Friday, April 26, 2013
You make beautiful things
A new favorite song: ☺
YOU MAKE BEAUTIFUL THINGS -GUNGOR
All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way
I wonder if life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in you
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
You make me new, you are making me new
You make me new, you are making me new
You make beautiful things
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Peter denied Jesus three times.
The third time Jesus turned and locked eyes with Peter.
His eyes cried out...What have you done?
Do you really care about me?
Where is your heart?
How often are we like Peter?We say we love Jesus and will be faithful, but when the real test comes we are often too scared to stand up for Jesus' name. We go with the flow instead of being strong in what we believe. How often do you think Jesus' heart cries out with pain at our rejection? We told him we would follow him no matter what the cost, but then it comes, and the cost requires too much to give up...and we break our promise.
Are our hearts grounded in God? Are they so firmly rooted that they will stay there, no matter what comes our way?
Children of God:
Take up your cross and FOLLOW the one who died for you...and rose again to bring you life.
True life.
The third time Jesus turned and locked eyes with Peter.
His eyes cried out...What have you done?
Do you really care about me?
Where is your heart?
How often are we like Peter?We say we love Jesus and will be faithful, but when the real test comes we are often too scared to stand up for Jesus' name. We go with the flow instead of being strong in what we believe. How often do you think Jesus' heart cries out with pain at our rejection? We told him we would follow him no matter what the cost, but then it comes, and the cost requires too much to give up...and we break our promise.
Are our hearts grounded in God? Are they so firmly rooted that they will stay there, no matter what comes our way?
Children of God:
Take up your cross and FOLLOW the one who died for you...and rose again to bring you life.
True life.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Come To Jesus
This song has really inspired me...I was just at a bibleschool and my one class was Gospel Team. We were a group that learned songs and at the end of our term we went on a singing tour. It was totally awesome. Our chorus director chose the theme to be on prayer. Are you a praying person?Really and truly?When was the last time you spent an hour with God? I came home very challenged! So as you listen to this song...listen to the words. Come to Jesus. Fall on Jesus. Completely. Don't hold anything back. Cry to Jesus. He cares. He will always be there no matter what you are facing. I loved this song and hope you will to! -Kelsi
Thursday, December 27, 2012
A Mother Teresa Quote
People...are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may not be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see in the end, its between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
-Mother Teresa-
-Mother Teresa-
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
Interview with Heidi Barkman
Hello again...
I bring to you the official interview of Heidi Barkman on life and words...
Q: What is your favorite quote?
A: If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be to great for me to make for Him.
C.T.STUDD
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: One Thousand Gifts
Q: Who is your favorite author?
A: Leslie Ludy
Q: What if your favorite song?
A: All immproviso amore
Q: What is your favorite verse in the Bible?
A: Daniel 9:18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolation, and the city which is called by they name: for we do not present our supplications before thee fro our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.
Q: What to you is the essence of life?
A: Love and wisdom
Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Jolly
Q: What would you say is one word that describes yourself?
A: Sensitive(she goes on to say she has no idea)
Q: Describe life in two words.
A: Surprising and fulfilling
Q: Why do you love to write?
A: Because it helps you get your thoughts sorted out
Q: If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?
A: My carnal nature
Q: What makes you laugh?
A: Little kids sarcasm, funny laughs, myself(at my dumb mistakes:))
Q: And last of all, what is your motto for life?
A: Know exactly who you are in God and know who your God is. Know what you want to do with your life then go at it with all of your heart.
I bring to you the official interview of Heidi Barkman on life and words...
Q: What is your favorite quote?
A: If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be to great for me to make for Him.
C.T.STUDD
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: One Thousand Gifts
Q: Who is your favorite author?
A: Leslie Ludy
Q: What if your favorite song?
A: All immproviso amore
Q: What is your favorite verse in the Bible?
A: Daniel 9:18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolation, and the city which is called by they name: for we do not present our supplications before thee fro our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.
Q: What to you is the essence of life?
A: Love and wisdom
Q: What is your favorite word?
A: Jolly
Q: What would you say is one word that describes yourself?
A: Sensitive(she goes on to say she has no idea)
Q: Describe life in two words.
A: Surprising and fulfilling
Q: Why do you love to write?
A: Because it helps you get your thoughts sorted out
Q: If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?
