:. nine out of ten .:

I love reading in the gospels about all the miracles Jesus performed: the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life. I find myself wondering what happened to these people down the road. Did they follow Jesus all of their days, or did the miraculous become something they took for granted?

What became of blind Bartimaeus, whom Jesus healed with a single word? Mark tells us he 'received his sight and followed Jesus along the road'. How far? For how long? Where was he when Jesus was crucified? What about ten years later? Was he still following Jesus?

What about the demon-possessed guy who spent his days wailing, naked, in the cemetery? Jesus freed the man from his torment, and the next thing you know he was 'dressed and in his right mind'. He begged Jesus to let him go with Him, but Jesus wanted him rather to go tell his family how much the Lord had done for him. The last we hear of that guy, he was going from city to city, amazing people with his story. Did he spend the rest of his life telling others what the Savior had done for him? Did he ever forget what he had once been?

What about the little girl who had died, but Jesus took her by the hand and gave her life back to her with the lovely words, "Talitha koum"? [Aramaic for 'Little girl, arise'.] She was twelve when that happened; was she living in devotion and service to the One True God when she was 24, or 60, or once again on her deathbed? What about her parents? Did they spend their days telling everyone who would listen what Jesus had done for them?

It's easy to think, 'oh, if they experienced that firsthand, then surely they went on to follow Jesus the rest of their lives'.

But wait. How many times has Jesus touched you? healed you? provided for you? given you life? helped you see? helped you walk? given you strength? Do you spend every day of your life in gratitude to God? Or has the miraculous become common-place? Has the hand of God in your life become something you take for granted?

There's another story that always gets me. Ten lepers came to Jesus, begging for mercy. He told them to go show themselves to the priests, "and as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him."

Nine out of ten didn't bother.

Which am I?

:. ansel liam .:

Here's what happens when you hand a 2-year old a camera:

He snapped 3 dozen pictures in the space of about 5 minutes, most of them of Lambie.

Nice job, photog!

:. pet peeves .:

• I hate when I make a detailed shopping list . . . and then leave it on my kitchen counter.

• I hate when people have loud cell phone conversations in public places.

• I hate it even more when the person having the loud conversation is a woman, striding through a store/mall/whathaveyou wearing high heels: YAK YAK CLACK CLACK YAK CLACK YAK CLACK CLACK YAK.

• I hate it when the last person in a check-out line rushes over when a new clerk announces she can help whoever is next. I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind when He said, 'the last shall be first'.

• I don't mind at all when people have strong opinions. I just hate it when they think I am somehow a lesser human being if my opinions don't happen to coincide with theirs.

• I hate it when people think that stay-at-home moms are vapid, brainless women who could never make it in the 'real' world.

• I hate it when people think that working moms don't love their kids quite as much as stay-at-home moms.

• I hate when my favorite TV shows are preempted by a presidential speech or Cyclone basketball.

• I hate when someone offers advice when I haven't asked for it. Unasked for advice is really just veiled criticism.

• I hate when I fall into any of the above categories. (although for the record, I've never preempted a television show in my life.)

:. 10 • 20 • 2007 .:

There were so many wonderful things about that day:

The way that God Himself brought two people together.

The assemblage of family, and friends from different circles, all gathered into one spot as witnesses.

Those beautiful little flower girls, enjoying their role to the max . . . twirling and smiling.

The dapper little ring bearer, carrying the ring pillow AND his mickey spoon.

The drop-dead gorgeous bride, shining like the sun.

The drop-dead handsome groom, with tears in his eyes as he beheld his bride.

That song. Oh, that song.

The F-16 fly-over.

The solemnity . . . the fun . . . the beauty.

And then there was the weather.
It was one of the wettest Octobers on record. The ten days prior to the 20th were rainy and cold. The sun? Nowhere in sight.
And then came the forecast. This is what it looked like on Wednesday:

And the forecast only improved as the week went on. As a matter of fact, it got up to around 80 degrees Saturday. EIGHTY degrees.

