random ramblings

I am sitting here, munching on yummy pizza....

I am not supposed to be eating pizza.


This is what I'm supposed to be doing:

Yup -- I should be writing a paper (notice the plethora of books).
BUT... I'm not.
Writing a paper is not FUN. It's hard. And tedious.
And so I made pizza instead. If you were here,
you could share my pizza.
I'd share.
Really!
But you're not.
SO, you, go back to work.
I'm going to go do..... something. :)

Isaiah 40:26-31

26 Look up into the heavens.
Who created all the stars?
He brings them out like an army, one after another,
calling each by its name.
Because of his great power and incomparable strength,
not a single one is missing.
27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?
O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?
28 Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.

(thanks Sarah!)

dr. seuss teaches a lesson

I was blog-surfing this evening, drinking my Neo-Citran before bed (yes, that should tell you why I haven't been blogging lately), and I started reading a blog done by a Thai friend, Mink. When I taught in Thailand, she was working at the church; teaching and working with the youth. She's got a great heart for ministry, and she finds wonderful things to post on her blog. (check the links for the link).

She posted this poem, which I'm pretty sure was written for me. It reads like a Dr. Seuss book, which is somewhat appropriate, because I've read a lot of Dr. Seuss in my travels. Anyway, the message resounds with me. Give it a read. Maybe it will resound with you too.

Russel Kelfer - WAIT

Desperately, helplessly, lovingly, I cried;
quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and wept for clue to my fate…
and the Master so gently said, “Wait.”

“Wait? You say wait?” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need anwers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I’m claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I relate,
hangs in the balance and you tell me to wait?
I’m needing a ‘Yes’ a go-ahead sign
or even a ‘No’ to which I’ll resign.

You promised, Dear Lord,that if we believe,
we need but to ask and we shall receive.
Lord, I’ve been asking and this is my cry.
I’m weary of asking, I need a reply.”

Then quietly, softly I learned of my fate,
as my Master replied again “Wait.”
So I slumped in my chair defeated and taunt,
and grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting….for what?”

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes met with mine
…and he tenderly said, “I could give you sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause the mountains to run.

I could give you all you seek, and pleased you would be
You’d have what you want, but you wouldn’t know me.
You’d not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You’d not know the power that I give to the faint.

You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
you’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there.
You’d not know the joy of resting in me,
when darkness and silence are all you can see.

You’d never experience the fullness of love,
when the peace of my spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give and I save for a start.
But you’d not know the depth of the beat of my heart.

The glow of my comfort late into the night,
the faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you ask,
from an infinite God who makes what you have last.

You’d never know should your pain quickly flee,
what it means that my grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
but oh, the loss, if you missed what I am doing in you.

So be silent my child and in time you will see,
that the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though my answers seem terribly late,
my most precious answer of all is still….wait.”

Puzzles

You can buy puzzles these days that have no picture supplied with them. A person could sit for hours, trying to find pieces that match, looking for vague similarities between pieces. Often, you could start piecing things together, thinking you have finally figured out the picture in the puzzle, only to find that the picture you are assembling is a picture on someone else's t-shirt.

How frustrating. And confusing.

Sometimes I feel like life is a puzzle. God gives everyone a bunch of puzzle pieces, but no picture. And I feel like I'm sitting here like a little kid: putting piecing together, but not knowing whether the images are in the foreground, or the background, not knowing whether the whole puzzle surrounds this image or not. I wish that God would give me a glimpse of the finished product -- that he'd put flashing lights around a certain decision, or come down with a big booming voice, telling me that "Yes, this is the right choice. This belongs in the foreground", or "No. Don't choose this. This is meant to be part of the background."
I know that in the end, the puzzle will work out. Each piece will have found its home, and it will be a beautiful picture of God's mercy and grace in my life.

But, man! I wish I could see the box....

a boot load

In order to alleviate some confusion produced with the last post, I'm coining a new phrase:

boot load - /'boot lohd/ - 1 - N - a large quantity, specifically an amount that might come over the tops of one's rubber boots, if one were to step down; 2 - N- enough to fill one's boots; 3 - V - to be boot loaded - to be overloaded with work; to be overcome; to be filled; 4 - V - to be stuffed into the trunk of a car (usu. when dead)