beautiful female blogger awards

Sallie at Two Talent Living has organized the "2005 Blogs of Beauty Awards." You can nominate your favorite blogs (female bloggers) in 14 categories. Nominations close Tuesday, Nov. 29, finalists will be posted November 30th for voting; voting ends December 6th with winners announced December 7th.

(I've got my list of nominees all picked!)

Hat Tip: Windows to My Soul

happy thanksgiving

to our neighbors in the U.S.!

how hip are you?

Paul McFedries tracks the ever-changing landscape of language on his web site The Word Spy. I spent wasted an hour or so there yesterday (that’s what I do when I’m overwhelmed with stuff to do - like Christmas prep!)

Here are a few newly coined words, randomly picked out of hundreds. Can you spot the correct definition for these word-mortiphications?

[That last is mine: word-mortiphication (mor ti fi CA shun) noun. A word that has morphed, though mortified in the process, into new usage.]


chatterati (chat.uh.RAT.ty) n.
1. Animals known for their chattering calls.
2. The elite members of the chattering classes.

glurge (GLURJ) n.
1. A sentimental or uplifting story, particularly one delivered via e-mail, that uses inaccurate or fabricated facts; a story that is mawkish or maudlin; the genre consisting of such stories.
2. The street garbage that inevitably finds its way to the bottom of one's shoe.

grandboomer (GRAND.boo.mur) n.
1. The CEO of any organization.
2. A grandparent who is a part of the baby boom generation.

himbo (HIM.boh) n.
1. The guy who likes to draw attention to himself by showing up in a bow-tie.
2. A man who is good-looking, but unintelligent or superficial.

innovicide n.
1. To kill a new or unusual idea.
2. The practice of demolishing old motels and inns and replacing them with new ones.

nooksurfer n.
1. A person who frequents only a limited number of Internet sites.
2. A surfer who looks for undiscovered and exotic places to surf.

plunderphonics n.
1. The practice of mutilating language by spelling words phonetically
2. A musical technique that creates a new piece of music by mixing passages from a number of existing songs.

rawist (RAW.ist) n.
1. A person who eats only unprocessed, unheated, and uncooked food, especially organic fruits, nuts, vegetables, and grains.
2. A person with an undeveloped sense of decorum.

schmooseoisie n.
1. The class of people who make their living by talking.
2. People who crash cocktail parties.

ground beef vegetable soup

1 lb. ground beef
2 tsp. salt
c tsp. pepper
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium potato or rutabaga, cubed
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 cups water
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
16 oz. can tomatoes, undrained. (I use crushed tomatoes)

Brown ground beef and drain excess fat.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Simmer covered 20-25 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

5-6 servings.

(From my Pillsbury Kitchens’ Family Cookbook)

a prayer

A Prayer to be in Paradise With the Children - by John Terpstra

When I must come to you, o my God, I pray
it be in the early hours of that day,
and just as on these mornings I would rather sleep
I beg the lively company to keep
of kids, in Paradise, where rest and rising meet.
My eyes will open, I will yawn and stretch,
and to the children jumping on the bed
I shall say, "I am Johannes Terpstra,
and this is Paradise, at your pleasure."
And I shall say to them, "This house has many rooms,
its hallways are for running, take the stairs in twos,
and we'll play inside the mansions of our living God,
for all doors open to the treasures of his kinderlove."

- read more

peanuts, anyone?

You are Franklin!

Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

hat tip: Kim

teach me

teach me

the sweet leisureliness

of being a lily

the implicit trust

of my child-hand

in Yours

the unlikely joy

that sings sparrow-songs

even when I'm on the ground

V. Nesdoly © 2005

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Matthew 6:25-34; 10:29-31

promptings potpourri

Church vs. State: a "War" with Christianity

"The Canadian regime...is trying to reshape Canadian souls." That’s what Joe Woodard, a columnist for the Calgary Herald thinks. Some story trends he predicts we’ll see in secular Canadian media during the next ten years:

1. The official Canadian ideology of multiculturalism is just that: Ideology, or "propaganda masquerading as fact." This will result in ‘Conflict between Church and State’ stories

2. The Christian revival in Canada - the new (and for many inexplicable) popularity of resurgent Christianity among Generation-X and Gen-Y...

3. Exploring non-Christian beliefs in support of multiculturalism

4. Celebrating "spirituality" as distinct from "organized religion."

This presentation to a conference of the Centre for Faith and the Media (October 21-22/05 - Ottawa) is a must-read for Canadian Christians. It’s here.

Hat-tip: Ernie

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My Dear Despicable Wormwood,

You magnificent wretch. I am delighted to hear of your progress....

[...] Good news! The latest commendations have arrived from the Council of Pit. You impress the lower-down, my zealous Wormwood. They have heard of your schemes on the Noise Proliferation Committee (NPC). Indeed, places of solitude and moments of silence grow ever more scarce in the Enemy’s vast and vulgar dominion. Oh what euphoria to see his insufferable creatures rush to fill the dead air with a cacophony of cell phones and muzac, leaf blowers and manipulated car exhaust pipes, 24-hour news and I-Pods. Those nauseating humans cannot escape their self-made dungeon of din!

- from "A Kingdom of Noise: A Screwtape Letter for the Media Age" by Erik Lokkesmoe.

Hat-tip: Marilyn in Thunder Bay

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Do you know your neighbors? Catez at Allthings2all does. She writes:

Last week my computer monitor on my home pc blew up. It was a dramatic event with sparking and cracking noises. I mentioned this to my neighbour shortly before flying off in my car to buy another monitor... A couple of days later I went to the supermarket at the end of the day. As I was walking back to my car some-one called out to me. It was my neighbour's husband, who had stopped in at the same carpark after work. He asked about my computer monitor and of course I gave him a description of the drama and the news I had another one. He was very pleased for me. Just a short chat in a carpark. As I went to my car afterward it occurred to me that if I didn't know my neighbours I would have walked past him without noticing, he wouldn't have called out to me - the six degrees of separation would be firmly positioned between us.

Now that we’re on the doorstep of the Christmas season – a time when neighborly overtures are almost guaranteed to be met with an open heart, Catez’s post "Meet the Neighbors" is timely, as well as inspiring and practical.

more thankfulness

I hope you’ve been getting your daily Thankful Vitamin from Rebecca and Julana. What an uplifting blog theme for November!

I want to add my item of thankfulness to theirs today. We’re one day away from being done with the whole ‘move mum’ thing and I’m thankful for God’s faithfulness through this time.

If you’ve read here before, you’ll know that at the end of September, Mum put a down payment on an assisted living suite in the town where I live (vs. 45 minutes down the highway where she’s spent the last 20 years).

That put us on a wild ride of sorting, boxing, garbaging, recycling, and taking loads and more loads to the thrift store to clear out the apartment Mum had lived in for 20 years. It would probably be one of the seven wonders of the world if it became known - the amount of stuff one little lady can squeeze into a 1000 sq. foot suite!

Many times during the process I nearly despaired. What would we do with all the furniture - good and serviceable but really not worth very much to anyone else. And then there were the appliances, and all the dishes, pots, pans, craft supplies, stocked pantry, fridge and freezer. More than once I lay awake mulling over all this, falling asleep only after I had once again committed the whole endeavor to God.

Yesterday my brother and sis-in-law came with a rented U-Haul and, bless their hearts, took away the last of the appliances and furniture and many many boxes. Now all that’s left are a few boxes and some odds and ends of furniture that we can take to the thrift shop with the car...and a suite that needs a good vacuum and scrub. That’s on my list for tomorrow.

This morning in my quiet time I read:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
And whose hope is in the Lord
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7,8 (NKJV)

I would say - yes! Most of the things I allowed myself worry over never came about! Where I leaned on God, my trust was well-placed.

