Cinema Church Golf Tournament 2008

Job 37

Job 37:5

Verse: God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things which we cannot comprehend.

Reflection: Verses like this encourage me to think bigger. Even in this world there is so much going on that we are not aware of. Just consider the range of sound that we can hear and what a dog can hear. So much sound around us that we’re not even aware of.

Prayer: Help me to slow down enough to take the time to listen.

Living Proof the next generation September 08

I’m still learning how to add images to the post but at least things are showing up.  Major demolition, a few core students came all summer to help Matt and Paula get things ready.  Slowly but surely the room took shape.  I have more photos to add later. Over the last three Fridays Living Proof has had more than a 100 students.  Mike, Rachel and staff of Living Proof created a solid foundation  to be built upon. Student were anxious to come back. Michelle was so pleased to be surprised by Haylee and Sarette for her birthday.

Job 36

Job 36:26

Behold God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.

reflection: I love  words such as unsearchable, unmeasurable when speaking of God. Maybe it’s just human nature to want to be able to contain things, to be fit them somewhere, to have an answer for each question. I especially like the word unmeasurable since so many of my young students are being primed and prodded  for testing,  testing and more testing.  Things like heart and empathy, uniqueness can’t be measured by the CMT’s.

Prayer: Help me to have faith in that which can’t be measured.

Job 35

Job 35: 5

Look at the heavens and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than you.

reflection:  All during the weeks that I was going up to my child hood home to move my Dad’s belongings, the skys were amazing.   Canyons of clouds. If I had painted those clouds you would think I was exaggerating. I could look through an opening of one formation into another and see the palest shade of pearl pink. Normally I don’t get to see that expanse because we have so many trees around our house. Those cloud formations are imprinted on my mind. How huge the sky.

Prayer: Please help me to remember that just because I can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Living Proof

I have been meaning to post this picture all summer.  Ally is towards the back, near Meredith. I’ve thought about all the images that each person has of that night.  It brought to mind a sculptor named Nam June Paik. He worked with multiple T.V. images long before it became the norm.

I had planned on helping out the LP students this summer but life stepped in and I needed to move my father out of the home he had lived in for 51 years. It was my childhood home, filled with many memories. It was intense but we finally finished. Last night I had a dream that some LP students came to visit us at the house. They gathered in the room that my mother used to paint in.  As more students came the room just got bigger.  Some dreams become treasures and that will be one of them.

Job 33

Job 33:3

Answer me, if you can;

set your words in order before me;

take your stand.

Reflection: When I read this verse a memory came back to me. I must have been 12 or so. I was on a field trip to the beach. As we sat in the high back seats waiting for everyone to board the bus I looked out and saw this woman starting to scream at a young child. When she moved to hit the him something in me clicked and I yelled out the window for her to stop. As the bus pulled out she glared at me. When I sat down I saw the looks of shock on my friends faces, I was always the quiet one.

I’ve listened several times to an interview of Kay Warren that was recorded at Gorden College last year. She just wrote a book “Dangerous Surrender”.  Her voice is so true and went straight to my heart. She spoke of reading a magazine one day, an article about aids in Africa and it struck her that millions are dying and she didn’t know one name. She spoke of being the voice for children, for those who have no voice. She has taken a stand. I know I have to read her book and learn more. This disease is everywhere.  It took the life of my brother-in-law, Steven, when he was just a young man.

Prayer: Help me to listen and hear.

Job 34

Job 34:3

for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.

Reflection: This reminds me of my young students. They are learning that the tone, how words are spoken, can say as much as the word being used. It is usually the tone of the voice that catches my attention first. “Everything is OK” sometimes said with a sadness that lets me know that person is aching, sometimes said with frustration and I know that person needs to be heard.

prayer: Please help me grow as a listener to others.

Job 32

Job 32:19

Verse: Behold, my heart is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

Reflection: This verse reminds me of my youngest students. When my first graders come in to discuss the art lesson before we begin there is frequently someone who just has to tell me some thing, even their hair is saying “please call on me”. Some times I’ll just look at them and nod and and their thoughts come spilling out.

The verse also reminds me of those special people that really listen to what you are saying. Their minds are not filling with responses. They are absorbing your words. I’m constantly encouraging myself to grow as a listener. When it works it is like a beautiful dance of words and silence.

Prayer: Please help me to grow as a listener; to savor the words being spoken to me.

Job 31

Job 31:4

Verse: Does not he see my ways, and number all my steps?

Reflection: This verse makes me think of Cameron, watching her practice taking her first steps, some too wide, some too long but she just keeps at it. It also makes me think of my Dad. When I was younger I used to have to skip to keep up with him. Now he takes my hand to walk up the driveway. All those years of walking have kept him in good shape. A bit of wear and tear comes does come with 90 years of living.

Some times I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around the idea that God can see everything. Then I have to remind myself that I’m considering this with human measurements of time and ability.

I still have a hard time understanding why, if God can see everything, He allows the suffering of children.

“The solution is actually readily at hand, once one ceases to apply human limitations to God. If God is outside of nature, then He is outside of space and time. In that context, God could in the moment of creation of the universe also know every detail of the future. That could include the the formation of the stars, planets, and galaxies, all of the chemistry, physics, geology, and biology that led to the formation of life on earth, and the evolution of humans, right to the moment of your reading this book-and beyond.”

The Language of God, A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins -page 205

Prayer: Help me to be comfortable with the idea that I am not meant to understand everything.