Friday, February 25, 2005

Please pray for a friend's son, who is in such dire straits.

I know, there is so much sorrow in the world, but I hope for grace and mercy from God and I hope Geoff Johnston finds deliverance. If you are reading, please take a moment and pray for his son Quinn.

Thank you.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

A story of courage, from an unusual source -- a link to the story of how Robert E. Lee's daughter was arrested for violating Jim Crow laws, and of how her father refused to bow to similar pressures.

It is a good story because it reminds us that people are complex, not simple. It is much too easy to think that everything is simple, when it is not.

It is also a good lead-in to a story about a real hero in my life, my wife.

When she was sixteen and at the beach in Brazil, she spotted a girl in trouble as the waves were getting rough, and she and a guy both started swiming out to help. As they got there, the guy bailed out, saying it was better to let the girl drown than it was for them to drown with her. It was then my wife made the decision to either save the other girl or drown herself with her. She decided she had met an important test in life and she had to face it to be true to herself.

The guy who bailed out watched from the shore as both teen-aged girls made it back in spite of the worsening waves. My wife gained something from facing that test that most people in our culture never face, and passed a very real test.

I adore my wife, I learn from her thoughts, and she is a role model and story of courage for my life and for my daughters.

For some sermons she has given:

Win's 1997 Women's Conference Talk
Father's Day Talk
2002 Coleville Conference Talk

I'm grateful we have made it so far together, through so much.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

December 26 is when Courtney died. Then Jessica's death date is January 26 (also our wedding anniversary for Win and I). Jessica was born February 12 and Courtney was born February 16. That string of memories always makes this time of year so difficult.

We love our baby, but as she goes through various ages and stages she stirs up so many memories in her path, so many feelings. I know that when she is finally nine or so she will be past it all, and then it will only be the ghosts we feel with her older sister as she has experienced all the things her sisters missed.

As for Robin, I know her dates are July 6 and August 31, but somehow it is always the 4th of July and Labor Day that resonate.

Memories are always with us.

On a completely different note, I put in referrer logs. I know they aren't working right, since in the past five days I've referred 29 people to Sleepless in Portland and 89 to Celibate in the City. That's 118 outgoing to just two sites. For the same time period my referrer logs show only about 30-something incoming visitors. I know that I didn't have almost a hundred people who set my blog as their start page ... but I figure the software will eventually sort itself out.