tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355854302009-11-07T05:05:03.702-08:00In quietness and confidence shall be your strength and within your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit ~ of great worth in the sight of God. <I>Isaiah 30:15b; 1 Peter 3:4 </I>Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-78773122788224624632009-11-05T16:02:00.000-08:002009-11-05T16:45:18.080-08:00

Enthralled and ravished lest Imprisoned by enemies.Soul man: apprehended.Not merely crippled - shattered - rendered useless.Reduced to fragments, inoperative, discontinued.Infused by whispers revealed inKnots and yokes - unappealing things made into treasures.Monopolized.Restraints: welcomed; embraced.We bend; He mends.He breaks, then remakes.Ravished, consumed - Imprisoned by the mortal ties;

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-73483126928942843212009-10-29T12:59:00.000-07:002009-10-29T23:15:02.543-07:00

God is not safe. He is demanding. He probes my heart, invades my stuff, consumes it. Dead stuff seems to be his specialty.Generally speaking, he doesn't butt in, preferring to beckon. Nevertheless, he's insistent about certain things - y'know: virtue, purity, obedience, devotion - that kinda thing.He's big on leading. Regrettably, I'm a bit passive about following. Not always; but too often.I

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What do our actions say about us? I recently attended the documentary film, "LORD, Save us From Your Followers." Small theatre - perhaps some 50-60 people attended the showing I did.The gist of the film is how the world, especially Americans, view Christians. The responses from the "unbelieving" well, let's just say: "not so pretty."Looking at the impression our words and deeds make on the

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-30372780687521650252009-10-22T13:17:00.000-07:002009-10-22T17:40:39.271-07:00

WILL YOU CHOOSE - Choose to steep your soul in love... be bound by love... yoked to love... compelled through love... find unhindered expression in love... respond out of love... live arrested by love - not merely the essence of love, but love itself: indescribable, incomprehensible, and irresistible. Many live in sorrow and pain because they have not received love... been touched by extravagant

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-55365374496068421412009-10-01T13:54:00.000-07:002009-10-01T15:13:03.869-07:00

We all begin somewhere in time.But, perhaps we place to much emphasis on this matter called time. Time draws from a well of memories - washing us with a landscape of colors, scents, textures, and whispers of the past. Many times, such recollections muscle their way into our lives - pretending to hold power over us to influence our present. Will we let them?Often we do. Memories capture our

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By wisdom the earth's foundations were laid. By understanding the heavens were set in place. By knowledge the deeps were divided. (1) Day One:The morning dawns. I find myself in pursuit of something I don't fully understand. As I traverse through my day wisdom is bestowed along with the ability to apply any knowledge I may acquire. (2)Day Two ~ Repeat Day One:Continue to mine the rich depths of

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If you watch a potter working the clay on his wheel, you notice that there is no tension - the clay submits graciously to the potter's hands - the potter's direction. A passage found in Jeremiah 18:6 arrests our thoughts as we examine how "clay in the potters hand is to be fashioned at the potter's pleasure and rendered according to his purposes. In reading these words, we notice a spiritual

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Today is unique. It's the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year of the 21st century: 09-09-09. In other words, it's the nines!Numbers have significance. Although I'm sure there are many more I didn't unlock I discovered a few things about the numeric nine. Here's what I learned: Nine is the sum of digits whose form is multiplied and is also a multiple i.e., 3x3=9.Nine means FRUIT

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At my computer, I opened three eMails. "Oh my goodness, I gasped, 'another' prayer request? ...and regarding people I don't even know."Each week, several eMail requests land in my "in" box. They're from people I know, people I don't know, and from people I don't know - asking prayer for people they don't know. On and on it goes. I often wonder what compels someone to send me these requests. Don't

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Hope is active, like faith. It is substantive: a force steeped in expectancy. You don't sit in your rocker hoping for hope. You dig your knuckles into it. You soar to find it. With determination, you persevere in securing it. The longer you persist the stronger and more courageous you become.Hope is the place upon which the visible realm hinges. Hope is an expectation. The more you have the more

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-1151660743397380102009-08-09T16:34:00.000-07:002009-08-18T14:32:44.948-07:00

Children have a remarkably insatiable appetite for asking questions. Somewhere on the journey from childhood to adulthood, many children forget to ask questions and settle only for answers. Curiosity does not require brilliance or a high IQ - merely a nimble mind with a desire to inquire... to reflect... to imagine that certain secrets and mysteries remain locked and that they are worthy of

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An hour before curtain, I watched the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's "Green Show" so named because it takes place "on the green" in front of the world-reknowned OSF Ampitheater. Beside the delightful artists who present, it's a fun place to hang out - catch up with locals, meet tourists, watch young children frolic with wild abandon, and old men struggle to get up after an hour on the lawn while