What ‘heat’ are you in right now? What would be your ‘year of drought’? I encourage you to stop worrying and trying to figure it all out. Instead, trust in the Lord. Of coursed you do need to do the next thing. But you also need to wait for Him to work. Sometimes that will mean seizing the opportunity (like showing someone what’s left of the furniture even as the movers are there; he ended up buying the TV stand right on the spot). Sometimes it will mean waiting (like just not feeling ‘right’ about giving the apartment key -- when he asked -- to one of mum’s neighbors to show the appliances to perspective buyers. It turns out we didn’t need buyers; my brother took each and every one!)

Often during this time I felt this project was out of my control. Often I had to lecture myself with reminders of Who was. But the end result has been a crop of peace and the feeling of a job well. That’s a way better than high blood pressure, a stomach-full of ulcers, and a legacy of broken relationships because of my up-tightness.

do you know Him?

You will fall in wonder, awe and love all over again. "That's My King!" (click to watch preview - 3:32)

(toque-tip: Julie in Salmon Arm)

whys and wherefores of poetry

So, are we carnivalled out yet?! I hope not. Because this happens to also be the day the newest poetry carnival gets posted.

The 6th Poetry Carnival: Ars Poetica explores, in poetry,

What is a poem? Why do we write? As poets, what is the experience -- the process -- of writing, and how is it different from the experience of having finally written?

Thank you, Trebuchet, for hosting!

november fiction celebration

Window Shopping Edition

Welcome to November’s Celebration of the New Christian Fiction - Window Shopping Edition (aka - the Writer’s Craft Fair).

Let me take your coat. Enjoy the Christmas decorations, and the carols musaking in the background.* The barista will stir up your favorite beverage.

Now go, browse the variety of offerings. I just know you’re going to find something irresistible to add to your Christmas list - or to the list of your favorite writer-friend.

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Chris Well (in his CCM Magazine Blog) interviews Eric Wilson, author of Dark to Mortal Eyes (WaterBrook Press), the first in a series of suspense novels exploring the five senses. Eric's title alone has more layers than deep-dish lasagna!

(Pssst - check out the link to Chris’s own newly published novel at the bottom of the post!)

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"What’s so great about a toolbox is, it’s never too full," Linda at Lindaruth’s Spot tells us (good line to remember next time someone remarks about too many writing books!). She displays a tempting array in "Writing is a craft so you need tools."

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Here’s the quiz question from teacher/writer San (Aspire2 Blog): Who said "Writing is the hardest way of earning a living–with the possible exception of wrestling alligators"? Find the answer plus a gift-basket of writing resources in "Holiday Gift Ideas for Writers."

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If Pat of Deep POV: Confessions of a Christian Writer were marooned on a desert island, what would be her second choice of a book to take with her? Find out in "A Writing Book Recommendation."

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Elleann at Blogfish is sure she’s discovered a winner of a book and lets us in on the secret in "Tell me a Story!" (Hmmm - I’m getting a sense of what might be on my Christmas list!)

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Melanie at My Writing Adventure has her table strewn with some "Irresistible Fiction." Yum!

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Dee at Christian Fiction gives us an in-store demo in her post "Halo’s Eve Tip #1 - Need the Hook-up." I was intrigued by the route she took to come to the conclusion: "...writing simple is very hard."

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Paula at GraceReign slips several tips (e.g....if you are trying to discern where to spend your writing dollars, don't forget Christian writer's conferences) like gift certificates, into her recommended basket of goodies on display at "Writer Resources."

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Kathleen at Reading, Writing and...What Else is There? has found her dream mentor. She's spreading the word in "From Where You Dream."

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Finally, visit my own little stall (promptings) in the food court for menu tips on "a balanced diet for christian writers."

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Oh dear, here comes Marcia - looking a little disheveled and frazzled for being late and all, but loaded with goodies for her very own booth of "Writer’s Resources." No problem. Welcome to the fun. (In all the excitement she forgot to tell us how to get that last little item on her list, though. It’s here.)

Happy shopping everyone!!

* To keep the music playing in the background, click on the link to launch the song, then open this page again in a new browser. When music stops playing, click the > to begin the song again.

a balanced diet for christian writers

(My 'craft table' for the November Window Shopping edition of "Celebration of the New Christian Fiction" blog carnival.)

Bread and Wine

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald (and Binnie) Chambers

Next to the Bible, this little devotional by Oswald Chambers (and painstakingly compiled by his wife Binnie after his death) has done more in the last few years to shape my outlook as a Christian than any other book. Interestingly, I discovered it through fiction – Jan Karon’s Mitford books, where you’ll recall Pastor Tim often quotes from O.C.

The meditations characteristically take a view which runs counter to the popular wisdom of how to succeed – in life and as a writer. In that vein, however, they ring true to Kingdom of God principles (‘The great reversal" Eugene Peterson calls them in The Message). As a result this little book has rocked my world more than once as it has put me face to face with the fact that success by the world's standards (in whatever my chosen field of endeavor) holds no weight with God. Highly recommended for daily consumption.

(Note: I see there is an "Updated version in today’s language" available. I’d say nix on that! Chambers’ interesting use of language is one of the things that makes this book so appealing.)

Comfort Food

Beyond the Words by Bonni Goldberg

This is my current favorite book in the "hold my writer’s hand" category ('Bird by Bird,' 'Page After Page,' 'Writing Down the Bones' would be similar). Ms. Goldberg has spent a lot of time teaching writers. In this book she shares what she’s learned on her own writing journey as well as what she’s discovered from helping others. The result is an intuitive and sympathetic read.

Her thesis is that there are three facets of the writing process, beyond the physical act of putting words on paper or monitor, which must be in balance for the creative process to have free flow. These are percolation, revision and going public.

I found the first section on percolation especially encouraging. It put into words what I have often felt – that something was happening on my current writing project even when I wasn’t physically at my desk. In this section of eight chapters Ms. Goldberg brings out, among other things, the necessity for balance in the activities of living (vs. being permanently glued to one’s task chair), the value of input from books and other media, and the importance of being aware of one’s own creative processes. She suggests strategies to aid percolation and advises giving onself permission to take the time needed to let ideas grow organically.

Editing is one of my favorite activities, so there weren’t as many "aha" moments for me in the six-chapter "Revision" section. But again in the final "Going Public" six chapters of the book, I felt understood as I rarely had before. Here Goldman discusses reasons for and against going public with writing. She uncovers the dangers of going public too soon and shows how unmet expectations may be the cause of feeling blocked. She exposes the folly of hoping to get emotional needs met by the responses (to our writing) of others and, conversely, the sometimes-ignored fact that writing kept only to oneself is also self-defeating.

Each chapter ends with a section called "Practice" which includes a variety of exercises, both writing and physical (the latter seemed yoga-ish to me and some were a bit off-the-wall).

All in all, this book helped me understand the inner machinations of my writing self. I’d recommend it to writers of any genre, with any amount of writing experience.

Creativity Candy

Story Spinner

This hand-held gadget promises to activate the creative juices of writers, artists, actors and storytellers alike. It’s a sturdy cardboard circle thing with, on one side recipes (e.g. "Whine and Cheese": 1 Starter, 6 Words. Complain to your heart’s content about something) and on the other, three circles with slits that dial up to‘words,’ ‘starters,’ and ‘settings.’

Here are the instructions on the spinner:
1. Get a scrap of paper, watch and writing tool.
2. Dial up a recipe.
3. Turn the 3 wheels on the flip side to reveal the ingredients for your stories.
4. Set the timer for 10 minutes...create your story.

I’ve had mine for a while (....and haven’t actually used it – gulp). But I will, I will – as soon as I find a few minutes to play!

...let's not forget

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians customarily observe 2 minutes of silence to reflect on our freedom and the men and women who sacrificed so we could have it.

Here is a story about that day.

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s "two minutes of silence" initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the "two minutes of silence" to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, "A Pittance of Time". Terry later recorded "A Pittance of Time" and included it on his full-length music CD, "The Power of the Dream".

