Response to the Haitian Calamity by Dallas Willard

The first move is to feel with the people of Haiti and to grieve with them.  And to respond as the Lord directs, in prayer and giving and perhaps even going.  

Then there are three things to keep in front:

- We live in a universe of law which is a good thing and it is a good universe.  For God to suspend natural and moral law capriciously by way of intervention, would be to make human life impossible.  There would be no predictable governing laws which could be depended upon.  Life would be unbearable and unsustainable.

- Within that universe, there is a vast range of human responsibility.  Much of the suffering that occurs is the failure to do things right.  The fault line that runs through Haiti was known and the failure of building structures was a predictable albeit tragic outcome of negligence.  Human beings are put into this universe to be responsible to it as it is.

- God is near to every soul.  "In Him we live and move and have our being."  Jesus taught that a sparrow does not drop dead without God noting it and putting it into place.  So for those whose heart is turned to God, God is near.  No one dies alone who wants to trust God.  Children, of course, are first in that category.

Only Eternity will note the numbers of dear ones in Haiti who called on the name of the Lord.  And were saved.

The thoughts are Dr. Willard's, the paraphrase mine

Butterfly birthday

How cute is this birthday cake Elissa and Morgan created for E's sister, Laura!  Adorable!  Almost makes me want to celebrate another bday ~ almost.

A reason to head west

Reminiscing

This just makes me smile.  Cheri and I with the kids ~ Danielley, JoyFul and Nathaniel having steaks in Moorhead.  Boy did we have fun!

As it turns out, there's only One who walked on water.

The house

Aaron wrote,

"Walking home from down town the other day...just in case you can't tell, that's our house!"

Safe under the shadow of the Almighty

GrandDaddy Ron Kleyn - my Cali cousin - is grateful that his missionary daughter, Sarah, decided to have her baby in the states rather than Haiti. If born in Haiti, Taberah would have been one week old when the Haitian earthquake brought low the landscape. Sarah's beautiful Haitian husband, Peterson, is holding their firstborn baby girl. Peterson has returned to Haiti to check on many relatives and help to restore Port-au-Prince. The earthquake seems like the final blow to a country riddled for decades with oppressive corruption.

But there is a voice of righteous hope. Sarah and Peterson are a part of that underground subversive choir.

I've wondered if the adoption of thousands of orphaned Haitian children will be the seeds sown with tears which will reap a harvest of souls. What if many of the adopted children grow up in God-honoring homes in the states and then later return to their homeland? Wrapping their personal stories in the Grand Story, would be grand. An answer to the Kleyn family prayers. Salvation across Haiti to a forlorn people.

Every tribe and nation ~ kinsman to Christ.

Cardboard Testimonies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdXX6lzbo78&feature=player_embedded#

Leesburg, VA ~ Home sweet home

He calmed the sea

Well done, Gabriel

Gabriel's jubilant call last night made me so proud. He had just received a letter of recognition from a client, Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Gabriel is the Safety Professional Representative leading a 30-member team responsible for maintaining safety on the 3 billion dollar, four year project. The letter Basin Electric sent was congratulating Gabe's team for a perfect 2009 record. Zero OSHA recordable injuries for 2009. That is stellar!

The Dry Fork Station project, currently under construction 7 miles north of Gillette, WY, is a coal-based electric generation power plant owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative and the Wyoming Municipal Power Agency. During 2009, the Dry Fork Station experienced a peak construction work force of more than 1,300 construction workers from more than 30 states.

A perfect safety record saves thousands if not millions of dollars for Basin Electric. When Gabriel took over the safety aspect, it was in shambles with Gabe's company teetering on the edge of losing the Basin client. Gabriel along with a focused team, turned the safety of the project around. Well done, my Son! I am so proud. Your dad would be also.

Congratulatory kudos

JoyFul had a quiver full of fabulous friends in high school. Joy's friend, Laura, always struck a clarion note with me. So many common passions, Laura and me. Love of fine music, God and vino being the primary common interests.

Laura Wilde - an exceptional talent - emailed me last night with the most spectacular news! She won the top honor at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Tri-State Auditions. Next stop in March ~ the finals at the Met in New York. Incredible!! Laura is a graduate student studying opera at Jacobs School of Music - Indianapolis - where she is training her magnificent mezzo soprano voice for a future in the operatic world. Glorious!

"The judges loved Wilde from the start.

 She has everything going for her,” quoted the Indiana Daily Student newspaper.

Laura wrote her reaction: "As I was journaling (which is how I pray) to God, I was recounting what the judges had said. The comment I kept getting was that I exude some kind of inexplicable joy when I sing.... I realized then that it was TOTALLY God!!! wow... I never imagined that my faith would show WHILE I was singing... I always assumed my mission field was only in the relationships I build along the way.. but God can use EVERYTHING! He is pretty darn amazing. I can't wait to see what this New York adventure brings!"

Laura Wilde ~ Thanx for using your substantial God-given talents for His glory and the delight of all! You make my heart sing!!

Just cuz they tickle my soul

If it's true that the owner increasingly comes to look like their dog, God help JoyFul. If JoyFul takes on Ellie the GrandDog's look, even make-up won't help.
That's why I don't have a pooch. No chance of sliding downhill in the Looks Department.

And have I mentioned my heart's desire for a red-haired child? Apparently God the Creator heard my playful longing and brought Nathaniel and Aaron. Just in time too ~ beats trying and trying and trying. Fourteen chilluns later, no red-head. Perhaps the next generation will fulfill the mom's heart's desire. No pressure though.

Jesus atop the mountain

Cheri ran into this Jesus statue while skiing on Whitefish Mountain over the holydays. There's a story here but I'm still doing the research.

On the edges: When I see a sculpture like this of the Good Dear Lord, I think marginal. Folks see a plastic looking statue with hands outstretched clothed in Biblical robes, and they presume that Jesus is so "last millennia." Thoroughly irrelevant.

Reality: Jesus created and sustains that mountain. And the majestic snow ghosts as well.

"...for in Jesus Christ all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Let every ski bow!

The Truth must dazzle gradually, or every man be blind.
Emily Dickinson

a little levity during the socked-in months

Glad to see the deer are moving. Must mean spring is pert-near here.

Duke's mensch

Terrific article by a Duke graduate student who lives invisibly in a van on-campus. Happily.
Great stuff!

http://www.salon.com/life/pinched/2009/12/06/living_in_a_van/index.html

May God give us thankful hearts
and keep us in friendship to our lives’ end.

Amen which is to say, “So be it.”

Fifth grader Russell came by McKinley School before Christmas break to greet and give a hug and teddy bear gift. It was good seeing the Lad after spending two years at Roosevelt. With his Scottish brogue, he was a highlite for Amy and I during first grade. "Mrs. M, I need help," he would say in the cutest way imaginable. God bless you, Russ. Happy New Year to you and your family.