Sunday, June 14, 2009

My First Video Attempt

Well, I haven't tried this video posting thing yet, so here goes!

This is a video taken last year, when I was raking hay...I've talked a bit about haying on the blog here so I thought maybe you'd like more of an idea of what it's like...though the pictures sure don't do it justice. :) They can't capture the satisfaction of organizing a whole field into neat rows, the unique sound of swishing hay as it whirls around under the rake, the wonderful scents coaxed by the hot sun into the warm breeze, the pure satisfaction of being part of a team to get the hay in before sunset.







Saturday, June 13, 2009

Wordless Beauty

This is Grammy. She has dementia. Little by little, her brain is betraying her, forgetting how to live life. Words are becoming a mystery, tasks which she used to do so efficiently and easily are now frustrating puzzles.

But there are some things, the meaning of which she remembers. A hug, a kiss, a smile, a mug of hot cocoa, all are things that touch her emotions and make her happy. And beauty. She has a remarkable eye for beauty. Not just the beauty that most of us see, in well-kept gardens and hot-house flowers. No, she sees beauty in grasses, and dandelions, and pieces of foliage, and brings them indoors for us to enjoy by the kitchen window. Below are pictures of some of her bouquets.







Tuesday, June 9, 2009

In a Hurry

The last several days I’ve been privileged to be part of a large gospel effort, focusing largely on door-to-door visiting. The responses have been varied, as usual. Most are polite, many seem disinterested, others are rude, and some are friendly and glad to see us.
“In a hurry,” one man told me when I asked if I could show him a verse from the Bible. He wasn’t the only one; it was a response we had heard several times. It made me think of the hymn,

“Sunk in ruin, sin, and misery,
Bound by Satan’s captive chain,
Guided by his artful treachery,
Hurrying on to endless pain;
My Redeemer, my Redeemer,
Plucked me as a brand from hell.”

Yes, hurrying on, hurtling toward an infinity of suffering and regret, with no time for eternity. The lost are indeed in a hurry.

Is God in a hurry? “The Lord is not slow about His promise…but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) God is in no hurry to bring judgment upon sinners. Rather, we read, “Thou art a God ready to pardon.” (Neh. 9:17). It has been said that the only time that the Bible depicts God the Father as being in a hurry, is when the father of the prodigal son ran to meet his repentant boy. So yes, God is eager—perhaps we may even say reverently that He is in a hurry—to forgive.

The lost are hurrying to a Christless eternity of agony. God is hurrying to intercept them with His forgiveness. Have we who call ourselves Christians got any urgency at all about their souls?