Tidal Waves (but not tsunamis)

When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time on Puget Sound. One of the coolest things about our little bay was that it changed, a lot, four times a day. At low tides, there might be 200 feet of beach to walk on, from rocks and barnacles out to mud flats. As the tide came up, the water covered everything and made a more uniform appearance. When the tide got really high, you might be caught dancing between salt water and bushes on the high bank. If you were lucky enough to be able to get into a boat, that was prime cruising time, right up at the edge of the land. But if you were afoot, you'd better count on getting your shoes wet.

I haven't posted anything here for a few weeks because an unusually long-lasting high tide. Life has been full, full, full, and all I could do was dance along a narrow shoreline. I'm thankful that none of the waves have been big enough to knock me down, but the force of the tide has been unrelenting and has made me feel pinned in place.

Although this blog isn't all about me, per se, it is about my walk. I have kept walking, kept reading, kept praying, but there hasn't been much that could be openly shared. I think the tide has reached its high point and may be starting to turn. When there's a little more beach to walk on, I'll be able to write more freely. I do think I'll be able to get working on some fiction soon, finally. Thanks for reading.

How's Your Prosperity Today?

In my quiet time this morning, I came across a wonderful promise of comfort and love. Then, further on, I heard this phrase in the strident voice of a television preacher:

"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper..."

Ugh -- prosperity doctrine 101? If we belong to the Lord, nothing bad will befall us? If we are protected by faith, everything will be fine? Here's the whole verse:

"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord.

Okay, here's what I think, and these opinions are my own and are not necessarily those of The Management. First, I have experienced what I have considered to be suffering and even depression. Second, the Lord has proclaimed His love for me over and over in Scripture. Therefore, my circumstances (and my happiness) are not necessarily reflections of His care for me, His child. No matter what I'm going through or how I feel, I am wrapped in His merciful love.

Nothing can get to us unless God allows it. Not that He intends us harm, but nothing can sneak past Him to hurt us. He knows what is happening at all times, and there are no "accidents" in His economy. Yes, I think it'd be nice if He'd warn me, or at least follow an event with a five-point explanation... But He is God, He is sovereign, and He certainly loves me. Period.

Recipes and Controlled Outcomes

Doesn't this look delectable? Oh, my. Whatever it is, it's what it was meant to be. Someone followed some kind of recipe -- they assembled all the ingredients, did the prep work, and ended up with this stupendous concoction.

I just jumped into a book by Donald Miller, a rather unflinchingly genuine writer who writes about being an unflinchingly genuine Christian. (Okay, so maybe sometimes he flinches, but he'll probably tell you all about it.) He compares self-help formulas to following a recipe. If we try to "do" certain things to please God, we're actually trying to control our own outcome. Having a relationship with God is like... having a relationship! There are good days and bad days, and times when we're totally together and times when we're out of sync. But the point of the relationship is the relationship.

Humanly speaking, it is extremely frustrating to realize that there's no toothpick test for doneness, no measure that shows I'm progressing adequately toward the desired product. Come to think of it, whose product am I, anyway? I don't have a photograph to aim for, except I know that I am to grow up in all aspects in Him who is the head, even Christ. But I won't ever turn into His clone -- I'll be me, made in His image. I will have certain quirks and gifts and weaknesses, just because I am me. My only goal is to become more like Him.

I think I'd like to have a recipe to follow and a photo to emulate. But that's not how He works. And if I really had control, it would mean I would have to control everything about myself. That means I'd have to be responsible for all my failures. No forgiveness, no mercy, no arm around the shoulder with a gentle, "It's okay now."

It's decided, then. I'll keep trying to do this His way, without formulaic instructions, so He can lavish me with undeserved love and pure affection, in spite of my shortcomings. It's all about grace.