Read more...

Watch video - "A Pittance of Time" (click on ‘Video’)

Thank you, Terry, for reminding us in this poignant way of the meaning of this day, and that we need to keep the torch of gratitude burning.

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Who is Terry Kelly?

A native of Newfoundland, in 1979 Terry Kelly won two silver medals in the Canadian Track Championships and was a member of the Canadian track team that competed in the 1980 Paralympics. He is the third blind person in the world to run the mile in under 5 minutes.

He is a musician and has recorded five CDs. His project "The Power of the Dream" "is the first commercially-produced music CD in the world that includes Braille on the liner notes and is packaged so that the entire text contents can be accessed by the blind, the visually impaired and sighted alike from the enhanced CD."

In 2000 he was presented the King Clancy Award and in 2003 he was appointed by then- Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to the Order of Canada.

love of fare

A post pulled out of the January 2005 archives especially for the 6th poetry carnival.

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I realized I loved poetry again a few years ago (the first time was way back in high school, where Mr. Willems made Wordsworth and Shelley come alive). I needed some venue for expressing those metaphors that would suddenly present themselves as perfect comparisons of what I was experiencing, those lines that would inexplicably pop into my head.

I made my first foray into writing free verse poems while reading Writing Personal Poetry by Sheila Bender. It put me on the road to a rewarding and exciting relationship. Since then I’ve written scores of poems, collected binder-fulls by others and increased my collection of poetry books from a mere handful to close to 100 (counting all the slim chapbooks with just a few poems in them - but that too proves my still-novice status, as some of my mentors own whole bookshelf-fulls of poetry books).

One of the most growing things I did as a poet was become a member of a loosely organized poetry community. Utmost Christian Writers came online in November 2003, and when web master Nathan Harms set up a forum, I was one of its first members. There we post our work for comment and critique - and do lots of other chatting too of course. Being a part of that community has done more to keep my interest in and love for poetry alive than anything else.

"Love of Fare" came about through interaction on the forum. One day one of the members posted a poem in which the speaker was using food as a substitute for love. She wasn’t happy with the title she’d chosen and asked for suggestions. In jest I suggested "Love of Fare." One of the other forum members let out a hoot (virtual of course) and asked whether he could write a poem using that as a starting point. Of course I gave permission, but then thought, why don’t I take up that challenge too. Here is the poem that resulted. It still expresses pretty closely my relationship with poetry.

LOVE OF FARE

At the poetry fair
verbiage fills the air
as I sample each poet’s concoction

Haiku-rich canapes
free-form salads, parfaits
of thick verse, sonnets baked to perfection

Wine of symbol and sound
liqueur lyrics abound
I’m becoming an addict of diction

Till I stumble around
very drunk on profound
poems that make my head spin in confusion

But wait, here is a booth
of poetic uncouth
Out of place at this fair, my objection

Then I look at the name
and find mine is the same
it’s my very own poetry section

So where are the trays
and the tasty displays
piping hot and fresh-baked for consumption?

What seemed clever and bold
now tastes cliché and cold
bland and lacking in wise introspection

As I’ve wandered this fair
I have gained, tasting here
a fine palate of discrimination

Now to retain my space
in this prestigious place
I’d best spend some more time in the kitchen

- V. Nesdoly

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(By the way, I have my own poetry chapbook for sale. Check out Calendar here.)

book review: Bless the Lord

Book: Bless the Lord - The 103rd Psalm
Illustrator: Johannah Bluedorn
Genre: Children’s picture book
ISBN: 1-933228-02-4

Bless The Lord is a visual feast!

In this 32-page hardcover book, Johanna Bluedorn illustrates each line of the 103rd Psalm (King James Version) with original watercolor paintings - thirty in total. The illustration style reminds me of Victoriana with its attention to detail, its use of borders and its decorative touches. But the picture themes are country – home, community and rural scenes, vibrantly depicted against rich backgrounds of brown, blue, green, purple and yellow. The text is set in calligraphy. The book ends with Psalm 103 in song – four pages of music composed by the artist’s father Harvey Bluedorn*.

What I especially like about this book is the way the illustrations expand on the text. These are the kinds of pictures adults and kids alike would enjoy studying – with their ‘find Waldo"-esque type of detail – opening the door to all kinds of discussion possibilities when the book is shared with a child.

The 11 x 8½ -inch pages are printed on sturdy paper – a good thing too, because most copies will probably get lots of use. I also like the fact that the book doesn’t have a dust jacket. Instead the title graphic is superimposed on a collage of four scenes reproduced from inside the book, with another four on the back. The volume is thus not fussy to handle and is handsome enough to sit on any coffee table. My only regret – I don’t have any wee ones around the house right now with whom to share this book’s delights.

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* Find out more about the Bluedorn family here.

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Disclaimer: The book Bless the Lord was sent to me by Mind & Media as a gift from the publisher who donated the books for reviewers.

watchwoman

I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem
They shall never hold their peace day or night
You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent
And give Him no rest till He establishes
And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Isaiah 62:6,7

When I came to Isaiah 62 in my quiet time reading a few days ago, I also read the sidebar commentary. In a little piece called "Watchfulness and Restlessness: The True Spirit of Prayer" I found a tidy summary of what watchmen are:

They: 1] "...are positioned high on the walls, prayerfully focused... on activities in the city, among nations as well as developments in heaven itself;" 2] (Are) Alert to the character and ways of God, they review His promises which are unfolding both for Jerusalem and for the nations..." and 3] They take stock with a spirit of urgent restlessness, refusing to keep silent before God."

Something inside me jumped in recognition when I read this – and somehow I thought I was doing it all wrong because I often don’t feel that placid peacefulness after prayer that I expect I should; instead, it’s a continuous restlessness.

It’s waking up in the middle of the night and ringing up God: Don’t forget my son, and keep Your hand on my mother and touch my sister.

It’s banging on His door throughout the day and firing off emails any time day or night: I need to talk to You about my friend who has cancer. What’s happening between you and the neighbors? And then there’s my country...I’m seeing a lot of things that concern me – and also in my city.

It’s being high maintenance and knowing He doesn’t mind – like calling up a spouse 50 times a day to talk over whatever is on my mind at the moment.

It’s the feeling of well-being when someone says, "Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that...", and settling down, only to realize a minute later, I forgot to mention....and getting on the phone again.

the martha in me

...did I ever post this poem in my blog? I can't remember. But just now I read ragamuffin diva - where she talks in her most eloquet prose of this exact same thing.

So, here's my version:

The Martha In Me

She (Martha) had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Luke 10:39,40a

Too often Martha takes charge --
I schedule service with conditions
workboots clomp on everything
threatening my control
I curse the one who's late
ignore the longing in my daughter's eyes to chat
dismiss the women with Watchtower at my door --
not aware I've stamped out
embers of His presence

--while Mary sits confined to a corner of my heart
shaking her head in sadness and disbelief:
Girl, when will you learn
to serve Him you must first
let Him serve you.
You will not hear His zephyr voice
above the drumbeat of agenda
motion's clatter or ambition's roar
Open yourself to interruption, serendipity
stillness. Be flexible, available
to sit down or jump up
at His impractical bidding.

--V. Nesdoly 2003


...now go read ragamuffin!

how much is your blog worth?

My blog is worth $23,146.14.
How much is your blog worth?

Hat tip: two and two makes five

fiction celebration - window shopping edition

If you love fiction (reading or writing it), here is your invitation to participate in the next Celebration of the New Christian Fiction Carnival. It will be hosted right here at promptings on Tuesday, November 15th.

With Christmas just around the corner, my thought was that November would be a good month to put the spotlight on books or software that you'd recommend to fellow readers or writers. Tell us about fiction you've found irresistible, or software and how-to books that have led you to the next level in creating such irresistible fiction.

