Category Archives: General

Music for Monday

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My new favorite: Gungor. This is an acoustic version of “Beautiful Things” -  the title song.

Lyrics:

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll even find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make me new, You are making me new

A Poem for Good Friday

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- excerpt from Walter Brueggemann in Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth -

The terrible silencing we cannot master

Holy God who hovers daily round us in fidelity and compassion,

this day we are mindful of another, dread-filled hovering,

that of the power of death before which we stand

thin and needful.

All our days, we are mindful of the pieces of our lives

and the parts of your world

that are on the loose in destructive ways.

We notice that wildness midst our fear and our anger unresolved.

We mark it in a world of bruality and poverty and hunger

all around us.

We notice it all our days.

….

Our only urging on Friday is that you live this as we must

impacted but not destroyed,

dimmed but not quenched.

For your great staying power

and your promise of newness we praise you.

It is in your power

and in your promise that we take our stand this day.

We dare trust that Friday is never the last day,

so we watch for the new day of life.

Hear our prayer and be your full self toward us.

Amen.

Birthday Thoughts

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Do you know who is exactly one day younger than me? A certain reality star mother with 8 children. No, not her. The other one. Yeah, the one who dances now. Anyway, here is a list of the reasons I’m REALLY thankful to be me on my own 35th birthday:

1. My husband. Still here, still cute, still talented, but so much better than all of that because he also does laundry. All of it. Had I known this, I would have married him sooner.

2. My children. Even though it takes a lot of work to parent, it is totally worth it. I’m learning that it also takes a lot MORE work to parent well, but I love starting to reap the rewards of all that work. Cute kids are a dime a dozen, cute kids with good manners are slightly less common.

3. My job. We live in a celebrity crazed culture; everyone wants a piece of it. I’m starting to think it gives many of us a mixed up idea about what it means to live a valuable life, a worthwhile existence. My job as a Bible College teacher reminds me everyday that God knows where I am and what I’m doing. Everyone else is secondary. I wouldn’t trade that security for a million hours of fame.

4. My education. A few weeks ago I spent the evening at a jazz concert. Last year I made dulce de leche in my own kitchen as a chemistry experiment. I’ve read wonderful books and stories I never would have found time for if they hadn’t been assigned. In my first round of college credits, I went to class to get it over with. Now I go to class to learn. And I love it. Perspective gives me appreciation. Appreciation for the small gifts of knowledge or inspiration gives me contentment.

5. My Hope. I’m planning to write more about this, but I’ve never been more thankful for the hope of Eternity. I’ve never been more certain of its usefulness to the peacefulness of my heart today. This life, no matter what it holds, is fleeting. Nothing like the feeling of surprise that your birthday has come back around already to remind you of that! We sang an old song today at church that reminded me of the simple faith that sustains:

Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
On the streets of glory let me lift my voice,
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.

*photo of yummy cupcakes from Quintanaroo on Flickr

Irish Thoughts

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Dan’s mother grew up in O’Neill, Nebraska, home of the World’s Largest Shamrock, so he was aware of his Irish heritage (as if his gorgeous red-haired cousins aren’t proof enough). And my Mom has always told me that Grandpa Adair told her his people came over during the Great Irish Potato Famine. Still, neither Dan nor I have spent much time researching our family trees.

That changed on Friday night after we watched the new NBC program “Who Do You Think You Are?” This is reality TV that I get – no challenges or games or edited drama. Although the show is sponsored by Ancestry.com and its accompanying product placement, the premise is straightforward and fascinating.

The program helps celebrities use Ancestry.com and professional historians to trace their genealogies. We watched Emmitt Smith discover a relative named Mariah, a slave and mother who found a way to keep her four children together even within the slave trade in Alabama. By the time Smith visited a charity school full of children in the country of his origin (discovered through DNA swabbing) – children who would otherwise be sold into slavery today – I was completely hooked.

But that’s not all. Dan signed up for the free 14-day trial membership at Ancestry.com and guess what? My family tree traces back to Ireland pretty quickly.

Our people were the Divine’s from Dublin. How charming is that?

A Silent Blog Means . . .

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I’m completing homework.

I’m cooking food. Actual meals. Occasionally.

My sister is visiting and I’m staying up too late solving the problems of the world.

I’m learning about the needs of Brazil’s children and how I might be able to help.

I’m writing and revising a memoir. Well, that’s homework.

I’m listening to Miles Davis. Also homework.

I’m reading poetry. (Sorry to say it but, yeah, also homework.)

I’m thinking but not finished processing.

I’m dreaming but not ready to share.

I’m taking sick day duties screen free.

I’m making dates with my husband out of ordinary grocery shopping.

And hopefully many other things!

(Including – UPDATE – spending the week with missionaries!)

Why Teach?

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This extended quotation is from Dr. Howard Hendricks in his book Teaching to Change Lives.

Years ago I took part in a Sunday school convention at Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. During a lunch break, three of us who were teaching at the convention walked across the street to a little hamburger shop. The place was filled, but soon a table for four opened up. We saw an elderly lady whom we knew was attending the convention because of the bag she was carrying, and we asked her to join us.

We learned she was eighty-three and from a town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In a church with a Sunday school of only sixty-five people, she taught a class of thirteen junior-high boys. She had traveled by Greyhound bus all the way to Chicago the night before the convention. Why? In her words, “To learn something that would make me a better teacher.”

I thought at the time, “Most people who had a class of thirteen junior-high boys in a Sunday school of only sixty-five would be breaking their arms to pat themselves on the back: ‘Who, me? Go to a Sunday school convention? I could teach it myself!’” But not this woman.

Eighty-four boys who sat under her teaching are now young men in full-time vocational ministry. Twenty-two are graduates of the seminary where I teach.

If you were to ask me the secret to this woman’s impact, I’d give you a totally different answer today from what I would have said thirty years ago. Back then I’d have credited her methodology.

Now I believe it was because of her passion to communicate.

My heart’s concern for you is that God will give you a passion like that . . . and never let it die.

And I hope you never get over the thrill that someone will actually listen to you and learn from you.

THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE

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I’m an English major and I’ve recently been studying the benefits of reading the Bible as literature. That sounds strange, doesn’t it? But we don’t always think of the Bible as literature. We forget this human element of the sacred.

We’ve become so accustomed to reading the Bible in bits and pieces that we forget that it really is One Story. A Bible teacher once commented, “You wouldn’t take your new novel up to the counter at the bookstore and ask the clerk where you should start reading, would you? Why do we do that with the Bible?”

This is the concept of literary unity.

Think about how strange (and slightly depressing and/or confusing) it would be to only watch clips of movies. Randomly. It simply wouldn’t work. And yet this is often how we approach Bible reading.

My suggestion as an introduction to reading the Bible as literature is the Zonderkidz Jesus Bible Storybook by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago. It isn’t a literature tutorial, but it is the whole Bible paraphrased for kids in a way that demonstrates the Bible’s unity. We bought Ada the Deluxe Edition that includes the audio book on three CDs for her birthday. So far it has rave reviews from our house! The writing is brilliant, the artwork is gorgeous, and the voice work is amazing. (The first time Jesse gave it a try he listened/read for 45 minutes in the car and then asked to continue when I made a stop at the store.)

The tag line of the Jesus Bible Storybook is “Every story whispers His name” – I love this. Jesus is the unity of the Bible. Check out the book’s website and listen to the audio clips. I especially recommend to the first chapter, The Story and The Song.Or read the Creation story and enjoy the illustrations here.

Sometimes we need to make it simple. And remember the Big Story.