Indulge

I have been reading Ephesians this month –

I should say, I have been trying to read Ephesians this month.

I just wanted to read the first three chapters

but I can’t seem to get past the first chapter.

In fact, I can’t seem to get past verses 4-9.

They capture my attention every time!

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ

to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family

by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.

This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out

on us who belong to his dear Son.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that

he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son

and forgave our sins.

He has showered his kindness on us,

along with all wisdom and understanding.
God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ,
a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.”

(Eph 1:4-9 NLT)

Take a moment to consider what it means to belong to Father God.

Truly He has showered Great Kindness on us –

yet it was His own desire He was fulfilling.
Realize that making you His own is His own good pleasure.

In other words, when He made you His own,

He was indulging Himself!

Stars

In a city there are many lights and because there is so much light emanating from the ground, the starlight doesn’t quite make it to our eyes. Excess or obtrusive light created by humans, which obscures stars, is referred to as “light pollution”. But there are millions and millions of them out there. And each one is a testimony of God's love. (Ps. 136:5-9)

In the city, the stars we do see are wondrous. It is amazing to see a few stars and realize that their light reaches us through all of the light pollution around us. But go out to the country (or better yet, the ocean!) and look up. You will be suddenly overwhelmed at the number of lights up there! Look, stare, and you will begin to discern swirls of stars farther away – and beyond those, even more. Like layers and layers going deeper and deeper and each individual one speaks of God’s love for you.

Pause, and allow yourself to be overwhelmed!

Our day-to-day living is full of love notes from God – reminders of his pursuit of us. Even in the busyness of everyday stuff, His love reaches us every now and then. Little postcards, by His grace, come our way. But he longs to overtake us and overwhelm us and to do this, He draws us to a place where the “light pollution” is turned off. A place where the simple distractions of normal things can be put aside, even locked away, and He can have you all to yourself – so that He can “show you the stars”.

Where is your night sky - the one uninterrupted by earthly things? Maybe it is your living room in the early morning hours. Perhaps it is your bedroom with the door locked and phone turned off. Maybe it’s in your car in a remote parking lot in a forest preserve. Whatever that place is, fight to keep it! Go to it as often as He draws you. It will be for you a place of life, peace, joy and healing.

Make a place for this. Make time for this. Let it be the moment that you turn your eyes to the skies and even though the night is dark, His love will break the darkness and wash over you layer after layer as He draws you deeper and deeper into His love. Let Him overwhelm you. Let Him indulge Himself!

That's alright.

God thinks I am better than gold.

After the Rain

This picture was taken in Lombard after the storm last week. The sky was very dramatic.

And the Sunset that night was breathtaking.

It's a Sign

This is a pictuire of the sign at the entrance of where I work. I took this picture trying to capture the shadow effect that the acrylic piece mounted a couple inches from the wall creates. We are getting a new sign because we have a new logo. I will miss this sign - I think it is pretty cool. Hopefully the new sign will be the same but with the new logo. Whatever happens, at least I have this cool picture.

Today's Excitement

A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 PM CDT FOR CENTRALCOOK COUNTY...* AT 334 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACROSS COOK COUNTY FROM JUST WEST OF EVANSTON THROUGH THE NORTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. THIS LINE IS MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH...AND ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS OF 70 TO 80 MPH.TAKE COVER NOW! IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...MOVE TO AN INTERIORROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES SHOULD BEABANDONED FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS

"The Cloud of Unknowing"

Yummy! I just finished reading a FANTASTIC book called "The Cloud of Unknowing " And "The Book of Privy Counseling". It is actually two books in one (obviously). It was so wonderful.

If your heart YEARNS when you hear the words "contemplative prayer" this book is for you.

Bon appetit!

ISBN 0-385-03097-5

Single Company

I have recently found myself contemplating the possibility that God is preparing to move us very far away. It sounds very fun and exciting to me but I know that deep down this is not necessarily the case. If God moves us, wonderful! If He doesn’t, great! I thought about it and if I am honest it is actually jealousy that is making me feel this way. I have been “torturing” myself by reading the blogs of many of my friends. Everyday it seems they meet with friends and have parties or hang out and they seem very connected. Meanwhile I feel forgotten and even sometimes hurt when I see pictures of them out there having fun and knowing all the while that I was never invited. That’s fine, I think to myself. But really, I feel sad, mad even, honestly jealous. I don’t have to be the center of attention but a little side note would be nice – even an afterthought, anything, come on, throw me a bone! It would be easy to say that it is probably because I got married. For some reason married couples seem to fall off the radar – especially newly married couples. While it is important to have personal time with each other and it is wonderful to be with my husband, sometimes we feel neglected by the people we once felt so close to. Before I got married I had a friend call me out for coffee and we had a heart to heart about this very thing. She was worried that after I got married I would disappear. The strange thing is that now that I am married I rarely if ever get a call from this friend. In the meantime, I hear about the get-togethers and fun stuff that is going on that this friend is a part of or even instigates – all unbeknownst to me until I happen to find out about it later. I cannot be mad at my friend. I love her! And I am just as much to blame because I have not called her in a long time. I think that at this point I imagine that I am a faint dot on the long-range sonar. If I did call her, would she want to be a part of my life again? If she did call me, would I be too busy for her? Would we still be able to find something in common to base our friendship on? I am sure I am not the first newlywed to encounter this syndrome. I am sure I will not be the last. I would hate to think that just because we are married now we are not allowed to have single friends – or that our single friends are not allowed to spend time with us now that we are married.

Trust me, my single friends, the following is very true:
Married life is awesome! While we value our time alone together, we can and do want to make time to spend with our friends. We have plenty of time together – we live together for heaven’s sake! You would not be imposing on us. We know how to say no if needed.
Please don’t get mad, don’t feel sorry and don’t feel bad and– just get connected, if you would like, free from any foxes that may spoil the vine of our friendship.

