This post is my first experiment with the slideshow apparatus. I decided it would be a good time to try to feature several more photos by Terry Valley, a good friend and professional photographer from Wisconsin. It’s sweet of him to allow me to use his photos to do this experiment. I hope it turns out well. I hope you enjoy Terry’s work and God’s creation.
(Special thanks to Lucid Gypsy for insisting I could do this.)
I turned to Love and said, “I must be free.”
And Love said, “Surely. Take your liberty.”
I asked, “In truth? You set me free to roam?”
Then Love replied, “Just please remember home.”
And so I flew to north, south, east, and west.
And finally back to home I came to rest.
Then turned to Love and said, “You were so brave,
To let me try my wings. So much you gave.”
Love smiled and said, “Refusal to set you free
Would mean I loved — not you — but only me.”
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.
Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”(Groucho Marx)
(Special thanks to free-extras.com for use of the picture.)
This week I’m sharing a photo that was taken by a good friend of mine who is a professional photographer. Terry Valley lives in Wisconsin, and most of his work features various aspects of God’s beautiful creation as seen in that area. This photo is one of my favorites of his and is used with several others in a line of greeting cards called the “God’s Green Earth Collection.” It was taken in the very early morning, and I thought it was a good example of seeing “through” the stand of trees to that beautiful white horse in the field beyond.
Anyone interested in seeing more of Terry’s work or contacting him about it
is welcome to send me a comment requesting more information.
“When the swallows come back to Capistrano … all the mission bells will ring.” This line from the song by Leon Rene has been crooned by scores of different American singers since its first rendition in 1940. And it has immortalized for us the event that takes place every year at the San Juan Capistrano Mission in California, where, in fact, all the mission bells do ring to welcome back the famous swallows. This week marks another celebration of this event, which has been taking place on March 19th, without fail, for at least 200 years, maybe more. The subject is so timely that I have re-blogged this article from my “Hangin’ Out With God” site because I thought some of my readers here might enjoy it and appreciate the links to more information on the historic event itself.
Did you hear the bells this past Monday? The bells at San Juan Capistrano? Thousands of people did hear them, because they gathered, as they do every year, to rejoice in and celebrate the return of the beloved Swallows. These famous swallows begin their flight every year at dawn on February 18th, from the Argentinian city of Goya, and arrive at the San Juan Capistrano mission, without fail, on the morning of March 19th.
According to Argentinian magazine correspondent Enrique Bermudez, who has made a thorough study of the swallows, they fly a total of 7,500 miles one way on this astounding trip, which they have been making every year for at least 200 years. Bermudez, who writes for Para Todos Magazine, says the swallows fly most of their journey at an altitude of 6,600 feet and move at a speed of 18…
View original post 516 more words
I re-blogged this article from my “Happy Patriot” site. I’m just in the mood to share it farther and wider.
The real source of America’s strength lies in the hearts of the thousands of men and women who quietly go about their daily lives, earning their paychecks and caring for their families and neighbors – who are confident in their own integrity and that of their nation – who genuinely believe in the dream that America offers to anyone and everyone who wills to claim it – and who trust in the God who gave to man the gift of freedom to rule himself. For these people, the flag is more than a symbol, the Constitution is more than an ancient document, and government of the people, by the people, and for the people is more than a worn-out cliché. These are the REAL AMERICAN PATRIOTS: the backbone, the conscience, and the security of this nation.
My mother was a beautiful woman, inside and out. She was kind, generous, gracious, and 
hospitable to everyone she come into contact with. She loved people, and she saw “specialness” in very ordinary people and very ordinary events in life. Then she celebrated that “specialness” in poetry.
Yes, my mother was a poet. I don’t imagine anyone would call her work “world-shaking,” but it was a collection of words and emotions that gently lifted up the people and events in her “ordinary” life — and lifted up the God who had given all of them to her.
