Habakkuk 3:17-19

I just started reading a book called "You Gotta Keep Dancin'" by Tim Hansel. It was written about 20 years ago and is the story of Tim's journey through constant pain after he fell from a glacier while mountain climbing. It's just full of inspirational quotes that I may have to sprinkle through my blog sometime. But it struck me that he quoted Habakkuk 3:17-l9; the very same verse I wrote about a few blogs ago. I think God is trying to get this verse into my heart and maybe, if you're reading this, you'll take it to heart, too.

The way things are going in our country and the world in the economic sphere, it's a great verse to memorize and meditate on!

Firestarters

Two years ago on Easter Sunday my husband, Bob, and I visited a ministry in Ottertail, MN called Firestarters. This is a unique ministry consisting of an extended family, plus other believers. This family took an abandoned grain elevator in a small town and converted it into a really awesome dwelling which houses parents, children and now childrens' spouses and a grandchild. Their living room was designed to be used for worship meetings complete with a stage for the band and room for many people.

My husband had been on crutches for seven years following a fall down stairs which ruined his left knee. He was very depressed with having to live on crutches and trying to do the things he wanted to do with his life. Our sons had been attending this worship gathering for some time and the folks at Firestarters were mentoring them and other members of the new worship band they were forming called Phoenix Awakening.

To make a very long story short, these wonderful caring people called Bob forward for prayer. They had never met him and we had snuck in in the middle of the meeting, but they had noticed his crutches. After a very powerful time of prayer my husband walked out of there without his crutches and hasn't looked back. So the Firestarters folk have a very special place in our hearts.

It takes over an hour to drive to Ottertail from our home, so we haven't been very often, but we sure do believe in what they do as a ministry. That's why I've installed a small music player in my left hand column of some of their music. I also have a player of music by Coty Sloan who sometimes plays with them and has a ministry in his own right, I believe. (Sorry if these details are inaccurate. I'm not that acquainted with everyone involved in the ministry.) Anyway, I hope you will listen to some of their music. I really love "Reflections" which Coty plays.

The Firestarters also recorded my sons' band doing a song called "Hear, Oh Lord" which you can hear on my son Jordan's myspace Just go to his music player and click on "Hear, Oh Lord". Jordan is singing the lead part.

You can learn more about Firestarters by clicking here:

Firestarters

If you go to their photo gallery you can see pictures of their home in the grain elevator and their new ministry place nearby called "The Creamery" which is an old creamery they renovated. Very creative people!

Cooley's Reel and Epiphanies at the Fryer

I'm still enjoying my tinwhistle and fiddle lessons, though I'm not getting to practice as often as I'd like. I'm working on a tinwhistle song called "Cooley's Reel", which is really a little difficult for a beginner. That's what attracted me to it! I'm also working on easier songs, but I love the challenge of trying something that I know I won't be able to do well for a long time. I've listened to a plethora of YouTube videos of this song being played on the tinwhistle, piano, fiddle and accordian, and many versions of each and still I couldn't hum it back to you and be sure I was remembering it correctly. That's part of the challenge. We all need something to strive for, don't we? Here's a video of Michael Eskin playing a fast version of the song and then a slower version. I play it at about 1/10th of this speed, but I'll get it someday.



Have you ever had a revelation of something at an odd moment and under strange circumstances? I was standing in front of the deep fat fryer at work the other day (I work at a deli)and suddenly began praying for various people and it was really an epiphane for me to realize that my mundane little job doesn't have to be so mundane. Any moment of any day can be a time for intercession and for doing something for the Kingdom of God. I was also thinking about the people around me and how, though they may seem ordinary, they all have extraordinary gifts and talents that others aren't even aware of. They may go home and paint beautiful pictures, or write songs or do some other thing you would never imagine a person in a grocery store uniform doing. Wow. We really need to look beyond the obvious. (Preaching to myself here.) I hope the rest of you had this revelation a long time ago. I'm just kinda slow! =0) (See my "Weight of Glory" blog entry for more on this topic.)

Star of the County Down

This is a tune I'm practicing on my tinwhistle, but I really love this version! (You can Google Star of the County Down Lyrics if you can't understand the words.)

Coffee, Tea, Books and Me...

I was really blessed by Brenda's comments on a passage in Habakkuk, and this quote from her:

"But we can have the peace, knowing God truly is in charge even when everything around us is upside down. He is Due North and we may be at the point already of having to concentrate on Him each moment of each day to keep us from falling off the edge of our world. That's okay for there is no better place to be... no matter what our circumstances."

Though the fig does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my saviour.

The Soverign Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to go on the heights.

Habakkuk 3:17-19


God is in control! Thanks for the reminder, Brenda! =0)

The Weight of Glory...

It's been a while since I read the essay by C.S. Lewis entitled "The Weight of Glory" but I can remember coming across an excerpt from it somewhere, and that excerpt whetted my appetite to read the whole essay. It was this bit:

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet...only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations."

If the terms "gods and goddesses" bothers you, I think he only refers to the gloriousness (is there such a word?) of what we will become in Heaven.

This reminds me of a scene in "The Two Towers" where the king of Rohan is under the spell of Wormtongue, the evil sorcerer. The villains in our play are satan and his little henchmen, who work overtime trying to convince us that the world we see around us is "real" and Heaven is "a fairytale". He would like to keep us under a spell, wrapped in layer upon layer of insensibility, so that we won't realize who we really are and what we are really capable of. Remember how Gandalf broke the control that Wormtongue had over the king and how the grotesquely deformed man he had become was set free a little at a time, until his full glory and power was revealed? That's what God has for us and that's what we need to remember is possible for all of those around us.

Hallelujah!

Micah Goes to State!

You would think that Josh and Jess getting married would be enough excitement for one week, but N-O-O-O! My 17 yo daughter, Micah, qualified to go to state in gymnastics!

Micah is the first gymnast from her team to qualify for the state meet in seven years. So the whole school was excited.

Micah was homeschooled through 11th grade but decided to attend public school for her senior year. She's been involved in sports in the public schools since 7th grade; everything from volleyball, basketball, track and her favorite, gymnastics. The school she goes to is too small to have a gymnastics program, so she participates in a neighboring school's program.

Last Wednesday her school gave her a hero's send-off. All the high school kids lined both sides of the hallway and made a tunnel with their arms for her to run through. (I imagine she got a playful whack or two on the way!)

Anyway, she didn't win in her event, but she had fun and made some memories.

Yea, Micah!

Zucchini Bread and The Return of the King

It's been a lazy Sunday afternoon after church this morning and our traditional Subway lunch.
We've just watched "The Return of the King" for the I-don't-know-how-many-th-time. It still has that magic.
Earlier I did some computing, then pureed some zucchini I bought from the store so I could make zucchini bread. I usually have a supply of pureed zucchini in the freezer, but didn't save much this last summer. It's just as well I don't make it often. It's very caloric! But GOOD! I also made my famous Chicken Mexican Casserole (or hotdish, as we call it).
I visited Laura A's blog earlier today and love the idea of a random list of books from my library. I hope she doesn't mind if I borrow the idea!
We're still wrapping our minds around the idea of our son, Josh, being married to his new wife, Jess. We love her already and look forward to getting to know her better.
Those are just some of the things happening here! =0)