just briefly.

box seats.

diet food.

George read  the right way... maybe.

 training to hunt pumpkins in frigid climate. 

You Alone.

 You are totally worthy to be praised. You alone are God. 

Your hand covers all- ALL! Oh what a glorious thought!! 

You guide me gently, always forgiving and never condemning. 

Always the Gentle shepherd. 

I praise your righteous and holy name. 

Thank you for rescuing me from the pit of despair. 

Knowing that you have my future in Your hands helps me not fear stepping those steps I must take. 

Nothing is too small for you. Nothing is too big for you. You are God of all.

You are ruler of me and my Great Defender. 

You are my God and nothing or no one else is.

 Today, I stop and praise You for everything You are to me, a simple sinner, who needs you desperately every hour of the day.  

I love you Father, so stinking much. 

Happy Thanksgiving, O giver of all! 

Take Two

Ode to the Resident Felines.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

details, details

 That garbage was strewn about by the cats that got in when the door blew open when the Lead Singer and I were away this weekend. A feast for felines. I'm just kinda irritated.  OK, a lot of irritated.  This is how I feel about the next step God wants to have me take,  but once the garbage is picked up piece by piece.. it will be as if it was never an issue.


have another happyday folks! 

knee jerk reaction

the question was simple. what are you not willing to trust God with? seriously, should be easy right? but my brain and heart quite frankly just doesn't go there yet.. i'm sure i'll get around answering that all important simple question some time, but for now, i have to stop and really think about the word trust.

i won't bore you with the 24 definitions that i just looked up.  i want you instead to pretend you can't read, and you can't talk, you can't bathe yourself, you can't feed yourself, you can't even use the bathroom yourself. you have to trust someone else to help you. to read to you. to feed you. to clean you. to figure out what your needs are. you have nothing.  kind of like a newborn baby.

as a newborn baby, trust isn't even a word that you know. you cry because your hungry, and then someone feeds you. you stink, so someone changes you. it's not a matter of thinking that you need to trust. it's a reaction. something that you just do, because you have no other choice.

ok, open your eyes and stop pretending. You are actually an adult. you smell so you have to shower,  you need food so you run to the store, you have to have a job cuz you have bills and other responsibilities that you just didn't ask for that you need to perform, there is no room for trusting anyone but yourself. it's easier, you have gifts and abilities that you can rely on, and you do just fine. or do you?

have you even stopped to think about what the creator of the universe longs to give you? i can tell you simply, it's really good stuff,  but there is one catch. He wants you to trust Him with everything. to become like a newborn and not even know you have a choice.

moving from trusting God as a choice to a knee jerk reaction is a constant heart battle, but it's a battle totally worth fighting.

 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.

 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children,

 you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:2

God loves you SO stinking much that He CAN be trusted with 100% of your needs, really!! i'm looking forward to telling you about my weekend on monday.. fun stuff planned!! whoop! happyday to you!

no matter what.

a bit of original word language for you to ponder today... 

servant 

early 13c., from O.Fr., noun use of servant  "serving, waiting,"prp. of servir  "to attend, wait upon" (see serve). Meaning"professed lover, one devoted to the service of a lady" is frommid-14c. In N.American colonies and U.S., the usual designation for "slave" 17c.-18c. (in 14c.-15c. and later in Biblical translationsthe word often was used to render L. servus , Gk. doulos  "slave").Public servant  is attested from 1670s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper 

Cite This Source

being a servant sometimes comes as a punishment to some, to others it's just a way of life, a way to survive.  a feeling you don't have the choice to be one. stuck.  as an American i tend to think of a servant as someone who just begrudgingly goes about the chores of the day.  

"you asked me to do what?"
"nope, i'm not going to give that to you."
"i will look dumb, if i do that."
"do i have to?"
"i have rights, i can do that if i want!"
"i'm busy"
"everyone else survives this way.. i'm going to too!"


it hurts my heart as to how many times i have screamed those words at the One who loves me so dearly.  the One that i'm supposed to be serving. 


a servant.


to wait.
to attend, wait upon.
professed lover.
slave.

Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years 

as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,

be blessed today my quiet readers, i know your there!!  God loves you so much and nothing you do or don't do can EVER change that love!

in all things... even nakedness.

we have been looking at a naked friend, and i need to let you know a pleasant little secret, one that you might not have ever caught if you just read the verse we are diving into. let's refresh our memory first.

Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked

and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,

in the days of prophets there was another language that people had. it's kinda weird, but those three years that it looks like Isaiah walked naked, were actually not three years, but maybe 3 days symbolically showing three years,  nor was he completely naked. searching out the what he was actually wearing has taken some time and energy, but i think i know now, that it's not important. nor is the time he was naked. it's just details in a bigger story. and that's where the hidden treasure lies, there beneath these rocks of this true story.

