I love this image and its message.  I see it in layers...so often people in need fade into the surroundings, we walk by them unseen.  We sit beside them in churches, walk by them sleeping on park benches or pushing strollers in the street.  We avert our eyes or turn our heads when our conscience tells us that someone is in need.

If someone is bold enough to ask for money we'll throw in a toonie and call it a day!  We can pat ourselves on the back and say to ourselves aren't we kind, non-judgemental.  Or, we'll donate our cans to the food bank during Christmas parades or public events and the food bank will have to be diligent to make sure the food isn't out of date and expired.

We'll vote during elections, yet rarely ask our candidates about low income housing, social benefits, or laws that protect children from sexual predators & abusers.

We bemoan kids roaming the streets or pity the homeless teen but rarely step out of our comfortable homes and routines to offer a hand to the organizations that struggle to stay open to help these kids.  If you can't give your time then give them your money.  When was the last time you wrote your local/provincial/federal politician to say you want change?  You want more low income housing, you want empty buildings donated to great charities that help people, you want programs in place to allow low income teens to have tutors and opportuities to continue their education beyond highschool...tell them!

Yet, I believe in change, I believe in the incredible goodness of mankind.  I believe in the people around me. We often feel stuck not knowing where to start or how to help.  We feel that one can of soup that we could donate won't make a difference.  Yet, if everyone realized that every small step forward on the path to change does cause a ripple effect.  You might be the person that starts by donating a can of soup only to later open a soup kitchen and feed the multitudes.  You might be that teacher or nurse or neighbour who sees someone hurting and reach out to them and make a difference.  You might be the letter that reaches the right politician that inspires them to take up a cause!

Believe in change!

"Faith has nothing to do with feelings or with impressions, with improbabilities or with outward experiences. If we desire to couple such things, then we are no longer resting on the Word of God, because faith needs nothing of the kind. Faith rests on the naked Word of God. When we take Him at His word, the heart is at peace." George Muller

25 Years

I just celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary with my husband by going away together without our kids for six days!!!  I felt quite melancholy about the whole thing.  We married way to young at age 20, not knowing who we were to become and from that we've done a lot of growing together, not always gracefully, often we felt like two ships headed in different directions but we are anchored to one another and I know that won't change.

We created four amazing children together after being told it would never happen.  We worked side by side to build two houses together with our own hands which was quite a definining experience and we have ploughed through some mighty tough times that have broken other marriages.

We have done our best to love and honour one another and our vows.  I know I can count on my husband to have my back.  Even though we are so different in so many ways, we support one another.  He knows me better than anyone, knows my sorrows, my joys, my fears and my deepest desires of the heart. 

From being away this week together...alone, I realized that we'll never be the uber cool, madly in love couple as seen on tv or blog land, we bicker, we correct one another way to much, we point out mistakes in one another yet, we both have a deep love & respect for each other and all that we have poured into our marriage and our family....he is my husband and I love him deeply.

Homeless Campers

We're on our first camping trip in Maine.  We noticed the other night three young people setting up late, they had two tents, some basic supplies but nothing extra.  Their camping spot was dark, they have no cooler and we drove by them today walking into town.

My son Jack noticed also how little they had.  Tonight is our last night here and we were going to have a fire.  Instead he asked if he could give them our firewood which he then took over to them.  I was touched by his concern for them and I went over and struck up a conversation.  I offered them my white twinkle lights so that they could see at night. I had wanted to give them the lights last night buy my husband said I was nuts!   Unfortunately, they don't have electric on their site so they are of no use.  I learned they have nothing much left to eat and they are homeless, hoping to get into somewhere in the next couple of weeks.  They have paid up for the next week but don't really know where they will get food from.

We will be helping them more in the morning, but it just makes me feel incredibly sad and no, the contrast in camping situations isn't lost on any of us tonight.

I Want Change...

The Bible’s basic narrative points to the restoration of the whole world, material and spiritual, as the aim of salvation. Christian churches, therefore, must work for justice and peace in their neighborhoods through service, even as they call individuals to conversion. Indifference to the poor and disadvantaged demonstrates a lack of understanding of grace and God’s free salvation. A church that grasps the gospel will be holistically faithful in both word (Bible teaching) and deed (acts of service).


Tim Keller - Redeemer Church

Distance in her Eyes.

There is a distance in her eyes

No bridge could ever span

A distance in her eyes

Between what was and is

Two different worlds

Collide within her soul

Fallen moment of heartbreak

Reflected, yet hidden

in the distance in her eyes

searching the invisible

restoration a forsaken hope

for the distance in her eyes

disclose the broken heart

searching for a time before

forlorn hope that all will mend

and be as before, sorrow

such sorrow found within

the distance in her eyes

Adrian Wait

The Layers

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.

When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned campsites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.

Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.

In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
"Live in the layers,
not on the litter."
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.

 Stanley Kunitz (1905–2006)

Rob Bell

Below is a video from James White a theologian & apologist.  He has prepared this interesting video challenging Rob Bell and his Nooma #15 video which had bothered me the first time I saw it, and like him; the end in particular bothered me.  Like him or not, he asks good questions and does his research.

little bird

The little bird perched in the golden cage
knew not how to fly
her wings were clipped
not by scissors
but from neglect.

She had faded memories of days gone by
of flying free
the bright, shiny blue sky
the wind blowing thru her feathers
the warmth of sun
the renewing of rain

The trappings of love
the trappings of being needed
the weight of pleasing
caused her wings to sag
to fly no more.

Figuring Life Out - One Thousand Gifts

The Heidelberg Project

This video is inspirational!