Ode 17

The Argyle Sweater

These were funny enough that I laughed. They are from Border's exclusive 2009 calendar called The Argyle Sweater by Scot Hilburn. Click on the cartoons to see their readable sizes.

God's Mercy in Every Sunrise

While Joanie, Kevin, Mr. Bean, and I were at Gulf Shores we took a sunrise stroll on the beach just to capture the the event with our camera. As I took these photos, I couldn't help but think of the lyrics of the great old hymn, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, especially the part that says "morning by morning new mercies I see." In every ordinary sunrise I am reminded that God is fathomless in his love for mankind. Here you see two photos of the same sunrise with two entirely different looks.

One definition of mercy could simply be, "compassionate understanding". While we sometimes walk down perilous paths on our journey of life, God always knows where we are, how we got there, and where we should go from our present point of life. He compassionately understands. Knowing God compassionately understands me gives me so much hope and peace. Cool.

As we change the calendar to read 2009 it may be helpful to remember the words of Thomas Chisholm, penned in 1923:

We're Back (...and my 'calling' is calling)

We had a nice three days at Gulf Shores. The forecast was for a rainy and cool last day there on Sunday but instead it warmed nicely up into the mid 70's. We looked at each other and talked about the things we could do but opted for a bit of time on the beach, strolling with Mr. Bean, and the rest of the day gloriously doing nothing. For a brief moment I almost felt a twinge of guilt for going all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and doing nothing on our last day there. I guess that is the snow skier in me. When you have a skiing holiday you are busy 'doing something' all day ...and it's great. On this occasion doing something was absolutely not on the agenda. No busyness-just rest. Joanie and I looked at each other as we climbed into bed...

Joanie the Fishkilla'

We're down at Gulf Shores unwinding after the Christmas seasonal craziness. Today we went fishing with our friend Mo Shaver. Here is a picture of Joanie and Mo after she caught a nice red fish. She caught the biggest number of fish so Kevin and I are required by an ancient family tradition (?) to call her "Fishkilla" until our next family tournament! Can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

What a season it has been inside the walls of our church! Sugarloaf UMC has experienced phenomenal opportunities to worship the New Born King. Our teams performed with passion because of the love of God deep inside of them. I would have a hard time understanding how someone in attendance could not have felt the warmth of Christ and of our community.
Now that it is done ...Merry Christmas. We've been so busy that the real message of love, joy, peace, and hope may have felt more like a day at a NASCAR track. Before you think about cleaning up the decorations for another year, sit back for a moment...

~Feel His peace

        ~Be filled with His love

                ~Experience His joy

                            ~Believe in His hope

The reality of Christmas is in experiencing a very special relationship with Christ. In the most simple of terms, He came here ...for you.

Love and blessings from my home to yours.

Rookie Shots

 

I told you in a previous blog that I would post some of my rookie photography from an hour of  shooting with Andy Brophy.  First, here are some shots of Andy.  He was genuinely surprised to see his photo. Photographers don't often get to be in the shot for obvious reasons. So it was nice to get Andy in a few shots doing what he is passionate about doing.

Andy Is Great!

Andy Brophy is an aspiring young photographer (click on his name to go to his website). I have faith that he is headed for greatness. We went out last Friday to shoot 'stuff'. What a relaxing day having Andy share a bit of his 'know-how' with me. Joanie and I got each other a really nice camera for our joint Christmas present ...and opened it early. It's a Canon EOS 50D with a nice starter lens. Andy and I went out, scared up some deer on the church property and had a very relaxing time getting our minds off of the things of the church while we took photos of just about everything. To prove how good Andy is, he actually made me look like I was stress free!
I'll get around to loading some shots I took eventually. While his shots look all creative and cool, I must admit mine look a bit like it is the first time I've had a great camera in my hands for a very long time.
God's creation is good. It's great to get outside and enjoy it, if even for just an hour. Thanks for the time Andy.

Start Something New This Year

A couple of weeks ago I delivered a message at our church about hope. Actually, we fashioned our entire service around the Advent candles. Now that may sound surprisingly traditional for a church like ours but I can assure you that you would not...

Ode To Thurl Ravanscroft

Back in the late 70's I sang with a group called, The Singing Brass. One Sunday morning we did a concert at Mariner's Church in SoCal. In attendance that day was the late great voice of Tony the Tiger, Thurl Ravenscroft. We bumped into him at a restaurant after the service. That is where he introduced himself to us and said four words I will never forget, "You guys were ...great!" It was as if Tony the Tiger himself had given us the thumbs up!
Thurl had quite a voice and quite a career performing with his voice in Hollywood. So in honor of the great one, I give you Thurl Ravenscroft singing, You're a Mean One Mister Grinch!

You're A Mean One Mr Grinch

The Grinch Steals Christmas (But the Spirit of Christmas Remains Intact)

Joy York is a contributor to my blog. She sent this to me today. Boo the Grinch!

The Christmas Grinch is alive and well.  Today, 6 days before Christmas, he stole $1600 from my husband’s locked car.  $1600!!  Now maybe this is not a huge sum for you.  It might represent a mortgage or couple of car payments.  But for us, this particular $1600 was to be our living expenses for the next 6 weeks.  My husband as a teacher gets paid once a month and it comes early in December.  We have been doing the cash envelope system recommended by Dave Ramsey in order to get out of debt.  The beauty of it was that it was working.  We had paid off our last credit card just this month, but now… we have to figure out food, gas, entertainment, gifts, and all those other empty envelopes.

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You hear all the time those heart wrenching Christmas stories:  The destitute family that has Christmas provided by others.  The working mom...