Let FREEDOM Reign... or "rein"???? or "ring"??? what is it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9_mdwvU1Gc

May I offer you a complete GETAWAY this day???

I'm thinking

FREEDOM!!!

what a way to "FLY"?

WE were INVITED; Carrie's poems

We were invited to a special night a week ago.......

a evening filled with "awards", scholarships, recognitions, and typical university banquet fare of lasagna, salad and a big CAKE decorated with icing of gold and purple. Yes, the purple icing was left on the plate except for that of the ONLY 7 year old in attendance.

Two tables held the hearts of those waiting to breathe in the words of our own Poet Laureate... our own honoree, our own sweet Jay's young bride....... she looked lovely in her PINK!
There were those of us who'd walked these places before, and memories flooded the room in which we now sat. I remember Troy and the rest of the athletes (no football back then... only D1 baseball!!) gathered around Foosball tables with only the brave at heart willing to enter the den. One of those sitting here tonight was a brave one with my Troy... he now sat here with a daughter given, grown... he was proud. Em brought KG to experience the magic that only words in these rhythms can weave. She understood.
It was clear that this one was held in good graces not only by the ones she invited, but also by the ones she had taught and evaluated. These smiles told more than mere words of Carrie's character. One's students are a dimension not often revealed.... yet we saw.
The microphone was held by several before her, but as she stepped up, it was clear.... they'd saved the best for last. She was not unfamiliar with this partner. He ushered her words into our hearts easily.

Contemplative, with timing perfectly metered, she picked up her "brush"

The room was her canvas as she painted her pictures of times gone by... of family, farms and fathers.........her words splashed into our own memories.
And then........the open doors shut and a proud new father knew the joy of a daughter with a poet's heart. What a lovely thing to see......... I felt a little exposed myself as we stood there in this place
But then, that precious smile........the one that finished, what one might have considered merely another performance.........but this was more....... this was a glimpse inside a lady I like... a lady who won the heart of a nephew with eyes like the moon and a heart as big as Dallas.... a lady that I now know a little more about....in a room full of my past, Carrie gave me a new memory.... Congratulations Carrie.... we heard you.......and will look forward to "hearing" more. We were INVITED!! and that meant more than you know!

Not Rock Candy TS!!!!

Today there was an annual event in our community, the Gem and Mineral Show was in town, and needless to say, little boys and rocks and a 1st grader in GT studying dinosaurs and fossils are the perfect compliments to this sort of SHOW! Must there be a cave to have spelunkers??? or do you just get to be a "hound" for the rocks? Either way, THIS was an adventure with ready participants unbuckled from booster seats

as fast as little hands could click out!

Upon our initial choosing of the perfect "rock" as one of our admission extras, we jumped from one exhibitor to the next.... UNTIL... we found the treasure of the afternoon. GEODES!!!!!! there were ohhhs and ahhhhs resounding throughout the building as each purchaser's dinosaur shaped rock was "popped" open. Some revealed only a completely filled globe, but some..... well, some cracked apart to reveal a sparkling treasure chest of pink, purple, blue or white. It was a game of chance when you paid your $10 for 3.....but each took that chance with anticipation!!!
As I looked at those UGLY chalky grey round rocks, I thought about myself. Sometimes I sorta feel like that lumpy bumpy ball of rock. Rolled around and abused by the environment that is not friendly to our frail humanity. Even sometimes emotionally rolled around and bumped to and fro till I almost feel that my limit has absolutely been reached 3 bumps ago. Have you EVER felt like that? as Popeye (you young ones WILL not remember this cartoon hero) would have said right before the famous spinach gobbling...

"that's all I'zzzz ken take and I kent takes no more!!!".

Well, sometimes I do feel like that......and this little round rock made me think of me.

So

after the choosing of the geode,

then comes the final stress on that many years old rock!

Into the machine with a big ole chain wrapped around the weakest part of the geode.

2 men ran the rock cracker... one wrapped the chains,

and the other lowered the final lever to break open the rock.......

You could hear a loud POP as the rock gave way to the pressure, and the man then released the chains leaving the rock in tact (except for the obvious circular crack), and handed it to it's purchaser. As the little hands of the ones who chose it opened the stone, what was inside was spectacular, and so unsuspected by those to whom the truth of geodes had never been explained. Beautiful... as the elements had striven together in ways that would seem to destroy the stone, instead it had created something of great individual and unique beauty.... I was thinking.... well, I'll not tell you anymore of what I was thinking, I'll simply say... I love the way that God shows me things just when I need to see them! I'll think differently of the geodes on our little hills next time I walk up that mountainside.

Oh yes, our little TS had his own special pleasure in the Gem and mineral show.....

No precious one, THIS IS NOT ROCK CANDY!!!!!

May the rough and tumble lumps and bumps of mine and your lives produce all the treasures that a LORD WHO sees and loves His creation has planned for there to be within us!

God's not finished with Josh Jennings!

Troy and I'd gotten the text message and immediately

(or what we thought was immediately) we responded to our friends.

"Pray, Josh has been in a terrible accident"!!!

