the public would stop spending half its annual income in a holiday shopping frenzy. Retail markets will collapse. Scully, they cannot let the world believe this creature lives. There's too much at stake. They'll do whatever it takes to insure another silent night.

Scully: Mulder, I ---

Scully: On the roof! It sounded like... a clatter.

Mulder: The truth is up there. Let's see what's the matter....

MIssed Opportunity

2009-12-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, November 28, we went to Wapato Park in Tacoma to take some photos for Philip and Stephanie and Jesse. Took lots of photos of the whole family. While we were there Jesse was swinging on the swings and Jude was playing on the slides, both carefully watched over by their fathers. There was a family consisting of a young black man, a young white girl, and two kids, a boy and a girl. Both kids looked to be mixed race, so maybe this was the mother and father, maybe even married to each other.

Before I noticed them, the boy must have done something that angered the young man, because he cursed the boy, grabbed him and carried him to the lake edge and held him up as if to throw him into the water. He was very angry and cursing loudly. I immediately thought of shooting some pictures of him and the little boy with my telephoto lens. I thought about potential photographic evidence if he hurt the boy badly. When he saw people were noticing he put the boy down and went and stood by the swings as the little girl swung. He looked to be seething with anger and frustration. As the young woman walked past me she looked at me briefly and then dropped her eyes as if embarrassed and helpless. She stood beside the angry man and linked her arm in his as if to try and calm him.

The boy played on the slide fixture and was obviously distressed. He made a repeated sound kind of like a gasp or groan. The man stood by the swings looking hard and angry. I thought of going to him and speaking. I thought of possible scenarios of what I could do or say, how it might go wrong. I thought of a whole series of excuses for my inaction. I won’t list them here because I can think of them again whenever I need them. Uncertainty, inconvenience, excuses. I did nothing. I feel regretful about this.

There is so much pain in the world. I’m living in a Garage Door opener world. When I am confronted with the painful reality of life I’m slow to respond.

It bothers me that I didn’t get involved with the angry young man and his frightened, hurting family. Missed opportunity. I wonder if the angry young man beat his wife and the boy later that night. I’m sorry.

There’s a time when this would have haunted me and driven me into depression and self-recrimination. Something’s changed. I really believe that God loves me and he hasn’t put me on the blacklist for missing the opportunity. I feel bad about it, but still confident in God’s love for me and for the man in the park. And I want to do better next time.

Old Dog

2009-12-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

On the day after Thanksgiving in the late afternoon I was standing on the porch of Philip and Stephanie’s house in Tacoma and I saw an old dog walking along the sidewalk from my right to left. He was black and white, long haired, some kind of shepherd breed, with a grey muzzle. He walked slowly with a little limp in his left hind leg. I felt bad for him as he was obviously out of bounds and maybe lost.

As he went two or three houses down, he approached a house where lives a very aggressive dog, part pit bull, which came barking and lunging at the fence as the old dog approached. The old dog just stopped, turned around, and started slowly back along the sidewalk toward me. I just went inside. I keep wondering if he found his way home. I can’t shake the feeling of sadness.

Wonder how many people I encounter are going through life walking slowly along with a little limp? Wonder how many times the pit bull of opposition or hard circumstance stops them in their tracks and they just turn around and slowly walk back the way they came? I wonder if they find their way home…

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato

Two Wolves

2009-11-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that was going on inside himself.

He said, "My boy, the fight is between two wolves."

That certainly got the boy's attention.

"One is evil," the old man continued. "Anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego."

"What of the other, grandfather?" the boy asked.

"The other is good," he said. "Joy, Peace, Love, Hope, Serenity, Humility, Kindness, Benevolence, Empathy, Generosity, Truth, Compassion and Faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Do we all have such wolves fighting inside us, grandfather?"

"Yes," the wise old man said.

"Then, which wolf wins the fight?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Thankful!

2009-11-13T20:27:00.001-08:00

Late this morning, after a very nice brunch of pancakes, eggs, coffee and hot chocolate, we headed out into the Juniper forest east of town for a photo shoot. We loaded up in two Explorers; Jean and Jim, Colin and Melissa, Colin’s Mum Barbara, and Jude and Zane. And Buddy the Dog! And away we went.

We were all bundled up because the temperature was only about 38F and a cold wind was blowing gusts of chill on us. Cold as it was, we pressed on because we needed some holiday photos and were taking advantage of the opportunity of having Barbara Blackett here, completing both sides of the family.

We found a great spot with old-growth junipers and some great lava outcroppings for backgrounds. I did the photos with my digital SLR, Christmas gift from Jean last year and great inspiration to my interest in photography. Got some good shots that will go in scrapbooks and may well show up on family Christmas cards this year. Fun!

Then I thought about the fact that at this time last year Jean was limping badly from a knee injury to her left lateral meniscus that would require surgery the 3rd of December and was giving her a lot of pain. Buddy the Dog was lame from an injury to his left back knee that had torn his meniscus cartilage and partly severed his ACL. He would have surgery on December 4th just after Jean’s surgery, and have his leg repaired with monofilament nylon line. Does that make him a fishing dog?

Jean was off her feet for over a month, then for the year since the surgery she has had almost constant pain, worsened by walking. Today in the desert, she walked pain-free for the first time in over a year.

Today, Buddy the dog ran and sniffed and leaped up and down among the lava outcroppings and had such a great time. This evening he is limping slightly, but how great that he can still run and climb! He had a couple of doggie aspirins and is resting comfortably in front of the fire this evening.

I am so thankful for Jean’s and Buddy’s recovery. And that God provided the money for us to have the surgery done on him and that God provided the health insurance that allowed for Jean’s surgery and recovery!

I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness through this roller-coaster year of major changes we’ve come through. I’m thankful for continuing purpose, abundant provision, and a heart full of hopeful expectation for the year that’s just around the corner.

I’m thankful that Wednesday, November 11, my country and my community honored those of us who have served in America’s military forces in war. I’m thankful that I got to have a free lunch at Applebee’s restaurant on Veteran’s Day because I’m a Vietnam veteran.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve God and his people. I’m thankful for the way God has patiently and firmly led me through the dark valley between my then and my now.

This is the day I have been given. These are my thankful thoughts.

A Father's Laws

2009-11-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

A Father's Laws Concerning Food and Drink

Household Principles

Lamentations of the Father

by Ian Frazier

Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink.

But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.

Laws When at Table

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away.When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.

Laws Pertaining to Dessert

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.

On Screaming

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you, and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even now I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat of it myself, yet do not die.Concerning

Face and Hands

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.

Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand.

Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not that humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.

Complaints and Lamentations

O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the law teaches that no one shall be sent to the corner for more minutes than he has years of age, yet I would leave you there all day, so mighty am I in anger. But upon being sent to the corner you ask straightaway, "Can I come out?" and I reply, "No, you may not come out." And again you ask, and again I give the same reply. But when you ask again a third time, then you may come out.
Hear me, O my children, for the bills they kill me. I pay and pay again, even to the twelfth time in a year, and yet again they mount higher than before. For our health, that we may be covered, I give six hundred and twenty talents twelve times in a year; but even this covers not the fifteen hundred deductible for each member of the family within a calendar year. And yet for ordinary visits we still are not covered, nor for many medicines, nor for the teeth within our mouths. Guess not at what rage is in my mind, for surely you cannot know.

For I will come to you at the first of the month and at the fifteenth of the month with the bills and a great whining and moan. And when the month of taxes comes, I will decry the wrong and unfairness of it, and mourn with wine and ashtrays, and rend my receipts. And you shall remember that I am that I am: before, after, and until you are twenty-one. Hear me then, and avoid me in my wrath, O children of me.

[The Atlantic Monthly; February 1997; Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father; Volume 279, No. 2; pages 89-90]

My First Haiku - by Buddy the Dog

2009-10-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

My first Haiku…
By Buddy the Dog

Dead bird in the sand
I roll luxuriantly

Boss will be so proud

Praying for Peace - Thomas Merton

2009-10-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Praying For Peace
Quoted from Thomas Merton
Seeds of Contemplation pp 117-118
Written in 1961

The principles which govern personal moral conduct, which make harmony possible in small social units like the family, also apply in the wider area of the state and in the whole community of nations. It is, however, quite absurd, in our present situation or in any other, to expect these principles to be universally accepted as the result of moral exhortations.

There is very little hope that the world will be run according to them, all of a sudden, as a result of some hypothetical change of heart on the part of politicians. It is useless and even laughable to base political thought on the faint hope of a purely contingent and subjective moral illumination in the hearts of the world’s leaders.

But outside of political thought and action, in the religious sphere, it is not only permissible to hope for such a mysterious consummation, but it is necessary to pray for it. We can and must believe not so much that the mysterious light of God can “convert” the ones who are mostly responsible for the world’s peace, but at least they may, in spite of their obstinacy and their prejudices, be guarded against fatal error.

Touching Elephant Story

2009-09-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

Elephant Story

In 1986, Gary Williams was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Gary approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Gary worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Gary stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.. Gary never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Gary was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Gary and his son Josh were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Gary, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Gary couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Gary summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Gary's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly. Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Jo Ellen

2009-09-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning I preached at a church in Boise, Idaho. A lady with multiple sclerosis, bent in her wheel chair, sat in the front row, as attentive to my words as her condition allowed. I could tell when my message really connected with her because her head bobbed back and she smiled. Often.

When the service finished, I went to her and introduced myself and asked her name. Her name is Jo Ellen. She lives in a body that keeps her alive but isn’t able to allow her to do all she’d like to do or express the thoughts and ideas of her excellent mind. How frustrating that must be!

Jo Ellen had some helpful and encouraging comments on my sermon! She didn’t speak very loudly and it took her a long time to form and speak her words. I leaned in close to hear her whisper and to watch her mouth shape the words so I could understand. I was glad it wasn’t as hard for me to say the words of the message as it was for her to express her thoughts about it. I don’t have the stamina or the courage.

As I listened carefully to Jo Ellen, I wondered how many times Father God has bent down close to me and watched my lips forming the words with difficulty and heard me struggle to speak my heart to him. How he loves us!

I can’t imagine life in Jo Ellen’s wheelchair. She’s a hero. I can imagine, however, my own God-aware spirit living in a body of flesh that so often refuses to cooperate. My spirit wants to do the good and noble and my body of flesh is so stubborn and uncooperative. My spirit has kind and wise things to say and my body of flesh mumbles and stammers and sometimes doesn’t speak at all.

