SAVED FROM SINS!!

AT THAT AGE, AS I HAD JUST TURNED 5,

I BEGAN TO BE FILLED WITH SINFULNESS.

I WAS A FIGHTER, A HATER, A "PROTECTOR",

AND FILLED SHORTLY LATER, 

WITH MANY, MANY OTHER SINS.

JESUS TRULY AND BLESSEDLY BROKE INTO MY LIFE

[OFFICIALLY] WHEN I WAS 20 AND 

ACCEPTED HIM. 

 [I TELL THAT PART OF THE STORY RE: HIS SIGNIFICANT 

ENTRANCE TO ME, HEART-TO-HEART,

EVERY YEAR NOW AND IT'S A COUPLE MONTHS FROM NOW.

BUT THIS WORD AND THIS PHOTO ARE TRUTHFUL.]

HIDE 'N' SEEK POEM

HIDE 'N' SEEK

Been playing this childhood game
at an unchild age --
hiding from a formidable foe --
The Heavenly Father

Silly, isn’t it?
He knows all,
sees all,
and,
in kindness,
seeks all--

and finds all --

all who are seeking Him.

But I’m hiding --
my flaws,
defects,
imperfections,
sins

(especially those pesky sins)

I
-- like a 2 year old --
cover my eyes,
“Hiding”
and
in self-delusion
believe that if I can’t see Him,

He can’t see me.

I hide from His hand --
still not quite believing,
still somehow cringing
Still afraid --
waiting,

waiting,

waiting

for the other shoe to drop.
Of what am I afraid??

That my heart will be revealed for all to see --
transparent before Him --

(and man)

pride rooted out by my
faithful
Father--
Who loves me --

(even me).

Forgive me --

Abba, Papa, Daddy, Father

for the sin of hiding --
When Your heart’s desire from me
is more

--simply more --

seeking.

[And, obviously, no matter where we are or what we're sitting on, HE can and will protect us.  Happened to and for me many times.  Love Him, MUCH!]

 

GOD'S LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP! HALLELUJAH!!

TRUTHFULISM HITS AGAIN!!! 

WORSHIPING AND CLAPPING...MOUNTAINS AND OTHERS AND US!!

ISAIAH 55:12

The mountains

 and the hills

shall break forth before you

into singing,

and all the trees of the field

shall clap their hands.

THEY CAN CLAP THEIR HANDS,

WE CAN CLAP OURS!!!

LADYBUGS POEM

 I wrote this poem back in October, '01, while I was hiding out on the North Shore of Superior, trying to deal with brokenheartedness connected to 9/11's life and death. Much of my writing during those days was very serious, very dark. This was one of the only light pieces, and I've enjoyed sharing it with friends and family over these years.  Now I'll share it around and about the world again.  Hope you smile!
====================================================
“Grandma” -- eyes wide, he asked -- “weren’t you
a-scared, camping ... in the woods ... in the dark

... alone?”

“Of course not!!” I answered .. and then added,

“well, maybe a little ...

But God was there --

and so were ladybugs.”

“Grandma, were there bears?
BIG, Black or Brown,
and Furry?
Did ya see ‘em?”

“No,” I said, “No bears, no scary stuff at all

[unless you count spiders],

Just squirrels and chipmunks, and, ...

Oh, yes ... I saw ladybugs.”

“They flew into my shirt and my
pants and my hat – and stayed there --
all red-orange and black on
my purple and blue and magenta.

And I brushed them away --
Oh, so gently
[one never wants to hurt a ladybug].”

“Did you have fun on your trip? --
Did you miss us and want us with you?”

“Of course!!” I answered,
wondering how a sometimes Grumpy Gramma
would do with all the munchkins.
“I thought you would like the water and the rocks,
and the trees -- but mostly,
you’d LOVE
the ladybugs.”

 

MY HEART TO THE LORD!

A FEW YEARS AGO, 

MY GRANDDAUGHTER, JULIANA,

GAVE THIS TO ME.

I HAVE HAD IT ON MY HOME OFFICE WALL,

AND I CAN'T EVER SEE IT WITHOUT SMILING,

AND REJOICING AND, DAILY AND DAILY AND DAILY,

OPENING MY HEART TO THE LORD.

THANK YOU, DEAR.  GRANDMA LOVES YOU!!

[GRANDPA DOES, TOO, OF COURSE!] 

THE LIGHT

“His word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
                                     Psalm 119:105

In our world of high-intensity flashlights, of smooth sidewalks, of street lights casting opaque filters against the darkness, this verse is far less meaningful to most people than the Psalmist intended.

Reading it always reminds me of Uganda. In late 1994, shortly after moving into the home where Dave and I lived a few miles outside of Kampala, I wanted to go across the way and see a friend on another hillside about half a mile away from the compound.  And, because they are finally home from work, it was very dark.

I couldn’t go alone and asked our houseboy/ gardener, Sam,

to take me over there. [Sam had, a couple weeks after we were at the house, become our “son.”  He still is, even though he's in Uganda and we're in Omaha.  Oh, well.]

 A narrow, winding path led across the way, with palm trees, banana groves and small garden plots edging it.

I very rarely went outside after dark in Uganda – my “white” eyes weren’t as adept at seeing in the dark and the various shapes and shadows were more mysterious than familiar and my knee-jerk responses kept me constantly on edge – I mean, who could guarantee a python wasn’t spread across the path?

Sam carried the flashlight, and as we walked single file, from our house and across the road hitting that other path, he shined it on the ground in front of us. Other than lamplight -- some electrical, some oil -- filtered from an occasional house, and a few stars, the flashlight was the only source of light.

I could only vaguely see the light on the path as Sam led the way. I held onto the back of his shirt and kept my eyes aimed at my feet. When dogs growled or barked, when grass or bushes rustled and my imagination immediately “saw” snakes, because I was on unfamiliar ground, I held on tighter – cutting and running would have been a useless, and possibly quite dangerous, exercise in futility. Poor Sam. He could have made much better time without me holding on, tensing up and dragging him back. In the long run, I was forced to trust him and his light.


BTW, had a nice time visiting my friends at their home, and

then, about an hour later, had to go down the hill on the pathway and Sam was grabbed by me again and again.  He hardly knew me then, but was very kind and helpful. [And we said "goodbye" to them at the church as we were leaving in April, '96.  Miss them much!]

When this Psalm points out that His Word is the light to a path, the Psalmist’s audience understood the principle that without an oil lamp the options were a very slow and mincing step forward – hoping there would not be a cliff to tumble over or a hole to stumble into -- or forced immobility until a light came from another source, such as the dawn.

I need to remember this.  I am a socially/politically attentive and normally intense person, as most folks know. I recognize that, in the natural, locally, nationally and internationally, it feels dark; it looks dark. Without the Lord flooding my heart with hope, I could hardly hold the "flash"light in my hand.  It would be trembling so with anxiety and fear. But, as I walk in the Light ... the Word of my God ... or "see" Jesus walking before me on the path with the light, me clinging to His shirt, confident in HIM, because He knows the path, knows where it is leading, I can be certain He will not abandon me on the path and leave me trembling in total darkness.

His Word, the Truth, is so True: “His word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

[ We had been back in Omaha since '96, and went back into Uganda for his wedding in September, '99.  And then, in '08, he and his wife (our daughter) and their daughter (our granddaughter) visited us here in Omaha.  So these are those photos.  Grabbed us much from the time Sam entered our life 20 years ago.  Love much!]