In other words, the November Fiction Celebration will be a fictional craft fair and a place to do a little window shopping, in time to get someone else's favorite on your Christmas list -- and hopefully find it under your tree Christmas day!

Of course posts of or about fiction unrelated to the suggestion above are always more than welcome as well!

To enter, email the following:

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- Name of blog
- URL of blog
- title and URL of the post you're submitting

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to me by Sunday November 13th.

life's little trials

The movers arrived at 9:10 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The load-up was uneventful and we arrived noonish at Mum’s new home about 5 minutes before the truck did. The unload also went smoothly -- until we noticed the bedrail was missing (this is an extra we bought at the medical supply store, not easy to miss and which we'd left on top of her bed in preparation for the movers to load). The mover boys combed the truck, neither remembered seeing it and so we dropped the matter thinking it must have inadvertently been left in the apartment.

About three hours later while helping Mum unpack, I realized the seat cushion for the La-Z-Boy was also missing. We actually saw the movers take this out of the apartment so knew we wouldn’t find it there.

In due course we phoned the moving company about both things and the very personable lady who answers the phone said she'd have more on this the next morning after she’d seen the movers’ filed report. I must admit, though, that after they’d searched the truck twice to find the bedrail when we first discovered it was missing, and it still hadn’t turned up after later after they delivered a few more pieces of furniture to our house, I wasn’t optimistic.

Now we did have insurance so I knew that the cost of replacing the things would be at least partly covered by the movers. The bedrail would be easy to replace - just go to the medical supply store and get a new one. The cushion was another thing altogether. How do you replace a cushion that is upholstered in the exact same fabric as the rest of the chair?

Tuesday night, tired as I was, I had a hard time sleeping. As I lay staring into the dark, my annoyance over those missing things grew and I struggled with resentment, anger and assigning blame.

I also realized that this felt like a bit of a test. It seemed like a test of whether I actually would live out what I say I believe about things like "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God..." (Romans 8:28). So all night when negative thoughts started burning inside me again, I splashed the cold water of praise and thanksgiving on them..."God I know You're in this. I praise You that nothing is out of your control and that You know exactly where those lost things are. If there is some reason why we would need to replace these things, I accept that. If not, I call them back..."

Early Wednesday morning in my devotions, I came to the passage: "It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer; While they are still speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24). I hugged that to myself as I went into the day.

As I expected, a call to the movers didn’t turn up anything. I was out doing some errands later when the cell phone rang. It was Ernie calling to say he'd phoned the caretaker in Mum's old building and indeed the two items had been left in the foyer! The caretaker had rescued them, not knowing whose they were and would now put them back in mum's apartment for us to pick up. Nice ending!

But alas, I think I’m being tested on trusting God in the not-so-nice things again. I came home from unpacking at Mum's Tuesday night with a sore left arm, which has blossomed into a case of exquisitely painful bursitis of the shoulder. (And this just before a busy weekend and with still a lot of cleaning to do in the old apartment...) I know – I don’t have to, neither will I ever figure out the whys and wherefores of all these little trials of life. For tonight, though, I have a perfect excuse to indulge in a quiet evening at home.

Meanwhile Mum seems to be settling into her new home quite nicely. Tomorrow we’re doing stuff like going to the bank, changing her address at the post office and shopping for a small table.

booo!

According to an article in today’s Writer’s Almanac,

Halloween:

f is the second most popular holiday of the year in the U.S. after Christmas.

j was first a New Year’s Eve celebration, kept by the Celtic people of Northeast Europe.

d became known as All Hallows Eve after Pope Gregory III (8th Century A.D.) made November 1st All Saint’s Day.

k was first brought to the U.S. by Irish Catholics when they immigrated, after the potato famine in the 1840s.

l was first referred to in connection with children going door to door for candy in The Ladies’ Home Journal, 1920.

p finds 92% of U.S. children trick-or-treating by 1999.

I’m just wondering how many adults now take part. In the past few years I’ve noticed a great many more people in costume, in businesses, restaurants etc. And last year some rather large ‘kids’ joined the approximately 100 wee ones who came to our door for their treat!

This year we’re handing out Skittles, Jujubes and Halloween suckers (a sort of molasses toffee which makes my teeth ache) – stuff of which I’m not overly fond, and if left over, we can stuff in the Christmas boxes to orphans that go overseas (vs. chocolate - which I love and is verboten for those boxes).

poetry carnival

is UP! Thank you, Erin, at poetic acceptance.

the arc of a life

Closet after closet, cupboard after cupboard, box after box we’ve been tackling Mum’s apartment. We’ve spent many days there, along with helpful siblings. My sis from South Surrey has helped and another came all the way from Fort St. John with her husband in their farm pickup truck. While there last week, we took a whole truck box-full of stuff to MCC, a 60s style stereo set (serious piece of wood furniture) to Value Village and they left with another truck box-full of stuff – chairs, patio furniture, a vintage Singer sewing machine (in its own wood cabinet of course), a tall wood cabinet, a dresser etc. It was a huge help!

By Monday it felt as if we’d finally made progress. I took down all the pictures, emptied stuff still left in some drawers and closets, tidied up the ends. Yesterday we spent the day boxing things like the Tiffany lamp, the microwave and kettle, taping up boxes already packed etc. etc. (when I write it down, it sounds so insignificant, yet somehow we managed to spend hours, busy the whole time – thus the ‘etc.s’). We’ll go again on Monday, the day before the actual move, to make sure that all the boxes and furniture to be moved are labeled, the diningroom table is taken apart, and generally I’m sure we’ll fill up many hours again with "etc."

Of course, after the move, the work isn’t done. Then we need to help Mum unpack in her new place as well as tie up loose ends in the Abby apartment (which we have for one more month). There is furniture for another brother from out of town to take and we’re hoping he comes with a BIIIIG truck so he can take the furniture plus all the boxes we’ve packed for siblings in Saskatchewan. When that stuff is cleared out, we dispose of what’s left (some appliances, more furniture and a lot of kitchen stuff) as best we know how – MCC, here we come - again!

A couple of things I’ve learned through this time:

1. I think now would a good time for me to start going through my own possessions, while my internal junk-meter is still finely tuned.

2. Going through the process of evaluating the detritus of one person’s lifetime has made me more keenly aware than ever of the arc of a life. I’ve handled, in the past days, stuff from every stage of mum’s life – her childhood, youth, falling in love and marrying a man she still adores, busy motherhood days on the farm, Daddy’s death when she was only 61, the ensuing 30 years spent as a single again, filled with hobbies, travel, friends and service....

I’ve seen how wrenching it has been for her to be forced to relinquish treasures – because things are never just glass, ceramic, paper, cloth. To the one who has lived with them, they embody pieces of oneself.

She has tried to leave each child, grandchild and great-grandchild something of herself. This is hard when the recipients aren’t there to pick a thing they would find significant, and those of us who are there demur when she offers us this thing or that, as we work out in our own minds, where it will fit in our own mess of stuff.

This moving business has brought home to me more forcefully than ever:

- Things don’t last or retain their value.

- Some things have value not for the final produce but because of what the process of getting to the final product does for us. For example, Mum used to collect poems and clever sayings and compile them into scrapbooks. I’m not sure what happened to those scrapbooks, but I know I didn’t want them and I’m not sure if anyone did. But that doesn’t mean the effort expended in putting them together was wasted. Because in the process of doing it, Mum was blessed, fulfilled and nurtured in some way and that too has value.

- We come into this world with nothing; we leave with nothing. In between we may amass houses and apartments, dish sets, furniture sets, closets full of clothes, and cupboards full of appliances, tools and books. But each stage after mid-life demands a paring down till we get to the point of next-to-nothing again.

- If all this stuff doesn’t last, if no one wants the things that we feel embody our significance (the crafts we’ve made, teacups and spoons we’ve collected, diaries, journals and books we’ve written, or whatever), does that mean we’re cancelled out?