I’m so thankful for that brief conversation with Jo Ellen on Sunday. She’s an excellent teacher!

What Song Is This?

2009-08-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

Another really cool song

French Beat Box - Amazing!

2009-08-27T19:17:00.001-07:00

Take a look at this. I'm going to post another by this guy!

Validation - Great Short Film

2009-08-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this. It'll be a well-spent 16 minutes!

Excerpts from Dog's and Cat's Daily Journal

2009-08-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from the Dog’s Journal:

8:00 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!
9:40 am - Oh Boy! A walk! My favorite!
10:30 am - Oh Boy! A car ride! My favorite!
11:30 am - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
12:00 noon - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!
1:00 pm - Oh Boy! The yard! My favorite!
4:00 pm - Oh Boy! The kids! My favorite!
5:00 pm - Oh Boy! Dog food! My favorite!
5:30 pm - Oh Boy! Mom! My favorite!
6:00 pm – Oh Boy! Dad! My favorite!
6:30 pm - Oh Boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
7:00 pm – Oh Boy! Dinner! My favorite!
8:00 pm – Oh Boy! Lying on the floor in the living room! My favorite!
9:30 pm - Oh Boy! Sleeping in master's bed! My favorite!

Excerpts from the Cat’s Journal:

Day 1283 Of My Captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant. Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded; must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair; must try this on their bed. Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage. I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can wait, it is only a matter of time...

If Dogs Wrote Letters To God

2009-08-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

If Dogs Could Write Letters To God

Dear God, Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God, When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it the same old story?

Dear God, Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We dogs love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the 'Chrysler Eagle' the 'Chrysler Beagle'?

Dear God, If a dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad dog?

Dear God, We dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand?

Dear God, When we get to the Pearly Gates, do we have to shake hands to get in?

Dear God, Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?

And God, When I get to Heaven, can I have my testicles back?

Sunset - Pacific City, OR

2009-08-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

Pacific City Sunset

Juniper Forest Sunset

2009-08-07T12:56:00.000-07:00

Sunset in the juniper forest east of Bend, Oregon

Rules of the Dog

2009-08-07T07:58:00.001-07:00

The dog is not allowed in the house.

Okay, the dog is allowed in the house, but only in certain rooms.

The dog is allowed in all rooms, but has to stay off the furniture.

The dog can get on the old furniture only.

Fine, the dog is allowed on all the furniture, but is not allowed to sleep with the humans on the bed.

Okay, the dog is allowed on the bed, but only by invitation.

The dog can sleep on the bed whenever he wants, but not under the covers.

The dog can sleep under the covers by invitation only

The dog can sleep under the covers every night.

Humans must ask permission to sleep under the covers with the dog.

Some Assembly Required

2009-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Jean bought a rattan 3-drawer chest today in flat-pack. Some Assembly Required! A whole bunch of assembly required, actually.

It had parts from A to F and beyond. Screws were aa, bb, cc, cams, cam screws, and angle brackets.

Each drawer had five pieces.

The unit was made in Indonesia and the instruction drawings failed to identify little details like “front” and “back” and “top” and “bottom.”

It’s all assembled, no harsh words were spoken, and we can both smile, even at each other!

I’d say it was a successfully completed project.

Time With A Friend

2009-08-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

I had lunch with a good friend today. I've been thinking that time we spend doing one thing excludes using that time to do another thing. Time spent is spent forever on what we chose to spend it on. What an honor to have a good man choose to spend an hour and a half with me. And pay for lunch besides!

Kigali Orphans - Under the Big Tree

2009-08-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

In November 1997 I traveled from London to Uganda and Rwanda with a friend. We conducted a pastors’ conference, taught in a Bible College, and did church ministry in Uganda and then went to Kigali, Rwanda for a week to teach in a Bible College.

The Bible College was Kinya-Rwanda and French-speaking and it really gave us an opportunity to hone our skills at speaking with an interpreter. A French-speaking Rwandan pastor named James was my interpreter for the week and we had a lot of fun with our same names.

Each morning we taught for three hours at the Bible College, then rushed off to a large covered area in the town center to take turns speaking to a gathering of 700 or so people who came each midday for worship and teaching. The people were so hungry for God’s Word and desperately in need of hope and encouragement. We gave it everything we had!

At night we spoke in several of the churches in the capital city. The infrastructure was just getting back to Africa normal and power outages were frequent and of un-predicable duration. Ray and I pretty much burned out our voices that week, speaking to groups of from 35 (Bible College) to 1500 (Restoration Church) without benefit of a PA system.

Each day as we drove from the Bible College to the city center meeting, we passed through the town square. At any hour of the day, there were scores of boys and girls in the town square, some sleeping under a couple of huge trees, some begging from motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, some just hanging out.

It was common to see a ten-year-old boy carrying a three-year-old girl or an eight-year-old girl walking along with a two-year-old and a five-year-old kid holding on to her hands.

These were orphans and the big tree in Kigali town square was their home. Their parents had died in the genocide or of AIDS and they were completely on their own. Children caring for children. Kids raising toddlers.

I was so moved at the sight, it was hard to look. Then I flew back to London and my friend Ray flew back to Texas.

"Abba's Child" Thoughts

2009-08-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

I've hungrily read the Brennan Manning book "Abba's Child" I got at the library last Tuesday. Very challenging and insightful. My life is still too cluttered to fully grasp what God's communicating to me in this season.

He is once again, patiently but insistently, telling me that I am loved and fully accepted in his love, completely apart from performance and expectations. I'm closer to "getting it" but not quite there yet.

He is relentless, however, and I have hope than in his patience he'll allow me a little more time to get quiet and clear enough to receive his love.

I'll Take Care Of You

2009-08-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

We’ve had dramatic thunderstorms the past two nights in Central Oregon. These have been storms of intense lightning, rolling thunder, strong gusty winds, and torrential rains. It’s good that we’ve been at home for both of these, because Buddy the Dog doesn’t do well with the thunder and the roar of the rain on the roof and the deck.

Buddy the Dog trembles and pants nervously. He paces the floor, white-eyed and afraid. He is torn between wanting to be in the living room with Jean and me and wanting to find a dark corner to hide in.

When I put my hand on him I can feel his trembling. I feel bad for him, because I know that we are safe from this storm and that it will soon pass. There may be some cleanup in the yard after it’s over, and I have to wait to put the rubbish bins out for pickup in the morning until the wind dies down. The power may go out, but the infrastructure in Central Oregon is sound and it will be back soon.

But Buddy the Dog is afraid. It frustrates me that I can’t make him know he’s safe and I’ll protect him. I’m not mad at him, just a little sad that I can’t give him the same peace and confidence I have.

I wonder if God feels that way about me. When the storms of life blow, when major change comes fast and I can’t control the situation, I get afraid too. I know God has promised to take care of me, to provide for Jean and me, to protect us, but I get anxious. I lose sleep, I worry, I complain sometimes. I feel like I want to find a place to hide.

God will take care of me. But, like Buddy the Dog, I get scared.

Father, sorry if it frustrates you when I’m worried and anxious. I know that, like me with Buddy the Dog, you’re not mad at me, you just want me to trust.

Wasting Time With God

2009-07-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Conscientiously “wasting” time with God enables me to speak and act from greater strength, to forgive rather than nurse the latest bruise to my ego, to be capable of magnanimity during the petty moments of life. Brennan Manning - "Abba's Child"

California Woman Solves All The State's Problems

2009-07-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

This brilliant economic strategist presents the answers so simply. Listen and respond!

Like Bees In A Bottle

2009-07-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Like bees in a bottle we are flying at fate
beating our wings against the walls of this place
unaware that the struggle is the blood of the proof
in choosing to believe the unbelievable truth

They will dig up these ruins
and make flutes of our bones
and blow a hymn to the memory
of the Orphans of God

Mark Heard

How I Use Facebook and Twitter

2009-07-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm no expert on Facebook and Twitter, but I thought I'd pass on some thoughts on how I use Facebook and Twitter without spending all day wading through stuff...

I check FB early in the morning after I do devotions and send out GraceNotes.

I check FB in the evening if I'm watching some TV or before I go to bed if we've been out for the evening.

I only post to FB using my Twitter account. This keeps the posts short. I sometimes post links to my GraceNotes page on the Resource Ministries web site using Twitter and a URL shortener.

When I'm skimming through FB I always skip the quizzes and games and flair and other time sponges.

I look for short, meaningful posts.
I look for newsy posts.
I look for heart cries that prompt me to pray for the person.
I look for photos.
I look for links that seem like they'll be interesting.
I write quick, short comments for posts that catch my eye or my heart.

I use TweetDeck for Twitter. It's easy, it's intuitive, it's free, it saves me time and work.

I post to Twitter from TweetDeck or from my phone.

I have tweets from a few key Twitter peeps sent as text messages to my phone. Just a few.

I like FB and Twitter a lot. I think FB has a lot of static, but with discipline and a plan I can skim through it quickly and get to the good stuff.

I've reconnected with friends and family all over the world on FB.

Recommendation: Decide how much time you can invest in social networking, make a plan for how and how much you'll use it. Keep your eyes and ears open for new tools that make it quicker and better.

This is just a quick off-the-top-of-my-head note. If I think of some other stuff, I'll send it along another time.

What ideas and suggestions do you have to share with the peeps?

Great Fourth Of July Quote

2009-07-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." Erma Bombeck

My Apologies For This Mathematics Pun

2009-06-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

An Indian chief had three wives, each of whom was pregnant. The first gave birth to a boy. The chief was so elated he built her a teepee made of deer hide.

A few days later, the second gave birth, also to a boy. The chief was very happy. He built her a teepee made of antelope hide.

The third wife gave birth a few days later, but the chief kept the details a secret. He built this one a two story teepee, made out of a hippopotamus hide. The chief then challenged the tribe to guess what had occurred. Many tried, unsuccessfully. Finally, one young brave declared that the third wife had given birth to twin boys. "Correct," said the chief. "How did you figure it out?"

The warrior answered, "It's elementary. The value of the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides."

The Bellringers

2009-06-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

There was a monastery in France at the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley, and because its bells could be heard over such a wide area, it developed a reputation for attracting only the finest bellringers in the country.

There was always a bit of dread when a bellringer passed on or retired, and one year, when they spread the word of their need for a new master, there was a dearth of qualified candidates. They would have been good enough for any other monastery, but not this one. Better to have silent bells than anything less than the best.

