This Beautiful Earth—Carolyn R. Wilker

At this time of year, when the garden is growing and flowers around my yard are blooming, it’s easy to appreciate beauty.  I take photos at various times in the season when one kind of plant succeeds another. And seeing other gardens and natural areas to adds to the enjoyment of creation.  

Folliot Sandford Pierpoint might have been a gardener too, or at least an appreciator of nature for he wrote extensively about it.

Pierpoint, born in 1835 in Bath, was both a well-educated man and prolific in song writing, particularly for the church. He wrote the hymn, “For the Beauty of the Earth,” in 1869 (melody by Conrad Kocher). Only one of the many hymns he wrote, this one has appeared in as many as 483 hymnbooks.

1 For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.

While the refrain has changed over time, the essence of the verses offer praise to God for his creation, but also for his gifts to us, including Jesus’ sacrifice.

Yet it seems that not all appreciate the earth or feel the need to care for it. I feel sad when I walk through an otherwise beautiful park and see garbage lying around, cigarette butts ground out or just tossed on the walkways, as well as fast food packaging seemingly dropped in place. Sometimes public garbage cans are so overfilled during a big event that workers cannot keep up with it, and then a strong breeze lifts some of the items out of the trash can and spreads it around. We cannot blame the wind; it was meant to blow and cool us. But wait…

Maybe you hear a lecture coming on about taking the garbage home or  making sure you’re not overfilling a can. No, not exactly, but there would be nothing wrong with doing either.

Then again, what is all in that can? 

What can you do to be a good caretaker? Many people are already concerned and acting, yet a refresher is often a good thing. This list presents a small number of the things you (and I) can do:

·         Follow guidelines on recycle programs and reduce garbage at the curb each week

·         Purchase only what you need, and whenever possible, with the least amount of packaging.

·         Make reusable lunch bags and water bottles a priority whenever possible

·         Put garbage in a can provided or take it with you to dispose of later

·         Dispose of paints and other potentially harmful substances at appropriate sites

·         Be mindful of waterways and refrain from dumping garbage there; fish and water creatures need clean water too.

For car owners

·         Car pool when possible

·         Keep car well-tuned so it runs more efficiently

·          Limit idling time

There’s so much beauty and goodness, and we must be mindful of the earth. We’ve been put here to look after it. (Genesis 2:15) We are the earth’s keepers and we can do our part to keep it beautiful. Let’s echo the hymn writer who speaks of “the beauty of the earth and glory of the skies.”

 

Carolyn Wilker is an author, editor and storyteller from Ontario, Canada. 
www.carolynwilker.ca

Preface to my soon-to-be-published sequel "Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit' -HIRD

Preface

We have all been painfully stuck.  Being at a key transition-point in our lives, we do not know how to move forward, finding ourselves immobilized.[i] I have been there many times.  My perfectionism makes it worse.   A key turning point for me was when as I attended a Leadership Conference at the University of Kent in England.[ii]  Walking into a seminar, God ‘whispered’ to me that I would be receiving a message. The Rev Freda Meadows suddenly called me out of the crowd and gave me a specific prophetic message, saying:

You don’t need to run in keeping up with others.  Enter into God’s rest.  Keep your eye on the finishing line which is Him.  You will be moving into new things, having words of knowledge. You will be gifted in this area.  You are in an apprenticeship time at present.  You will disciple others.  You are a man of God’s Word, things of the Kingdom. You are a person of vision, a long-range visionary.  God is going to put you in a key place and you will find yourself training and discipling others.[iii]

I had no idea how powerfully God was going to use the 1998 Pre-Lambeth Leadership Conference.  Most of us as North American Anglicans were still stuck in the ‘inside strategy’ mindset.  Being conflict-avoiders, we were going to ‘fix’ the North American Anglican churches while still inside the old institution.  This virus of institutionalism can slip inside the mind of even the most sincere believer, turning us toxic.  It is so easy to become the hollow, stuffed men of TS Eliot’s poem: “We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men Leaning together...”[iv]  We Canadians were still quite ‘gung-ho’ at the Canterbury Leadership Conference, but the Americans were unusually quiet. They lacked their usual American ‘get-up-and-go’ attitude.  When Americans go quiet, you can tell that something is up.

