Please Pray

The Houston home of Margaret and Michael, my sister and brother-in-law, was flooded on Sunday morning.   At first it was a few inches, but within a few short hours the water had risen to more than two feet.   Thankfully, a rescue canoe helped take their family of five to safety. The water continued to rise through Sunday evening and Monday.  I am unsure what has happened in the last 12 hours as the water level gage for that area ceased working.   I do know that in the midst of the flood Jesus' love for them is deeper than the highest waters.  He provided multiple friends that had dry homes to take them in and feed them.  He gave their exhausted bodies rest after a traumatic 24 hours of wakefulness.   There are still needs that seem overwhelming and murky.  

Please pray for them as they have many decision to make.  Please pray for their emotional well-being, physical health, and stamina.  Their house, cars, and their first floor things are gone.   When you lose so much,  you treasure the one thing that is impossible to lose and that is your relationship with Jesus.   Thankfully, Margaret and Michael serve the Living God whose hands carried Noah and his family through the greatest deluge, whose hands cradled our Messiah as he slept in the storm and whose hands will tenderly portage them to higher ground than they have ever known before.  I hold that He has a much better future in store for Margaret and Michael than the best days of their past.  God's tears may have wet the Houston streets, but his heart's blood flooded the streets of the entire world long before that.

When God invites us into deeper waters of loss, He continually out-gives himself.   Please pray with me that the Houston flood of 2017 will not be linked in Margaret and Michael's memories to devastation, but rather this is the year that God flooded their hearts with a more devastatingly beautiful revelation of Himself.

Meet Miss Tam O'Shanter

The Surreal Mushroom

Books to Jumpstart Your Brain

Like a car battery that has been through a long, hot summer, sometimes my brain just needs a new charge.  Though jumper cables work great on the depleted, my brain needs a different conduit.  Books.  And more books.

I am rejuvenated by real life stories.   Being at home most of the time, if I am reading a stimulating book, I never feel isolated.  In fact, I often feel like I have had a stranger over for lunch or dinner, they did all the talking and I didn't have to cook.

Just like guests, some books are better conversationalist than others.  Some books are drama queens.  Some books are angry juveniles.  Some books are on Prozac.  Some books are contagious, joy-filled.  Some books are huggers.  Some books are wise counselors.  Some books make you hold your sides because you laughter seeded a five acre garden.  Okay, I know my metaphors are getting all mixed up.  A good book basically trickle charges me through the human shared experience.  My brain gets overlapping electric currents of ideas, life lessons, personalities, excitement, adventure, and yes, sometimes even boredom.  If you read enough, it is bound to happen.  You might get book disconnect.   That is all part of the amazing process of brain synapses firing and fizzling.  Well, if you are brain dead after the heat of the summer, here are some recent reads of mine.

Quick keywords to help you narrow down what might recharge you.

1. Laughter, More laughter & Marriage - Texas

2. Travel & Adventure with a Modern family, Secondary Jet lag as the Reader

3. Genuine & Vulnerable, Marriage, Handling Fame & Success, Loss of a Child - Nashville & China

4. Real, Broken & Forgiven, Jesus Lover

4. Loss & Recovery, Cancer, Blended Families, New Beginnings - Michigan

5. Hints on Deeper Love for Jesus & Hangups that trivialize the Great I AM

 6. Bravery, Recovery, Medical Missions & Ebola - Liberia

7. Service, Commitment, Disappointment, Quadriplegia & Marriage

8. Danger, Medical Missions & Adventure - Afghanistan

9. Testimony, Changed Life, Loss & Cancer - Nashville

 10. Medical missions, Overcomer, Spirit-filled - Sudan

11. Allegorical, Artistic and Jesus-centered - Mexico

12. Orphans, Missions, Hard places, Hurt -  Sudan

13. Intentional Living, Thankfulness, Miracles & Large adoptive family

14.  Entrepreneur, Hard-work, Taking Risk, Handling Fame & Success, Prioritizing Family - Texas

Photo Assignment 5: Reflection

There are extra photos this week, because two people submitted two photos.  

Answers to Photo Assignment 4 - Texture:

 Alex, 17

 Fritz, 14

 Emily, 13

 Jane, 11

 Teddy, 11

 Me         

Photo Assignment 4: Texture

1

2

3

4

5

6

Answers to Photo Assignment 3 - Color Coordinating:

 Alex, 17

 Fritz, 14

Emily, 13

Jane, 11

  Teddy, 11

        Me