Connections and Connections

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to share a prayer request with some fellow believers. A friend's daughter injured her eye, and I asked friends in the blind community to pray for her. I knew they would have a special empathy for this girl and her family. What made this special, though, was when I got responses from several individuals. They wanted the family to be assured that they were praying, so I bundled those notes and also mentioned where each person lives. My friend was heartened to learn that there were specific people praying for her daughter -- people all over the country, whom she has never met and probably won't meet on this side.

Another kind of connection was renewed last weekend. Most of the cousins on my dad's side of the family got together for an afternoon. There wasn't a reason for this gathering, except to reestablish family ties. It was good to be there, to know that those were people with whom I share a heritage. We live in different places, in different situations, but we have that one thing in common.

We need connection. We need grounding. We need the touch of another hand in time of trouble. A wise man said, "A friend loves at all times, and [if that isn't enough,] a brother is born for adversity." Another said, "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ." I have been thankful many times for friends with whom I share a special closeness, and also for family members who know my history and walk with me from afar. Maybe these are the touch of God.

Dreams of Rest?

One thing I'll say for dogs, they know how to sleep. Whether it's all night long or many naps during the day, they get it done. Wish I could say the same for people.

We've been learning about sleep apnea in our house. This is a condition that creeps up on you. A little extra tissue at the back of the throat, a little extra weight on the body, and a lot of loud snoring that doesn't let any near neighbors get a deep sleep.

The symptoms of sleep apnea may include short attention span, irritability, and daytime fatigue. They're subtle, and more so since they add up over months and years. It's just part of life, right?

But then enters the amazing CPAP machine. By forcing air into the nose, it keeps open that flap of tissue that had blocked the airway. Now, breathing happens all night, all the time. Sleep can happen all night, all the time. Oh, the joys of a really good night's rest! Increased mental stamina, patience, and no more dropping off for a nap during lunch.

Is there such a thing as spiritual sleep apnea? If it came on slowly, how would we know? Its symptoms might be short attention span when relating to others, irritability with their shortcomings, and fatigue as the weight of the world rests on your shoulders. If this sounds familiar, you may not be getting enough spiritual rest. Would you like to have the benefit of an internal CPAP device?

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."

Changing Gears, Still Moving Ahead

Now that the "assignment" for work is completed, I can play at blogging for myself. It's not much fun to write this if no one is going to read it, so I'll just maintain the same blog that the dogs started, and see where it goes for a while.

It was fun writing from the dogs' viewpoint. They are totally relationship oriented -- well, at least Blackie is. (Rufus's meaningful relationships must include several tennis balls.) But there is one relationship to which the dogs cannot relate, and it has more potential than any human bond. That is the one I would like to discuss.

This morning's reading followed one that pointed out error and resulting judgments. That one was honest and right, but the administration of discipline is a hard thing. Today, in the very next chapter, God said, "But..."

"But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,

and He who formed you, O Israel,

'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name; you are Mine!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,

Nor will the flame burn you.

For I am the Lord your God

The Holy One of Israel, your Savior..."

Despite the time we've spent sniffing around instead of following Him, despite our outright disobedience, He created us for His glory, and His glory will prevail. Why? Not because of any good thing I have done, but because He paid the penalty for me. He bought me, even though He had already made me. He stepped in and took away the guilt of my selfish acts, so that I might come again to be His pride and joy.

And He will be very present, here and now, in times of deep-water distress and fiery troubles. Even though I walk in these scary, awful places, He is here. He does not simply lift me away from harm, but He will somehow protect me from utter destruction. I know this is true. I am in the swift waters, and I have felt the singe of flame. But He is here. May the name of the Lord be praised.

The End of the Road

[The Mom writes -- and she's apologetic about the formatting] Everybody's trying to get somewhere quickly on the information highway. Thanks to Learning 2.0 for giving me a piece of the road map so I could begin to learn where things are and how to get to them.

This has been a stretching experience. As I may have written in an earlier posting, I appreciated someone taking the time to teach me things that my kids don't have the patience to introduce or instruct. It was especially fun to be able to show my son something he didn't know anything about... but that only happened once. When it came to MySpace and YouTube, I purposely avoided consulting my "experts" except when I couldn't get beyond a first step.