As they were despairing at the quality of candidates, a man with no arms paid a visit to apply for the position. The monks were amazed and protested that this was no time for joking. But the man insisted, said he was from a family of famous bellringers, and he would show them what he could do. He drew back, lowered his head, and charged full speed at the bell. The monks was horrified, but could not stop him. And the sound -- oh my, you should have been there! It was indeed a sound worthy of that monastery. It rang thruout the valley, and people everywhere stopped in their tracks and nodded to each other that at last a worthy bellringer had been found.

But alas, it was not to be. For the impact so stunned the poor armless man that he stumbled dizzily and fell over the cliff. The head monk ran down the steps to where a crowd had gathered, and a policeman spoke to him. "Do you know this man?" The monk sighed, "No, but his face rings a bell."

The search continued. One day not long after, another armless man showed up and presented himself as the previous man's brother. He was there to uphold the family honor, and would show them what a good bellringer could do. The monks protested, but too late -- he also drew back and charged full speed into the bell. And once again, the most beautiful sound pealed out over the valley, such that even the birds circled around to see what was happening. And once again, he was so stunned that he too fell over the cliff in a daze.

Once again the head monk scrambled down the stairs to meet the crowd and a policeman. Again he was asked if he knew the deceased. "No, but he's a dead ringer for his brother."

No One Laughs At God

2009-06-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

I saw this on soulpancake today. Thought provoking?

Fifty-Five Years

2009-05-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Jean, Buddy, and I drove to the top of Mt Hebo on the Oregon Coast. I remember going there on a school field trip when I was in grade school and there was a Cold War Radar Station on Mt Hebo to warn us of Russian Nuclear attacks. Which didn’t happen, actually.

Sometime between then and now, the Radar Installation with its domes and barracks and fences and high security was demolished and removed. Nothing left but some massive concrete foundations and the scarred mountain top. Off to one side, the mountain has sprouted communications towers and microwave dishes and the buildings and fences that accompany modern communications. But the top of Mt Hebo is bald and mostly flat, not unlike the top of my head.

Jean and I walked (Buddy ran – sniffing a buffet of smells) around the rim of the mountain top and once again marveled at the almost limitless view. Mt Hood 100 miles to the east, floating on a sea of haze. Mt Adams to the Northeast across the Columbia River, Mt St Helens next.

Then Tillamook in a broad green valley north and a little west, then glimpses of surf and mountains and surf again. Just a little south of west, Haystack Rock (the other one) and the beach of Cape Kiwanda at Pacific City where we’re staying this week.

To the south the mountains stand in ranks like platoons of soldiers, each rank a little bluer than the one in front of it.

Just below us to the northwest is a green valley with white dairy buildings, houses, and lots of white roofs.

I love it.

We drove slowly down the winding road past five acre Hebo Lake with its campsites quickly filling up for a warm Memorial Day weekend. At the bottom of the mountain we drove past Hebo Elementary School where Mrs. Darby did her best to put some education into my eleven-year-old brain. I’m afraid her efforts must have brought her considerable frustration as my brain was way more interested in fishing in the Nestucca River that ran at the bottom of our pasture, in tractor driving, bike riding, and bravely going where no kid had gone before up and down Highway 101 picking up pop and beer bottles to redeem for a penny each. Our farm was a mile north of Hebo and the Cemetery a mile south right on 101.

Hebo Cemetery was blossoming with flowers and flags for this weekend’s Memorial Day Celebration, so we drove in and walked among the graves and flowers and flags. I very clearly remembered a summer day in my eleventh year (Fifty-five years ago) when my friend Tony and I, tired of riding our bikes along the shoulder of Highway 101 dodging log trucks, climbed the Cemetery Hill and sat on a grave in the sun and watched the traffic on the highway below and talked about the things that eleven-year-olds talk about. I can’t remember what those things are, but I know that’s what we did.

Higher up the hill are the new graves, the graves of people who died after that 1954 summer afternoon, so Jean and I went about half way down toward the road where the graves are older, the headstones weathered, and the dates of death pre-1950’s. That’s where Tony and I sat. This afternoon I sat there, probably on the same gravestone, and wondered what ever happened to eleven-year-old Jimmy Stephens and his friend Tony.

Eleven-year-old Jimmy could not possible have guessed that he would be married at twenty, a father at twenty-three, spend his twenty-fourth year in Vietnam, become a businessman, a preacher, a pastor, a missionary, and live outside the US for nearly two decades.

He wouldn’t have the capacity to imagine that fifty-five years later a man much older than his thirty-five year old father, a man old enough to be his grandfather, named Jim Stephens, would sit on that same gravestone in the afternoon sun and think these thoughts.

Eleven-year-old Jimmy contained the man who would fifty-five years later sit in the sunshine on the same gravestone. Jim Stephens, sitting on the gravestone this afternoon in 2009 contains eleven-year-old Jimmy. But the sad thing (and I do feel a sadness about it as I think about Jimmy) is that they can never meet. He couldn’t have imagined what it would be like to be me. I can’t remember what it was like to be him. But I miss him and think that all-in-all he must have been a pretty good kid!

Scottish Field Hospital

2009-05-13T18:48:00.001-07:00

The new commander in Iraq hears that a Scottish regiment has a specialized field hospital that's doing fantastic things with the troops. He wants to know what is so special about the place, so he arranges a tour.

When he gets to the ward, it's full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or illness. He's perplexed, so goes up to the first bed and greets the soldier there.

The patient replies:

"Fair fa your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin race,
Aboon them a ye take yer place,
Painch, tripe or thairm,
As langs my airm."

The general is confused, so he just grins and moves on to the next patient.

That soldier responds:

"Some hae meat an canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat an we can eat,
So let the Lord be thankit."

Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the commander moves on to the next patient, who immediately begins to chant:

"Wee sleekit, cowerin, timorous beasty,
O the panic in thy breasty,
Thou needna start awa sae hastie,
Wi bickering brattle."

Now seriously troubled, the general turns to the accompanying doctor and asks, "Is this a psychiatric ward?"

Wait for it...

"No, not at all," replies the doctor. "This is the Serious Burns unit."

Glimpses of Beauty

2009-05-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

This morning I tweeted this and posted it to Facebook…

To do today: Look for glimpses of beauty in the moment. Point out beauty spots to others who may have missed them.

So when I walked Buddy four blocks around the neighborhood, I consciously looked for glimpses of beauty. Here’s some of what I saw:

Glittering diamond-drops of water on the grass.
Glowing pearls of ice-drops on branches in the shade.
Flowers – lavender, purple, red, yellow, pink, more yellow.
New leaves glowing fluorescent green as the morning sun shone through.
Buddy the dog, high on sniffing a hundred morning smells.
Buddy pulling the leash and swaggering the way he does when he sees another dog.
Miniature elm leaves just forming on the branch.
Snow peaks ahead as I turned toward home – all white with only spots of black rock showing.
Lawns fresh-mowed with the cut pattern still sharp.
Fuzzy lawn, needing mowed (mine!)
Cold breeze blowing on my face when I walked east and at my back on the way home.
Fresh red bark dust next to weathered brown bark dust in a yard, smells great.
That’s what I saw. Just wanted you to know.

Watching Buddy Run

2009-05-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I sat on a sunny grassy hillside in Tacoma and watched my dog Buddy run. When he runs I can see the joy in him. He has joy in running because when he runs he’s doing what God created him to do. I love to watch the joy in him. I feel the joy of the Lord when I watch Buddy run.

It’s so simple and easy to see that when Buddy runs, he’s doing exactly what God created him to do. Why is it so often so hard to see what God created us to do? Because God being the good God he is, I believe he made us to have the same joy in doing what we were created to do that my good dog has in running across a grassy field.

I love to create opportunities for Buddy to run. Does God love to create opportunities for people like you and me to “run?”

What if parents and pastors and other influencers looked real carefully at those in their care and helped each of them find just what God created them to do? What if we did that and then made it our joy to create opportunities for each of them to do the things that they were created for – the things that give them joy? What if we did that?

I’m just sayin’…

What's Next?

2009-05-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

The writers of the TV series "West Wing" often had the President Bartlet character say, "What's next?" That line stuck with me and I think I want to live a "What's Next?" kind of life.

I'm saying "What's next?" because Jean and I are at the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new chapter of life.

I'm saying "What's next?" because I know God has some new stuff to get at in my life and he never misses an opportunity to help me take the next step of discipleship.

I'm saying "What's next?" because Jean and I are looking forward with such a sense of anticipation for the unfolding of the plan, the surprise just around the next corner, the blessing to see and to be.

What's Next?

A Few People In A Room

2009-04-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I spent a couple of days with a group of leaders on Orcas Island. We mostly sat in a room in more or less comfortable chairs and talked and listened. No agenda except semi-regular breaks for meals or a little exercise. I can’t check off items on a list when I think about what we accomplished in that two days. I know I learned and contributed and that it was good for my soul. And I made a few friends in the process.

Now I’m spending a couple of days sitting in a room in a house overlooking Rockaway Beach, Oregon, with a slightly smaller group of leaders from a completely different part of Christ’s diverse family. The chairs are reasonably comfortable and the agenda is pretty much the same. Last night we went around the room and told our stories. Late into the night, we told our stories. One common phrase was “long story short.” But some of the stories were pretty long!

Today we’re at it again. We’re sitting here and the conversation is beginning. Where will it go? I am inclined to think that it will go where it’s meant to go and that in the process we’ll learn more about each other, about ourselves, and about what God wants to say and do with us today.

This kind of conversation in this kind of setting is going to play a significant role in my future communication, ministry, and relationship building.

If I had been in one meeting – just one – like this in the past four years, my work with Cascade District could have been different. Better? Maybe. Different at least.

Fall River

2009-04-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

When Jean and I moved from London to Oregon in October of 1999 we lived for twenty months in a small house south of Bend on the Fall River. It’s in a fairly remote area of forest west of La Pine State Park, mostly lodge pole and jack pine with some majestic old growth Ponderosas standing above the other trees. That little cabin is about thirty-two miles and one universe away.

It had been over a year since we had been down there and because Friday was one of the warmest days so far this year, Jean and Buddy and I drove down. We thought most of the snow would be gone and we might be able to get in without much trouble. It’s a little over two miles of pretty bad forest road after turning off the paved highway. We only met one other vehicle in the few hours and more miles we drove and walked back there in the woods.

We parked the Explorer in a clearing beside the dirt road. There were no tire tracks but ours since the winter snows. Our footprints in the dirt were the only human prints, the only ones besides deer, coyote, and bobcat. Buddy eagerly sniffed the air for deer scent and the ground for chipmunks and squirrels. Still a few patches of snow on the shaded north side of trees and rocks.