God cracks me up.I'm quite certain He made sure it was rainy, stormy, wet, damp, cloudy, dark, etc, JUST SO He could show His sovereignty and power over creation. JUST SO He could reveal to Chris and Kate (and anyone else watching) just how much He loves them as He shined down on their day. JUST SO He would be glorified.

Yes, it was a grand day, indeed.

[reprinted from November 3, 2007]

Happy, happy anniversary, Chris and Katie!

:. life rules .:

1. never throw away the instructions to your waffle maker.
2. never judge, because whatever measure you use to judge others will be the one God uses on you. Yikes! Do you really always meet your own standards? (not to mention God's?)
3. always try to think of yourself as "Plank-Eye", and the other guy as "Speck". Then when you think you need to remove the dust mote from someone else's life, you'll realize you have a log that needs some attention. (and let's be honest: sometimes the log in our own eye is more like an entire forest. We might be fooling others, but we can never fool the One who matters.)
4. always be ready to forgive. "If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins". (these aren't my words, Jesus said that.) Again, yikes!
5. never forget just how much you've been forgiven by God. Really helps with rule number 4.
6. never buy sheets with a thread count of less than 250.
7. life is much nicer with a canary.
8. if you're over the age of 18, please stop using your crappy childhood as an excuse to be a crappy adult. We all have baggage, but it doesn't have to be carry-on. Check it at the door and start living in a way that reflects who you really want to be.
9. never prepare your prize-winning 'manicotti with meat and ricotta filling' for a vegetarian. Trust me, you'll be sorry you did.
10. when inviting dinner guests, always ask beforehand if they're vegetarian.
11. 'whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.' (I love that; it's from Ecclesiastics. Such a great life rule.)
12. always choose your words carefully. (see post below.) And then just shut your mouth, if that is the better option.
13. as much as you are able, drive a car with heated seats.
14. as much as possible, snuggle a child in your lap.
15. as often as you can, talk face-to-face with a friend.
16. contrary to popular opinion, you should never buy lemonade from a kid with a lemonade stand. The last time I did, the cup was dirty and there was grass floating in it. Yuck. Oh yeah, and they never have the correct change.

:. snarky .:

Our church did something pretty cool last month: we all did a corporate fast for the month of September. The idea was for everyone to give up something (think Lent) in order to hear from God and be unified in our thinking and direction.

People gave up caffeine, web browsing, beer and the like, and after careful thought, I decided to give up sarcasm. (Go ahead and laugh, Josh Johnson!)

You have to understand, sarcasm is my favorite form of humor. I resort to it all the time, and usually it comes out as quite witty, at least in my opinion. (Which is probably the reason Chandler is my favorite 'Friend'.) So giving up a favored form of speech for a month was harder than it might sound.

I was amazed at how often I would open my mouth to say something, then have to immediately shut it again as I realized the words I was about to speak came under the heading of sarcastic.

And as I thought about it throughout the month, I realized more and more just how snarky my humor can be. I've long held the opinion that if you have to say, "Just kidding!" after a comment, then you probably shouldn't have said it in the first place. So even in my sarcasm, I try never to hurt a person's feelings. But, face it, snarky is snarky, no matter how you cut it, and I realized that many things I mean as a joke come out sounding all wrong. [So if I've ever hurt you in some weak attempt at being funny, I ask your forgiveness.]

Here's a bit of wisdom from the book of James*, said much better than I ever could:

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

And then there's this, from Ephesians:

Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

With those guidelines, I may never be able to open my mouth again.

*Bible passages are from The Message.

:. it's back .:

Just got the lab results, and my Grave's Disease is rearing its ugly head once again.
DANG.
And why did Robert Graves have to be the first to identify the disease? Why couldn't it have been Robert Twinkle?
I'd love to say I have Twinkle Disease.

dang.