pieces of today

last dream of the morning: a dream of love and acceptance, a person who saw and cared. a hand held.

waking up: I am a new creation, no more in condemnation; here in the grace of God I stand...

studying: on the 'theology of relationships' that flows through Genesis 2-3... "Yahweh, the true Creator God and God of Israel, created humanity personally and desires only good for them. Of course this original fellowship was ruined by sin, but this does not make ours tory of the original relationship irrelevant for later readers. The same Yahweh revealed here is the Yahweh who delivered the Israelite readers from Egypt. His care and concern have not changed though the ideal circumstances have. He still wants to be with His people."
(from From Creation to the Cross by Albert H. Baylis).

thinking: reading Genesis really makes you sensitive to any pettiness in yourself. A wide view, a big picture, an all-of-time sense, the Big Plan... this makes one feel small in a very good way. A way that is enveloped in the sovereignty of Yahweh. What grace He shows, to want to be with His people. His people me, His people you, His people Israel.

music: I can see that my hands are trembling, I can see that my legs are weak...and I know that my heart is hurting, and I know that my soul, it aches...and I know that it seems I'm failing but I will overcome... (how?) OH LORD, I AM STRONG IN YOU, OH LORD I'M WISE IN YOU. OH LORD, I AM FREE IN YOU, so I will overcome.....
...and on the road to beautiful, my seasons always change...
...a love where there doesn't have to be a rule for it...
You're a revolution...I wanna be revolutionary...
How great Your love for us, how great our love for You...
(Charlie Hall, Andy Smith who has the honor of being Mel's brother, David Crowder band)
We ARE on the road to beautiful, to seeing God face to face, directly, as in Eden but even fuller, better, purer. Our road to beautiful is bigger than any one of us. My job today is to love, and to be free in Jesus.

work: six little wee babies exploring tiny pieces of the world, their attention and energy totally focused on a bouncing Tigger or a little piece of plastic... how little we change as we grow.
why is it that many people can so easily love a baby, yet they are so cold and unaccepting of different adults...when we all have the same shortcomings and nearsightedness? Babies seem to love just about everyone. Become as little children...

Oi! Dancin' boy!

What do you call a happy muffin? :-)

Oh, Mel, I miss you.
Life is moving a little too fast for me all of a sudden, and I am feeling a little more alone in it than I really am. Maybe it just takes a little time to adjust when you change places and when you are just getting used to having this incredibly joyful treasure of a sisterperson in your life again, and the in one swift motion, she's gone. Again. Makes me a little scared to get so close to a person, because it's so confuzzling to lose them. Knocks the wind out of me. It's so much firmer, stabler...and colder... to just be separate from everyone, to think that I'm on my own, that no one else but Jesus really really really truly cares or understands. And it's true in a way--He understands as no one else can and He's always with me in a way no one else can be. There's nothing like the relationship I've been given with Him.

Yet guess what, Kate? Human relationships can be so blessed by Him, so used by Him, so wonderful--more so than I ever really believed till, as the song says, 'till there was you.' It's honestly a little bit of a scary revelation because it means the possibility in the world of so much more pain than was possible when I was so much more cut off, so much 'safer' by being on my own island. But it's a beautiful revelation at the same time. More beautiful than scary. Because it's a window into the love of God, that He would give me a friend like you and a friendship like this. To realize that depth and wonder and seeking God wholeheartedly can be found not only in solitude, but in glorious 'running partnership.' We knew this before. But this past week has given me the gift of feeling it again, and to a new depth. BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, says the Lord.

I love to booooogie on a Saturday night.
And on we go......