Of course not. Our significance, in the end, is wrapped up in the mark we leave on lives. In that department, Mum can be pared down to nothing yet the impact she’s made with her values, her creative way of looking at life, her positive attitude and the set of beliefs by which she’s lived will reverberate in the lives of her dozens and dozens of friends and through the generations of her family. I hope that someday the same thing can be said about me.

you can't believe your eyes...

take a look!

poetry carnival!

...it's coming, on October 30th, hosted by Poetic-Acceptance.

Enter something (but hurry - deadline is October 29th at noon)! Entry instructions are here.

hat tip: Catez

Langley Woods

Langley Woods

Peacock ferns Eden-lush
draw us into the dim, cedar-canopied wood.
Uprooted trunks sprawl, branches arc,
snapped limbs leap in frozen pirouettes.
Slim apparitions forever grope, reach, grasp
a menagerie of many appendaged moon monsters
sculpted from dripping filigree
and moss macrame.

Victim of the spell
in mother's warning
If you frown like that
your face will stay that way!
the forest's pose is fixed.

But time has softened the arboreal grimace
muffled the keening of the wind
with hangings of verdant chenille,
knitted blankets, sweaters
hats and gloves of lime angora
for the slumbering
arms, stumps and claws.

c. Violet Nesdoly 2004

blog success? come out of the fog

I have come late, as usual, to an interesting blogosphere discussion.

This one on Catez's blog Allthings2all is on whether one’s blog is successful or not. It specifically asked for comments addressing "What is a successful blog?" and "Are you a successful blogger?"
As is often the case, I left the site (after reading the post and all 28 comments) thinking pretty much everything had been said on the matter. Later though, I realized something was bothering me; something was missing from that discussion. Let me try to tell you what I think it is.

Let’s start by looking at the word ‘success.’ Success is defined "a favorable or desired outcome of something attempted." Successful is: "obtaining what one desires or intends." Both of these definitions contain the idea of something attempted, desired, intended. Implicit in the concept of ‘success,’ then, is aiming at something, attempting to reach a target, intending to realize a purpose.

You can apply this component of what successful means when evaluating your blog and yourself as a blogger. Here’s how in three steps:

1. Start by listing your purpose or purposes for blogging. You may have one or many.

Here, for example, are some common purposes:
- To keep in touch with family.
- To share the good news of Jesus with people who have no Judeo-Christian background.
- To converse with colleagues in an area of interest (e.g. homeschooling, writing, photography, theology etc.)
- To provide a Christian perspective to world events.

And of course, once you get involved in the blogosphere, you probably very quickly realize that in order to achieve any or all of the above, you also want to
- Increase traffic to your blog.

2. Now in order to achieve these purposes, you need to set goals for each purpose you have listed.

What are goals? Dr. Mark Lee, in an old book I pulled off my bookshelf ('How to Set Goals'), describes two main differences between goals and purposes:
i] A goal is a specific action, whereas a purpose is not.
ii] A goal is a measurable action, whereas a purpose is general.

With these two criteria in mind, here are some goals you could set, for example, to realize the purpose of keeping in touch with family:
i] Put up a weekly post about something related to the family.
ii]. Email family members immediately after posting, alerting them to the update and giving them the post url.
iii] Immediately change your email signature to include your blog URL and always use it in family emails.

Now go through the same goal-setting process with each of your purposes – making sure each goal is specific and measurable.

3. Evaluate. Set up a time frame in which you will evaluate whether or not you have lived up to your goals. Dr. Lee says: "A time frame is the clearest factor in measuring success or failure in goals."

For the keeping-in-touch-with-family purpose, after six months of blogging, say, you can go back into your blog archives and see - did you, in fact, post something family-related once weekly. The email to family thing is something you could note at the time you send the emails - if you’re serious about this, and whether or not your email signature includes your blog URL is easy to check.

If you have five blogging purposes and after your six-month evaluation you see you’ve achieved the goals you listed in all bit one of them, there’s nothing foggy or touchy-feely about it – your blog and you are 80% successful.

anne tyler

Happy Birthday!

Hat tip to my daily edition of The Writer’s Almanac, which informs me that today is her 64th.

Tyler is one of my favorite writers. She is a master (or would that be ‘mistress’?) of description, especially of people. Two books of hers I own are The Accidental Tourist and Saint Maybe. I've also read Ladder of Years.

I was surprised to read "...she grew up in a series of utopian Quaker communes, where she was home schooled and isolated from the modern world....She first attended public school at the age of 11 (that would be in 1952), and her classmates were amazed that she’d never used a phone. "

The brief bio goes on to say of the present-day Tyler: "...she decided she didn’t want to be a public person. She never goes on book tours or speaks on talk shows, and if she answers any questions form journalists, she only does so in writing."

Also quoted is the beginning paragraph of her novel Back When We Were Grownups:

"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. She was fifty-three years old by then—a grandmother. Wide and soft and dimpled, with two short wings of dry, fair hair flaring almost horizontally from a center part. Laugh lines at the corners of her eyes. A loose and colorful style of dress edging dangerously close to Bag Lady. Give her credit. Most people her age would say it was too late to make any changes."

I’ve not read this one, but I think I want to!

party on!

A short item on the news tonight grabbed my attention. Apparently there’s a new brand of tools out there, designed just for women and being marketed through – you guessed it – parties!!

So if you’ve joined the trend of do-it-yourself women, if you’ve lately fantasized about owning your very own plumbing kit, drywall kit or drill bit set (in beautiful colors, ergonomically designed to fit your smaller hands with lots of rubber grip to assist in ‘torque’ -- and I'll bet to guard against breaking a nail), or if it’s simply a matter of your friends being maxed out in the Tupperware, Mary Kay, Party Lites, Pampered Chef etc. department, check out Tomboy Tools.

Of course, I wouldn’t know much about home renovation – judging by these words. Neither would my husband, judging by the trickling toilet tank and the bathroom faucet that’s been leaking now for about a year. So I’m thinking the description of what they do at these parties (besides pushing tools) – "learn drywall and plaster repair, leaky faucet and toilet repair"– sounds pretty good. Hmm, I wonder if the hostess earns bonus credits when she's the one providing that leaky faucet and toilet for demonstration? (But then, what would I do with those credits anyway!)

six home remedies?!

1. If you are choking on an ice cube, don't panic. Simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat and presto. The blockage will be almost instantly removed.

2. Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

3. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.

4. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

5. Have a bad toothache? Smash your thumb with a hammer and you will forget about the toothache.

6. For life, only two tools are needed: WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

(Hat tip: sis-in-law Marilyn for these useful hints.)

chewing on the news

Do you have sense of things on our planet getting increasingly worse? I don’t believe this is just my imagination. In fact Wednesday night on the 6:00 o’clock news (Global version) a sidebar feature they call ‘insight’ was exactly on this topic.

I was not surprised when they explored it by talking to several ‘experts’ - a woman from the Suzuki foundation, a professor from some university. They blamed the usual things: global warming, the fragility of the planet, the imprint of humanity, and how we need to smarten up and change our ways before it’s too late.

Of course, if one studies the science of it, there is a sense in which some of the natural disasters – the hurricanes and tropical storms for example – can be laid at the feet environmental conditions arising (perhaps) out of man’s activity, and resulting in things like global warming. (I have not studied this, just hear the rhetoric of both sides and know that in the popular media, the theory of global warming is definitely winning.)

As a student of the Bible, however, I see this acceleration of cataclysmic events (which includes natural disasters which man’s activity is less likely to precipitate – like earthquakes) in an entirely different way. It is predicted: "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place; All this is but the beginning – the early pains of the birth pangs – of the intolerable anguish." (Matthew 24:7,8 Amplified).

Which leaves me with a sense of urgency. I have the feeling that the days of living life as I’ve known it, are numbered. I need to be aware of not wasting time. Of not being lulled into indifference or false security because, at this time, my world hasn’t been rocked by an earthquake swept away by a storm surge, or shriveled up in drought.