A: My carnal nature
Q: What makes you laugh?
A: Little kids sarcasm, funny laughs, myself(at my dumb mistakes:))
Q: And last of all, what is your motto for life?
A: Know exactly who you are in God and know who your God is. Know what you want to do with your life then go at it with all of your heart.
thank-you, Heidi, for your answers and time!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Healing Waters
It's now been years that Kelsia and I have been writing Healing Waters. We've grown in writing together and collected memory after memory, from snail-mailing the story back and forth to sitting in a coffee shop for hours editing our story together. I don't think we'd take back any of it (except for maybe the one coffee shop moment when we somehow lost the results of the past few hours of our work).
What has been so special to me is getting a chance to write a story along with my dear cousin and friend Kelsia, a talented writer and loving heart. And then there is the chance we had to delve into the story at the Pool of Bethesda two thousand years ago. (Really, to write about something, you have to delve.) We did research. We got to explore, with our imagination, the streets of Jerusalem in Jesus' time. We created characters we got to know and love, and probably my favorite is a little boy named Kaleb. He would run up and down those streets in Jerusalem looking for adventure. Everyone he met was his friend; he didn't know the meaning of the word "stranger." When he discovered the Pool of Bethesda, where crowds of sick people waited for a chance to be healed, he made friends with Zephi, a cripple. Their stories interwoven are what make up part of Healing Waters.
When I read our story, I see it through Kaleb's eyes. Funny how a character who doesn't even exist becomes a part of your heart ...
Can this be true? Can I really be in Israel?
It is April 2012, and I find myself standing in the famous city I've only read about in the bible and wrote about in our book.
The book ... it's been finished, and sometimes forgotten as it sits in some publisher's office while they decide its fate.
It's been a wonderful time here in Israel--indescribable. Beyond words. Better than imagined. I could spend hours telling you of the places we've been already.
I am in Jerusalem.
One place I have been waiting to visit is--you guessed it--the Pool of Bethesda. I could hardly bear it if we came to Israel but missed this place! Here in Jerusalem is where the site of the Pool lies.
The day has finally come ... we get a chance to visit the place where, thousands of years ago, such an amazing story took place ... Jesus ... coming to the Pool of Bethesda ... meeting the lame man, the man my cousin and I named Zephi ...
I look down at my feet as I walk down the street. I'm following our little group as we make our way through the city trying to find the place of the Pool. There are people all around us, voices, foreign dialects ... I smile. Beautiful.
I look up just in time to see a little Israeli boy dash ahead of me, through our little group, and out of sight.
He's Kaleb's age. He looks like Kaleb.
I smile again at the absurdity of this little boy reminding me of one who doesn't exist.
Suddenly we find the place of the Pool. Through a gate, past a railing, and you're there.
How changed it is. I can hardly picture how it would have been. Remains of little mikvehs, remains of two larger pools, remains of a Byzantine church built beside it in later years. It only makes it more mysterious, more elusive, more special ... that I will never see how it was in those days, but that I am standing right where it happened.
Chills run down my spine.
Jesus.
Here.
"Do you want to be made well?"
"Zephi" the cripple must have scarcely been able to believe those words. What kind of a question is that? I have been lame for thirty-eight years! What could I want more than to be made well?
Why would Jesus ask that question? I've never thought about it before ... it's like asking a starving man if he wants a hot meal. Is it a joke? Are you trying to be funny? How can it be this easy?
Why would Jesus ask that question?
Zephi's faith. It was about his faith.
How surreal; it's like someone asking you if you want what you've always wanted but never believed you would have, but Jesus asked it like He was holding it out right there in front of you. Not "Would you want this," but "Do you want this?"
No, really ... do you want to be made well? Here! Take this gift! I'm holding it out to you!
The only way it can be received is to reach out and take it--grasp the impossible.
What a beautiful story.
Here, where I'm standing.
It's a special time for me. After a while, though, our time is up. We follow the railing and exit through the gate, back out into the Jerusalem streets. I look to the street on my right.
A lame man. An old lame man, sitting on the street, clutching his cane.
My heart stops.
Zephi.
I can hardly tear my eyes from him as I walk past. When I finally look forward, I realize I've stopped and everyone else is ahead of me. And so I pick up my pace, trying to catch up.
