wait

it's astounding how many things i wait for in the course of a day.

i wait:

• in line at starbucks for my americano.
• for my computer {some days more than others}.
• for buses.
• on coworkers.
• for dinner to finish cooking.
• for a friend to call me back.

but of all the things i wait for, usually with at least a semblance of patience, i seldom remember to wait on God.

i say to myself, "the Lord is my portion; therefore i will wait for him." the Lord is good to those whose hope is in him. ~lamentations 3:24-25

nothing else is nearly so important.

one or the other? or can it be both?

i read yesterday that starbucks is doubling it's commitment to purchase fair trade certified coffee. no one would argue that this is a bad thing. according to paul rice, "it will send kids to school, bring clean water to farming communities and enable struggling farmers to put food on the table." {fairtradeusa.org}

this started me thinking about what a Christ-follower's responsibility should be in the stewardship of our world. given that we know that 'the earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it..." {psalm 24:1} should we, as followers of the owner not be immensely concerned with what he has left us as guardians over?

conversely, i've heard people say that if the world was more interested in saving people than saving the whales, it would be a better place.

what should a Christ-follower's response be? should it be one or the other... or should it be both?

and where does something like fair trade coffee come into it? it seems that purchasing fair trade coffee would be the best of both worlds for someone who is concerned with both the globe and the individual souls in it.

what do you think?

doneness

it's too easy to forget that we humans are not like cakes. yes, we may have layers, but there is no one point in our lives when we are definitively done. technically, we never actually arrive, at least not on this side of eternity.

there are moments when i cannot decide whether this is the good or the bad news...

fairy tales...

i was rereading mark batterson's wild goose chase for tonight's small group on my way to work this morning, the chapter about coming out of the cage of failure. he talks about God's ability to turn the tragedies we face into fairy tales.

and, of course, it happened to remind me of one of my favorite chesterton quotes:

"fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

add to this, mark batterson's word from WGC,

"if you feel like you're stuck in a tragedy, here's my advice: give Jesus complete editorial control over your life. you have to quit trying to write your own story. and you need to accept Jesus not only as Lord and Savior but also as Author. if you allow him to begin writing his-story through your life, it'll give the tragedy a fairy-tale ending. i'm not promising a life without heartache or pain or loss, but i am promising a different ending." {page125}

and if you really want a trip, add to this donald miller's let story guide you, and you've got enough food for thought and growth to keep you busy for at least the rest of the year!

it's been a week...

i've said it before that i am not a TGIF kind of girl, but i have to say that tonight, i am so intensely grateful that it is friday!

it has been a week. nothing horrible or great, just a whole lot of stuff has been packed into these few days.

small groups on sunday & monday nights. a million loads of laundry on tuesday. meeting at PORTICO on wednesday. a long commute home last night, and a SUPER long commute home tonight. i am tired, cold and hungry.

i cannot even think about sunday right now. sunday is filled with church and meetings and photo shoots and who knows what else, but what i can think about, is tomorrow. saturday.

ah, saturday. tomorrow, i will write {sadly, for the first time this week}. tomorrow i will clean my sad, neglected home, and put the laundry i did on tuesday night away. tomorrow i will read, and not feel guilty.

tonight? tonight i feel the extreme need to curl up on my sofa, watch a few episodes of the gilmore girls, and eat pizza, which i will make momentarily. not the most exciting of friday nights, but after this week, and especially this afternoon, it is vital.

perhaps tomorrow i will actually have something to write about!

happy birthday daddy!

today, my father turns 66. i haven't called him yet, but given the fact that it's only 4:38am in alberta, i think a birthday call now would be a bit unkind.

i love my dad. i love that i have inherited his sense of humor, and his sense of the ridiculous. i love that all of the truly funny moments in my life have had something to do with him. {"why did we have kids?" "and why four?" "hhgghggugggh?" [you had to be there, either when it originally happened, or on any of the many recreations of that moment that my brothers & i have had!]} i love that i grew up thinking that my dad knew everything, and that after a brief stint as a teenager, i am now okay to concede that he's a whole lot smarter than me.

i love the example he set as to how to love his wife. i love that together, as a team, he and i cannot win a game of pictionary to save our lives. i love that sometimes, when he gets angry, he yells in a french accent {that isn't there otherwise}. speaking of french, i love that he has endured my mother's deliberate butchering of his native language throughout the years. i love that he shared his passion to travel and experience the world with me. i love watching him with his grandchildren, who adore him. i love that he loves Jesus.

joyeux anniversaire, daddy! have a brilliant day!

love,

your favorite daughter

brilliance

my sister-in-law is a freaking genius.

the second picture shows cupcakes that she made for my dad's birthday...yes, cupcakes....not spaghetti!

loralie, once again, you amaze me!