Happy Birthday to me

FRIDAY AUGUST 10 Gary and I drove down to Darien to get my military ID. From there we went through Joliet down to Manhattan to look at a new development there. On the way through Joliet we got rear-ended by an older lady in a 1987 Lincoln Town car. Ouch! I was not about to end the story of my day with that so when Gary asked me if I wanted to go home I said "No, I don't, otherwise we came all this way just to get into a car accident!" So on we went. It was actually a very fun day off except for being in pain. On the way home we ate at the Cracker Barrell which I haven't been to in a long time.

SATURDAY AUGUST 11 was my birthday. That was a fun day too. We went out to breakfast at the Egglectic in Danada (the new one) and then we went to see "Being Jane" at Cantera. The movie was pretty good. When we went to leave, the remote would not turn off the alarm. So, we tried to unlock the doors with the key - which worked but it made the alarm go off. Well, now we were sitting in the parking lot with the alarm going off not able to start the truck!
Oy vey!
First we though that it was the battery in the remote so we walked across the street tot he Target and bought new ones. That didn't work. I called my sister and she said she would come and pick us up. We called a few dealers and even circuit city and no one was able to help us. Gary calld the police and cantera and asked if we could leave the truck there until we figured out what to do.

Mary picked us up and we drove home. On the way we stopped at Subway to use the bathroom. For some strange reason Gary did not want to wait until we got home. Interestingly enough we ran into a young man I haven't seen in a very long time who recognized Gary. We chatted with him for a little while. I thought it was pretty amazing. What a crazy day! But it was not over yet.
When we finally got home and walked into our apartment it was very noisy (!) and full of people (!!) My brother jumped out and said "SUPRISE!!!" (and then so did everyone else). Then, I was even more suprsed because my aunt from California was there! SO VERY FUN!!! I did feel bad though because these people had been waiting for two hours for us due to the remote not working. I thought at first it was part of the scheme but unfortunately it was not.

The good thing though is that Sunday evening we went back to the parking lot at Cantera and the remote decided to work. We were able to drive the truck home.

SUNDAY AUGUST 12 was our family reunion picnic which was pretty fun even though it was so hot outside. They replaced horseshoes with beanbags but we still had the tournament - but in the shade - and plenty of people participated. Gary took the group picture and we handed out cards so people could go online and order a copy of it. Later that night we went to Mary's house and played cards with my aunt and then we watched half of Eragon. I forgot that movie. We were so tired and had to get up early for work the next morning so we stopped the movie halfway.

All in all it was a fun weekend even though I am still recovering from whiplash.

This is the Song stuck in my head

There is no other friend There is no other friend like You, oh Lord
No other brother No other brother like You

There is no other love There is no other love like You, oh Lord
No other sweeter No other fountain but You

And how long until I’m satisfied
I must have more of You
For I was born in Zion
Awakened love is crying out for You
It must be You

And if I’m healed by Just one touch
of your garment, Lord
Then how much more of Your love is for me
than I’m tasting, Lord?

Draw me, take me and I will run
Over the mountains and down into the valleys I will run with You

All, all my fountains are in You

No Other - David Ruis

Revealing the Heart

Gary got promoted yesterday. He is a sgt. in the National Guard and yesterday he went from being an E5 to an E6 which basically means that he gets paid more and he will have more responsibility. He will actually have people under him that he is responsible for.

As a result of this promotion he is also transferred. That's kind of how they were able to promote him. There are no E6 slots open in the unit he was in so they transferred him to a new one - farther away. We weren't sure what this implied and actually for about 24 hours we had to consider the option that it could mean he was being deployed with another unit.

Gary said that if it's God doing this then it will be a good thing. I need to trust that whatever God does He will always give us whatever we need to be what He is making us to be when we yield ourselves to Him. I did freak out a little at first but when Gary said that, I had to let it all go and choose to trust. It was hard but it also made me see where my heart was and my security.

Turns out everything is ok and in a few months they may even transfer him back so all in all this could have purely been a test - a revealing of the heart, if you will.

Sweet Jesus

There is a river runnin’ through this town
It carries the water
There isn’t any way to slow it down
Or make it stop
I was a baby when the big bridge fell
So I don’t remember
But I have listened to the stories well
And so I know they were falling
to the surface
They were calling
to their God
And their cry was
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us crying

Fishing for luck beneath the bridge that day
A man in his eighties
He saw it happen and began to pray
As he dove in
He found a mother and her baby boy
They both wouldn’t make it
The mama handed him her only joy
He took the child – then he was swimming
Like he was twenty
He made shoreline
then he died
And his thoughts were
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us crying
He was crying

I miss my mother and the brave old man
Though I never knew them
They are the soul inside the man I am
I bare their dreams
And I am walking in their footsteps
I am talking to their God
And my cry is
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you catch us - save us
Sweet Jesus, please won’t you hear us crying
We’re all crying

There is a river runnin’ through this town
It carries the water
There isn’t any way to slow it down
Or make it stop

Sweet Jesus (1994) Gary Chapman from the Album:Light Inside

Contemplate this....

"Try to understand this point. Rational creatures such as men and angels possess two principal faculties, a knowing power and a loving power. No one can fully comprehend the uncreated God with his knowledge; but each one, in a different way, can grasp Him fully through love. Truly this is the unending miracle of love: that one loving person, through his love, can embrace God, Whose being fills and transcends the entire creation. And this marvelous work of love goes on forever, for He Whom we love is eternal. Whoever has the grace to appreciate the truth of what I am saying, let him take my words to heart, for to experience this love is the joy of eternal life while to lose it is eternal torment."

Anonymous - 14th century

See also, I Corinthians 1:18-25 NLT