I don't know if Isaiah and King Hezekiah were besties and hung out at the local malt shop. That is just pure speculation on my part, but when King Hezzy was sick and in bed, Prophet Izzy came into his bedroom to tell him "to get your house in order your going to die." so i just think that it might be safe to assume that if your close enough to have an open door to your bedroom with a person, it's a pretty good bet you are friends.

so, here's Prophet Izzy hearing from God that his friend the King is being tempted to trust in something other than God.. and Prophet Izzy steps up to the plate and says.. "no Satan, you are NOT going to get this man, and as God is my helper. I'll do anything I am able to do to show him that he's worth the fight."  That meant, yes, he would have to obey God, for the sake of his friend no matter what seemingly crazy thing that God would have him do.

Prophet Isaiah put himself in a very compromising situation. If in fact, it was just three days instead of three years. He looked like a slave, a captive. All for the glory of God to shine through him so that his friend could see Truth,  a Truth that he didn't know he needed to hear, until he really needed the knowledge that God is trustworthy. all. the. time.

and i'm pretty sure that if King Hezzy was a good friend to Prophet Isaiah.. he would have done all in his power to cover him up! "Get some clothes on!"  he might have even been a bit mortified and wanted to run away from his naked friend and hide.. after all, we are a direct reflection of our choice in friends to those on the "outside!"

Am i willing to be that friend? to do anything and everything i can through a God who loves me so very much and is absolutly trustworthy?  to do anything and everything through God to help a friend realize that HE loves, accepts and is worth following 100%?  there is a bigger picture that no one can see right now.. i'm trusting in a trustworthy God that that picture will become clear, sooner rather than later, and that we all will see it.

be blessed my sweet readers YOU are loved by a great and mighty God who is totally trustworthy in all things.

blown away!

Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years 

as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,

today i have to step back and tell you something that i'm still in awe about.  remember last Friday's post about a naked friend? Well, turns out that all the commentaries and speculations point to the Prophet Isaiah having to be naked to help his friend and fellow countrymen trust in God at a crucial time. 

I'm totally not making this up. seriously..  Isaiah's friend was, drum roll please....  King Hezikiah!! 

I was NOT expecting King Hezikiah to show up in the Psalms, and I was even less expecting him to show up in a random verse about Isaiah being naked. i'm blown away.  so, there is treasure here for us all i'm sure of it!

i'm still lost in studying the details, but the view from 1000 feet above is that the three years before King Hezikiah went into battle and "struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watch tower to fortified city" 2 Kings 18:8; were the three years that Isaiah walked naked and barefoot. He did this to show people what they would become if they didn't trust 100% in God to help them and if they did trust in something else besides God... they would become slaves, in every sense of the word. 

that's a pretty extreme thing for a friend to do for a friend don't you think?  God's plan and purpose in Isaiah walking around in practically his birthday suit for three years for his friend does have practical insight for us today... i just can't tell you what that is today.. there is just so much here and i think i have to keep it slow and simple to really digest all the things that God would have for us. hope that's ok with you! 

God is good and faithful to show us what we need each day. He loves you so much he wrote a book for you!! I encourage you to read it! it just might blow you away!!!!!

i found a naked friend.

 Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot

 for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush, Isaiah 20:3

 3 years?? Holy Smokes! 

 Must have been pretty important!  

and what's the word portent even mean?

and where is Cush?

what were people doing that they needed a sign? 

Isaiah was seriously naked for 3 years??

 oh my goodness i wonder so much about our friend in this little verse.

what if it was a cold day? 

did people giggle as he walked by? 

was he actually totally naked? 

did Isaiah question God when he heard "take your clothes off and don't put them back on for 3 years?"

ohhh so many questions. 

I'm planning on finding out all i can about this incident and what we can praise God for.. cuz you know God asks some pretty weird things of his followers sometimes.. but he totally has us covered.. literally! 

stick around, we can learn together! 

have a blessed weekend my sweet readers. Know that God loves you so very very much even if he apparently asks you to do silly and incomprehensible things sometimes!!! it's ALL worth it!!! I promise! 

on this day in 1938.

It was a moment in time that just happened. you look at that exact moment and wonder if you really would remember it in years to come.  It's like the "where were you when the challenger blew up?" conversations and then years later of course the "where were you when the towers were hit?" Questions that no doubt, when answered, evoke a deep emotion regardless of the "where were you?" question.