At the official Canadian night, Bishop Eddie Marsh of Central   Newfoundland invited the Americans to come up and share.  I will never forget how our American colleagues Bishop Alex Dickson and Dr. (now Bishop) John Rodgers stood up and repented to our African colleagues for the shame that the USA had brought on the Anglican Church, and for Bishop John Spong’s castigating African Anglicans as just one step out of animism and witchcraft.[v] 

“(Bishop Spong) has insulted you.  We are ashamed for him; we are ashamed for ourselves.  We ask your forgiveness and we assure you that he does not speak for us.”[vi] 

Hundreds of African bishops and clergy spontaneously flocked forward and hugged the Americans, weeping and declaring God’s forgiveness.  Todd Wetzel of Anglicans United said that ‘this was one of the American Church’s finest moments in decades.’  This prophetic action of repentance and forgiveness was a new beginning for Anglican Christians around the world.

I am convinced that we are not to despise prophecy, and that the prophetic gift is still in operation today.  Prophecy does not just address the global picture.  It can also address our personal situations, even regarding writing a book.  Through prayer, I have received very clear direction about the topic of this current book.[vii]   Pushing through our toxic stuckness is key to restoring health, and key to strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders.

The purpose of prophecy is to encourage, build, and strengthen.[viii]  Yes, all prophecies have to be tested.  As children of the New Covenant, we only prophesy in part.[ix]  Prophecies help me push through my ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’.  In the 21^st century, a sensitive use of the gifts of prophecy and exhortation will be essential to getting unstuck, to becoming a healthier and more Christlike leader.  As Paul said to Timothy, by following prophecies made about us, we leaders more effectively ‘fight the good fight’ and live out our daily lives.[x]  Out of these prophetic encounters, I have become convinced that North America desperately needs to recover from its toxicity, and that the key to restoring its health is found in strengthening  a new generation of holistically healthy leaders, as illustrated in the person of Titus. 

The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Rector
BSW, MDiv, DMin
St. Simon's Church North Vancouver
Anglican Mission in Canada

p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘ED HIRD’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPALusing the e-mailed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99 CDN/USD.

-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide : Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada

---

[i] Terry B Walling, Stuck!, (ChurchSmart Resources, 2008),  p. XIII “Without transitions, and the paradigm shifts that occur, Christ followers would stay stuck!”,

[ii] This Pre-Lambeth Leadership Conference was jointly sponsored by Anglican Renewal Ministries/ARM and SOMA/Sharing of Ministries Abroad.  I was serving as the Chair of ARM Canada.

[iii] Freda Meadows ministers with the International New Wine Director Rev Bruce Collins  http://www.new-wine.org; Ten years later, the Rev Freda gave further insight into the 1998 Canterbury prophecy, saying:

“...the underlying thrust was to trust God for the outcome of the plans He had in using you.  While you were to do all that was necessary, it was not for you to try and make anything happen.  But you were to follow the Lord's leading using the gifts and skills He gave in the best way you knew and through what you had learned as your experience grew.”

[iv] http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/784/

[v]  “African Christians? They're just a step up from witchcraft: What Bishop Spong had to say about his fellow Christians, John Spong interviewed by Andrew Carey, Church of England Newspaper, July 10^th 1998.  Newspaper & Andrew Carey. "They've moved out of animism into a very superstitious kind of Christianity. They've yet to face the intellectual revolution of Copernicus and Einstein that we've had to face in the developing world. That's just not on their radar screen."

[vi] Doug LeBlanc, Lambeth, 1998, “Episcopal Dissidenta, African Allies”, Dr Miranda Hassett, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,  http://anglicanhistory.org/academic/hassett2004.pdf

[vii] On October 17th Wednesday 2008 while at the Anglican Coalition Clergy Retreat at Cedar Springs, I received a distinct impression from the Lord while in deep quiet group prayer: “Yes, it is Titus.”  While attending the Henry Wright ‘Be in Health’ conference, I heard a still small voice saying: “Write 3rd book on Titus for North American Audience.”

[viii] 1 Corinthians 14:3

[ix]  1st Thessalonians 5: 19-21: Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.; 1 Corinthians 13:9.

