(the following is from Lance Lambert, June 2006)
There are two stories of storms in Matthew. In one, the Lord stopped the storm from the confines of the boat after the disciples panic and wake Him up. In the second, another storm comes up, and He walks on the water. But through the storm, the disciples observe His figure and think perhaps it is a ghost. Peter, however, thinks it might be the Lord, so he calls out, "Is it You, Jesus?" Jesus says, "Yes." And Peter says, "If it's You, tell me to come." And Jesus says to him, "Come." And the amazing thing is Peter climbed out of the boat and walked on the water. Now he'd never been to Bible school or read a book on the four steps to walking on water. But He saw the Lord, heard the Lord, obeyed the Lord, and he did the impossible.
If we are to be ready for the coming of the Lord, what is the most important experience we need to have? It is not the stopping of the storm (although that reveals the majesty of the Lord Jesus, the power of the Lord Jesus, and the soverign authority of the Lord Jesus). Wonderful it is, but it doesn't help us if we lose the boat and find ourselves in stormy seas. There are days of evil and times of darkness when the Lord doesn't step in. Then what? It is a tremendous lesson the Lord taught Peter; he did the impossible. He walked on a stormy sea. I say that's the greatest lesson anyone can learn to be ready for the coming of the Lord--when the boat is gone and the storm is rolling around, walk on water with the Lord.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Monday, July 24, 2006
sister's day of birth: celebrated
a lovely lake on which we floated
the birthday sprite
a friend of jen's...we like her...
all smiles
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Call (us all) Icarus
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
Enlightenment is violent. I am jolted by the glimpse of how evil this world is and how one's moment of evil and another's moment of joy can coexist in the same fraction of a second. As I push my around what's left of my salad with this fork, someone divorces...is aborted...dies in war...loses hope, and (we) are powerless to stop it.
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
i can simply hope that evil's course departs from mine...that they bend away and don't meet again. but that is the hope of the naive. evil bends back according to its design. but thank God, no matter when evil comes, there is still good life ahead. there is always the promise of new life.
In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the plowman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
i have been both overlooker and the overlooked. but then again, haven't we all.
(lines in italics from W. H. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts")
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
Enlightenment is violent. I am jolted by the glimpse of how evil this world is and how one's moment of evil and another's moment of joy can coexist in the same fraction of a second. As I push my around what's left of my salad with this fork, someone divorces...is aborted...dies in war...loses hope, and (we) are powerless to stop it.
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
i can simply hope that evil's course departs from mine...that they bend away and don't meet again. but that is the hope of the naive. evil bends back according to its design. but thank God, no matter when evil comes, there is still good life ahead. there is always the promise of new life.
In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the plowman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
i have been both overlooker and the overlooked. but then again, haven't we all.
(lines in italics from W. H. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts")
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
visual acrobatics
Pity
says mama on the late night lake stroll
Pity true
says she
People used to talk all nice-like and hope for good and now in the name of protectin' close-as-kin they talk real nice and roll their eyes right over hope
Pity, hope is
some say it ain't there no more
Pity
how they roll their eyes right over it
says mama on the late night lake stroll
Pity true
says she
People used to talk all nice-like and hope for good and now in the name of protectin' close-as-kin they talk real nice and roll their eyes right over hope
Pity, hope is
some say it ain't there no more
Pity
how they roll their eyes right over it
Sunday, July 02, 2006
a portrait of my day
I love my husband.
I love my family.
I love my friends.
(Nathan gave me the bunny, Sarah painted the amazing eyes picture from my favorite movie [Series of Unfortunate Events] and all the fam gave me the new camera).
I love my family.
I love my friends.
(Nathan gave me the bunny, Sarah painted the amazing eyes picture from my favorite movie [Series of Unfortunate Events] and all the fam gave me the new camera).
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Farewell to the "6" in 26
Holding back a year-end rumination is always rather a challenge for me. I tend towards evaluation, but quickly step back into denial or ignoring those things I don't want to or can't correct yet.
Since I'm dropping the 6 and adding the 7 this year, I figured I ought to glow with anticipation. Afterall, 7 is a significant number with significantly positive connotations. So, here are my 7 hopes for this year:
1. A deeper conviction of God's desire to work in me and through me
2. To pray for people and see them healed and delivered
3. To be a better friend and to allow my friends to be more of a comfort to me
4. More exercise and energy and no more remnants of weakness from mono
5. Greater consideration of Nathan's needs
6. Tenure (in May)
7. That loose-ended things from 6 be placed on a strong foundation in 7
Since I'm dropping the 6 and adding the 7 this year, I figured I ought to glow with anticipation. Afterall, 7 is a significant number with significantly positive connotations. So, here are my 7 hopes for this year:
1. A deeper conviction of God's desire to work in me and through me
2. To pray for people and see them healed and delivered
3. To be a better friend and to allow my friends to be more of a comfort to me
4. More exercise and energy and no more remnants of weakness from mono
5. Greater consideration of Nathan's needs
6. Tenure (in May)
7. That loose-ended things from 6 be placed on a strong foundation in 7
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