As I look at the clock on my computer screen, I see that we have just crossed into the “second day of spring,” and every spring I am reminded especially of two of my mother’s poems. They are probably my favorites of all of her work. Her book, Life Is Worth Living, includes poems on many subjects, and she even wrote a poem to me specifically at one point in her life. Each of those poems has its own unique place for its own unique reasons. But, somehow, for me, these two poems best represent my mother’s gifts for seeing “specialness” in small, everyday things. I’d like to share them with you.
NEW LIFE
Why the Crocus – a pretty little thing –
Should burst forth, the first sign of spring?
Though buried and dormant in snow and cold,
Will bear new blossoms, so bright and bold.
Of all the plants, like flowers and trees,
The Crocus is the first, the smallest of these;
A rainbow of colors, like one in the sky,
Yet so close to the earth. I wonder why
He chose the Crocus, so very, very small,
To show the world there is new life for all.
WISH I WERE A BUMBLEBEE
Now I’m safe high up in this tree.
Or could he be fooling me?
Gone away far too soon;
Hardly ever leaves ’till noon.
Oh, to bark or snarl or chase
Would take that grin off of his face.
Or if I were a bumblebee,
Bet that cat would be afraid of me!
One little wren don’t have a chance
When that arched back starts to prance.
But I will figure out how, some day,
To make him prance the other way.
Oh, for two horns – like a bull;
I’d show him just who had some pull.
Or if I were a bumblebee,
Bet that cat would be afraid of me!
Just like a snake in the grass,
Lie and wait for him to pass.
Or to buzz around his ears
Would show up some of his cat fears.
Oh, to sting him on the nose
Sure would keep him on his toes.
Yes, if I were a bumble bee,
That darn cat would be afraid of me!
Oh, to sting him on the nose
Sure would keep him on his toes.
Yes, if I were a bumblebee,
That darn cat would be afraid of me!
Poems: © 1979 Vera Faye Pavloff
Crocus Photo: © 2011 Brenda Calvert
Bird Photo: © 2011 Beautiful Free Pictures
This photo shows a thin slice of wood embedded into the side of a tree trunk following a Derecho with winds up to 8o miles per hour. It looked “unusual” enough for me to take a picture of it for the newspaper.
Time: Creation, Day 6
Place: Heaven, looking down at Earth
Cast: God, One Inquisitive Angel
Conversation:
Angel to God: “What are you doing, God?”
God: “Creating a man.”
Angel: “What are you going to do with him?”
God: “Love him.”
Angel: “What will he do for you?”
God: “Give me pleasure.”
Angel: “Will he give you pleasure that is different from what the rest of your creation gives you?”
God: “Oh, yes. He will be a speaking spirit just like me, who will have the ability to choose by his own free will to love me and communicate with me constantly.”
Angel: “Have you thought that he might use his free will to choose not to love you? He could end up giving you a lot of trouble.”
God: “Oh yes, he will give me a lot of trouble. … But he is worth it!”
(Oh that we would see ourselves as God sees us!)
I have just conceived this “brilliant” idea which I hope will help me conclude a search that has been going on intermittently for the past couple of years. But it’s only now that I have found some “friends,” via the blogging community, who, because they live in England, just might be able to help me. I have exhausted all the resources I can find, but to no avail.
I am looking for Miss Read (actually Dora Jesse Saint) the English author of scores of the most delightful novels I have had the privilege of reading. Although she has written of other things, her most popular works — and my favorites — are her lighthearted renderings of the everyday life of people in the fictional English villages of “Fairacre” and “Thrush Green.” For those who are unacquainted with her work, I might say that you could liken their tenor and quality to the stories of The Andy Griffith Show in the United States, with their unobtrusive, kind-hearted, home-made comfort for the soul.
When I am stressed, troubled, down-hearted, or just in the mood for a quiet, relaxing evening, I pick up a Miss Read book, prop my feet up, and live happily ever after — at least for a while. I have read most of these books at least three times each, and some a few more. But for some reason, I never tire of them.
