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The Musings of a Stubborn Believer

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Sermon in Three Words [and photos of the week]

July 15, 2011 / / 12 Comments

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.” Romans 1:1

I set out to read Romans 1 today,
and I never got to verse 2.

Here’s the sermon in three words…
Paul– Called; Separated.

— * — * — * — * —

Just to set the record straight, I do like taking pictures. 
The reason I don’t call myself a photographer is because I lack in the hardware dept.
But every once in a while, some friend puts their Canon (sorry guys) strap around my neck, and I go to town…
up in the fire tower, getting the briefing on the last conflagration
10 cents if you can identify that logo. 
view from the tower
faces: my favorite shots
the county seat from above
more briefing in the tower
pretty faces
making merry with the dogs leash
candid
another Canon friend
to turn chain into ribbon…
attentive eyes and a friendly face
that would be her Canon strap around my neck. (thanks Jessie! :))
[Seán’s] photo of the week 
friends
the top

a few more photos in the web album

I Have a Dream

May 5, 2011 / / 4 Comments

“I have a dream.”


“I have a dream that one day–
Some day soon…


…there will be a thousand soldiers of the cross where there is now one.” 


















“That on every corner of the globe, a fire will overrun the land.


And that from whatever corner of the earth I am in, I will hear a rumble…”














“And I will say: ‘I recognize that sound’…




‘That’s my God.’ 

‘That’s my God!’”






That’s my dream.

And I’m watching it come true.



*from closing comments, Walla Walla Youth Weekend 2011

Harmony

March 23, 2011 / / 7 Comments
I have formulated a new definition for harmony…
It’s what happens when you mix life and love.

And the harmonies captured here today certainly consist of the love of more than 6 musicians…
Somebody’s been praying. 
And we’ll always be indebted…

We’re at 7 of 14. 
And we’re smiling.   

Thanks friends… 🙂

Lingering at Sunset…

March 14, 2011 / / 9 Comments

Sunset. 

My favorite color.
(That’ll be on a quiz someday. :))

Few things stop me dead in my tracks more quickly or rivet my soul more completely than God’s fingerprints across the western sky.

I always, always linger…

And if I’m compelled to tear my gaze away before the color is gone, my heart lingers. My heart sings…

Sometimes there’s a twinge of loss too… After all, the day is gone.
But there’s so much to be thankful for.


Well, I watched a “sunset” today.
The last teenager in our house turned 20.

And my heart is lingering. 

Our day started early– or late yesterday, as the case may be. I got my first “Happy Birthday!” in way before you were awake this morning between blasts of my siren at herd after herd of obtuse elk on the highway.

But it’s been a happy day…

Happiest because of the joy we find in a God Who is faithful. . . and sister and daughter who is following where He leads.
And also happy because in the gather darkness that necessarily accompanies a sunset, we have begun to learn things we never could have learned in the light. 

The next dawn is still shrouded in mystery.

But we’re all-out excited.

Excited about the altars that await us…
And the promises that sustain us.
And the joy of Jesus being All Sufficient.


It seems I’m seeing more sunsets in life of late…
Saying more goodbyes to yesterday.
But that’s ok.

The stars are coming out now.

we kinda went “all out” this year, and planned a once-in-a-lifetime surprise party with beloved friends and neighbors…

Chantée’s brainchild, the product of several girls’ culinary art and creativity.



Thanks for loving Jesus, sweet girl…
All photos: © Joshua Nebblett


Grace is Power…

February 19, 2011 / / 2 Comments
Just four young adults and a veteran Toyota Corolla sporting new snow tires… 
That was us a few weeks ago. The trip was originally planned for 6, but God had other ideas. 

It was a trip like none other. We sorely missed having our parents along, but even in that I see the hand of Providence. He wanted this trip to be different. and different it was.

Our world is changing. I mean, the world of 4 young people from the edge of nowhere who love to work together, pray together, play together, serve together, sing together… And cry on each other’s shoulders. 


We hear the tread of armies. Constantly.


And we see the gleams of a golden morning…

All at once we are noting in the world around us things that we’ve never perceived before. 

Some things that not that long ago had little or no influence on our personal lives are fast becoming our reasons for living.


I have no way to explain it, other than the fact that we’ve been captivated by Grace.

In all my years I cannot remember another time when the four of us have jumped into the car after a day on the slopes with young friends, pulled off our helmets (hair to the four winds) and had nothing to talk about all the way down the mountain but Jesus… 


He is so irresistible. And every time I turned around, I was looking into the face of another long-time friend and seeing the same thing written there. (for the first time)



I can’t remember another time when one moment, I could be speeding down an icy road on a sled, surrounded by shouts of laughter and high spirits, and the next moment be on my back looking up at the blue sky saying “My Jesus, I love You…” (And the next moment be speeding down the icy hill again.)