I’d forgotten how alive the forest sounds and feels with the wind blowing through the tops of the Ponderosa pines. I kept wanting to look up and over my shoulder to see who was just behind us. The sense of “presence” is so strong in the woods!

As we walked and talked Jean began to remind us of how God had provided in such surprising and appropriate ways when we moved from inner-city London to this remote place in the Central Oregon woods. He provided a place to live, a vehicle to drive, and an increase in financial support that was exactly enough to meet the needs.

God gave us a season of solitude to restore our weary souls and enough ministry opportunities and interaction with people that we didn’t lose complete contact with the real world.

We had the house in the woods for as long as we needed it. He provided a friend with a snow plow to keep the more than two miles of forest road open through the winter so we could get in and out. When the road got so bad for a month that our four-wheel-drive Ford Explorer couldn’t negotiate it, God provided the loan of a larger, taller truck that handled the mud without any problem.

As we walked along the forest paths yesterday, we thanked God for his provision during that wonderful season of solitude. We spoke blessing on the friends God used to provide for us during the time we lived on the Fall River. We talked about other seasons and experiences of God’s faithfulness to us. Our faith grew stronger. My eyes grew brighter.

In our present season of change and transition, our faith is strengthening. God is working deeply (and a little painfully!) in us to clear away accumulated layers of grime and rust from our souls. We’re looking forward to the surprising and appropriate ways God will direct and provide once again! It’s who he is. It’s what he does.

I can still feel that strong sense of “presence” I felt yesterday as the wind blew through the tops of the pines. I keep wanting to look up and see who’s there!

Far Behind

2009-03-25T08:25:00.000-07:00

Scripture:

Meanwhile, Peter followed far behind and then slipped inside the gates of the high priest’s courtyard. For a while he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire. (Mark 14:54 NLT)

Jesus changed Peter’s life one day on the shore of Lake Galilee with the words, “Follow me!” As Peter followed Jesus he saw miracles of healing and provision and he lived with a sense of purpose he never imagined he could have. Now he was uncertain, full of doubt and fear, weary and feeling betrayed. Now he was following far behind.

Following far behind, he lost sight of Jesus and began to warm himself by the fire. Then as doubts and questions and fear filled his mind, he denied he even knew Jesus, his friend and hero.

You and I are “Christ-followers.” When we follow closely, the path often gets narrow and steep and scary, but we know Jesus is near and we get to see and experience miracles, and joy, and purposefulness. And he talks to us and encourages us.

I thought about you this morning and I wondered if you’re following Jesus closely or if weariness and disappointment and discouragement and betrayal has caused you to fall back a bit. I wondered if, like Peter, you are following far behind. Have you fallen into the “warming yourself by the fire” mode where your thoughts are about looking after yourself, protecting your interests, and trying to be comfortable?

Come on, dear friends, let’s pick up the pace. Let’s move quickly to where Jesus is and not just hang around, warming ourselves by the fire, waiting for something to happen!

Prayer:

Father, I pray for my fellow pilgrims who are weary or disappointed or discouraged or doubtful or reeling from the pain of betrayal or loss. Please fill my friends with hope and joy and purpose and peace. Heal our wounds and refresh our weary souls, through your great love and by the power of your Spirit. And call each of us to follow closely once again. Amen.

For Joy

2009-03-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

Come, everyone, and clap your hands for joy! Shout to God with joyful praise! (Psalm 47:1 NLT)

The word “joy” shows up a lot in the Bible…
• Shout with joy!
• Clap your hands for joy!
• The joy of the Lord is your strength!
• In God’s presence is fullness of joy.
• For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross.

Last time Philip and Stephanie and my grandson Jesse were here for a weekend, I was in the backyard with almost two-years-old Jesse and we were walking up and down the little hill (actually I was walking and Jesse was running). Jesse was holding my hand really tight (that’s a good feeling!) and with that grip on my hand he was running with abandon.

As we went down the little hill for the second time, I realized that Jesse was saying, “Wheee!” I didn’t realize anyone actually said “Wheee!” I thought it was just from cartoons I used to see. Jesse was, in that moment, filled with pure joy and the most naturally honest thing he could do was shout, “Wheee!”

I asked myself, “How long has it been since simple joy made me shout, “Wheee!”?”

In this season of preparation for the next chapter of my story, God has dug pretty deep through the onion-layers of the stuff of my life. As we get closer to the core of simple faith and relationship, I am beginning to get glimpses of joy. When I look straight ahead I feel little bursts of joy inside – dreams rekindling, possibilities popping up. If I get distracted and look to either side the other stuff rushes in.

I’m going for the joy! I won’t give up and I won’t give in! Somewhere not too far around the next bend, or the next, I’m going to be so full of the joy of being who God made me to be and holding his hand so tight, that I’ll shout, “Wheee!”

Prayer:

Father, for the joy you let me taste and the hope you place before me, I will continue. I will not give up. I will not give in. I will, at some soon occasion, shout “Wheee!”

Stand By Me - Playing for Change

2009-02-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here's another one. My friend Ray Stokes sent me this today.

I just love this!

Gift of a Bible - Penn Gillette

2009-02-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

I saw this video on Mark Beeson's blog today. Just had to share it with you.

I'm going to be thinking about this quite a lot today.

25 Random Things About Me

2009-01-30T10:07:00.001-08:00

25 Random Things About Me

You might recognize this from Facebook...

1. I was born on a wheat ranch between Heppner and Hardman Oregon in the same bedroom my dad was born in (different time, though!).
2. I went to 5 grade schools, 2 junior highs, and three high schools all by the end of my freshman year.
3. I met Jean my first day at Hermiston High School in January of our freshman year. We started dating on her birthday in February of our senior year and married two years later when we were 20.
4. We’ve lived in our house in Bend longer than any other house. The longest before that was our first house in London – ’92 to ’97.
5. My first broken bones were in my hands – over the handle bars of my motorcycle when I was 59 years old.
6. I love the smell of new tires – always have.
7. I was held up by rebel guerillas on the Trans-Africa Highway in Uganda near the Rwanda border. My two friends and I were released unharmed.
8. I love dogs – not just my dog. But not necessarily your dog.
9. Our little two-tone Ford Escort station wagon got to be so well known in Jamaica that people would call out “Pastor Jim!” when we drove through remote villages.
10. We were without electricity for over six weeks after Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica in 1988.
11. My two favorite structures on earth are in London: Tower Bridge and the Westminster Clock Tower (Big Ben).
12. My musical tastes are eclectic – from Bluegrass to Blues and from Classic Rock to Classical. And I like World music – especially African music.
13. I was in the JC Penney store in Richland, Washington applying for a job when I heard the news that John F Kennedy had been shot.
14. On our honeymoon in 1963, my hotrod Ford broke down just outside Bend and I repaired the engine at a wrecking yard (gone now) beside the Scandia Pines Motel (also gone now) on 3rd street on the south end of town.
15. I spent 1967 in South Vietnam, on an all-expense-paid vacation sponsored by President Lyndon Johnson.
16. I like to drive coast to coast. I’ve driven coast to coast in the US, in the UK, in Jamaica, and in New Zealand. Still haven’t made it across Australia!
17. I’ve picked watermelons in Oregon, tea in Uganda, and coffee in Jamaica.
18. I dipped my foot in the Nile River at its Lake Victoria source in Uganda. This is supposed to mean you’ll return to Uganda. I did.
19. I spoke at a funeral in Jamaica with the Prime Minister sitting in the front row and the sides of the chapel lined with bodyguards wearing dark glasses and carrying automatic weapons.
20. I like long distance driving. My three best one-day drives are: Denver, CO to Twin Falls, ID 735 miles; Plano, TX to Tucker, GA 823 miles; Boulder, CO to Bend, OR 1155 miles.
21. Jean and I sponsored a Sportsman class race car at Tri-Cities Speedway in 1970.
22. I rode the Goodyear blimp Columbia as a reward for selling a lot of Goodyear tires.
23. I singed my eyebrows and hair in a black powder explosion that was part of an ill-advised Halloween prank (not recently!)
24. I’ve crossed the International Date Line 4 times and crossed the equator about 18 times (so far).
25. I sat with my wife Jean, my daughter Melissa, and her friend Helen in the same booth that C.S. Lewis and the “Inklings” used to occupy at the Eagle and Child Pub in Oxford.

Friendship

2009-01-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about friendship. I've got friends in the UK, in the US, in Jamaica, in Hong Kong, in three countries in Africa. These are friends that I can not see for years and then when we get together, it's great - like no time has elapsed at all. These friendships might even be lifetime friendships.

But long distance friendships aren't enough. I need a friend or two that I see every week, maybe several times a week. I need local friendships that add strength and texture to my life.

I don't know how many really close friendships I can manage. I'm an introvert and I simply don't have the emotional and psychic energy to invest in more than a few really close friendships.

Here's how I think I can tell if a friendship is developing into something beyond an acquaintance:

1) Who you gonna call? When something bad happens, when I'm discouraged or confused, or when I just need to talk to someone I know I can trust, who do I think of to call? Whose name comes to mind or whose face pops up?

2) Who you gonna tell? When something good happens, when I feel blessed and happy and just need to share my good news with someone, who do I want to tell?

3) Who you gonna help? Who do I care enough about to be pro-active in checking to see how things are going? Who do I drop everything for when it seems like he needs my help?

That's not everything there is to think about Friendship. That's just what I'm thinking now.

One Year In 40 Seconds

2008-12-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

Perspective

2008-12-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

I was standing at the ironing board with four shirts and four pairs of trousers left to iron.

The world was turning on its axis, the planets were moving in their pre-determined orbits around the sun.

Somewhere people were engaged in lively conversations. Somewhere decisions were being made that affected the destinies of nations.

I was trying to figure out how to work my way around my blue denim shirt so that I could iron smooth each panel of fabric in its course, get the collar and pocket flaps flat, and avoid burning my left hand with the hot iron.

Jean and I have been married forty-five years and there are a whole range of domestic skills that I haven’t really mastered.

In the past three weeks, since Jean's knee surgery that surprisingly changed from, “Oh yes, you’ll be back on your feet in a couple of days!” to “Absolutely no walking on that leg – no weight on that foot – for thirty days, then we’ll see how it’s doing,” I’ve begun to learn some important household skills.

So as I stood there at the ironing board, thinking about how rudimentary my domestic skills are, thinking about all the other things I’m not doing right now, thinking about four more shirts and four more pairs of trousers, I thought, “This is really good for me!’