[x] 1 Timothy 1:18, 4:14

What did early human religion really look like? - Denyse O’Leary

 Oddly enough, we know a bit about it from archaeology:

Now and then, a signal rises above the noise. From surprisingly early periods, we encounter special respect for the dead and a sense of the divine. Meanwhile, because we keep finding artifacts and organized activities from earlier periods than "expected," the half human creature we were originally seeking continues to elude us. More.

Early human religion: A 747 built in the basement with an X-Acto knife

Whatever these unknown people saw or sensed, many consumed much of their lives celebrating and memorializing it. And yet curiously, instead of getting better at constructing temples, the Göbekli Tepe worshipers grew steadily worse:

The earliest rings are the biggest and most sophisticated, technically and artistically. As time went by, the pillars became smaller, simpler, and were mounted with less and less care. Finally the effort seems to have petered out altogether by 8200 B.C. Göbekli Tepe was all fall and no rise.

Was it a loss of faith? Whether or no, in the words of Göbekli Tepe's discoverer Klaus Schmidt, "Twenty years ago everyone believed civilization was driven by ecological forces. I think what we are learning is that civilization is a product of the human mind." More.

Human Origins: The War of Trivial Explanations

The overarching theory in biology has been, for over a century, Darwinian evolution: Natural selection acting on random mutation is the cause of all or most variation in life forms. As anyone who has monitored what the media says over the years will know, all evidence is either interpreted on its terms or ignored. Thus, humans are evolved primates, an unexceptional twig on the tree of life, though like other twigs, we are accidental outliers.

…

The obvious problems with all of these disunited and discordant theses can be summed up for convenience as: 1) If some aspect of chimpanzee behavior explains matters, why didn't it produce the same result in chimpanzees? 2) If mere advantage (which every primate seeks) explains a development like the human mind, why did only humans experience it? More.

Why human evolution happened only once: the question no one has to answer

One recent walk on the wild side is worth noting just for what it shows about how little we really know -- and how much we are willing to believe. Much publicity was given in 2013 to the idea that the differences between humans and chimpanzees arise from humans' hybridization with pigs.

You think this is a joke? Well, yes, but in the current science press it isn't. That is, "humans are probably the result of multiple generations of backcrossing to chimpanzees, which in nucleotide sequence data comparisons would effectively mask any contribution from pig." This hypothesis, offered by geneticist and hybridization specialist Eugene McCarthy, incidentally reveals facts about human anatomy not usually offered as evidence by the proponents of the 98-percent-chimpanzee thesis, who don't seem to be interested in defending themselves against the [pig thesis] More.

The Little Lady of Flores spoke from the grave. But said what, exactly?

The key fossil's small brain was taken by many researchers as evidence that the Floresians must be a separate species. That and an odd-shaped wrist bone. But almost immediately, a competing narrative appeared. In November, leading Indonesian scientist Teuku Jacob (1929-2007) announced that the Flores hobbit was an "ordinary human" and "just like us," but possibly with mental defects. Jacob took the bones to his own lab, and returned most of them the following February, amid charges that he had severely damaged them.

He also damaged the orthodox narrative. And Nature wasn't having any of that "just like us" stuff. In March 2005, it triumphantly reported the results of a computer simulation that bolstered the new species claim, in a story titled "Critics silenced by scans of hobbit skull." But the critics' silence did not dispel lingering doubt about "Homo floresiensis."

Concern was raised that the ongoing controversy might be good for creationism. One researcher offered that "we certainly make it easy for them when we have disagreements like this one. I think that a lot of what has been said is going to have to be retracted. Given the amount of media attention, it just makes the field look incompetent." He concluded: "Nobody is on the side of the angels now."

Not even the angels, it seemed. …

Note:The Science Fictions – cosmology series is here. The Science Fictions – origin of life series is here.

Facing the Giants

            We all like a story where there's an underdog who overcomes and wins the day. We cheer him on but we likely wouldn't bet on him winning.

         

   Today, our guest speaker in church was talking about the well known story about David and Goliath.  David, who would later be King, but is now the young, inexperienced boy shepherd and Goliath, the giant warrior.

            Who was this giant? He was a huge, battle seasoned warrior. He stood over nine feet tall and was covered in armour! And here he was intimidating the Israelites with trash talk, challenging them to come out and fight him. No one was willing to take him on.