Knowing Dora Saint was born in 1913, I guess I had just assumed she was no longer with us. However, only recently I discovered that she is evidently still very much with us and is currently living in a hamlet near Newbury in Berkshire. But there is no contact information for her online anywhere that I can find, and my experience in the past with trying to go through publishers to pass on information to authors has proven useless.
I would very much like to just send her a message to say how much joy and refreshing her books have given me. I’m sure, with all the praise she has had from more worthy sources throughout her career, my words would seem small. Nevertheless, as an author myself, who is always thrilled to know my work blesses anyone, I believe that she would appreciate hearing that ‘thanks’ from even one more person. And I feel it’s important for me to tell her.
If I knew she lived in a small town in the U. S., I would simply call the local post office, tell them I was sending a letter to her in that city, and ask if they would be so kind as to make sure it gets delivered to the correct house. Post offices have done that in the past. But I have no idea how the postal service works in England — or what other means of communication might be available in a Berkshire hamlet. So I’m calling on any of my English “friends,” whom I have recently met through WordPress, for help: if the names of these communities are familiar to you, and/or you can add to the information I have concerning where Miss Read lives and how I might mail, e-mail, or fax a message to her personally, I would appreciate the input very much.
Also, I do know that her husband (now deceased) was named Douglas. They had one child, a daughter named Jill. Perhaps even that information could be of help to someone who understands how to obtain contact information in England better than I do.
What a treat it is to be able to communicate with people from all over the world through the technology available today. I am blessed to have that opportunity, and to live in what really is “a small world after all.”
Thank you for any help you can offer. It is really a “long shot,” as we say in the States, but for me it is important enough to at least try this avenue!
I shared this photo on one of my other blogs as well, but this truth is too
powerful and too important to miss an opportunity to repeat it here.
If I had known in days gone by
The things I know today, 
I’d have thought and felt and acted,
Sometimes, in different ways.
If yesterday’s tomorrows
Hadn’t come ahead of time,
If they’d waited ’till I’d learned some more
And had made it to my prime,
I would have done a better job
Of living properly;
If wisdom from today had been
More than a mystery.
And now I’d like to put a hold
On life’s full speed ahead,
Just until tomorrow brings me
Knowledge from up ahead.
Why, I could guarantee success!
I could live the perfect way!
Could I just get my tomorrows
To become my yesterdays!
©Sandra Conner 2012
Just couldn’t decide which of these “DISTORTIONS” I liked best, so I posted all three.
Hope they add a little color to someone else’s day as well.
“Cocoa Sky With Marshmallows”
~ ~ ~
“Fire In The Sky”
~ ~ ~
“Falling Into The Sky”
~ ~ ~
I took the original picture early one morning from my front porch. I knew it was a gorgeous sight, but I never dreamed I’d have so much fun with it until WordPress challenged me with this week’s word, “Distorted.”
(I live in the Heartland of the United States — in the southern third of Illinois to be more exact. And as most of the nation — probably the world — knows by now, a portion of that area was hit really hard by devastating, killer storms again in the very early morning hours of February 29th. Last year, we saw the same kind of devastation from similar storms in many states and over a long period of time. When horrific events like that take place, there are a number of people who automatically suppose that God is behind those events — or that He deliberately allows them as a way of teaching or punishing the people on earth. Nothing could be further from the truth, and in response to a number of misguided comments by both Christians and non-Christians, I am posting this article in an effort to clear the record and bring to light the truth — both about devastating storms and about God.)
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.”
There you have it, friends: the answer to the question of whether tornadoes and other “killer storms” are from God. Do they kill? Do they destroy? Then according to Jesus Christ Himself, they are not from God. Where do they come from? They come from an aberration and twisted use of the natural elements that is orchestrated by Satanic power in operation on this earth.
God made all natural elements, including the elements of weather, to be a blessing to man. And even in Psalm 8, He tells us that man is to rule over “all the works” of God’s hands. But man rebelled against God and His purposes in the garden, and listened to Satan instead. His actions in response to Satan put man in a position of subservience to the devil, and that sin opened the door to a curse that would effect all of the created earth. (Gen. 3 / Rom. 8). When man gave Satan the right to operate in this earth, Satan then moved into a position of being able to take hold of any of the natural elements, adulterate them, twist them, and use them to inflict evil upon mankind — and the planet itself. He operates this way on a regular basis and then tries to convince the world that God causes it all. That’s his M.O.