So keeping in mind this urgency, what, if anything, do I do differently? Here are a few things that come to mind:

1. I need to live with an awareness of the times I’m in, so that I am not surprised or taken off guard by what is happening and will accelerate in the days ahead. I need to expect the times I’m living in to impact me – if not in a natural disaster way, in a societal way.

The Bible tells me that believing in God, Jesus, the words of the Bible will become increasingly unpopular: "Then they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake...etc. (Matthew 24: 9 and following).

2. I need to live with the awareness that my days on earth are limited. A corollary of that is that I want to maximize the days I have left. In that department, it’s important I have right priorities.

And how do I get right priorities?

One way, I believe, is to make it my mission to discover why I was put on earth and then live that destiny. This thread – of discovering my destiny – has run through much of my life and is perhaps why I chose as my life verse for 2005, Ephesians 2:10: "For we are God’s own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned before hand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time – living the good life which He pre-arranged and made ready for us to live" (Amplified).

I translate the discovering and living of my destiny into shoe leather in several ways:

- I tell God my intention and trust Him to guide me. Here’s a fabulous verse that explains how that can happen: "Roll your works upon the Lord – commit and trust them wholly to Him; [He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will and] so shall your plans be established and succeed." Proverbs 16:3 Amplified.

- As the above verse implies, I may have as part of the ‘works’ that I roll upon God, thoughts which include goals, plans, and strategies. I don’t, after all, live mindlessly, waiting for life to happen to me. But I do constantly remind myself to hang onto those things – those agendas – loosely, ready at a moment’s notice to relinquish what I’d planned, to be as resilient as Philip, who obeyed when "...an angel of the Lord said, 'Go south to the road...'" and after he’d completed his assignment of bringing the message of Jesus to the Ethiopian traveler, found himself ‘suddenly taken away’ (Acts 8:26-40).

first blogaversary

Today is my first blogaversary!

Other FIRSTS:
- blog read regularly (before I ever started my blog): The Master’s Artist
- post: about meeting author Jim Coggins at the Fraser Valley Writers Group.
- comment: from John the Stepdad (thanks John! That was such an encouragement.)
- comment from a celebrity - just a few days ago by Bob Bennett (the actual singer-songwriter) on this post. Moral of the story: Always be nice: you never know when your words will come back to bite you!
- Christian carnival entry: "gay nutials: what WOULD Jesus do?"
- trackback - from Dory at Wittenberg Gate (I wasn’t even sure, at the time, what a trackback was!) Thanks Dory!
- most popular picture (like a shrine, it gets visited several times a month – and I wonder by whom, and why...).

post FAVORITES:
- the night my daughter got engaged
- her wedding (1,2)
- our travels this summer (sidebar)

DISCOVERIES in one year of blogging...

About writing a blog:
- it’s a different kind of writing than, say, writing an article for print.
- shorter is usually better (yeah, and will I ever learn?!)
- I really appreciate comments and try to respond to them.
- it’s often still scary to me, even after writing 400+ posts.

About reading others’ blogs:
- There are a lot of really good writers out there.
- Each wonderful blog listed in my blogroll resonates with me in some way (I’d say blogging is at least 80% about voice – too many great voices out there to read them all). Reading blogs is a lot like eating food: on any particular day read what I’m ‘hungry’ for.
- I couldn’t care less if you don’t reciprocate and put me on your sidebar just because you’re on mine. (I understand: It’s not personal, it’s blogging!)
- My blogroll is usually not up-to-date.
- I don’t have time to read blogs every day.

Regrets:
- that I don’t write more about God and my faith. Some of the blogs I read do that and I find myself attracted to them. I’ve thought of giving my blog more of a devotional theme (but I'm too much of a fan of miscellany) or adding a little spiritual tack-on to each post (but though I appreciate when others do that, for me it would feel phony).

So if you haven't picked it up, I want you to know - my relationship with God is the sun around which my life revolves. It is such an integral part of me that perhaps I take it for granted (like my relationship to my husband – which I don’t often talk about but which is foundational to my life and well-being). Also, it is deeply personal and at times I sense myself cringing away from putting it on public display.

However, if there is one thing I want to be aware of in the days of blogging ahead, it is to not squander the opportunity of my blog being a part of obeying my Master’s last words on earth.

story time!

October's Celebration of Christian Fiction Carnival is up at Christian Fiction Blog - a well-laid-out buffet of twenty-five eight stories in all. Check it out!

book review Challenge the Wilderness

Challenge the Wilderness
by George Tomlinson with Judith Young
Published by Northwest Wilderness Books, Seattle Washington, 1993
Hardcover, 504 pages.

When 25-year-old Dr. Robert Tomlinson arrived in Victoria from Ireland in 1867, he was eager to go on to his final destination, Metlakatla, B.C. But the barge had just left and so, forced to stay in Victoria, he made good use of the weeks he was delayed by falling in love with 17-year-old Alice Woods. Thus began the story of Robert and Alice Tomlinson, pioneer missionaries (and the author’s grandparents).

Told from the point of view of Robert Tomlinson Jr., the oldest son of Robert and Alice (the author’s father), the project was conceived by the author’s mother Roxie. After her husband died she made it her mission to get her hands on and organize the reel tapes, documents, letters, journals and diaries so that the Tomlinsons’ story wouldn’t die.

The book relates incident after incident about the brave, dedicated and hardworking couple Alice and Robert, and their children, with a special focus on Robert Jr. From the canoe trip Dr. Tomlinson made from Kincolith to Victoria to claim his bride a year after they met, to the family’s several moves – from Kincolith, to Kispiox, to Metlakatla, to Meanskinisht (now Cedarvale), and finally to Metlakatla Alaska with other short sorjourns in between – there is never a dull moment.

Having just traveled this rugged country myself this summer, I shuddered at the picture in the book of the primitive suspension bridge, looking like untidily tied together toothpicks, over the Hagwilget Canyon. I understood perfectly when I read that Alice negotiated it on hands and knees. I marveled at the family’s commitment to spread the Gospel, their hardiness as they braved mountain terrain and treacherous rivers when moving from place to another, and their ingenuity and resourcefulness as they carved homes out of the wilderness and in the process built businesses like fish canneries and sawmills to benefit themselves and the natives. I was often amazed at the doctor’s generosity and wisdom. He never charged for his medical help and handled difficult situations with fairness and respect for others. For example at one time when the government surveyors were coming around prior to establishing reserves, Dr. Tomlinson, opposed to that idea, bought up a huge tract of land. He leased it to the natives and when he died, they bought it back for the cost of another survey.

As well as being a fascinating tale of pioneer living in the Canadian northwest, there is also a bonus human interest element provided by one of the Tomlinsons’ friends, the fiery Metlakatla missionary William Duncan. At one point, after Mr. Duncan had a falling out with his church authorities, Dr. Robert and Robert Jr. helped move almost an entire village from Metlakatla B.C. to Metlakatla Alaska in canoes over open ocean.

Not only does Challenge the Wilderness end up being an amazing family saga, but the manner in which it is told, often using fiction techniques, makes it a compelling read.

People who are familiar with the area of northwestern B.C. (from Prince Rupert to Hazelton) will be fascinated by this early history, as will those who have an interest in the aboriginal and wilderness way of life 100+ years ago. Good luck in finding the book, though. I read a borrowed copy (signed by the author no less) and I know its owner badly wants it back. I will consider myself blessed if I can someday find a copy I can call my own!

here is love

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Let me all Thy love accepting,
Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only
And my life be to Thy praise;
Thou alone shalt be my glory,
Nothing in the world I see.
Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me,
Thou Thyself hast set me free.