The Difference

2008-12-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

There’s a big difference between how well I can look after my dog Buddy and how well God can look after me.

Buddy had surgery on his left rear knee (who knew dogs had knees?) yesterday. He had badly torn the ligament that holds the joint together and had been lame for a while as we processed him through visits to the regular vet and referrals to a veterinary orthopedist and arranged for his operation. Yesterday the vet replaced the ligament with monofilament nylon line and patched in some tissue from another part of his leg to repair the joint. Buddy stayed in the veterinary hospital overnight and I picked him up this morning.

Poor guy! His hindquarters are shaved on one side and he remains his hairy self over the rest of his body. He’s got a bright blue hard and bulky bandage that covers the length of his left back leg, a pain meds patch on a shaved part of his back right foot, and a bandage on his right front leg where the IV needle was inserted for the operation.

The veterinary surgery technician sent me home with dire warnings of what could go wrong if I let him run, jump, climb stairs, jump into the car, or do any of the other things he loves to do and is apt to do suddenly and without notice. So for the next few weeks, Buddy is severely restricted for activity. Leash on all the time he’s outside the house. Lift him in and out of the car and carry him up and down stairs. That’s going to really change things for a while.

But today, he’s not in the running and jumping mood. He’s lethargic from the medication and moaning softly from time to time from the pain. It hurts me to see him hurt.

I wish he could tell me how he’s feeling and when he needs to go out to relieve himself and when he’s thirsty and when the pain is just too much. But he can’t. He’s a dog and doesn’t speak English. I’m a human and can’t read his mind. The fact is, if I knew what he wants or needs and had the power to do it, I would, because I love my dog.

Then I thought about me and my master. God loves me even more than I love my dog. He does know what I’m thinking and he understands my moans and groans perfectly. And not only that, he has the power to do what needs to be done.

Wish I could be as good a master to Buddy as God is to me!

The Hat

2008-12-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, a friend gave me a black baseball cap that says "Vietnam Vet" in bright yellow letters. Even though it's a comfortable hat, I was a little self-conscious about wearing it at first.

It was 41 years ago that I was in Vietnam and I don't want the fact that I spent a year in Southeast Asia fighting an unpopular war to be my primary identifying characteristic.

But wait, I am a Vietnam Vet even if I'm lots of other things as well. So I started wearing the hat occasionally when I'm out wherever.

I notice people making eye contact and nodding or smiling. Sometimes someone, usually an old guy like me, will come up and ask me when and where I served. Sometimes a younger person will say, "Thanks for serving."

Last night I was at Costco and was surprised when the cashier looked at me, said "Thanks!" and shook my hand. I forgot I was wearing the hat.

Hilltop

2008-11-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

Buddy and I drove into Tacoma on Pacific Avenue and then turned up 11th toward the Hilltop section of town. Philip and Stephanie lived on Ridgewood, off 11th in Hilltop when they first moved here from Atlanta.

As we got to the top of the hill, the first thing I noticed was that Hilltop Pawn Shop and Hill Top Donut Shop both had steel bars on their doors and windows.

Pretty rough area of town, actually. Even the Mission has steel bars and grill doors and windows.

Forecast for The Day After Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T11:13:00.000-08:00

Today’s Forecast for Tacoma, Washington and Bend, Oregon.

A slow-moving low pressure system brings grey skies to the region with slight breezes and cool temperatures.

Shopping areas will experience intermittent bargains and be followed by rising credit card balances.

In the kitchen expect a lingering mix of turkey and stuffing with scattered snacks.

For the living room the TV effect will be the primary influence and will contribute to increasing lethargy as slow-moving masses on the couch and recliner respond to occasionally changing channels.

Be prepared for not much to happen and enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend.

Texture

2008-11-27T13:24:00.000-08:00

I’m in Tacoma with the kids for Thanksgiving. Jean and I and Buddy the Dog, Philip and Stephanie and Jesse, Colin and Melissa and Jude. We’re all here for Thanksgiving at Philip and Stephanie’s house. It’s not raining today – not yet. That’s a blessing in Tacoma in November. For which I’m thankful!

It’s not very quiet much of the time. That’s a lot of people and three separate households under one roof for three days. The noise and activity level and the sounds Philip and Colin’s video games make are not the sounds that comfort and calm my mind and thoughts. But when the noise level triggers my psychic pain threshold, Buddy the Dog and I can go for a walk.

Stephanie went to work for an hour or so at the bakery preparing orders for tomorrow morning’s baking and Buddy and I went along. At the bakery they employ a Russian, two Vietnamese, a Filipino and some assorted US guys.

On the way back to the house we stopped at Safeway on 38th to get some eggs and coffee. Everyone I saw in the store and the parking lot was shades of different color. English was among the languages I heard from customers in the aisles and in the check out line. The English I heard was accented for Asia, Africa, and southern US.

When we got in the car to drive away, I commented on the feel of Tacoma on a relatively quiet Thanksgiving early afternoon. First I thought about “gritty” as we drove littered streets in a sort of past-its-prime commercial and industrial area. Then I thought about the people in Safeway and the signs on the Vietnamese businesses we were passing and I thought “texture.”

I’m living in Bend, Oregon – mostly mono-ethnic, mono-cultural, mono-colored. Tacoma has a rich texture. It’s like a fabric woven of yarns of different thicknesses, different colors, different materials and it’s heavily textured. I miss the texture of a city.

So I thought, at this season of my life would I rather have the rough texture of the city with its traffic, noise, stress, and crowding or would I rather have the smooth texture of Central Oregon with no traffic, clean streets, and the solitude of the mountains or desert just ten minutes away?

I want both. But I think I want to live in the wide open quiet blandness of Bend and visit the heavily textured city when it’s convenient.

How’s that for wanting the best of both worlds?

God Bless America!

2008-11-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

In 1951, when I was 8 years old, I lived in Brownwood, Texas. In Texas at that time, negroes had to ride in the back of public busses, could not use the same restrooms as white people, and could not eat in the same restaurants as white people.

In 1967 I served in Vietnam the same year one of my heroes, Lieutenant Commander John McCain, was shot down and imprisoned in a North Vietnamese prison, The Hanoi Hilton. Many of the men I lived with, served with, and risked my life with in Vietnam in 1967 were black and did not enjoy the same privileges white people like me enjoyed in civilian life.

In 1968, the year I returned from Vietnam, one of my great heroes, Doctor Martin Luther King was murdered by racists.

In 2008 America elected an African-American as president of the United States of America.

We're come a long way in my life time!

I say, "God Bless America!"

It's All Yours - Steven Curtis Chapman

2008-10-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

Melissa sent me this today. Streets of London... Africa...

Father, It's all Yours

Early Snow

2008-10-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it! Here it is October 10 and we've got snow already! What kind of deal is that? The leaves on the trees are just starting to turn to fall colors and we woke up this morning to snow on the ground. And a forecasted high temperature of 41F for the day.

Travels From Lakeview - Part 1

2008-10-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

Travels From Lakeview – Part 1
October 6, 2008

This morning, Jean and I left Lakeview Oregon and drove east on Highway 140. The highway passes through a beautiful wooded canyon and climbs to nearly 6000 feet as it passes over the top of the mountains. Then a dramatic drive down another canyon alongside a whitewater creek until it breaks out over a huge basin of sage brush. Off in the distance looms another range of mountains and the road cuts almost straight across the middle of the basin.

At the far side the road climbs steeply along the side of the mountains and crosses at a pass 6100 feet above sea level. You’re immediately confronted with the view of another basin even larger than the last one and a steep drive down and across. At the far side, another steep climb to a pass of over 6200 feet and another incredible vista looking across a basin larger by far than the last one. Down and across and up again, this range of mountains even higher and steeper.

By the way, we had only seen one or two other vehicles so far in many miles of travel.

As we started down this grade, the road began to bend steadily south and soon we were across the state line into Nevada. What a desolate part of the country. No powerlines, no signs of habitation, just more road around each bend. A few miles into Nevada, the road began turning east and we saw a sign like the deer crossing signs in our area only this one had a donkey on it!

Over the next hill and there they were, a herd of wild donkeys or burros right in the road! We slowed to a crawl and threaded our way among the donkeys and soon left them behind.

We continued to travel east through Nevada, about fifteen miles south of the Oregon line, skirting the south side of the largest mountains so far.

When we reached Denio (pronounced Dee Nigh O) Junction, we turned left (north) and started toward Oregon again. The little village of Denio is right on the line between Oregon and Nevada and has mostly slot machines and double-wide trailers. Then north into Oregon with the Pueblo Mountains on our left and a vast basin to our right.

It was a great drive and I’ll write more later. (Fields, Oregon, the Catlow Mountains, French Glen, and the French Round Barn) Lots more to tell about.

Email Frustrations

2008-10-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on a cold concrete stairway at the Best Western in Lakeview Oregon. They have free wireless, only in my room it doesn't have enough signal to work. So in order to get my journal entry posted and check my emails, I'm sitting on cold cement.

Lakeview has a population of about 2400 if everybody's home this weekend.

We had a good time of minstry with the church here. They are great people and love God and each other a lot. And they like Jean and me as well.

Anyhow, it's been a good weekend with good people. I think we did more good than harm!

Trust and Obey

2008-09-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

Obedience is what keeps me on the path that God has laid out for me. Trust is what makes the journey an adventure and not an ordeal. Jim Stephens.

Best Friend

2008-09-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

There's a line in an episode of the TV series West Wing where President Jed Bartlet is going off to give the State of the Union address and he's leaving the Secretary of Agriculture in the Oval Office as required in case of a terrorist attack killing the President and others in the line of succession.

As President Barlet is preparing the Agriculture Secretary for the "Just in Case," he asks him...

"Do you have a best friend? Is he smarter than you? Would you trust him with your life? He's your Chief of Staff!"

As I thought about this last night and again this morning, I wondered how many Americans (Bowling Alone) can honestly say, "I have a best friend?"

Friendship is becoming more and more important to me. I want to have good friends. I want to be a good friend.

141 Years Of Marriage!

2008-08-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight Jean and I went to dinner with two other couples from our church whose wedding anniversaries are within a few days of our August 17 wedding date.

The years of marriage of all three couples totals 141 years! This is the third time we've had an anniversary dinner together - the three couple of us. It's really amazing to sit with these good friends and talk about the ups and downs, the highs and lows of all those years of marriage.

