WOF-- WOW!

I am definitely revived! My engines are recharged, vision enlarged, priorities back in line, attitude adjusted....

Women of Faith was a fantastic experience, worshipping the Lord with 8000 other women and speakers and singers that just knocked my socks off. Watching Steven Curtis Chapman sing "Cinderella" and knowing what it meant to him is a four-hankie experience.

There was so much to take in, all of it good. The first thing I heard the Lord say to me on Friday was, "Don't stop. Keep playing." It was in reference to the story about the little boy who went to the piano concert to hear a famous pianist and before the show began, he managed to slip away and get on stage and before his mother knew what had happened, he was seated at the piano plunking out a one-finger rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

People were snickering and his mother was mortified, when suddenly the great pianist appears behind the child and stretching his arms around the boy, leans close, with his hands on the keys, and whispers, "Don't stop. Keep playing."

Then adding bass notes and a trilling treble, he and the boy produce a masterpiece.

Just as Jesus took the little boy's bread and fish to feed 5000, he uses our piddly offerings and produces masterpieces--as long as we don't give up too soon.

Discouragment usually follows me like a stray dog, and too often I wonder, "Should I quit now? Can I give up?"

But I heard the Lord whisper in my ear, "Don't stop. Keep playing."

So as long as he has need of it, I'll do just that and wait for him to create a materpiece from it.
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And I Looked and Beheld

See what you think of my vision of Heaven. Sometimes I go here when Earth gets to be too much!

http://andilookedandbeheld.blogspot.com/

The Fastest Growing Religion

I recently viewed this video and it makes me ill. I love Oprah. Love her personality, her compassion for people, her classiness.

But she is allowing such deception into her life and sadly, she is leading thousands, millions, into darkness with her. Jesus said, "Whoever causes one of these...who believe in me, to stumble, it is better that a millstone be tied around her neck and she be cast into the bottom of the sea."

Pretty harsh words from a God of love. But then, according to Oprah, Jesus was just a good guy who set a good example of overcoming adversity.

Take a minute to view this and don't be caught unaware when this new quasi-religion sweeps the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA
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Animal Psychology

My dog needs a therapist.

After three months of being quite consistant with the house-breaking, she's suddenly developed mental problems. Mayo Clinic's website was no help at all. For some reason, Irish Setter's aren't listed in any category.

Which I don't understand, because surely we're not the only ones with this problem.

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It's got something to do with the proliferation of gophers and moles taking over our property. She's gone wild chasing them above ground and trying to dig them out wherever she stops. Our back yard looks like Bahgdad.

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I got creative and installed an electric fence along the side to keep her away from the area with the most craters and I thought we were getting the picture. Then she tried to walk through it!

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It was a perfect cartoon reaction.She bolted blindly into the hotwire with no reaction until she was halfway through, then leaped three feet off the ground. She twisted in midair, wrapping the fence around her body as she yelped and squealed. She was untangled by the time I got to her, but she took off to the back door, tail between her legs, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Poor thing.

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She has viewed the back yard like a war zone ever since and has opted for indoor plumbing, namely Wayne's office. You can imagine how well that goes over. We've been able to coax her onto the patio, but when we point to the grass, she gets a wild look in her eye and runs back to the door, quivering tail between her legs. The gophers hold no fascination anymore, so that part worked.

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So now we have a torn-up yard AND a dog pooping in the house. If she wasn't so sweet we'd be madder about it, but she gives us this look every time we scold her that says, "Yes, you're right. I'm a bad, bad dog and I deserve any punishment you can give me." It's hard to be wrathful with such devoted groveling.

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Yankee, the Maltese, on the other hand gives us a look that says, "You lay one hand on me, and I'm calling SPCA." She's been prancing around all week with her nose up and a cartoon thought bubble over her head: "I told you we didn't need another dog."

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So, poor Babe has been put back on leash-duty when in the house while we wait for a competent therapist.

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Maybe I need one too.

Best Wishes, Little Brother!

Today was a happy day! My baby brother got married. It was the joining of two family fragments--the start of old scars healing, ragged edges becoming smooth again.
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There will be some adjustments, a few bumps not present the first time around, but lessons learned along the way will help cement this new bond against the stresses and cracks that forever threaten those vows.
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I'm glad to see him happy again and and thankful to the woman who makes him that way.
Welcome to the family, Debbie!