I steal one more glance back at the old man.
And suddenly there beside him on the street is a little boy. The same little boy I'd seen right before the Pool is sitting down with the crippled man, and the picture they make stops me in my tracks again and goes straight to my heart.
It's like a smile from God, a reminder of the beautiful story ...
... and I'm reminded of how convinced I am that He wants us to tell this story.
What has been so special to me is getting a chance to write a story along with my dear cousin and friend Kelsia, a talented writer and loving heart. And then there is the chance we had to delve into the story at the Pool of Bethesda two thousand years ago. (Really, to write about something, you have to delve.) We did research. We got to explore, with our imagination, the streets of Jerusalem in Jesus' time. We created characters we got to know and love, and probably my favorite is a little boy named Kaleb. He would run up and down those streets in Jerusalem looking for adventure. Everyone he met was his friend; he didn't know the meaning of the word "stranger." When he discovered the Pool of Bethesda, where crowds of sick people waited for a chance to be healed, he made friends with Zephi, a cripple. Their stories interwoven are what make up part of Healing Waters.
When I read our story, I see it through Kaleb's eyes. Funny how a character who doesn't even exist becomes a part of your heart ...
Can this be true? Can I really be in Israel?
It is April 2012, and I find myself standing in the famous city I've only read about in the bible and wrote about in our book.
The book ... it's been finished, and sometimes forgotten as it sits in some publisher's office while they decide its fate.
It's been a wonderful time here in Israel--indescribable. Beyond words. Better than imagined. I could spend hours telling you of the places we've been already.
I am in Jerusalem.
One place I have been waiting to visit is--you guessed it--the Pool of Bethesda. I could hardly bear it if we came to Israel but missed this place! Here in Jerusalem is where the site of the Pool lies.
The day has finally come ... we get a chance to visit the place where, thousands of years ago, such an amazing story took place ... Jesus ... coming to the Pool of Bethesda ... meeting the lame man, the man my cousin and I named Zephi ...
I look down at my feet as I walk down the street. I'm following our little group as we make our way through the city trying to find the place of the Pool. There are people all around us, voices, foreign dialects ... I smile. Beautiful.
I look up just in time to see a little Israeli boy dash ahead of me, through our little group, and out of sight.
He's Kaleb's age. He looks like Kaleb.
I smile again at the absurdity of this little boy reminding me of one who doesn't exist.
Suddenly we find the place of the Pool. Through a gate, past a railing, and you're there.
How changed it is. I can hardly picture how it would have been. Remains of little mikvehs, remains of two larger pools, remains of a Byzantine church built beside it in later years. It only makes it more mysterious, more elusive, more special ... that I will never see how it was in those days, but that I am standing right where it happened.
Chills run down my spine.
Jesus.
Here.
"Do you want to be made well?"
"Zephi" the cripple must have scarcely been able to believe those words. What kind of a question is that? I have been lame for thirty-eight years! What could I want more than to be made well?
Why would Jesus ask that question? I've never thought about it before ... it's like asking a starving man if he wants a hot meal. Is it a joke? Are you trying to be funny? How can it be this easy?
Why would Jesus ask that question?
Zephi's faith. It was about his faith.
How surreal; it's like someone asking you if you want what you've always wanted but never believed you would have, but Jesus asked it like He was holding it out right there in front of you. Not "Would you want this," but "Do you want this?"
No, really ... do you want to be made well? Here! Take this gift! I'm holding it out to you!
The only way it can be received is to reach out and take it--grasp the impossible.
What a beautiful story.
Here, where I'm standing.
It's a special time for me. After a while, though, our time is up. We follow the railing and exit through the gate, back out into the Jerusalem streets. I look to the street on my right.
A lame man. An old lame man, sitting on the street, clutching his cane.
My heart stops.
Zephi.
I can hardly tear my eyes from him as I walk past. When I finally look forward, I realize I've stopped and everyone else is ahead of me. And so I pick up my pace, trying to catch up.
I steal one more glance back at the old man.
And suddenly there beside him on the street is a little boy. The same little boy I'd seen right before the Pool is sitting down with the crippled man, and the picture they make stops me in my tracks again and goes straight to my heart.
It's like a smile from God, a reminder of the beautiful story ...
... and I'm reminded of how convinced I am that He wants us to tell this story.
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