However, that is not the last word in the story. God’s Covenant with man – which He calls a “covenant of peace” (Is.54) – restored man’s right to rule over the elements again — only through that covenant — and to take authority over those demonic powers. Even in the Old Covenant, the Lord expected His faithful servants to know how to use that authority over the natural elements. When Jesus is with His disciples in the boat, and they are struck by a severe storm (Matt.8), He tells them that they are showing a serious lack of faith in responding in fear rather than authority. He finally stills the storm for them, but at the same time, He asks them “Where is your faith?”
And it gets better still: As part of the New Covenant, Jesus literally bought back man’s right to govern in the earth as He was intended to do. We as believers are made the Body of Christ, and since the government is now upon His shoulders – His body – us – we are supposed to be “governing.” (Is. 9). The devil still has the right that man gave him to operate in this earth, but we now have absolute power and authority to bind his power and activity wherever we will make the effort.
Since the finished work of Jesus, we are now literally in the highest position of authority on this planet. Philippians 2 says that every created thing — in heaven, on earth, and under the earth — must bow its knee to and obey the name of Jesus Christ. Do we believe that? Ephesians 1 says that Jesus reins over all principalities and powers and that He is the head of His body – which is the Church. If we are His body, and all things are “under His feet,” then all things are under us as well. Do we believe that?
We now have the blood-bought spiritual authority living in us to take command over every natural thing. All natural things were created by a Spirit God, and they will respond to the commands of the Spirit God in us.
What do we do with that authority? In Mark 11 — as well as several other scriptures in the Gospels — Jesus says that if we will speak to a mountain or a tree [ or a storm??? ] and tell it to move, and not doubt in our hearts, but believe that it will come to pass, we will have what we say. Do we believe Him?
Unfortunately, some Christians seem to think that all natural calamities are some kind of judgment from God. There will certainly come a time for God’s judgment to be unleashed — at the end — but that time is not now, if we are to believe the commission of Jesus Christ to His church. Jesus said twice in the Gospel of John that He did notcome to judge the world, but to save it. He then told His disciples, and all of those who would become disciples, to follow His specific examples and continue to carry on that work of taking the Gospel to the world. That being the case, we need to get into agreement with Jesus and say God is not judging right now; He is delivering the grace and mercy of the Gospel of salvation.
We do need to be aware, however, that when a nation or a people deliberately throw God’s Word in His face and deliberately take a stand or practice things that God clearly says are against Him and His ways, they are literally opening the door to an attack from demonic power. When we do those things, we set ourselves up for that attack — even invite it. God isn’t sending it, but it will come. But even in that kind of situation, God has repeatedly shown mercy and turned destruction away from people — even in the Old Covenant — because faithful believers prayed and took a stand of faith.
Many times in my own life, I have experienced the power of God’s Word and the name of Jesus Christ taking authority over destructive storms, and as a result, seen those storms dissipated, turned away, and or destroyed. Many other believers have experienced the same thing. And yes, I’m talking about deadly tornadoes and hurricanes as well as severe thunderstorms.
But when you are facing a huge battle, sometimes you need a huge, united front to win. The need in this nation is for a strong united front of faith on the part of the Christian believers to stand in authority against these deadly storms and weather systems. This whole massive movement of deadly, destructive weather is nothing but a spiritual war being waged by demonic forces, using natural elements. We must learn to recognize it as such and command the demonic forces to take their hands off — and command those elements to obey the purposes of God in the name of Jesus Christ.
Come on, Church! Rise up and take your authority! If true believers in this nation will unite in faith, take a strong stand on God’s Word, and take authority over these destructive storms in the name of Jesus Christ, the storms and elements of weather will obey!
The Happy Wordcrafter 