Important Info on Boat Numbers

Russell and I love to canoe...

And we are very good at it...

As evidenced by our last experience...

We drove the truck and the car to bull river.
Park at the top...drop off the canoe...
drive back to the bottom...leave the car...
drive back to the top.

Carry the canoe down a perilous mountainside...
(well, not exactly perilous...just makes the story sound better)
put the canoe in the water
being very careful not to dump all our lunch in the water
(this is a very important consideration...after hours
of canoeing I need sustenance!)
and being careful not to get the lures caught on our face
...and...we're on our way to a day full of fun and fishing...
...and lunch.

Five minutes into the ride
there is a huge tree hanging over the water
and, of course, the current is going right under it.
No big deal for experienced canoers like us.

Russell is in the back...always..
he's the head canoer
which means he gets to yell at me
and tell me what to do
even though I'm probably already doing it.

"Row..."
"I am rowing, what do you think I'm doing up here?"
"We're going towards that tree...Row"
"I AM Rowing"
"Were going towards that tree...ROWROWROW?
"IAMROWINGSTOPYELLINGATMEORILLSTOPROWING!"

 "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

When we finally come through the other side,
with various cuts and scratches on our
face, shoulders, arms, knuckles, knees...
(being very thankful for the canoe protecting our...feet...)
we have to then pull the lures and lines out of the tree
while at the same time not letting the canoe tip
as it's still sitting in the current desperately trying to get away.
We finally manage to get the lures free
while dabbing at the blood covering our bodies.
We row (and I use this term loosely)
our little battered canoe over to a little island,
(and I use this term very loosely).
It's pretty much a pile of rocks
with water running over it.

As we're pulling our pitifully wet lunch
out of the canoe...
"Honey, are the numbers supposed to be
on the front of the boat
or the back of the boat?"
"The front...why?"
"Well...I'm pretty sure we were rowing backwards."
"Just get in the boat!"

"ROW"

Moving Mountains

"...for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. " Matt. 17:20

I have been praying for something for quite some time now.

A few weeks ago I read the verse that says..

"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."  Mk. 11:24

I know it needs to be something in God's Will...

Praying for a million dollars isn't gonna work
(pls. don't ask me how I know)

1Jn 5:14  And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jn 5:15  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

OK...so if I know it's in His Will...
and if I believe...
I will receive.

So what's the problem then...
I know it's His Will.
So then, the problem is me.
I don't have enough faith...
I don't really believe He's gonna do anything about this.

Often we pray about things we can envision happening.
And maybe we pray about something seemingly impossible...
for awhile...
but then we give up...after all
that's probably not gonna happen.

When was the last time you prayed about moving a mountain?
I've never prayed that.
Why? Cause I don't think it will happen.
I'm not using the faith God has given me...to believe.
(And partly because I can't think of a reason that God
would want me to move a mountain...)

But when I read that verse
I felt God chiding me...
"When you pray...why are you not believing
it's gonna happen...when you know it's My Will?"

I determined that I was gonna believe no matter what.
I quit thinking that it wasn't gonna happen...
and began to think about when it did happen.
And when I would feel doubt creeping in to steal my faith,
I would think, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief."
And I began to feel hope again.

Not two weeks later...
My prayers were answered.
The prayers I had been praying for years.

I can't help but wonder...
how many prayers could be answered
if I would just believe.

And I wonder...
how many mountains are waiting to be moved.

A Gift

I watched a video today
from a young woman
who has cancer
and is dying.

She said she wasn't afraid of death necessarily,
she was afraid of missing out on life.

She wanted to see her kids grow up,
She wanted to see her grandkids,
She wanted to grow old with her husband.

I cried for her sorrow...
I cried for my shame...
for what she considered a gift,
I look at as a curse.

Growing old, that is.
I hate it!
I hate not being able to do
the things I used to...
I hate how people treat you
when you start getting old,
like you no longer know what
you're talking about cause you're old.

Yet she wanted to grow old.

I realize what a gift I've been given.
To see life through til the end...

To see my kids through their milestones.
graduation, marriage, children...
To see my grandchildren's face light up
when they see me...
To see them run to me
with their little chubby legs
and arms outstretched.

A gift that I have been ungrateful for.

Oh, I love the grandchildren thing,
just not the growing old thing.
But you can't have one without the other.

See, that's the gift...
to know that when God takes one thing away
He puts something else more wonderful in its place.

He may be taking away my youth...
But he's giving me something in return.
To see physical life fulfilled.
Something some will never get
the opportunity to see.

Dare I be ungrateful
for such a precious gift?

And on that day when He calls me home...
He'll again replace that which He has taken away,
with something more wonderful.
Real life...eternal life...
Thank you, Jesus
for this wonderful gift.

"O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"
Ps. 107:8

Dr. Doolittle

We used to call my husband Dr. Hoover.
Cause whenever someone was sick
he always had to head up the critical response team.

Well, now the kids are gone...
and I'm in Seattle...
and he's there all alone...
with the critters.

So he has become a different kind of doctor...
Dr. Doolittle.
Yes, he talks to the animals.

More than one person at church has told me
"Pastor has been around the animals too long?"

Our conversations every night have to include
a running commentary on every animal.
(Thank goodness he can't tell the difference between the chickens!)

Strider's limping today...I think he pulled something.
I massaged his shoulder.
The vet said he should be fine, keep an eye on him.

Percy got in a fight...somethings wrong with his little paw
so I'm letting him sit in my chair.

Kirra woke me up last night crying at the fence
Cause I didn't feed her enough and she was hungry.

One of the chickens is missing...
not sure where it went or how it got out.

It's like when your kids are little
and everything you have to say concerns them
and you talk baby talk most of the time
and aren't sure how to converse with adults...

Yeah, it's like that...



Hang on, Russell, I'm coming!