Psalm 151: a psalm of Katherine

What are you, o mountain?
     that you dare to rise up against this daughter
     of the LORD Most High?
Your power & height will be split like an atom
by God, the Creator of the Universe.
In the valley & from the peaks, I will bless His Name forever.
 
Where are you, o storm?
     You came with dark clouds 
     and raging winds
Then the Lord stretched forth His arm
to calm you to a sweet coastal breeze.
In the day & through the night, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Who are you, Shelob?
     With corruption & wickedness 
     you spin a web of debt.
Make haste to flee, 
for the LORD God is coming to flush you.
I will dance with Joy in the Presence of the King
                                                                   Selah

On You, I rest my hope Oh Lord!
Hope of marriage & family; 
Hope of provision & covering;
Hope of creativity & anointing for ministry.

In the company of friends,
I will testify of Your goodness & faithfulness;
I will tell of peace unexplainable 
and joy in the journey.

In solace, I rejoice to see You coming,
riding on the clouds with joy & victory.
I lift my hands in praise to You; 
and declare:
"I love You with my whole heart!"

I might've posted this before, or at least I have on fb, but the wind is so wild & woolly tonight that I can't help thinking about an old poem I wrote on another such windy night years ago...

The Wind

The Wind gusts outside my window tonight.
It seems furious & fearful
pushing against the glass
as I burrow beneath the covers.

Though the night is dark
The Wind is not a friend of the wicked;
It roars for the righteous.
Like Acts 4, The Wind trumpets the entrance of the Holy Ghost
Stirring the passion of saints.

For the child of God has received the breath of God
walking, running
breathing in deeply
the living breath of Yahweh
exhaling the life that is in the Son
exclaiming, "life forevermore!"

So I do not fear The Wind;
I welcome The Wind.
I turn my face to the North and South,
and cry "Come!"
Come surround, encircle me.
Go before me and behind me
As a shield of powerful anointing.

The Wind stirs the water;
It bears witness to the Blood.
It blows where it wishes,
and I hear the sound of it
this night.

2011
We've run a good race, friends.

The trail of the year went through mud,
through forest & field;
over hills, down through valleys.
We stumbled & fell;
and skipped & laughed.
We stopped in fear,
but we always started again.
We didn't give up;
Through the dark night,
there was faith.
We looked through tears
with childlike eyes,
and You saw us.

You say:
"You've run a good race, friend.
Thank you for your faith.
Thank you for your love of Me.
I saw you this year,
I see you now.
I sing over you: Just believe, don't give up.
I'll give you new strength
for this new year."

It's a new year,
it's a new day.
There's Joy coming like a train.

And we sing a new song to start again.
We're following Yeshua, not following religion.
Pressing on toward the prize,
Onward to Zion.

For the last 3 new journals, I've started a little tradition of beginning the journal with a poem. I started a new one today, & I kind of like the little poem that came forth...

New Journal!
Oh yay,
symbolic of a new day.
Starting new
fresh like dew;
Fragrant wind
picks me up again.

Rain, rain
what a day;
Thanks be to God
Rain has washed the clouds away.

And so I sigh
work-day draws nigh.
What surprises will I find?
Expecting
Joy of a new kind.

From Wednesday Night Youth Group

1. On a 3x5 card, write out 1-3 hard things that you're going through.

2. Read 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

3. On the back of your card, write out good outcomes that can from the hard things that you're going through, keeping in mind the above verse. For example, if I wrote down "Financial struggles" but I realize that this is a temporary circumstance & I'm being prepared for eternity, then a "good outcome" could be that God is developing my trust in Him. Also, He's teaching me to be a good steward of the things He has given me so that He can entrust me with more (see Parable of Talents, Matthew 25:14).

4. Keep your card with you to remind you that God is working in your life to develop your strength and character for eternity. As The Message says:
"These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."

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I really love using devotional books that have an entry for every day. I sit down in the morning with my coffee & Bible & journal and then...hmmm...where to start? Oh...joy of joys! I have a devotional here too so I can start with the daily entry! And from there, I'm off & running, & before I know it, my 15 or 30 minutes has flown by & I'm kicking myself for not waking up earlier to give myself more time...

So I was thinking that I'd to compile a 40-day Devotional for us to use together (Bethel youth groupers, et al.) to start out the New Year. And you (yes you reading this!) can have a part in writing it! Submit a comment here with your favorite Bible verse(s) & a brief reason why it's your favorite & then we'll put it together in a booklet + I'll put one up on this blog each day. It'll be great! We'll start out the year united in our devotional time! Yay!

Sometimes it's okay to spend your last $25 on glamor shots...

... I equate it to that classic story of the businessman or inventor who spent their whole life savings because he had a dream burning inside him that he had to make happen. Like Johannes Gutenberg who borrowed money from several different people to fund an idea that would lead to the invention of the printing press, which allowed mass production of the written word, leading to the first printed Bible (until then, approx. 1450s, Bibles were all transcribed by hand), which eventually led Europe out of the Dark Ages!

Anyhoo, I'm telling you this because I decided to "go for broke" and do something slightly weird toward my own dreams. I signed myself up to get family Christmas photos at church. I know you're thinking "but you don't have a family." And I'm thinking that I could definitely be spending my money a little more contructively (like Christmas shopping or groceries). But I started thinking, "What if I did that for myself? I could get some nice photos taken to have on-hand in case I get invited to speak at a conference or to have for the back of the book jacket on my first book." Sounds crazy, but if I'm praying for opportunities to teach & speak & write, why not do something that takes a step toward that?

Here's the thing: I've been in this hanging-out-in-the-airport-waiting-for-my-long-delayed-flight-to-take-off season, and while I'm waiting I figure I could do some things to get ready for the next place I'm going (this does not necessarily mean I'm physically leaving, just expecting a move into a different job/ministry). Why not take advantage of the layover & do something nice for myself toward my future. I mean, gee, just because you're stuck in the airport doesn't mean you can't shop around, get something to eat, enjoy the view...

So I have some pictures all ready to go for the conference brochure, or the book jacket, or maybe just the Christmas letter for this year (or even the youth group blog site). I feel pretty proud of myself. I did something, which is better than nothing. The next step is to do like my dad & make a business card.


P.S. I don't have any of the pix in yet, 'til then, how 'bout this one...

P.S.2. I keep trying to fix the font to be uniform & it won't stay...