Lifelong learning is important to me, and 2.0 has been a great contribution toward this process. It's invaluable for me to have some idea of what the general tech-savvy public is doing out there, and some of the tools we explored (Blogger, MySpace, and wikis) are vehicles the library system ought to employ to reach that public.

Being a traditionalist, it was easy to write my blog posts from the viewpoint of my even-more-traditionalistic dogs. They are relationship-driven, as am I, and some of the tools for creating virtual relationships were not very appealing to them. But, if that's where people are, it makes sense to make their acquaintance online, with the future possibilities of face-time someday. From a business standpoint, I understand that valuable transactions and interactions are not limited to those carried on in person. Learning 2.0 has laid a bit of groundwork to help our staff begin to see what could be done. As for what else we ought to explore and learn about, I don't have any specific suggestions. I would like to see more of this, however. There is so much going on in the way of new technologies and new collaborations, we should not lag behind too far or we'll miss the boat!

There was always adequate help, support, encouragement, and enthusiasm for this course. For me, it helped to be gently pushed along by timelines that were flexible but distinct. I can't wait to start playing with my MP3 player! Until I learned what cool things they can do, I couldn't imagine why I'd ever want one.

My favorite part of this whole thing has been the blogging. It has been fun to write, and to find illustrations to summarize or provide a hook. I would like to maintain a blog, but it's not much fun unless you know someone is reading it. I'll have to give some consideration to marketing and target audience, and then perhaps it will be worthwhile.

Thanks for giving the dogs free reign over the library! They've loved being here!

Another Way to Waste Time?

• Activities for a good day...

a good night's rest

a bowl full of fresh water

big grass with fresh scents

snack (with milk, please)

more water

more grass

a nice run with favorite tennis balls

more water

more rest (preferrably on couch or the big bed)

another snack

more grass

another run

Now, we ask you, where does television-watching fit on our list? IT DOES NOT! Although we are very adept at sleeping through the artificial noise, why don't our people just take naps with us? Why do they have to watch that thing? And now they have television on the computer, too? What's next, obedience videos?

That said, Mom did find an amusing clip from Ye Olde Sesame Street on YouTube. We didn't actually watch it with her, but the title seems to indicate something about security settings on library computers. We're sure it's very enlightening. Here's the link -- and can we go outside to play now?

No Cookies in the Library!

http://img.youtube.com/vi/ZJlkplvYdgA/2.jpg

Web 2.0 Awards and Just Sniffing Around

Looking over the Web 2.0 Awards was eye-opening. This was a good way to get some kind of overview of the many, many tools that are out there. We tried playing "Guess the Google," a game that gives you 20 seconds to figure out the word that is depicted by 20 illustrations. It seemed like a good way to practice conciseness in searching.

The other 2.0 Award winner we scoped out was a collaborative site called "43 Things." It's a fun meeting place to share your goals and find others with the same goals. Some of the aims were very specific (like completing these 27 Things) and others were more broad (learning to do new things.) This is a great site if you've got something in mind already, but also a handy place to pick up ideas for large or small life goals. Blackie is considering adding another nap to her daily routine, but she's going to have to do more searching to find others with this common interest. Rufus would like to learn how to carry three balls in his mouth, and hopes to find expert advice on improved embouchure development.

Google Labs... It's Gotta Be Good!

What a great thing -- Google has Labs! We should nominate them for some new kind of Dog Friendly Technology Award To Be Named Later!

We spent time looking at Google's new accessible search for visually-impaired users. Since we know a few blind people, we'd already heard about this one. The idea behind the access issue is that Google evaluates website content for usability, considering that screen-reading software handles text well, but not graphics. Guided search results may also be expanded, so the user is not limited to just what Google thinks is good content.

The other beta tool we checked out was Google Trends. It was interesting to see that searches for "rhododendrons" really spike in the springtime, but were almost non-existent in the deep winter months. Fascinating.