            Along comes the young shepherd, David, and he's in disbelief that none of the soldiers are willing to go out and meet this man and fight him!  And so young David, with no battle experience, takes him on.

            We all face giants in our lives. Perhaps it's the bully in the schoolyard or someone at work who intimidates us. We see them and immediately dread and anxiety starts and we look for ways to avoid them.

            Sometimes our giants are circumstances. Perhaps we have lost our job or are having financial problems that we just can't face. Sometimes we turn to addictive substances to escape our giants and that becomes the giant in our life.

            Other times it's illness. Cancer, heart attacks and strokes can have catastrophic effects in our lives and recovery can be a huge battle. Chronic illnesses can sap us of energy, wearing our resources slowly, day after day, week after week, month after month and drawing out into years.

            Sometimes it's that book we've wanted to write for a long time but a lack of faith in our ability stops us from getting on with it.

            As a child I sang songs in Sunday School about Daniel and David and other heroes of the faith. I learned about how they overcame great difficulties, but did I ever think I could be like them? I did. As a child I had an innocent and simple faith that God would be with me in times of trouble. As an adult, I know that sometimes people of great faith don't overcome the giants in their lives - or at least that's our perspective.

            However, we look at these situations from a worldly point of view and that's one of the  first lessons we can learn from David - we shouldn't look for or depend on worldly solutions.

            Saul tried to fit David with armour but really, he was so weighed down he couldn't move! So David said, forget this. All I need is my sling shot and some stones. The Lord will deliver that Philistine into my hands!

            We live in the world but we don't live by the world's standards. We rely on the power of God's Holy Spirit to equip us for the battle ahead. All the equipment in the world isn't going to win the battle for us.

            Second, we need to remember all our past victories and blessings and give God the glory for them. When we remember what God has done for us, it gives us courage. As a matter of fact, God's got a good record of helping us - if you think about it we have a 100% success rate in getting through difficulties. If we didn't we wouldn't be here! When we call on God He equips us for the battle ahead.

            God doesn't promise there won't be trouble in this world. He doesn't say life will be easy. Instead he says Christ has overcome the world.

            Third, with these victories in mind, our faith is bolstered and we realize we can trust in Him. When we do trust in God, He brings us the victory. It doesn't always look the way we want it to, and it's not always in our timing.  However, he does bring us through. David knew that God would deliver him because he had in the past. He'd battled lions and bears with his bare hands. He didn't even see the problems. He only saw the possibilities.

            Perhaps you don't have full confidence in yourself. Perhaps you think you need to be fearless like David, but the bible doesn't tell us David was without fear. It only tells us about his courage, and courage doesn't mean an absence of fear. Courage is stepping out in faith in spite of our fear.

            We often look at our heroes and think we could never be like them. But Jesus tells us that even just a little tiny bit of faith can move mountains. 

            As a writer, I often find myself writing about the giants in my life. I find inner strength as I spill out what I'm facing on the page. As the feelings and fears travel from my heart into my fingers tapping away I'm filled with the awareness that what I fear, what faces me, is really just a stumbling block in the path I'm meant to walk. As I embrace that fear and pain and allow it to exist, acknowledge it and the give it to God, He is able to strengthen me.

            We sang this song that brings this very truth to my heart. This is one of the verses.

"He is jealous for me

Love's like a hurricane, and I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory

And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me."

"Oh, how He loves us so, oh how He loves us..."

            When we realize how much God loves us, allowing that truth to penetrate and fill our consciousness and permeate our very soul, His strength comes. We can be confident in Christ for He has overcome the world.

            Bless you as you face the giants in your lives.

Here's a link to this song on YouTube if you've never heard it before:

http://youtu.be/ZhY_nuw7-HA

grace...Kathie

*Thanks to Pat Humble for inspiring this blog post

Kathie Chiu is a Salvation Army officer. 

She lives, works, writes - and knits - in

Victoria, BC. You can read more of her writing on

her blog,  Sheep Tales and over at The Salvationist

Our Very Own God by Rose McCormick Brandon

Often, when thoughts meander, my mind lights on this favourite verse.

For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide [even] until death. Psalm 48:14

The words, our God,  have enormous meaning. Can the great and only God of heaven and earth really be our God? My God?

Here is another verse that affirms that once we choose God He belongs to us.