I have never seen so much of Jesus in His children… Everywhere I turned, I caught another glimpse of His face. 

Our world is changing…
Or maybe not.
Maybe we’re just tasting more of His grace… And He’s changing the things we love, and the things we live for. Maybe that’s why we don’t pray for happiness, but for usefulness. Why we gladly exchange fun times for the pursuit of His glory…



I never imagined that broken pieces could be this happy… 


Grace is power. 
What it touches, changes. 


Eternal Weight of Glory, serving You is joy unspeakable!
Please keep us in Your hand…







Too Good to Be True?

January 19, 2011 / / 3 Comments
The word is invigorated. 
Or as my beautiful little sister put it on the way back to Boston Logan after a full weekend–
“You always end with the upper hand if you’re on the right team….”
The God we serve defies the bounds of human logic. I decided that afresh while kneeling once again by the little pile of rocks where I begged for words last week. This time, laughing and crying at once–
“My Jesus! You’re too good to be…to be… 
True?!?

No… Too good not to be True.”

  
Surrender to Conquer was the theme of the Northeast Youth Retreat this year… 
And the paradox has been driven home for me. 
Jesus, keep us faithful…


Photos: Elwyn Garaza & Joshua Nebblett


Australia

December 17, 2010 / / 7 Comments
Home. 
A strange mix of happy and sad I’ve never felt before…
Try loving, and praying, and preaching, and crying for souls… 
And being loved by them, and then saying goodbye knowing there’s a good chance you will never meet again on this side of the gates of pearl. 
Oh, I know.
I’ve done it before too. But this time was different. 
A part of me is still in Australia. 
And that part of me will never come home.
Maybe it was relinquishing claims to those hearts and hands 
to trust them to the grip of One infinitely stronger and wiser…
Or maybe it was just realizing how small I am…
Or maybe it was something else…
Whatever the case, it makes my heart burn for Heaven.
Oh, let’s be faithful dear friends…
I want to meet you on the other side.

More to Give. Much more…

November 10, 2010 / / 3 Comments
It was a simple little lesson… Brought to me by the most gracious people I have ever met. But it stirs me even now–
He or she who has lost, and yet loved, may indeed have less to lose… 
But also unspeakably more to give. 
I have learned that gentleness, selflessness, real warmth and grace are seldom owned in their depth by those who have not tasted sorrow. 
They are trophies won in the face of pain and loss.  
But they make their possessors the richest, most beautiful people in the world…
So, to my new friends– 
Your love through loss has been the gain of thousands…
Thank you.

Happiness

August 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments
Isaiah 65
Once again the click of black dress shoes on the floor breaks the silence in my office just before midnight. 
Once again the bag goes on the floor, the Blackberry on the desk, and the boarding passes folded in my coat pocket go in the wire trash can in the corner. All is well… 
And once again I first drift off to sleep, and then wake up again, exceedingly happy… 
Because I have seen salvation come… 
I have watched cheeks first pale, then glow. 
I have watched empty eyes fill with tears of hope. 
I have watched faces turn to the sun like flowers on a spring morning.
Ahh yes, this is happiness.
And the fact that it is my happiness, is a gift of grace undeserved…
“Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart…” Isaiah 65:14
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil… [Jn. 17]

Not Mine…

July 14, 2010 / / 1 Comment
Isaiah 39
Boast not of those things which are not yours anyway… 
Hezekiah did, and his son lost his crown, and his people lost their freedom. 
As I sit here at my desk listening to the birds sing thorough open glass doors and delighting in the fresh crispness of mountain air just after sunrise, I glance around my desk– Of all places in this house, here sits the greatest concentration of things I call “my own.”  
Of course almost all my assets under this roof are found here… Thousands in hardware, thousands in software…
But of greater value are the many little treasures found here… A handmade plaque, a pencil sharpener from Australia, a music box, picture frames, a Beanie Baby kitten named Zip, a little button boy named Pillsbury, penholders, notes, quotes, bookmarks… 
The picture of my best friend that just flitted across the screen, the list of friends I pray for from Germany, the list of friends that pray for me, here…
All these reminders– Reminders of the greatest treasures I have. 
All of them, people. 
But they’re not mine! 
They belong to the same God I belong to… I must remember that. 
The moment I forget, they become a liability to me, and I to them. 
If my heart is God’s, and all my gifts are God’s, then together we are all at His disposal, and we all share in His glory…
In the mean time, “My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.” (Psalms 34:2)


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