In Thy truth Thou dost direct me
By Thy Spirit through Thy Word;
And Thy grace my need is meeting,
As I trust in Thee, my Lord.
Of Thy fullness Thou art pouring
Thy great love and power on me,
Without measure, full and boundless,
Drawing out my heart to Thee.

Words: William Rees (1802-1883)
William Williams possibly wrote verses 3-4
Translated from Welsh to English by William Edwards (1848-1929) Baptist Book of Praise, 1900
Music by Robery Lowry (1826-1899)
*****************

We sang this hymn in church this morning. I was captivated by the lines: "And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice / Kissed a guilty world in love." Amen!

from slut to savior

The banging on the door below awoke her. Then it stopped and a minute later Nimra knocked and tiptoed in.

"Rahab," she whispered. "It is Achab. He wants – "

"Tell him ‘No,’" Rahab interrupted. Her eyes were still closed, but her voice was firm.

Her servant stood beside the bed. "Are you sick? What’s wrong? This is the third time he’s come."

"Just ‘No’!" Rahab said again. She buried her face in her pillow as she listened to Nimra’s footsteps patter down the stairs. Then she took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart. What was she doing - turning away her best customers? Yet since that day...

She got out of bed and began dressing. But in her mind she was far away, living those events yet again.

The two men had appeared at her door like any other travelers. But very quickly she’d realized they were different. "So who are you then, and where are you from?" she’d asked with a coquettish smile.

"From there," the younger one said, waving his hand eastward.

"Ammon? Moab?" she persisted.

But the other glared and slapped a hand over his mouth, as if motioning his partner to say no more. Then she knew. They were Hebrews, members of that fierce nomad tribe with the powerful god that she’d heard stories of all her life.

"Come upstairs," she said, and led them up to this room where she worked. But that afternoon, work was the farthest thing from her mind. For here at last were real flesh-and-blood members of the mysterious people of Yahweh.

How fitting that they should come to her, she thought, as they talked. She almost felt that Yahweh was her God too. For often, after a client had left, leaving her feeling empty and defiled, she would face what she was –– whore, prostitute, slut –– and in her unhappiness call out silently to the most powerful god that she knew: "Yahweh. Help!"

Guards at the door seeking those men had cut the conversation short. While Nimra went down, she’d hidden the men under piles of flax on the roof. After dark she’d helped them escape through the window, but not before they’d given her an amazing promise. For they were, she discovered, spies, who were doing a reconnaissance of Jericho before they came to attack. Because of her help, they told her they would save her and her family. All she had to do was hang a red cord from the window and make sure her whole family was together in her house.

She’d hung the red cord immediately though she hadn’t said anything to her family. If they saw the cord, they hadn’t asked about it, though she was sure they suspected something.

Weeks had passed. And though the city gates remained locked for fear of the Hebrew army –– nothing. As day followed silent day, she wondered, when would they come? Or would they even come at all?

Now as she put the final touches on her hair, she heard her mother talking to Nimra. A minute later her mother entered the room.

"Good morning, Rahab. You look beautiful. Busy today?"

‘No," Rahab said quietly.

"Rahab, is it true what I’ve heard? Are you sending away the officials and the king’s men?"

"Yes." Rahab looked down.

"Why? You have a talent with men. It’s your destiny. You can’t change what you are. A harlot is an old and honorable profession. And," her voice became pleading, "your father needs your money and influence to save our family."

Behind her mother’s words, Rahab heard other sounds - footsteps and faint, unearthly horns. Both went to the window.

Below them unfolded an unbelievable sight. Rows and rows of men marched by. Then came horn blowers, and the horn blasts grew deafening as they passed. Behind them were pairs of men with poles on their shoulders and sitting on the poles, a golden box. As the box moved, it caught sunlight and reflected blazing glory. "Yahweh." The name slipped from Rahab’s tongue as she looked at it, and then away from the blinding light.

Following the golden box were more marchers. As Rahab scanned their heads, one glanced up, first at the cord, then to the window. His gaze caught and held hers. It was one of the spies!

They have come, she thought, feeling pure and light and indescribably happy. She paused for a minute, then turned toward her mother. Now she would tell her family. They would be saved, but not by her harlotries.

**************
Read more about Rahab here.

**************
This flash fiction is an entry to October's Celebration of the New Christian Fiction blog carnival. Dee Stewart is hosting this month. Her challenge to participants this month was: "Since this is a celebration of New ChristianFiction, CF Blog would love to read a fiction excerpt from you or your favorite author--preferably you." I certainly wouldn't say, though, that I am my own favorite author.

promptings' potpourri

A thanksgiving story in four parts (1, 2, 3, 4), lived and told by this friend.

Go read it!!

more bible interpretation

A couple of days ago I posted (hmmmm), for readers’ comment, one of the Bible study principles on the e-lecture of a Bible Study writing course I’ve enrolled in. Here is the exact wording of the principle from the lecture:

There is only one interpretation yet many applications. Each part has one meaning. (See Hebrews 13:5. I may apply it to one situation and you might apply it in a different situation, but it says what it says.) Some reasons for differing interpretations: person has not done their homework; all people have bias and blind spots (it is good to study with others); some are strong observers, other are discerning interpreters, some need help with application. Also, unconfessed sin will cloud the person’s judgment.

Thanks to all who responded - your comments are much appreciated and helped me think this through.

One of the parts of the first assignment is an invitation to respond to these principles ("Do you disagree with any of these principles? If so, explain your thoughts."):

Here is what I handed in yesterday:

I struggle with this concept as it’s laid out here. On one hand, I agree with the explanatory statement: "It (the Bible) says what it says." I understand this to mean we take the words at face value and don’t attempt to twist them to say what we would like them to say.

And I also believe that in each bit of Scripture is contained something God is attempting to communicate to us. In that sense, then, when we study and interpret the Bible we come with the assumption that in any particular passage, the words are an expression of a particular truth in God’s heart – i.e. the passage has been given to say something to us from God and we are on a quest to find what that something is, that "one interpretation" — the right interpretation.

However, we are all finite and see things colored through a variety of lenses including different experience, training and level of obedience. This leads to a variety of interpretations for many reasons – including the negative things listed in the explanation ("person has not done their homework; all people have bias and blind spots," sin in the life, as well as people’s varying study strengths and ways of looking at things). However, to imply that a variant interpretation comes about simply because of some lack in the person who interprets differently is, I feel, dismissive of honest efforts to understand and interpret accurately.

One doesn’t have to look far to find varying interpretations among people who are known for their piety, scholarship and integrity. The meaning of the word "perfection"in 1 Corinthians 13:10 is a good example. The NIV Study Bible lists four possible interpretations – each with wide-ranging doctrinal ramifications. The writer of that commentary does, at the end of the list, tell us which interpretation he/she favors, but doesn’t criticize the other interpretations or imply the people who came up with them were biased, lazy or sinful.

I think as interpreters of the Bible, we need to do the very best we can to come up with the right interpretation. We do this by considering the context, searching out the meaning of the words used in the original languages, and then applying the other principles of Bible study mentioned (God talks about Himself in terms we can understand; Scripture interprets Scripture, interpretation must be consistent with the rest of the Bible etc.). But still we may come up short, not understanding perfectly what God is saying. He has summarized our condition pretty accurately:

Isaiah 55:8,9: "‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.’ says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts then your thoughts"

I Corinthians 13:12 "For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

Thus I think we also need to be teachable and, fully aware of our own inadequacies, to listen to others’ interpretations – not to accept them blindly, but to ‘...search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things are so" (Acts 17:10-12), and also to see if they bear witness with the Holy Spirit who is our teacher and counselor, and is in us.

So, while the ideal is one interpretation, the reality is often different. I personally feel it’s important to cultivate humility and to be open to learn from the insights of others.

(Again, comments warmly welcomed.)

thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend just past was a combination of miles traveled and a wonderful time with various branches of our family.