"God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us." Psalm 67:6,7

When contemplating this verse, C. H. Spurgeon, wrote,

"He is ours to trust, ours to love, ours to run to in every dark and troublesome night, ours to commune with on every bright and sunny day, ours to be our guide in life. He is our help in death and our glory in immortality." (Finding Peace in Life's Storms)

The words, our own God, are strong and intimate. God Himself said, "I will be their God and they will be my people" (Ezekiel 37:27).

Jesus taught us that when we pray we should address God as "our Father." Several times in the Bible, family terms are used to describe our relationship with God. In the church I grew up in the adults in the congregation were affectionately known as Brother and Sister. "Thank you Sister Smith for leading the choir. Brother Freeman will you please lead us in prayer?" These traditions are rooted in the fact that He is our own God, our own dear Father, and we His tenderly loved children.

All the yearnings of a life-time can find fulfilment in the understanding that He is our God. We must face it - no one else can fix what ails us; no one else can bring us to the place of peace; no one else can bless us except our God.

Confession: I recognize the God of heaven and earth as my very own God, my God, to travel with me through all of life. I trust Him to lead me eventually to the home He has prepared for me where I will live with Him forever.

Also at that time, people will say,
“Look at what’s happened! This is our God!
We waited for him and he showed up and saved us! (Isaiah 25:9)

******
Rose McCormick Brandon's latest book, Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children, will soon be published. Visit her blogs: Promises of Home and Listening to my Hair Grow.
 

A Gaze-Raising Anniversary - Peter Black

A young man and his obviously pregnant wife arrived at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Between them they toted hand-baggage and lugged a couple of bulging suitcases. And like millions of young couples emigrating before them, they marshalled along a young family—an active toddler and a preschooler. 

That was June, 1974. Their relatives, who’d come to Canada eight years earlier, were waiting at the arrivals gate. Waving their arms they shouted, “Over here!” After hugs and excited greetings, the newcomers found themselves gliding down the 401 highway in the largest and longest car they’d ever ridden in. 

It was fully four decades ago, May and I, with Jay and Chris, set foot on Canadian soil. Jerome made his appearance three months later. These events are rather fresh with us just now. Canada is our home and adopted land and we are Canada’s adopted children.

 

We’ve lived much longer here than we did in the UK. Chris proudly sports a tattooed heraldic crest of the Black Clan on his upper-arm, and beneath it are the words, “Made in Scotland.” Oh, but he’s Canadian in pretty much every way. He was the toddler, and had his second birthday two days after our arrival. 

We thank God for this country and the blessings of political and civil stability, and for the opportunities Canada offers for personal growth, education and employment. We’re thankful also for ample food, a healthcare system, the right to vote and run for office and to practice our faith, among a host of other benefits. However imperfect our country might be (and the imperfections include ourselves), our lot is infinitely better than for the vast majority of the world’s population.  

One could extol Canada’s virtues ad infinitum. However, it is people who make a house a home, and it is people who helped make us feel at home in Canada. They include you.

 

F-18Courtesy:markbraye.wordPress.com

We didn’t plan anything special to celebrate our 40^th Anniversary here. Jay and Chris were caught up in their own communities with their respective families, and Jerome was busy, too (he’s everybody’s go-to friend in his extensive social and professional circles). And so, we all let our Canadian anniversary date sail by. 

But, surprise! The Government of Canada graciously marked the occasion with a stunning aerobatic display by an F-18 fighter jet. The pilot took it on a low fly-over with a deafening roar that shook our house to its foundations. And the famous Canadian Snowbirds also thrilled us, putting on a marvellous aeronautic formation display. 

Okay, so it was coincidental that our local airport convened the air-show the same weekend as our big anniversary in Canada. However, our gaze was raised—literally; we had to look up and crane our aging, creaking necks to see those sights.

 

This delightful display on our Canadian 40th was nicely followed by Canada Day, two weeks later; now that has also passed for another year. 

When we received Canadian citizenship, several years later, we assumed not only the rights and privileges, but also the responsibilities. And those included registering our vote in elections. Did you (Ontarians) vote in our recent provincial election? A federal election looms next year, I hope we will all exercise our privilege of a free vote. 

We may not like the results of some elections; nevertheless, we should value our privileges, won at the price of blood. We’ve been reminded of that, with a national focus on the 70th anniversary of D-Day. 