I will never get asked "where were you?" when this event happened on this day in 1938.  I'd like to say that i was there. Listening. Taking it all in. Remembering. Giving Thanks.

Today, i owe all my allegiance to a God that saw to it that this great country we call America stands tall. I'm so very grateful to those who fought long ago, and to those who are still fighting today for the freedoms that I so often take for granted. It's these thoughts that I would have thought, while I probably dried a tear or two during this "where were you?" moment.

A moment that is replayed over and over again, in honor of the few, the proud and the bravest among us. I'm honored to know a few...and i love you all. The memories and or realities that you no doubt live with everyday are far greater than any "where were you?" moments in my life. 

Today, on Veterans Day. I salute you and what you gave up to help make the country i live in safe and secure...May God Bless America.



 November 11, 1938. Kate Smith sang "God Bless America" for the very first time. It would later become her signature song. Irving Berlin penned the tune in 1917 but never released it until Miss Smith sang it for the first time on her radio broadcast.

the many ways of keep.

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

notice any words that are repeated? *oohhohhohh pick me!! pick me!!

ok, Kelly, lets hear what you have to say. 

well, the word keep is repeated six times.

good Kelly,... you get a bolt of fabric!!  *whoooo hoooo!!! doing the happy dance...

when words are repeated in high frequency it means it's pretty important.. so lets find out what the word "keep" really means..

keep  (kp)

v. kept, keep·ing, keeps

v.tr.

1. To retain possession of:

2. To have as a supply: .

a. To provide with maintenance and support:

b. To support

4. To put customarily; store:

a. To supply with room and board for a charge:

b. To raise:

6. To maintain for use or service:

7. To manage, tend, or have charge of:

8. To preserve (food).

9. To cause to continue in a state, condition, or course of action: .

a. To maintain records in:

b. To enter (data) in a book:

a. To detain:

b. To restrain: .

c. To prevent or deter:

d. To refrain from divulging:

e. To save; reserve: .

12. To adhere or conform to; follow:

13. To be faithful to; fulfill:.

14. To celebrate; observe.

did you read it all?? i'm guessing you didn't cuz there isn't pictures between all the words.  so, lets just relook at that list. really read it. don't you dare skim it!!! nope nope nope, there are RULES here. and skimming is NOT allowed! maybe if its written differently you'll slow down enough to read it..

                                    keep  (kp)

v. kept, keep·ing, keeps

v.tr.

1. To retain possession of:

2. To have as a supply: .

a. To provide with maintenance and support:

b. To support

4. To put customarily; store:

a. To supply with room and board for a charge:

b. To raise:

6. To maintain for use or service:

7. To manage, tend, or have charge of:

8. To preserve (food).

9. To cause to continue in a state, condition, or course of action: .

a. To maintain records in:

b. To enter (data) in a book:

a. To detain:

b. To restrain: .

c. To prevent or deter:

d. To refrain from divulging:

e. To save; reserve: .

12. To adhere or conform to; follow:

13. To be faithful to; fulfill:.

14. To celebrate; observe.

  

 Keep includes everything and excludes nothing, nothing. this is huge when you realize that the definition of keep is so freaking huge. it was Charles Spurgeon who wrote in  "The Treasury of David"  " under the aegis of such a promise we may go on a pilramiage without trembling, amd venture into battle without dread."

none are so safe as those whom God keeps.

none so much in danger as the self-secure.

how much?

that bag, yah that big one that the smiley guy is carrying.. yah,

that bag isn't even big enough to hold

all of God's love for you.

believe it.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

 that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16

i got me some readers.

the above picture will make total sense to you in a few moments, i promise, but you have to keep with me on this one, because i'm about to show you how God uses seemingly random things to make a point or clarification that i needed.

we start this little ditty last year when our church offered the "stepping up" study series by beth moore. it was all about the Psalms 120-134. these are called the "songs of the ascents." (and if you really want to know more.. open your bible and read them.. they are SO worth it!)

so that study over by a long ways, i,as of late, get to studying the life and times of Hezikiah, right?

i'm also trying with all my heart, and not doing very well, i might add, at  memorizing Ephesians 6, you know about the whole armor of God.. well, i wanted to make copies of it to put around my house so i copied and pasted it from a webpage, well, on this webpage there are cross references.. and one happens to be in Psalm 120.. so i click.

well, not really remembering that i actually learned something back in that "stepping up" series.. i DID remember that this was part of the "song of the ascents." then i read it again, and i start to wonder who wrote these 15 songs that are important enough for beth moore to write an entire study on them.  out comes my handy dandy study books.. and oh my goodness can you just GUESS what i found??

well, "rumor" has it that Hezikizah might have written some of these 15 "songs of accents" after he was given 15 more years to live by God. seriously.. how cool it that? i can just imagine him singing to the top of his lungs about how great and powerful his God is.. its super cool in my book even if he didn't write them to think that there is one written for every year he got to live.

and here is where those reading glasses come in handy.. i needed them to read, but i didn't need them to see. God's hand is ever knowing and all encompassing. HE shows us when we need something and what to do with that knowledge when we finally see it. 

