Prayer of Longing

You meet us where we are, communicate in ways we look for you, in ways we understand your message. You speak in parables to which we relate. And how blessed we are that you do, or we might never find you.

But I no longer want you to speak my language. How I long for you to teach me yours. Do not come Lord to where I am, rather call me to where you are. Let me walk with you, not you with me unless there is no other way.

The Story of Glory and Shima

We don’t really know their full story. We only met them 2 years ago. Elijah and I had just finished a work-out at ETBU and I hadn’t quite made it to the car before 4 pairs of adorable eyes, 4 wagging tails and 16 big puppy feet paraded themselves right into my heart. Elijah caught us together after I’d shared my water bottle down to the last drop and no questions were to be asked at that point; they were coming home for a proper dinner. It wasn’t long before 2 of the 4 sisters joined another family as people ogled over them every time they passed by our house. The new puppies brought the neighborhood alive for us which had been all too distant since our move to Marshall 2 months prior. The Lord had brought them at just the right season.

As a small tribute to Africa, we decided to use Swahili to name one of the dogs. I called her ‘Honor’, thus Heshima, or Shima for short, joined the family. Her sister Glory, called Gloria by our neighbors to this day, tied the bow on our home at 902 North Franklin Street. Though not in the sort we might have originally imagined, the Lord had given us twins who made us wonder those first couple of weeks if we were sane to think we could raise children. While the girls don’t, in all honesty, embody their names' potential, it wasn’t a month before we could legitimately call them our Comfort and our Joy!

There is a time for everything… a time to gather… a time to scatter. The seasons change.

Perhaps ironically as Elijah and I look forward to moving ourselves onto ETBU’s campus for the Faculty in Residence program, it is now time to part with some of our earliest ETBU gifts.

I wanted to introduce them to you, for you see, our girls still need a home and just like we don’t know the beginning of their story, as the Lord moves His pieces around, yes even dogs, I can embrace that He cared for them before us and will after us… Perhaps you’ll be part of the story.

Smiling on the Left: Glory, 61 lbs; Right: Shima, 49 lbs
Birthdays: ~ May 2009
Both spayed and up to date on vaccines and preventative meds

Calculated Upheaval

Moving has a way of burning down the dross
Several think we’re nuts and calculate a loss
Fact: unnecessary stuff exacts a greater cost
I’ve learned to have a loosened grip; anything can be tossed


How often does one married couple get to move?

1. Adam’s Bend Apts, Temple, TX – 1 ½ years (by U-Haul to)
2. Rain Tree Apts, Temple, TX – 6 months (plane)
3. Old Town (dorm), Edinburgh, Scotland – 5 months (car)
4. Abbeyhill (flat), Edinburgh, Scotland – 7 months (bus & cab)
5. Gorgie (Apts), Edinburgh, Scotland – 9 months (walking & car)
6. Slateford (house), Edinburgh, Scotland – 3 months (van)
7. Morningside (house), Edinburgh, Scotland – 10 months
(train & plane)
8. Dallas (parents’ house!), Garland, TX – 2 years (U-Haul)
9. N. Franklin, Marshall (house), Marshall, TX – 2 years (...)
10. University Apartments, East Texas Baptist University,
Marshall, TX – ETA TBA later this summer

It’s our 10th move in just less than 9 years & I’m excited!
Counting down the days!

Silent Retreats

Breaking points... those with opportunity seek what is available not to reach them, or at least to be in a safe environment for the duration of their climax.

For the introverts among us, I highly recommend silence for our loudest moments.

http://home.centurytel.net/spiritualitycenter/

Many might think I’m running
In fact the opposite’s truer, I’m stopping
A pause in my grand scheme of time wasted
To spend some if not more later, wisely
A pause
To listen, to observe, to think
To meet
To better be

‘they were at their wits’ end. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven… Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.’
Psalm 107:27b-30, 43

Lethal Comforts

At a difficult time in my life when I felt wronged on many fronts, the Lord refused to ‘take my side’ and instead seemed more interested in rooting out two things I clung to like a newborn at the breast: resentment and bitterness.

Once able to finally see their unmitigated destructive nature in my life I asked how to fight them and he answered by telling me what they were, conveying it to be a matter of my elected perspective.

un R easonable
E nergy
S pent
E ntertaining
N egative
T houghts

B razenly
I nternalizing
T hose
T houghts
E xercising
R esentment

Sadness

There was a time in my life when those who saw me most but knew me least took the risk of telling their boss I had become different and the difference was best described as ‘sadness’.

I dispassionately took their concern to the Lord and asked ‘what is my sadness?’ This was his immediate answer. I record it now for you in the event it’s also yours. Acknowledge it; then do or submit to the work of recovery.

S oulache
A bandonment
D oubt
N earsightedness
E xhaustion
S ubstitutionaries
S elf-pity

Brad

Disheveled, unclean, your pain screams
Stature shot, tears unsought
Raw and fresh, open flesh
You grasp for belief engulfed by grief
Many judge, sympathies unbudged
So you try on a shroud, seek solace in crowd
Feign to smile, but no one’s beguiled
There’s a season for all and it’s yours to fall
Prostrate, unbent, fragmented lament
Others can pray while you endure decay
Divers healing transpires by grave