It’s now close to two thousand years since our eternal salvation was secured for us through the supreme sacrifice of Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross of Calvary. The forgiveness of all our sins and a restored relationship with God, with grace and peace, were won for us there.

 

Our ultimate citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).  

~~+~~ 

Peter’s new book, “Raise Your Gaze . . . Musings of a Grateful Heart,” is due for release in Fall, 2014.

 Peter A. Black is a freelance writer in Southwestern Ontario, and is author of “Parables from the Pond” – a children's / family book (mildly educational, inspirational in orientation, character reinforcing). Finalist – Word Alive Press. ISBN: 1897373-21-X. The book has found a place in various settings with a readership ranging from kids to senior adults.

His inspirational column, P-Pep! appears weekly in The Guide-Advocate (of Southwestern Ontario). His articles have appeared in 50 Plus Contact and testimony, and several newspapers in Ontario.

Raise Your Gaze     Family And Faith Matters

~~+~~

The Journey to Intercession - Eleanor Shepherd

There is a significant part of my life that it took me a long time to be comfortable writing about.  One of my greatest joys comes from my life as an intercessor.  I have been reluctant to write about it because in a sense it is so very personal, an intimate thing that I would rather keep to myself.  Yet, it is also the most other oriented thing that I do.  I am able to forget about myself when I am praying for others and to concentrate on them, on their needs, and on what God can and is doing in their lives

Prayer has always been a part of my life.  Like most people in my generation, my first memories of prayer are being taught to kneel by my bed as a little child and repeat a rote prayer. “Now I lay me down to sleep.  I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”  This was followed by requests for God to bless all my family and friends.  Early on, I began to name them off.  I guess that I wanted to be sure the Lord knew the exact people I was asking Him to look after. It was also useful to me to help me remember family members who lived far away and who were not part of my daily life. 

Later on, the family would all gather at the dinner table and after the meal, we would each take a turn and pray, my brothers and I taking our turns. We went through a rotation, beginning with my father and finishing with my younger brother. There I learned from the example of my parents to not only think about asking God for the things I wanted, but to have an awareness and concern for the needs of others.  

I think that I must have been in my late teens or early twenties, when I decided to keep track of my prayers.  I read somewhere that this was helpful, because you could then note when these prayers were answered.  So, I started my lists.  Usually I just entered the date and made a list of people that I was praying for.  At times, I would also add specific requests for them beside their names in a word or two.  These I kept in tiny spiral notepads.

As a young mother at home with my children, I remember always trying to take time for prayer in the morning, before I got into the activities of the day.  As the children grew, it became more difficult to keep the discipline, but I usually managed to find some time in my day to spend in prayer.  Having a list was helpful, as it gave me something tangible to go back to.  I never was able to devote a great deal of time to prayer.  In those years, it really was often prayer on the run.  There were quiet times for prayer that I could somehow fit into my day, like when I was driving my children somewhere or waiting for appointments of various kinds.  

My specific calling to intercession came when I was in my early forties.  We were living in Rueil Malmaison, a suburb of Paris, France.  I had begun attending Bible Study Fellowship, an English speaking Bible study group that met in a Baptist church nearby.  A friend from the Bible study was driving me home and in we were chattering about our lives in Paris.  I mentioned that for some strange reason I had begun to wake early in the morning, and was not able to get back to sleep.

To my surprise, she said to me, “ Do you think the Lord might be calling you to prayer?”

I had to be honest and say that I had not thought that might be a possibility.  However, I certainly was willing to consider that.  So the next morning when I awoke, I quietly slipped out of bed, crept downstairs so I would not arouse anyone else and settled in a chair in the living room to spend some time in prayer. It was like I had come home.  That day began a routine that has continues to this day.  Each morning, the Lord awakens me to come and meet with Him. I have use an alarm clock.  He knows how much time I will need and awakens me accordingly.   

I have to admit there are times when I have arisen reluctantly, only doing so out of obedience.  There have been times when I have felt physical exhaustion.  Yet, I would not ever want to give up this precious time. 

This journey has brought me more joy that I imagined possible. 

Word Guild Award
2011

Word Guild Award
2009

                 http://emshepherd.blogspot.com