learningtosmile.

james, jesus' half brother, wrote a letter to twelve christian tribes who were scattered among the nations (vs. 1). the idea is that they were facing serious oppression and they were in dire need of some good old fashioned encouragement. james serves them a tall glass of this is how it is, saying to these poor and persecuted peoples that they should consider it pure joy when they face hardships (vs.2). while reading his letter, i'm sure this is the first of many times the tribes thought "but james, that's awfully silly." these people had been evicted from their hometowns, and through that process, all their dignity and possessions had been taken from them. silly indeed. and so it would be, if we quit right there. that's a very unsettling place to quit reading, so we choose to go on...

youhadtobethere.

wat kinds of pictures will you have in the photo albums that you show your kids?

lettersfromabasket.

the little lion
sat in a wicker basket
for a dozen years.

there he sat and watched
from his watchtower,
his safe wicker perch.

he could see the curve,
leaves and salt from east to west,
depth, from north to south.

rw&b.

nothing is quite as american as apple pie; that is, nothing except for freedom.

transparency2.

if you could send out a message to a large group of people. wat would you say?

transparency1.

have you done anything lately worth remembering?

slicedwhitebread.

during our walk, we chilled by the fountain at the church, and i was laying on the fountain itself while reading out of matthew 10. i had already highlighted it, but i looked at verse 16 and suddenly knew it's application to my life.