And another thing... Jean and I are the youngest and shortest married of the three couples. We're only 65 and only married 45 years. The other couples have been married 47 and 49 years. It's great to be the youngest in a group - any group anywhere! That doesn't happen much anymore.

Anyhow, there's hope for marriage after all.

Forty-Five Years

2008-08-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

Forty-Five Years
Today is our 45th wedding anniversary! As I look back it just doesn’t seem possible it’s been 45 years since twenty-year-old Jim and Jean got married in Othello, Washington, and began a new life together.

From the earliest days in Richland, Washington, to the time I spent away from home in Vietnam, to the return to Richland and the years in business there to the Jesus People years, then the move to Medford, Oregon to plant a church. Then four years later the move to Jamaica to serve as pastors of a church in the market town of Linstead, then to Kingston to start the first of our Bible Training Centres.

Then to London, UK for an increasingly productive season of Bible Training Centre development that led to work in Africa, first West Africa, then East and Central Africa.

Then the return to the US and the past few years in Bend, Oregon serving Westside Church, the Cascade District of Foursquare, while continuing to be involved in Africa ministry.

Along the way, Stephanie was born, then Melissa, then they grew up and Stephanie married Philip in Atlanta and Melissa married Colin in London. Then in 2007, Jesse was born and joined Philip and Stephanie’s family and Jude was born to Melissa and Colin.

And in such a manner, forty-five years flies by!

Thank God for a great life so far!

Phone Call From a Friend Far Away

2008-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Phone Call From Neville Wright

This afternoon my phone rang and what a delight to hear a Jamaican accent on the other end!

I last saw Neville when Jean and I visited Jamaica in November 1999. We were good friends and ministry partners for several years when we lived in Jamaica.

After Neville and Hyacinth were married and when it was time for their first baby to be born, Neville and Hyacinth stayed in our home in Kingston while she was in the hospital and for a few weeks after baby John was born. Neville and Hyacinth lived up in the hills above Kingston and it was difficult and challenging for them to get into town, so we got to enjoy having them with us.

Neville and Hyacinth’s son John is now 21 and is in medical school in Cuba.

Neville and John both told me that they talk about us a lot. About our ministry, our person, our deposit in the life of Jamaica.

Neville’s church is doing well. They are growing, reaching into other areas of Kingston, doing basic school, doing a medical clinic.

I’d like to visit Jamaica soon.

Never Condemned

2008-08-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” (John 5:24 NLT)

Jesus was responding to harassment from the Pharisees over a miracle of healing he had done on a Sabbath day in Jerusalem. The Pharisees were caught up in the pettiness of criticizing Jesus for healing a man (working) on the Sabbath day and for telling the man to pick up his sleeping mat (work) and go home to rejoice with his family. Jesus had done a powerful miracle and had changed a cripple’s life and they were stuck in the details of their religious code.

As Jesus responded to their criticism, he spoke words that help me better understand the real issues and keep from getting hung up in legalistic detail.

This past week, Ken Johnson, our lead pastor, spoke at the memorial service of a prominent local businessman who had come to faith in Christ early this year and then in the depths of despair and depression over huge financial losses, killed himself.

Ken spoke to family and friends about the spiritual condition of this man who had taken his own life and spoke with confidence that it was his clearly confessed faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and not his desperate act of killing himself that determines the eternal residence of his soul. As I heard Ken speak those words, my own soul rejoiced. I rejoice in a God whose love, mercy, and grace is stronger than the act of a desperate man and greater than the arguments of religion.

Appointment In Hicksville

2008-08-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

1 Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. (John 4:1-3 NLT)

The Pharisees were keeping track. They counted John’s baptism statistics and then after Jesus began his ministry they started counting Jesus’ attendance and baptism records and comparing the success of the two.

Jesus had an interesting way of dealing with the competition factor. He left town.

It was hard for Jesus’ disciples and for the Jewish leaders (and for Jesus’ brothers) to understand his approach. He was ministering in Judea, near Jerusalem, at the very center of Jewish life, and he was becoming more and more popular. Instead of capitalizing on his popularity, he left Judea and went to the remote and isolated area of Galilee.

Go figure!

Did Jesus leave Judea and go to Galilee because he didn’t want to compete with John, because he didn’t want to give the Pharisees the satisfaction of comparison, or because he simply had a divine appointment with an immoral woman in Hicksville?

My world and yours – our world is full of measurements and pressure to compete – to do better, to make more money, to achieve bigger numbers, to be more successful. I want to have the grace and wisdom to simply walk away from the competitiveness that I find in me and in others. I want to be sensitive enough to God’s Spirit and yielded enough to God’s plan that I can keep an appointment in Hicksville.

Culture - Family Camp Out

2008-07-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend we held the third annual Stephens-McCann Family Campout at Battle Ground State Park just outside Battleground Washington, just north of Vancouver. We did one campout, then another, then last year we missed because Colin was in the hospital with an appendix crisis.

So we were back there with lots of new factors in the equation. Let me sketch in a little background: The first two annual campouts were Jim and Jean Stephens and our Daughters Stephanie (and her husband Philip) and Melissa (and her husband Colin) and Jean’s sister Barbara and her husband Dan. Well, this year, big difference! Philip and Stephanie have a son, Jesse who is just over a year old. Colin and Melissa have a son, Jude who is just over a year old. Dan and Barbara’s son Jason is married and he and his wife Kylee were there.

We had two camp sites, so we set up for communal meals, campfire, and time together at the larger site. It was a great time, with lots of food, games, and walks around the lake. And food!

The thing that really hits me this time is that one of our camp sites was next to a family reunion of a large family of Russians – seven brothers and their parents – who have been in the US for about eighteen years. They’re scattered all over the Northwest – Oregon and Washington – and they meet at the campground for a two day campout (just like us) each year.

They spoke mostly in Russian (They’re from Siberia) but the generation of seven brothers just younger than my generation, spoke English and their kids spoke English more than Russian.

They gave us a sample of a rice, lamb, beef, and vegetable dish. Great food! They sat around their campfire and sang beautiful songs in Russian, accompanied by guitar, and it was so beautiful, I took my dog Buddy and sat in the dark near their camp and let the beautiful singing wash over me.

They gave us firewood! They were leaving the next morning and had enough wood to last for days, so they gave us several armloads of wood for our fire.

Jean and I talked after we left the campfire and went to our trailer. I envied the Russians for their culture. Pure simple Russian culture. Language, songs, food, fun – and family.

But as we talked we realized that we are building culture as well. We meet at the campground each year. We have regular food items – mostly Dutch Oven cooking by Dan and by Philip. We play family games. We enjoy each other’s company. So even if we don’t have Russian songs or rice and lamb dishes, we are creating our family culture.

That’s good.

Fishing in the Pacific Ocean

2008-07-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

What a day of fishing! We were at the dock at 5 AM for a 5:30 departure. Our boat was one of the first to go out, just before daylight. After we got out into the river and began to get near the bar to cross into the ocean, we saw a deer swimming from the shore to an island in the river. Our skipper slowed down and we watched it reach the sand bar and then up into the trees on the island. Great to see!

As we got into the ocean, the other boats that had left later began to pass us and by the time we reached open water, we were the last boat. I started thinking that it was unfortunate to be on the slowest boat in the Pacific!

Then we started fishing and before long we had fish in the boat. We put our lines in the water about 6:30 and by 10:30 we had our limit for everyone on the boat. Our group consisted of Jacques Dekalb, Rod Kirk, Rod’s dad Bob, and me. There were 13 people on the boat and we furnished fish for several who didn’t catch their limit of 2 fish.

I caught four fish, King salmon and Silver salmon. It was a great experience.

When we were all ready to come back to the harbor, we found that another boat had lost its steering, so we towed it into harbor. Make the trip in slower but interesting.

Then back to the camp, some snacks and a nap. Then supper around the campfire.

What a great day!

Fishing Trip

2008-07-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

Long Beach Peninsula
Ilwaco and Long Beach, Washington

Today we drove up the full length of the Long Beach Peninsula. Longest beach in the world, they say.

We saw a black bear and her cub crossing the road as we drove through the forest not far from the beach.

Tomorrow morning, we are to be on the fishing boat at 5:30 AM and out across the bar into the ocean to catch some salmon. I’m looking forward to a great adventure and an enjoyable day with friends.

Kampground of America – Ilwaco, WA

2008-07-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here we are on a very cool and cloudy evening at a KOA campground in Ilwaco, Washington.

I’ve come here with my friends Rod Kirk and Jacques Dekalb to go deep sea fishing this weekend. Tonight we’re enjoying a campfire and telling stories. Rod brought some of his wife Melodie’s Taco Soup and Marion berry Cobbler for dinner.

Tomorrow we go into Ilwaco and pay for our fishing and make the arrangements, then Sunday morning we’ll be on the boat at 5:30 AM to go catch some salmon. It’s been a long time – probably 30 years since I’ve been out in the Pacific Ocean on a charter fishing boat. Really looking forward to it.

An hour ago I saw a huge Ford Excursion SUV pulling an even huger camping trailer with about 5 bicycles on a rack the back. The Excursion had a roof rack loaded with stuff and the trailer had a rack on top with more stuff. The trailer had a satellite dish and an air-conditioner. As I watched it drive by, I said to Rod and Jacques, “There is actual proof that you can take it with you!”

I hope to post a blog entry bragging about how many fish we catch. Watch this space!

Friends and Friends of Friends

2008-07-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

I read an article in which the author described the ideal church as a network of relationships - Friends and Friends of Friends. Is that possible?

Destined To Die

2008-07-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I read a one-liner that caught my attention: “I intend to live forever. So far, so good!” I too intend to live forever.

In the past few months it seems like quite a few people I know, many of them people of my generation, have died. Nothing like a funeral or memorial service to remind us of our mortality.

Yet this morning I can sit here and through the miracle of faith, by the power of Jesus’ blood sacrifice, by God’s mercy and grace, I can hold two opposing realities in my mind at once. "I am destined to die. I will live forever!"

Father, Thank you for giving me solid hope beyond the grave. Thank you for a new birth into eternal life only through simple faith in the marvelous priestly sacrifice Jesus Christ made for my death destiny. Words fail me. Thank you!

I Love My Dog

2008-07-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

I’ve learned so much about God and me from my dog Buddy. I love Buddy because he’s my dog. He loves me (affectionately, passionately, dependently) because I feed him, provide for him, and care for him in ways he cannot even think of in his little doggy brain.