Hezikiah was a great king, and i admire him and his trust in a God that i too serve.. although he went through some pretty tough stuff.. he continued to praise God, and today, God let me imagine what words he might have penned that expressed that praise. 

yes, i did find more really really cool stuff, but it's quite personal, so i'll save that for another day.... 

no, i'm not promising this time.

finding Joy.

yesterday morning i got called to save the day at a local daycare, but i chose not to go. the world changers didn't have school and i promised them i'd take them shopping to  #1 find jeans that were long enough for the oldest, and #2 find  shoes that were big enough for the middle. when i said "no" to that money it was WAY hard, really. hard. but i had to choose my changers.. had to.

fast forward a bit..we get to that wonderful place where all your dreams come true, aka target. and i run into a gal i knew that i hadn't seen in a few years,  yes, we are friends on Facebook, so i did keep up with her that way and vice versa..but it was in the halloween discount isle that i fulfilled a promise. remember?  

we talked and chatted for what seemed like a moment.. but my world changers told me later it was FOREVER. gut level ministry/parenting stuff. it was a God ordained moment in time, both encouraging and convicting. it was so very good.  a blessing that i couldn't have possibly have seen when i said "no" to that save the day job earlier. and as if i wasn't loved on enough through that convo. God had me find 20 bucks in my pocket! whoohoo!!!!

"though i have much to write to you, i would rather not use paper and ink, Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete." 2 John 12

are there any little desicions that you can make today that might have a huge impact on your joy?

building beauty.

Legos, the ever present building material thats scattered hither and yon in my house. 

it's chaos actually most of the time, but once in a while you can catch something

 being built that takes your breath away.  

thats when you have to look to the creator and be amazed once again at the complex beauty made out of chaos. but it takes time to see the ultimate creation.  

do you have enough patience to wait for it? 

(btw, i think this is a head factory made by my favorite 8 yr old.) 

Facebook check up.

well, it's been 6 weeks, time for an honest assessment of the why and the how I'm doing while being off facebook.  i wish i could tell you that i don't miss it like i did last month. i DO miss the people. i guess that's the whole reason Facebook was started. i miss my college friends out west, my family up in north, my sister-in-laws. i miss laughing so hard at daisyman and his antics that my morning cereal flies onto the screen. i miss all the good people from Kansas. yes, that includes a Fletcher or two, and i even miss in a sick sort of way the liberal trucker that annoys me with anti Palin comments.  it's the people i miss, so i guess Facebook is successful in that regard.

 In times of "boredom" when i just have a few minutes to burn. which happen mostly in the car while I'm waiting for a world changer to finish some school function, i find myself reaching for my phone like always, and playing a game of farkel. which really in some respects isn't all that different from Facebook, except that well, Farkel doesn't talk back.

so i guess the point i'm trying to process with you is that it's not about Facebook anymore for me.  It's about using my time wisely and productively. yes, i have gotten a ton of stuff. yes, i have gotten closer to friends by meeting face to face, and actually talking on the phone.  yes, it's been worth it. yes, yes. yes. And if i'm completely honest, i'm going to have to say that i'm done with facebook forever.

God didn't intend for us to sit and develop meaningful relationships through a screen.  He intended for us to take the time and dig deep and talk about what's really inside. What we are struggling with, what we are rejoicing about. Having real friends who know more than the surface stuff is what God wants and blesses.

i knew this before, but as i'm sure a bazillion people do, i got caught up in the hype of finding and reconnecting with people all over the country. Is that bad? heck no. however, it is bad if you rely on those relationships as your only source of friendship, you miss out on the blessing that God gives you when you meet face to face. There is a whole generation that doesn't know how to look a person in the eye and talk, because facebooking is easier, and quicker. But really, it's not better. i now know that i'd rather have a 20 minute conversation with you face to face than a day long chat on Facebook.

and if you live in a place where i can't chat face to face with you at least once a week, God might someday cross our paths again and we will laugh and giggle to our hearts content, and we can talk about eternal matters of the heart.

i promise.


(oh and go vote today!!)

tattling.

lead singer took me out for a cheap date on friday. 

and scarfed down all my yummy malt.