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And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven: and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ~ Matthew 16:19 Authority ~ έξουσία ~ John 14:12-14Power ~ δύναμις ~ Acts 1:8Dominion ~ κυριότης ~ Genesis 1:26-28© Silent Mornings

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Seconds are the slender threads of sacred moments. Moments weave into hours, forming the warp and waft of our days. Over time, days collect into weeks, months, and eventually years. They become our past. We overload our schedules and forget to pace. We bolt from one activity to the next and fail to savor the epochal strands of time. We live as if we are spectators instead of participants and

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The word “leverage” stirs up negative feelings for me. It reminds me of when people have used their power against me and sometimes that reminds me of money and loss. But the word itself isn’t moral or immoral, good or bad.We all experience moments when life ends up in a slump and it’s more than the normal ebb and flow. Perhaps personal relationships have been challenged; profitability in your

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She lay there, frail – anemic-looking, actually - her fingers twisted around an old tissue – one she used every now and then to wipe her nose. Her skin was sallow, her face sunken - the soft fleshy areas eclipsed by the bony structures. Her eyes, a pale blue, seemed vacant - yet they cried out. They appeared to say: “I see you… I know you are there. Do you know I am here?”Despite this ”knowing,”

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Suspended in the stillness of the hidden moments, His goodness is like shafts of light where haunting weights plummet into the abyss as pockets of calm reverence draw you upward to His presence. Plunge deep into the Rivers of God where His sustaining grace paints pictures of resilient, irrepressible, freedom - where you emerge - penetrated by love, swaddled in His goodness.© Silent Mornings

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Like Echoes:At first, a whisper - then a thunderous sound;It seems to me, I'm breaking new ground.Absorbed in my doings, new ventures unfold.Destiny awaits, fresh chapters will be told.Like Fireflies:Illuminating a heart, that once, was weary; Harboring days - some quite drearyWeights that were searing, Seem now, to be steering.What fabric was woven into those connections?What structures formed,

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Through the digital age, electronic communications can dispatch a message - unbounded and unrestrained - with incredible expediency and immediacy. On your device, you can compose a note in Waukegan, Illinois, and within literal seconds, it can be opened in Sydney, Australia. Sure, it's efficient, but it can never replace the wonderful discoveries found in the old-fashioned mailbox. Whether you

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Low Tide - Half-Moon Bay on the Pacific Ocean.The sun makes its descent as waves stretch beyond the horizon.Seagulls circle in the distance.Fit with proper oars, a canoe lightly punctuates the silence.Stroke, stroke...Executed perfectly to maintain a straight course.The soft breeze - willowy in this spacious, unconstrained atmosphereLends to the solitude.I stand quietly on the shore.Mesmerized by

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Y O UYou were loved before you were you. You are the reverberations fulfilling His dream from eternity past... the frequency of Heaven penetrating Earth, embodied in His likeness and image. You were fore-known and predestined to embrace the reality of your comme il faut - your becoming. The landscape of your destiny and the incredible greatness of your horizon - all determined in His passionate

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In Greek, "eirenepoios" means peacemaker.“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Recorded words of Jesus - Matthew 5:9.)Each of us can choose to herald peace...allow it to flow through us much as the layered tones and muted shadings of light and dark fuse themselves amongst these multi-colored leaves.Will we - created by each stroke of the Master's hand, memorably

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-87470176290989195622008-08-04T19:49:00.000-07:002008-08-14T15:20:20.468-07:00

Whether we walk through a unclouded, sun-washed day, or one drenched by torrential storms... whether the day is filled with warm breezes or one that is freezing cold buffeted by fierce winds... whether our bellies are full or empty... whether we are sad or glad... whether the bank account is full or depleted - we can all respond to the call of God... draw into the unexpected places of His

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-74375558067897438952008-07-25T21:20:00.000-07:002008-07-27T14:30:50.720-07:00

Sehnsucht (a German word meaning intense, ardent longing).Mine is an inconsolable yearning for God’s presence – an ardent longing that pierces into the core of my being. I bow before Him now, pouring my vial of worship over Him. I draw from the well of His presence. He is my heart’s innermost longing - my heart’s deepest desire. When I seek Him with my whole heart... wait patiently for Him...

Fade to Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03812894105532131726noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35585430.post-47918648720666265732008-07-15T11:58:00.000-07:002008-07-16T10:46:43.694-07:00

Hike a short distance up Union Creek along the upper Rogue River near Prospect Oregon and you'll witness the striking beauty of the Rogue Gorge. Initially formed by the regurgitation of Mount Mazama in the Cascade Mountain range and her red hot flow of smoldering lava spewing out of a gigantic caldera, this volcanic eruption also created one of the world’s natural wonders - Crater Lake National

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