PROMISE

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, 

but it won't stay there. 

~ Clarence W. Hall

Rainbows

I love rainbows because they remind me of God's promise to us, and His deep love for us.  I never expected to see one in the dead of winter out here.  But here you go...

One of the girls that I was teaching spotted it.  Pretty amazing how He shows up to remind you that He is still there.  Always.

Beauty in the darkness

On Mallard's and my walk this morning, we took the route by the pond.  Right now in Georgia, it is fall.  The leaves are changing colors and dropping from the trees, the temperature is cooling down, and things aren't as bright.  I have been reading this book...

It is incredible.  It is a book about living fully and being thankful for EVERYTHING.  Even the hard and ugly stuff.  One of the topics in the book is about beauty amongst the darkness.  How God's love is transformative.  Well, on the walk, I saw this beautiful flower.  Beauty in the midst of bleakness.  I don't even know if it is supposed to be blooming at this time of the year.  But, it made me smile and think about God's great amazing unchanging love for us.

"All good comes out of dark places, out of darkness God spoke forth life, out of the darkness of the cross  the world transforms into new light." - 1000 Gifts

I've been thinking lately...

I try to avoid driving at night because I get headaches which lead to migraines, naturally.  But, last night I did. And as I was driving, I saw a traffic light. 

I started thinking about how cool the green and red lights blended together at night, and then I started thinking about Christmas of course and how the stoplight is like Christmas.  So, there is red and green in the stoplight and red and green are also the colors of Christmas.  Red means stop and green means go.  And then it dawned on me the importance of the stoplight in relation to Christmas.  It is a monumental holiday because it was when Jesus was born.  His birth requires us to stop in reverence and praise.  Like the shepherds, they stopped what they were doing in wonder of the star.  But Christmas is also like the green light.  Because Christ came, we are given the green light in our lives.  Because He came, we have life and life to the full.  Talk about an awesome stoplight in our lives.

That probably made no sense at all.  But that's ok, it makes sense to me.  I don't know where the yellow light comes into play yet, haven't quite thought that one over yet.  But when I mull it over, I will get back to you.  

Merry Christmas, far in advance!

Camp DeSoto

I've been thinking recently, how exactly do you describe Camp DeSoto to someone who has never experienced it?  I can say that it is a little piece of Heaven, but that does not describe it fully.  I have been reading books on prayer this summer.  And last Sunday, I came upon a passage that Fiona Macleod wrote about a place named Iona.  It is a sacred and holy place.  So, I have stolen the majority of Fiona's words to help paint a picture of what exactly DeSoto has meant to me...

A few places in the world are held to be holy, 

because of the love which consecrates them, 

and the faith which enshrines them.  

One such is DeSoto...  

It is but a small mountaintop, fashioned of wooden cabins, 

a few grasses tread by feet of many, 

a few rocks that bring us together to worship, 

and upon whose woods the birds and crickets never cease to sing their song.

But since the remotest days,

 little girls have bowed here in worship.
The peace of DeSoto whispers to many.

On top of this mountain, a lamp was and is lit whose flame lights the world.  

From age to age, lowly hearts have never ceased to bring their burdens here.  

And here Hope waits.  

To tell the story of DeSoto, 

is to go back to God, 

and to end in God.

This is DeSoto.