Whip out Your Athletic Shorts...Lace on Your Cleats...

I first wrote this in a FB note a while back, but thought I'd add it to the poorly abandoned and vastly scattered blog posts...

The quaint charms of the CO suburb I now reside in continue to surprise, and at times, amuse me. From the 60+ miles of trails that wind their way through (and sometimes under) parts of the city, to the multi-ethnic masses of people that warrant their own super-markets and dwell in their own mini-cultures, to the plethora of parks and playgrounds that seem to pop up arbitrarily, Westminster has become a favorite part of the world for me.
One of the latter attractions summoned my attention tonight while I was out on my evening walk. From quite a distance away I spotted the stadium lights of a nearby park illuminating a substantial baseball diamond. Noting the typical smells and sounds of a sporting event as I approached, I decided to take a gander closer to the situation. Despite my profound abhorrence for baseball and softball, it seemed a good night to meander around and people-watch.
Skulking under a tree on the far peripheral of the diamond (clinging to whatever thread of self-protection from fly balls lingered in the back of my mind), I was a bit puzzled to note that one of the outfielders was tossing a somewhat large ball. Having decided that this league needed a bit more emphasis on the discipline of the sport--since this wasn't a game of 5 year old soccer players tumbling around the field en masse--I reverted my gaze back to the uniformed pitcher. It was then that my puzzlement turned to confusion and my confusion to absolute bewilderment. For right there, in front of my own eyes, was a giant adult game of Kickball!
Yes, that's right--Take Me Out to the Ball Game has become a whole new mantra. From Denver to Littleton to Westminster, men and women of all ages...and sizes...and shapes...suit up with their leagues on Wednesdays and Fridays for an 8 week season of competitive adult kickball. From the looks of the players stretching as they arrive and the team huddles they call, not to mention their athletic gear, I would hesitate before smirking in front of any of them.
So if you're ever in the area, feel free to bring your puppy and a lawn chair for some happenin' evening action.
Not to utilize any punny Morris wit, but....you'll get a kick out of it.

Deus meus et omnia

[God is mine, and everything is mine.]
In his classic book Knowing God, J.I. Packer wrote, "The measure of love is how much it gives." That alone has been enough food to fuel a month's supply of meditation. However, he also included the following gripping Puritan quote:
"My grace, saith God, shall be yours to pardon you, and My power shall be yours to protect you, and My wisdom shall be yours to direct you, and My goodness shall be yours to relieve you, and My mercy shall be yours to supply you, and My glory shall be yours to crown you." (Emphases mine.)
I am His; and He is mine.
What a blessed belief.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Warmest, fondest wishes of the First Day of Summer to any sundry passerby who happens to note my once-again-neglected-blog. :)
Time is a funny thing...it speeds past yet somehow seems to slowly meander all in the same moment.
Friday, June 20, 2008 finds me perched on a couch in a suburb of Denver, Colorado with a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains out the back window.
In this past month since graduating Northland for the second time and trying to be all grown up I have made some startling realizations...
I'm very close to being addicted to little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls.
I was not made to walk in high heels--ever.
The Vast majority of my friends are either engaged, married, or being fruitful and multiplying.
I have some odd pet peeves (one of them being false drawers.)
Road tripping is a favorite pastime.
Dodging deer, potholes, turkeys, and snowdrifts for my whole driving career was ill preparation for 3 lane traffic, blaring car horns, and merging lanes.

And in the midst of these discoveries, more importantly, is the incredible power of the Word of God. My counseling internship has brought me to many observation sessions that have left me both sad because of the devastation and utter destruction of sin, and grounded in Truth--the only Truth. There is nothing more exciting than seeing someone's life changing before your eyes as they begin to see that God is Who He says He is.
So. Happy First Day of Summer to all....may it be the start of seeing more of His grace.

When It Rains It....Tsunamis.

I do not have the reflexes of a cat. This remarkable discovery occured sometime in the middle of the night last night when I found myself painfully sprawled on our carpeted cement floor. Apparently I had convinced myself in my sleep that I was back home in my normal bed--not perched on the top of a bunk bed. I slightly remember sitting up in a half cognizant state and jumping off my bed--expecting the ground to be 3 inches away. However, the ground was decidedly Not 3 inches away, and my slumbering body did not compensate. I found myself painfully awake on our floor, having landed on my palms and my knees and skinning a huge chunk of my arm to the state of bleeding. My roommate woke up to the thud (fat joke target: right here) and wanted to know if I was ok and needed some ice. :) Needless to say, I stumbled into the bathroom, surveyed the damage, and painfully pulled myself back up into bed. I rather wish we had had it on video; I bet it would have been entitled to something in Funniest Home Videos.
However, it seemed a fitting way to end the week. Sometimes the Lord orchestrates the circumstances of life to beyond pouring when it rains. C.S. Lewis once wrote that God whispers in our joys but shouts in our pain.
How very often I must clear away the cobwebs of complexities and come back to simply sit in His presence and adore. The simplicity that is in Christ--to delight in God. And how thankful I am for weeks such as these that remind me acutely of the character of God...His sovereignty, His mercy, His power, His holiness, His grace.
As Oswald Chambers stated so poignantly, "All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly." Yet another reason I am thankful for the perfect plans of God that manifest themselves in ways unpleasant to the flesh. A reminder that I cannot make myself godly, I cannot rescue myself from trouble...for I can do nothing apart from Him. What a blessed reality for the soul to claim!

It seems at times that when it rains it tsunamis...but God is Who He says He is.

Ps. 33:21 "For our heart is glad in Him because we trust in His holy name."