235 DAYS.
I cannot wait.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Love Them Like Jesus
The love of her life is drifting away
They're losing the fight for another day
The life that she's known is falling apart
A fatherless home, a child's broken heart
You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You trying to make - sense of it all
She's desperate for hope, darkness clouding her view
She's looking to you
Just love her like Jesus,
carry her to Him
His yoke is easy,
His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side
Love her like Jesus
Love her like Jesus
The gifts lie in wait, in a room painted blue
Little blessing from Heaven would be there soon
Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn to gray
As the little one slips away
You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You're trying to make sense of it all
They're desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
They're looking to you
Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you
So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Love them like Jesus
Love Them Like Jesus, Casting Crowns
They're losing the fight for another day
The life that she's known is falling apart
A fatherless home, a child's broken heart
You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You trying to make - sense of it all
She's desperate for hope, darkness clouding her view
She's looking to you
Just love her like Jesus,
carry her to Him
His yoke is easy,
His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side
Love her like Jesus
Love her like Jesus
The gifts lie in wait, in a room painted blue
Little blessing from Heaven would be there soon
Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn to gray
As the little one slips away
You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You're trying to make sense of it all
They're desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
They're looking to you
Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you
So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus
Love them like Jesus
Love Them Like Jesus, Casting Crowns
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Roping a Deer
I know it's early, but. . . for those who recognize opening day of deer season as a holiday... I thought you'd enjoy this.
(Actual letter from someone who farms and writes well!)
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
The first step in this adventure was getting a deer.
I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.
After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that, pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder – a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.
I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.
Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts. The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -- like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope to sort of even the odds.
(Actual letter from someone who farms and writes well!)
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
The first step in this adventure was getting a deer.
I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.
After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that, pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity. A deer-- no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder – a little trap I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze chute.
I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.
Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts. The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -- like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope to sort of even the odds.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Politics that Pull Us Down
I felt the need to share what has been fluttering through my mind recently.
Election season means lots of passionate debate, heated arguments, prideful praising and hateful bashing. It brings out the best and the worst in people. That's nothing new. But, I have been repeatedly stunned by the number of followers of Christ who are bashing, bludgeoning and despising one candidate or the other. Elections, especially presidential elections, give us an excuse to share our beliefs boldly, loudly and by color (take your pick, red or blue).
Yet, somehow we also seem to think it gives us an excuse to be absolutely and completely disrespectful.
Without much thought, we bash one candidate or the other calling them "idiots," "jerks," or worse. Recently my Sunday school teacher challenged us to remember this reality when we are debating political issues with "the other side." He relayed the following story.
He is affiliated with the Democratic party, and has worked for years to build a relationship with many Democrats. As he told us, these relationships allow him to share the gospel in countless ways. Specifically, he had been building a relationship with a worker in the Democratic presidential campaign for several months. However, recently he was campaigning at a local fair or festival and observed hateful and shameful behavior. The booth campaigning for Barack Obama happened to be surrounded by several local church booths. Throughout the entire festival, the churches bashed, taunted and verbally abused the campaign workers.
As the teacher reminded us with tears in his eyes and anger in his voice, in one evening of disrespectful bashing, followers of Jesus completely destroyed the relationship he was building with this campaign worker. For now, what will this man associate church with? Bashing, disrespectful hypocrites.
This can happen in reverse too, with the Right-winged party receiving disrespectful bashing from blue-minded people. I don't care who you support, who you fear might win the election, who will earn your vote in November or who you think doesn't fit the job description.
I'm not saying we can't state our disagreement with someone or state how our values differ from someone else's values. I need to remember this too, for I easily and quickly say things out of passionate disagreement without realizing the impact those words may be having. You see, we are citizens of another kingdom, one that we are either promoting or demoting with every action and every word.
So, when does disagreement give us a license to disrespect? What does name-calling (yes, even during political season) do for the glory of Christ?
Friends, please remember that people, whether we like them or not and whether we agree with them or not, are a mission field. We do not know the times and ways of God's plans; He may be working and moving within that person as you relate to them. You are the hands and feet of Christ to the people you meet, the people you talk to, the people you argue with.
What image of Christ do they see in you?
Election season means lots of passionate debate, heated arguments, prideful praising and hateful bashing. It brings out the best and the worst in people. That's nothing new. But, I have been repeatedly stunned by the number of followers of Christ who are bashing, bludgeoning and despising one candidate or the other. Elections, especially presidential elections, give us an excuse to share our beliefs boldly, loudly and by color (take your pick, red or blue).
Yet, somehow we also seem to think it gives us an excuse to be absolutely and completely disrespectful.
Without much thought, we bash one candidate or the other calling them "idiots," "jerks," or worse. Recently my Sunday school teacher challenged us to remember this reality when we are debating political issues with "the other side." He relayed the following story.
He is affiliated with the Democratic party, and has worked for years to build a relationship with many Democrats. As he told us, these relationships allow him to share the gospel in countless ways. Specifically, he had been building a relationship with a worker in the Democratic presidential campaign for several months. However, recently he was campaigning at a local fair or festival and observed hateful and shameful behavior. The booth campaigning for Barack Obama happened to be surrounded by several local church booths. Throughout the entire festival, the churches bashed, taunted and verbally abused the campaign workers.
As the teacher reminded us with tears in his eyes and anger in his voice, in one evening of disrespectful bashing, followers of Jesus completely destroyed the relationship he was building with this campaign worker. For now, what will this man associate church with? Bashing, disrespectful hypocrites.
This can happen in reverse too, with the Right-winged party receiving disrespectful bashing from blue-minded people. I don't care who you support, who you fear might win the election, who will earn your vote in November or who you think doesn't fit the job description.
I'm not saying we can't state our disagreement with someone or state how our values differ from someone else's values. I need to remember this too, for I easily and quickly say things out of passionate disagreement without realizing the impact those words may be having. You see, we are citizens of another kingdom, one that we are either promoting or demoting with every action and every word.
So, when does disagreement give us a license to disrespect? What does name-calling (yes, even during political season) do for the glory of Christ?
Friends, please remember that people, whether we like them or not and whether we agree with them or not, are a mission field. We do not know the times and ways of God's plans; He may be working and moving within that person as you relate to them. You are the hands and feet of Christ to the people you meet, the people you talk to, the people you argue with.
What image of Christ do they see in you?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
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