After getting Mom’s medication all sorted out Thursday afternoon, we hit the highway for Kelowna and a night at my brother’s house. From there it was on to Cranbrook the next morning (eight- hour drive) and what a gorgeous drive it was! The road from Kelowna to Cranbrook must be one of the most scenic in our province as it winds through mountain ranges, beside lakes and along streams. All the leaves are turning and so the roadsides are a visual delight, with the dark pine forests, sprinkled with the just-turned-yellow aspens and poplars.

We got to Cranbrook in time to help my sis, Doris, decorate the hall for the wedding celebration of Ian and Shivon (Their actual wedding day was October 9, 2004, two days before the birth of baby Isabella Ruby.) Ernie lost no time getting acquainted with her and spent much of the afternoon, entertaining the little princess.

Doris hosted us for the night in her new home. It’s about a 5-minute drive out of Kimberley in a woodsy development with quite the contrasts - beautiful, modern, well-appointed houses (like radiant heating in the tiled bathroom floors) in a setting so wild, my sis who loves running, doesn’t dare run the trails because of roaming bears and moose.


The next morning after breakfast in Kimberley, Doris left to do errands while Ernie and I explored the town (which features a Bavarian theme). Here are two storefronts on the Platzl, and a mural painted on one of the building walls at the other end.


After a few hours of R&R in the afternoon, we drove to Cranbrook for dinner at Eagle’s Hall. It was one of those celebrations with a small town feel to it – lots of families and kids underfoot, dressed to the nines and dodging in and out in games of tag and general horsing around, then setting themselves up to play in a corner of the hall with plastic cars and silken-haired rubber ponies some Mom had had the foresight to bring along.



The dinner was delicious, the program fun, Doris’s slide show of the kids a tear-jerker, and the dance was lively stretching, as it did, all the way to next morning. (Right is the bride's twin sister. Below me and my sister Doris.)




Sunday E. and I drove to Kelowna to visit his parents and have Thanksgiving dinner on Monday with more family (26 of us in all). You gotta love it – turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, bean salad, spinach and strawberry salad, spaghetti squash, yams, buns, a variety of other salads, pumpkin pie and a yummy pumpkin cheesecake Julie made, the recipe of which she promised to make the first entry of her blog – (sound of fingers drumming) Julie, I’m waiting!!

hmmmm

In the next few weeks I’m taking an e-course on how to write Bible studies - this from someone who has written them and taught many Bible studies for 20+ years.

As part of the ‘lecture’ which precedes the assignment, our teacher has listed some principles on how to study the Bible. In a way I take them as a set of presuppositions. They include things like:
- All Scripture is inspired by God.
- The ability to understand the Bible belongs to anyone who has the Holy Spirit – even a child.
- God talks about Himself in terms that we understand, not necessarily in terms that are literal descriptions of Himself.
- Revelation is progressive (i.e. progressive throughout the Bible)
- Scripture interprets Scripture.
- Any interpretation must be consistent with what the rest of the Bible teaches.
- The meaning of Scripture is unified.

I don’t have a problem with any of the above, as she explains them in her notes. However, I am struggling with this statement:

- There is only one interpretation yet many applications. Each part has one meaning....Some reasons for differing interpretations: person has not done their homework; all people have bias and blind spots; some are strong observers, others are discerning interpreters, some need help with application....

I’d be very interested in getting the reaction of anyone who would care to comment, to the above statement.

happy (canadian) thanksgiving!

...especially to all the surviving turkeys out there. (!! speakers !!)

the packing blues

On Monday morning hubby, sis, who has Mondays off, and I went to Mum’s to start the marathon of packing needed to move her.

It was obvious when we arrived, this move has taken its toll on her already. She looked exhausted when she met us at the door and just a little sympathy brought tears...oh dear... Also, she just isn’t feeling well.

We told her, sit, Sit, SIT. Let us do the work.

We got her enthroned on her recliner and brought her boxes to go through. Meanwhile while I tackled the storage room, sis went through the bookshelf in the small bedroom and hubby kept us in coffee and floor space by taking bags of garbage and recycling to the building’s dumpsters and loads of stuff to the MCC

When we left about 5:00, though Mum had held up pretty well, she was still uncomfortable, with a nagging dry cough and feeling extremely exhausted.

Yesterday afternoon she called me. She’s still feeling rotten. She described the symptoms and asked could I accompany her to the doctor, today.

After her call, I got out my medical self-help book and looked up "congestive heart failure". On reading the description, it sounds like mum has pretty much a textbook case. (And this is no surprise. Mostly, though, the symptoms are quiescent– extreme weariness, wheezing and shortness of breath on exertion, and fluid retention, kept under control with diuretics. However when these flare, like they seem to be doing now, it’s not a little scary for a non-nurse like me.) And it appears the best thing to do for this condition, after fluid control, is rest.

We were planning to go my niece’s wedding celebration in the Kootenay’s this weekend (about a 12-hour drive one way). Mum had originally planned to go with us. She cancelled out of that Monday. But now with her feeling as rotten as she does, I wonder if we, or at least I may not be spending the weekend camping out in her apartment in Abbotsford and, on this Thanksgiving weekend, eating turkey roll sandwiches while I take a break from nursing her and going through yet one more cupboard!

Or maybe not. Today she was feeling bit better. Now we’re waiting on blood test results to see whether or not we need to fill a prescription. Oh, isn’t it grand to not know what tomorrow holds exactly, and just trust the Lord? It’s not what control freak me finds terribly comfortable. But it is good practice in holding onto what seems to be the anchor verse for my life:

Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7 - NASB)

review: How to Write e-book

I’ve recently finished reading How to Write - Communicating Ideas and Information by Herbert E. and Jill M. Meyer.

Here’s my evaluation of the book in pros and cons:

PROS:
1. This book is great at breaking the task of writing into three distinct and easy-to-follow steps:

1] Organizing for the job.
2] Turning out a draft
3] Polishing the product.

2. Each of these steps is explained and illustrated with examples. No guessing - everything is clearly laid out.

3. This book is meant to not only be read but used - i.e. followed along - steps 1, 2, 3 etc., each time one has a writing project.

4. The book has wide appeal. It would be useful for home schoolers, bloggers, people whose work involves writing reports, recommendations etc., journalists, and many more.

5. It's slim – 110 pages.

6. It has amazing endorsements and comes highly recommended by people who should recognize good writing advice when they see it:

Reading How to Write is like discovering the trick behind a magic act. Once the act is understood, it isn't nearly as awesome as it had seemed. It becomes almost easy to learn and execute. How to Write can be read in less than an hour and should be kept thereafter between the dictionary and the thesaurus. - Harriet Gerard, Hearst Feature Service

CONS:
1. The main writing example in the book is the development of a trend report. It has as its subject, advances in telecommunications. We all know how rapidly that field is changing. Thus, the example already seems a little dated.

2. The method of writing explained is mainly applicable to the writing of nonfiction, i.e. writing about ideas and information. I am not sure it would be as useful to the writing of fiction.

Aside from those two minor matters, this book is definitely a keeper.

Which brings me to my last PRO -

It’s available as an E-book for a mere $1.99!

Buy it, it’s worth it - would be worth it at three times the price.

****************
Disclaimer:
The e-book How To Write was given to me as a gift from the publisher and Mind&Media for review purposes.

moi?

When I got an email a few weeks ago with the subject line "Wish to write a column about you," I was understandably skeptical. But in the interim I’ve discovered that Kevin Collier, the writer of that email, was/is for real. On October 1st he posted this profile of yours truly in the ezine Kid Magazine Writers. It focuses on the children’s-writer aspect of my writing journey. Thanks, Kevin, for being so kind!

storytime

Jeri Massi calls, "Every Story has a Moral," (short story featured in the latest issue of Infuze) a comedic fundamentalist fable. With character names like Jack Daniels, John Deere and Valvoline she gave me a lot of chuckles while at the same time slipping in (what else) a serious moral.

Go read it!