God loves me because I’m his born-again child, but I think I’d be willing to be God’s dog Jimmy. My relationship with God is dependency. He cares for me and provides for me in ways I can only imagine. And I forget so easily how much he does for me. There’s nothing like prayer to keep things in perspective. I pray because I have needs. I love him because he hears me and responds to my prayers. He answers because He is good. He loves me because he is God.

What Am I Supposed To Do?

2008-06-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

“Really?” said Mack, still shaking his head, and not sure if he really believed that. “So now what am I supposed to do?”

“You’re not supposed to do anything. You’re free to do whatever you like.”

Quoted from The Shack – page 89

The Matrix Quote from The Shack

2008-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

“We carefully respect your choices, so we work within your systems even while we seek to free you from them,” Papa continued. “Creation has been taken down a very different path than we desired. In your world the value of the individual is constantly weighed against the survival of the system, whether political, economic, social, or religious – any system actually. First one person, and then a few, and finally even many are easily sacrificed for the good and ongoing existence of that system. In one form or another this lies behind every struggle for power, every prejudice, every war, and every abuse of relationship. The ‘will to power and independence’ has become so ubiquitous that it is now considered normal.”

“It’s not?”

“It is the human paradigm,” added Papa, having returned with more food. “It is like water to fish, so prevalent that it goes unseen and unquestioned. It is the matrix; a diabolical scheme in which you are hopelessly trapped even while completely unaware of its existence.”

Jesus picked up the conversation. “As the crowning glory of Creation, you were made in our image, unencumbered by structure and free to simply ‘be’ in relationship with me and one another. If you had truly learned to regard each other’s concerns as significant as your own, there would be no need for hierarchy.”

Mack sat back in his chair, staggered by the implications of what he was hearing. “So you are telling me that whenever we humans protect ourselves with power…”

“You are yielding to the matrix, not to us,” finished Jesus.

Quoted from The Shack – Page 123 & 124

You Are Great

2008-06-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

For you are great and perform great miracles. You alone are God. (Psalm 86:10 NLT)

I think this is how David maintained a life of faith in the face of giants, relentless opposition, and enemies on every side. Even in the face of his own weakness and sin. David believed that ultimately it all depends on God, who is Great and Performs Great Miracles.

Father, I believe and declare that You Are Great! You Perform (then and now) Great Miracles! You are God and I am not! Amen!

Sitting On The Porch

2008-06-27T10:17:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting on the porch at Philip and Stephanie's house in Tacoma. It's 10:15 AM on a beautiful sunny day. There's something about a blue-sky sunny day in the rainy corridor of Oregon and Washington that means more than a sunny day in the desert, I think.

It means more to a desert-dweller like me because eveything is green and fresh and garden-like. Blue sky and green everything else is nice. It means a lot to the rain-dwellers because it's rare and precious. Not much joy in being indoors on a day like this.

I feel bad that I haven't posted anything on my blog since the Panda story. There hasn't been much sitting on the porch time lately.

Ken Johnson says that in a marginless life, creativity and relationships evaporate. Today is a day of margin. Not a marginal day.

Jean and I are going to take Jesse and Buddy for a walk to the elementary school playyground about five blocks away. Then we'll have dinner tonight. And go to bed later. Pretty intense? I don't think so.

Days like this can be part of the "restoring of the soul" David wrote about in Psalm 23.

I might even write more later. Or I might not. That's the kind of day it is.

Panda

2008-06-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

A Panda walks into a fancy restaurant and is seated at a table alone by the maitre d'.

The waiter approaches with a wine list and the Panda orders a bottle of very expensive red wine.

Then the Panda orders a five course meal; appetizer, salad, soup, entree, and dessert.

When the Panda finishes the sumptious meal, the waiter brings the check and places it on the table.

The Panda takes out a Glock 40 and shoots the waiter, then calmly stands up to leave the restaurant.

The maitre d' screams at the Panda, "Are you crazy? You ate that whole meal and then you shot my waiter! Now you're calmly leaving my restaurant. Are you crazy!?!

The Panda turns his head as he walks out the door, "I'm a Panda. Look it up."

The maitre d' grabs his encyclopedia from the shelf and quickly turns to the entry for "Panda."

It reads: Panda - Asian marsupial. Black and White in color. Eats shoots and leaves.

Cardboard Testimony

2008-06-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

I saw this today and wanted to pass it on to you.

Stained Glass

2008-06-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Jean and I are in Coos Bay, Oregon this morning. We came over to minister at the Coquille Foursquare Church Sunday morning and to help them dedicate a beautiful stained glass window that was donated to their church by an artist who lives in the area. Then we came to Coos Bay yesterday afternoon and evening for a Pastors’ Retreat with the pastors of our South Coast Division of Cascade District.

I love stained glass. In England we had our favorite church and cathedral visits, more for the beauty of the stained glass windows than anything else. I like the vivid colors of the glass – on sunny days when the light is clear and sharp and on cloudy days when the light is soft. I like the pictures themselves – often scenes from important stories in the Bible, or illustrations of Psalm 23 or another scripture.

There’s one window that stands out in my memory above all the others. In St Albans Cathedral, in the town of St Albans, about 20 miles from London, there’s one very special window. It’s a huge circular window done almost entirely in vivid blue glass. It’s called the Martyr’s Window. It was made to honor the memory and celebrate the lives of people who died as martyrs to their faith in God.

I often think of one old church, about 40 miles northeast of London. The village that surrounded the church is gone and you have to drive along a fence through the edge of a wheat field to reach the church grounds. The cemetery is falling into disrepair, only mowed once a year or so by caring locals. The church itself is suffering from neglect, but the windows are still beautiful. All the windows are done in shades of yellow glass. There are other colors to highlight and to complete the images, but the overall effect is brilliant yellow light. Even on a grey and cloudy day, the church feels warm and sunny.

This morning I was thinking about different kinds of windows. Clear glass windows let in light and let you see what’s outside. Frosted glass windows let in light and don’t let you see what’s outside (or inside if you’re outside). Stained glass windows let in light and let you see what’s inside. Sometimes they help you see what’s inside yourself.

Anyhow, we dedicated a beautiful stained glass window with a cross as its central motif and the four Foursquare emblems; cross, crown, cup, and dove in the angles formed by the cross. It’s great!

My Eyes Are Dry

2008-06-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a staff prayer and worship time at Westside Church where I’m part of the ministry staff. Greg Fry opened our prayer time and then Jay Smith at the keyboard began to lead us in worship. As we were singing the sweet songs, some words from a Keith Green song began to scroll through my thoughts; “My eyes are dry, my heart is hard..” Just those words over and over again. I couldn’t even remember the song – just “My eyes are dry, my heart is hard..’

I asked the Lord if I was supposed to say something to the group. I felt not. I asked the Lord what I should do about my hard heart and dry eyes. He seemed to say, “There’s nothing you can do but be honest about your heart and your eyes.”

My heart wasn’t hard from wallowing in sin. It wasn’t hard like a stone. It was just hard on the outside from dealing with life, from doing ministry, from a slightly weary soul. My eyes weren’t dry because I’m insensitive and uncaring, but because ministry involves taking on so much of the emotions of others. My eyes were dry because they were dry, not because I am bad.

I started thinking about what I should do to soften my heart and water my eyes and I think the Lord told me there’s nothing I can do. Only he can soften hard hearts and water dry eyes. I just needed to be with him, to be in his presence.

As we continued to worship, my hard softened and God watered my dry eyes. When we stopped after a half hour or so and dismissed to our tasks, I wondered what would have happened if we had worshipped another half hour. Do you think my heart might have melted and my eyes flowed like a fountain?

Would the Holy Spirit have melted and flooded us all?

Here’s the song…

Memorial Day - New Baseball Cap

2008-05-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

It’s Memorial Day Weekend. Last Sunday my friend Bob Beatty gave me a “Vietnam Veteran” baseball cap. I’ve never worn a hat or shirt or jacket that identifies me as a Vietnam Vet before. I’ve got an Oregon Veteran license plate on my truck, but that’s about as far as I’ve gone with it.

I came home from Vietnam in December 1967. That’s a little over 40 years ago. Some people never quite made it all the way home. They’re about half way home and their primary identity is still “Vietnam Vet.” I don’t think it will ever be my identity, defining who I am. But I am a vet and I did spend a tour in Vietnam.

You know, when I came home in 1967, nobody talked about Vietnam at all. If I had worn a Vietnam Veteran hat then, somebody would have more likely spit on me than thanked me.

Then, I left the US in 1984 and was pretty much gone, living overseas, until 2000. It was in that period that it began to be ok to be a Vietnam veteran and people started talking about it more. Things changed, attitudes changed.

It was not until sometime in 2000 or 2001 when I let people at church know I was a Vietnam Vet that someone said, “Welcome Home!” for the first time.

It’s mostly people who were there – guys who came home to a welcomeless (except for family and friends) USA – who say, “Welcome Home!” It still touches something in me when someone says it.

Anyhow, I went out to do some errands on Friday, was in WalMart and Costco and a couple of other stores, and I was wearing my new black Vietnam Veteran baseball cap. While I was in Penney’s a guy came up to me and said, “Welcome Home.” It caught me off guard and I was blank for a moment then remembered the hat. Then he said, “I was in Vietnam too.” We talked for a minute or two, the usual, “When were you over there?” “Where were you?” “What branch?” and then went about our business. He was in Vietnam in ’68, got there 2 weeks after I left in December ’67.

Then in Costco a guy walked by and said, “Thanks for serving.” Caught me off guard again, then I remembered and smiled and said, “Thanks.”

I don’t think being a Vietnam Veteran will ever become my primary identity. But it’s nice to be welcomed home and thanked for serving on this Memorial Day weekend.

Watching Hotel Rwanda

2008-05-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Last night Jean and I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda. I’ve had the movie on DVD since Christmas and have put off watching it because I know how movies like that affect me. I guess I’m just a movie coward.

Anyhow, last night we watched Hotel Rwanda. I was in Rwanda for a week in November 1997, three years after the end of the genocide of 1994. I saw hundreds of children taking care of children because their parents were dead.

