Beauty

We spent yesterday in the nearby mountains of North Carolina. Beauty to feed the soul!

Our Sunday School class members have signed up for half-hour segments of a "Twenty-four Hour Bouquet of Intercessory Prayer" to God. We had collectively suggested themes for intercession a few weeks ago. This "Bouquet" started at 8 am today, and will end at 8 am Sunday. Suggested requests range from local school issues to famine in East Africa to the need for people around the world to know Christ's salvation. I'll take my turn early Sunday morning. It's exciting to think how God will receive and answer this special effort.

I've mentioned grandson Jeremy and his plan to spend the coming year in mission. On his blog [jeremyinafrica.blogspot.com] I found some "rhyming lines" that cause me to reflect, and I'm copying them below.

Blessings,
Carol

The piercing darkness surrounds me
Blank walls where dreams should be
A place to home for the best
Try hard and let God do the rest
But the fire there has faded
The passion for change has deflated
I remember what it was like
To see everything good and right
To live on the silver lining of the cloud
To be unafraid to stand out from the crowd
To know God's by my side
Because I saw him all the time
But my God of night and day
Now seems a million miles away
His absence is deadening
It's a void inside of me
His departure I brought about
Filled my life and squeezed him out
The devotion time is there
But I'm rushed and don't care
I refused to listen to his voice
I did it my way, made my own choice
My life was filled with clutter
No time from one to the other
And when my time for God runs out
All I have left is doubt
I find myself alone and afraid
Still unable to find the way
I've got to focus on him again
The Lamb of God, the Great I Am
----Jeremy Slager