I am...

I am alive and well and enjoying life and working hard and attempting to find places and times for respite. I am serving and teaching and preaching and growing all the while. I am walking and running and singing and dancing and laughing as hard as I possibly can. I am traveling and sitting still. Most of all, I am being kept by the grace of God. As such, I am smiling...

I am writing, just not here. One day soon my words will grace this blog again. They are good words, I promise. But for now I prefer living the words over writing the words.

Until later...

Big and Chunky...

I must admit, this song is from one of my absolute favorite scene in Madagascar 2. Really, how can you not smile when Moto Moto tells Gloria, "Girl, you junkin'!" I was just talking about Big and Chunky with a colleague in ministry as we did our weigh-in for the Pray Away the Pounds ministry at church. We chuckled, recited the lyrics and shared stores about our chunkiness. I like 'em big! I like 'em chunky!



So imagine my surprise when Big and Chunky came on during my ZUMBA class this morning. I know you are wondering how I responded. For one, I must have looked strange because I was holding back laughter which must have translated into a creepy smile on my face. But secondly, I must have looked strange because, though I had already been dancing hard, I started dancing harder. It was as if I was auditioning to be Moto Moto's principal dancer in the Big and Chunky music video.

No doubt, this song will be added to one of my workout playlists, mostly likely the one with The Commodores Brick House, Anthony Hamilton's Sister Big Bones, A Tribe Called Quest's Bonita Applebum, and Carl Carlton's She's a Bad Mamma Jamma!

Think on These Things...

would you turn off that faucet, I shout to my husband
but to You I say: never turn it off
-Alicia Ostriker (from the volcano sequence)

Think on These Things...

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.

(Clarence W. Hall)

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

(Luke 24:1-11)

Think on These Things...

We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.

Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

We praise Thee, O God!
For Thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Savior,
And scattered our night.

All glory and praise
To the Lamb that was slain,
Who hath borne all our sins,
And hath cleansed every stain.

All glory and praise
To the God of all grace,
Who hast brought us, and sought us,
And guided our ways.

Revive us again;
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above.


"Revive Us Again" lyrics by William P. Mackay (1863)

Seven Signs that Spring has Sprung

My sister, in all of her silliness and profundity, wrote this poem a few years ago:

Spring has sprung,
The grass is green.
I know you wonderin'
Where I been.

In mid-March, my sister calls (usually with my niece on speakerphone) for her annual poetry recital. This poem reminds me, when the weather isn't doing such a great job, that Spring is coming. There is a certain rhythm with which she recites it. There is a lilt in her cadence that isn't normally present when she speaks. And when she is done, without fail, laughter erupts on the line. We laugh until our bellies shake and tears come out of our eyes. We laugh so hard that we have to catch our breath from laughing, which usually makes us laugh again. That is the silliness.

The profundity, you ask? Well, in yet another act of silliness, during the 2011 recital, as the resident scholar in the family, I provided a narration to the poem that caused me to think (and us to laugh). I don't remember my words verbatim, but I recall highlighting the way in which the poem speaks of the blooming and bursting forth of Spring, the rich verdancy of the season, and the way in which Spring calls us out of winter's hibernation.

That being the first sign of Spring, here are six other signs that let me know that Spring has sprung:
2. Even the weeping willow trees have a certain air of joy about them....
3. Forsythia blooms outside of my window signal that something beautiful is about to happen...
4. My toes rejoiced at the thought (and practice) of being free to soak in the rays of the sun...
5. Dawn and dusk deer sightings...
6. I could sermonate from a park bench, instead of cooped in my office or at Panera Bread...
7. Hearing the varied sounds kids playing cricket/soccer/basketball at the field across from our bedroom window...

What signs let you know that Spring has sprung?

- Posted using BlogPress on the fiercest device ever...the iPad!!!

iPad App of the Week

This week's app of the week isn't an app, but rather is an invitation to unplug from time to time and live life disconnected from technology, reconnected with God, family, friends, and self. This post was inspired by my friend in my head and one of my conversation partners in the blogosphere Rev. James Ellis III.


In his latest blog posting about social media, Ellis writes, "We are becoming too technological for our own good. Not that the technology is bad, per se. It is simply a tool that can serve us well if we make good choices. Just like students who can't solve math problems without a calculator or adults who can't function without spell-check, we need to get back to the basics. We must learn to value real people and real relationships more than the technology that gives us access to everyone and everything at all times."


His posting made me think about a commercial on the USA Network that aired last year that caught my attention. The commercial lifted up the dinner table—with real, live people passing the peas—as the ultimate and most effective social networking site. How often are our eyes fixed on a screen—television, laptop, iPad, Blackberry—and not into the eyes of those we love?


I experienced the joy of connectivity this weekend in ways I hadn't in a while: at the park jogging with hubby as he encouraged me to keep pressing on; at breakfast with my folks after early morning worship on Sunday, and through the laying on of hands by my sisters in the ministry when I wasn't feeling well during morning worship. I took this connectivity to the next level when on my outing to the park today to sermonate and people watch. Instead of toting my iPad, I carried a paper-bound Bible, a good old-fashioned notebook and an ink pen. Can you imagine? Between journaling and working on my sermon for Good Friday, my hand couldn't get enough of connecting pen to paper. In all honesty, I did update my Facebook status via Blackberry when I saw signs of Spring before my very eyes (see next blog posting). In hindsight, I wish I had lived the status updates to the fullest—breathing in every ounce of them—instead of taking/wasting time to let my 428 "Friends" know what I was experiencing.


As much as I like my iPad and enjoy the productivity it has afforded me, I am more stimulated by conversations (and kisses) with my hubby, hugs from my mother, smiles from my father, and laughter with my girlfriends. This doesn't mean that this feature is dead; Far from it. Nor does it mean I've exhausted my apps; Far from it. However, it does mean that I am keenly aware that the best application of life is to live it, in relationship with God, self, and each other.


All that said, the iPad App of the Week is a life well lived in relationship. It doesn't cost anything and is well worth the time and energy invested!


- Posted using BlogPress on the fiercest device ever...the iPad!!!