Hotel Rwanda thoughts:
· Rwanda is a beautiful country. The shots of driving through Kigali are just as I remembered the city.
· One thing that doesn’t show in the movie is the beautiful and amazing agricultural terracing of the hillsides across the country. Driving into Kigali from the Uganda border crossing is like driving through a garden of terraced hillsides.
· Don Cheadle’s characterization of Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of Sabena Hôtel des Mille Collines, is great. When I watch a movie like this I wonder how an American actor can so accurately and consistently use the accent of a Rwandan speaking English.
· Jean Reno, who played the president of Sabena, makes me want to fly Sabena next time I go to Africa. (By the way, his role as Leon in the 1994 movie The Professional is pretty much unforgettable.)
· Nick Nolte was a little hard to warm up to in his role as UN Commander Colonel Oliver. By the end of the movie, I got there. His character is based on Lieutenant-General Roméo Alain Dallaire, OC, CMM, GOQ, MSC, CD (born June 25, 1946 in Denekamp, The Netherlands) a French Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general. Dallaire is widely known for having served as Force Commander of UNAMIR, the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994, and for trying to stop the genocide that was being waged by Hutu extremists against Tutsis and Hutu moderates.
· I think about the European countries that colonized Africa and wonder at the ignorance and insensitivity of foreigners coming in and arbitrarily establishing national borders without consideration of tribal regions and boundaries.,
· I think about how much stronger tribal identity was in the nation of Israel than national identity in the Old Testament time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
· I think about how thin the veneer of civilization is as it overlays the hatreds and jealousies of humanity.
· I think about how hard it would be for me to stand beside someone who had murdered members of my family. Yet in 1997, I stood in the pulpit of Restoration Church in Kigali Rwanda and spoke to a congregation whose leaders and membership was made up of both Tutsis and Hutus (I wondered what in the world I had to offer to people who lived at that level of grace and forgiveness!)
· Hotel Rwanda is a good movie. I think it should be required viewing for anyone who cares about Africa and anyone faced with the challenge of forgiving an enemy.
· That’s what I think.

What do you think?

Prince Caspian - Chronicles of Narnia

2008-05-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

I saw the new Chronicles of Narnia movie "Prince Caspian" last night.

First impressions:

I loved it!
I'm glad it has been several years since I read the book so I could watch it to enjoy it more than to compare it.
They chose the right actors to play the Pevensies. I'm glad they did this one soon enough to carry them over.
Trumpkin rocks!
Do Telmarines actually speak English with a Spanish accent?
The centaurs are great. They look like centaurs should look and you'd want them as friends.
Thanks for not making Aslan look like a stuffed toy. He's not a tame lion, you know.
The correct quote is: "To know what would have happened, child?" said Aslan. "No. Nobody is ever told that. But anyone can find out what will happen."
"Things never happen the same way twice..." is close enough.
As long as it can bring tears to my eyes at least twice, I'm good with it.

I came away from the movie freshly admiring the mind and heart of C.S. Lewis and freshly loving Jesus - the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah.

Let me know what you think.

God Will Take Care of You - Psalm 55:22

2008-05-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. (Psalm 55:22 NLT)

As I read this Psalm today and came to this verse a song by the late Mark Heard began running through my head. Mark wrote a simple song he called, “He Will Listen To You.” A sweet simple song with a solid faith-strengthening truth.

The fact is, the reality is, the truth is, that we can give our burdens, anxieties, fears, and stresses to the Lord and he really will take care of us.

Peter says it this way: Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)

Prayer:

Father, I give you my burdens and cares this morning. I know you love me. I know you listen to me. I know you care, you can, and you will take care of me. Amen.

Here's the Mark Heard song:

Wish to be younger?

2008-05-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

I just read a qoute from Jonathan Swift, Irish essayist and novelist from the 17th century. Jonathan said, "No wise man ever wished to be younger.' Good thought, Jonathan.

I don't wish to be younger. I celebrated my 65th birthday last month in Johannesburg, South Africa. Then Jean (who had already celebrated her 65th birthday earlier this year) and I went to Malawi for a very intense week of ministry and the dealings of God in our lives. Then we went to Botswana for even more ministry and personal learning and growth. I think we maintained a pace and momentum of ministry that a lot of younger people would be pressed to handle.

Now we're back in the USA and doing the hard work of re-engaging with reality. The USA reality is actually different than the African reality. You can't keep both realities in focus at the same time. It has to be one or the other.

I don't wish to be younger. I wish to keep learning, growing, changing, and adapting to the realities of the world I'm in at the moment.

I want to finish well.

Are People Supposed To Just Smile?

2008-05-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote this yesterday morning after reading a post on a friend's blog....

Are People Supposed To Just Smile?

Are people supposed to just smile and say, “Fine!” and talk about unimportant things and move on?

Are people supposed to say, “I’m breaking apart on the inside and I just want to run away from something that I can’t run away from because it’s inside me!”

If people just smile and say “Fine!” hearts get hollow, then hard, then brittle, then break.

If people say, “My life is on fire!” and try to tell it to the wrong person, it is very uncool.

Sometimes people can’t smile and say, “Fine!” anymore and they just say “It hurts so bad I took the plunge into being uncool because I don’t know what else to do!”

What if I’m a wrong person? What if I wince and turn away and leave the cry of pain hanging in the air?

What if I don’t turn away and I listen and take some of the pain myself? Is that enough? Is there anything else I can do?

I mean what are people supposed to do, just smile and say, “Fine?”

Africa News

2008-04-23T03:57:00.000-07:00

News from Africa
4-23-08

I’m writing this from Gabarone, Botswana. In the past two weeks we’ve been in South Africa, Malawi, and now we’re in our last few days in southern Africa.

The images and impressions of what I’ve seen are swirling like a tumble-dryer in my brain! I’ve seen children with famine-distended bellies and adults as fat as Americans. I’ve seen satellite dishes in the jungle and traffic lights that don’t work in the cities. I’ve seen self-serving greed and Christ-like self sacrifice. I’ve seen Christians divided by power struggles and united by the love of Jesus. I’ve seen grace and forgiveness like I saw in Rwanda after the genocide there.

I’ve seen four distinct philosophies and approaches to orphan care and expect to visit one more today. Botswana has the highest AIDS rate in the world and orphans make up a significant segment of the population. Malawi is the second-least developed nation on earth. The resources are scarce and the means of delivery are fragmented.

It’s way more complicated than I thought!

We’ve ministered at a Foursquare Regional Conference (10 southern African nations) and missionary retreat in Johannesburg, South Africa; in a hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, to staff and volunteers; in churches; taught at Blantyre Bible Training Centre; and ministered at a pastors’ meeting where 20 pastors were expected and 80 showed up!

We’ve had many hours of good heart talks with wounded pastors and weary missionaries. The prophecy Hugh Laybourn gave me a couple of days before we left about a healing process and beginning to re-weave the tattered threads of a tapestry has come true several times over.

Tonight we meet with Stephen Hacker and some Christian lay-leaders from a couple of different denominations who are officials in the government of Botswana to discuss possibilities for future ministry here.

It’s been a wild ride so far (figuratively and literally!) and we’re hoping for a quiet few hours tomorrow to continue trying to process some of what we’ve seen and heard. Pray for us.

And we’ve seen hippos, crocodiles, zebra, wart-hogs, fish eagles, Impala, giraffes, and elephants! Did I mention ELEPHANTS?

And that’s the news for now from Africa.

Jim

How the mind works with words

2008-04-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist
and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can
be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a
porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not
raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig huh???

In Africa Again!

2008-04-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

We arrived safe, sound, and tired about midnite Wednesday night. We stood in the aisle of the KLM 747 for 45 minutes because they couldn't get the door open. Immigration and Customs was a breeze. Our luggage all came through. It's all good.

In typical manner for me, I slept about four hours then woke up and was all awake. It started to get a little light around 5:30 so I went out looking for coffee. No luck. Went out a little later and found a guy near the meeting hall. Introduced myself and asked him if he knew the schedule for today. (We're participating in the regional directors' and wives council meeting - regional directors of the southern Africa region of Foursquare. Ten countries.) and he showed me the schedule.

My name was down to speak at the first session this morning. I had a great time sharing from my devotional journal entry for today, April 10. It's all good.

Today is my 65th birthday.

We just finished a worship time led by a South African worship team and I remembered what it's like to get lost in worship. Thanks, Father.

I'm going to sleep good tonight!

Going To Africa!

2008-04-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday morning, Jean, Greg Price and I will fly out to Johannesburg. It's been awhile since we've been in the Dark Continent - nearly four years. That's too long to be away.

This time we'll be visiting South Africa, Malawi, and Botswana, three countries in Southern Africa we've never set foot in.

There's so much to do to get ready, especially since we're not traveling as regularly as we used to. But in a few days, all the preparation that we can do will be done and we'll go to the airport and check in and when we're sitting in the departure lounge on the flying side of security, I'll take a deep breath and shift into "Africa Here We Come!" mode.

God has invested a lot in us and we are eager to go and pour it out to those who need it.

I'll post an itinerary here in a couple of days with some points for prayer.

We're Going To Africa!

Opportunity and Opposition

2008-03-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

8 In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Festival of Pentecost. 9 There is a wide-open door for a great work here, and many people are responding. But there are many who oppose me. (1 Corinthians 16:8-9 NLT)

Paul was such a mature and committed Christ follower. He made his decisions based on what he perceived to be God’s specific will and on the opportunity for effective work. He never decided on the basis of personal preference or his own comfort or convenience. And he realized that opportunity and opposition are often traveling companions.

This is a challenge for me. I want things to be clear and uncomplicated. If there is a great opportunity, then I want it all to be green lights and open roads. In the real world, great opportunity is often accompanied by great challenges, obstacles, and opposition.

Prayer:

Father, I needed this reminder today. I see great opportunities ahead, but I spend too much time and energy wishing the obstacles and opposition would simply disappear. Help me face the opposition with the same enthusiasm I embrace the opportunities. Amen.

The Strength You Have

2008-03-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” (Judges 6:14 NLT)

There’s a lot going on in the story of Gideon and God’s assignment for him. Israel had turned to idol worship and God had released the Midianites on them to punish them. God sent a prophet to confront them in their sin. Then God’s angel came to Gideon and commissioned him to lead the Israelites to victory. It was all a little too much for Gideon, who had been working in the bottom of a winepress, after all.

God told Gideon, “Go in the strength you have. I am sending you!”

I see some things here that apply to me:

• God came to Gideon when Gideon was working to thresh grain for his family. Gideon was fearful but at least he was doing something!
• God commissioned Gideon to deliver his people from the Midianites. The task God gives is way beyond anything we can do or imagine on our own.
• God told Gideon to go in the strength he had. You’ve got to start with what God has already given you to see the purpose fulfilled.

Prayer:

Father, I want to fulfill your plan for me and for those you have chosen me to help. I face fears and the knowledge of my own limitations. Today I purpose to “Go in the strength I have.” The rest is up to you. Amen.