Josh is from a family of strong believers. He is the middle of 3 boys, all who love the LORD and are the kind of young men to whom I'd want our little boys to look for role models. They are the kinds of guys that are men's men... yet the kind that no matter how big (and they are BIG GUYS), they are still willing to hug their mom in front of their friends. They are the kind of men that will hunt with their Dad, win championships with their friends*Wylie or HSU football*, and still hold a tiny puppy with the most gentle of hands. They are "David" kinds of guys, and this middle warrior son had been in a life ending wreck.
After talking to Becky and Drew, (I will put their own words at the end of this post), we were blessed and relieved to know that Josh was OK!

He was alive and OK!!!

Troy said a very interesting thing about this that I feel has some real spiritual implications. He said, "isn't this an amazing thing our Lord has done? While preparing Josh's body to play football, he learned how to deal with the hits that came on that field. No doubt his physical and athletic preparation/training had a part in his safety and being able to walk away from such a wreck." what I was thinking is this.... we may think we know how and for what we train in the physical reality, but as we do whatever we do as we are doing it for the LORD, we cannot help but be prepared for other things that may "hit" us in the spiritual realms as well. (just a thought, but I do believe that the physical often precludes the spiritual)....I am thankful and blessed with my friends, Becky and Drew as they stand to hold their son one more day here on this journey we call "life". Josh is the second from the left in this picture. God is good my friends, and His plans WILL NOT be thwarted as we step each day into our eternal destiny. We are blessed to know you Jennings! Thanks for letting me share your story!

(below is the e-mail Becky sent me right after they got Josh home)

We just wanted to send out this email to praise our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Josh was in a bad car wreck Saturday night around 10:00 p.m. He pulled out in front of a truck on Highway 36. The truck didn't have time to stop and hit him on Josh's drivers' side door. Josh was taken to Hendricks in the ambulance. We immediately began praying and called others to join us in lifting up Josh in prayer. We were at the hospital a couple of hours before they released Josh. He had a few scratches and a sore hip but other than this is fine. We were told that in this type of accident 60% of the drivers don't survive. We know that Gods protection is what spared Josh. The driver of the truck had a cut on his forehead . Both of the vehicles were totaled. We have much to be thankful for and wanted to share this testimony of God's goodness to all of our family and friends. Drew & Becky

Who are you "talking" to?

Today I did what has come to be one of the most special things I get to do.... work at a Pregnancy Resource place here close to our home... I had not been able to go in for a while, so I was truly looking forward to today. I never know how God is gonna show up, but I can assure you, He is always there.

It was my second pregnancy test this day, and I knew the young lady was concerned and even agitated as she waited for one of us to get to her. She walked into my room, folded her arms in front of her and sat staring at me with brown eyes unwavering.

I felt this girl had already made some decisions about this situation, and her posture told me that I might not have the opportunity to speak anything other than cursory remarks.

I decided to do the first part of the questionnaire, and leave the last questions until we were waiting for results. I found out she had 2 older children and she was a very tired young mommy living by herself with her kids trying as best as she could to provide on a meager salary. She made it very clear that she was not wanting another baby for any reason. I felt her heart......

As we sat down to answer the final questions on the page, I got to the part about "may I ask you about what your spiritual beliefs are?".... again, hesitation. I felt no "belief" anywhere in this girl, and she said as much when she told me... "I don't believe in God."

Not often do I hear that so succinctly stated... so matter of fact... so "don't tell me about a God that loves me... do you see my life?"

The only thing that was solid in her life was the fact that she could take care of herself and had done so for quite some time. This possible pregnancy had no name attached to it's beginning other than her own. Only a question mark filled the space of "name of father". My heart cried for her as she told me.. "I'm so stupid!" , but my mouth told her...

"this is gonna be okay... let's check the test."

We both walked over to the little blue counter behind us and I told her to look at the little pink line to the left side, it was what a positive test would look like... the space in the center was white, no little pink line of any kind. She dropped her crossed arms and a smile broke across her face. "THANK YOU... THANK YOU!" she almost shouted.

Right then I knew how God was gonna "talk" to her......and I told her......

"you are saying thank you to someone, but it is not me is it?"

She stopped a little taken back, but not offended (thank You Jesus)...

and she said...

"well......., maybe."

I felt it.... the Holy Spirit had her just where He wanted her!

We talked a bit more. She had no Bible, and she'd not been in a church since her baptism as a baby. I asked her if she wanted a Bible, and found one at her affirmative response.......but that "door" would never have been opened except that she walked into a room with me thinking she was about to have to choose abortion for a child she didn't want.

I feel like she was like that "child"... not wanted by anyone......

but a negative test and

a POSITIVE UNGUARDED response of gratitude

allowed me to walk in to offer a gift that had been given to me. Jesus.....

I asked her if I could pray with her.......she allowed that, but would not commit anything other than letting one of our "bloom" ladies call her to "talk" about Who this is that she was grateful to ... I think it was not only the fact that she wasn't pregnant that held her gratitude...

I think it was the fact that she didn't have to decide about life and death.

"I place this day before you LIFE and DEATH... choose LIFE that you may live."......

I think our God knows exactly how to meet us where we are, and often He uses words from our own mouth to confirm His existence to our hearts.

I am praying that this young lady will have someone or even several more someones who will Jesus to her.......and I am betting that this is exactly what God had in mind when

He let me plant a seed. I am thankful that I get to do this "work",

and see the hands of our Creator in wonderful ways.