Ariane is giving away a neat assortment of scrappy fabric. Go visit her to register!
Forever and Ever!
A friend had a neat post this morning about music that pulls our heartstrings. There are some lovely pieces of music listed in the ensuing comments, and I’m guessing there will be more than one post that comes of it on my blog.
One of the pieces of music that has brought me to tears more times than I can count is the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. I’ve always loved it, but it gained a whole new significance to me in the early 1990’s.
I was blessed to attend, with a group of family and friends, one of the performances in the New Young Messiah tour in 1993. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening, but the portion of the performance that had a profound affect on me was the Hallelujah Chorus. It was, in keeping with the treatment of Handel’s great work, a more modern rendition, and even included some ballet dancers.
As I stood and raised my voice in praise with the thousands around me, I was brought to tears as I thought of an eternity of praising our Savior with saints through the ages. I wonder if perhaps we’ll praise Him in every style of music that has been used throughout human history. I am certain that there will be no judgment of this style or that style of music or praise, because, at last, our focus will be where it truly should be – on our precious Lord!
The experience brought to mind some of the passages that talk about the praise due our Lord:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
(Isaiah 6:1-3)
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
(Revelation 4:8-11)
And one of my favorite passages, Revelation 5. The portion in italics, we love to sing; the portion in bold is part of the text on which the prelude to the Hallelujah Chorus is based:
Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
(Revelation 5:1-14)
I’m not making any statements on my view of the “end times” here. I just believe that once it’s all over and done, we are going to have some fabulous praise and worship together! And I think that it’s going to happen in a great many musical genres.
So, here’s a traditional version of the Hallelujah Chorus:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtWkNxn3duA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6]
Looking forward to Forever and Ever!
Sweet Reunion, plus Weather Excitement
Last night, I had the joy of seeing some dear friends whom I hadn’t seen in a while. Tracy, Heather, and I were at KBC together in the ancient days, and while Tracy and I have stayed in touch through the years, we’ve only recently gotten to catch up on Heather’s life thanks to Facebook and blogland. I hadn’t seen Heather since Rex and Shawna’s wedding almost 11 years ago – and then, only for a few minutes. Tracy and Heather hadn’t seen each other in 23 years!
We had a lovely evening catching up and enjoying each others company (and the amazing food) at The Cheesecake Factory last night. The weather eventually made it evident that it was time to leave our outside table and head for home, but it was a sweet time.
The wind was really whipping by the time I hiked out to the van, and I was thankful that I didn’t get drenched on my way. What was obviously a large storm system was moving in quickly, and I thought I might have some heavy rain on my way home (I had about an hour’s drive ahead of me).
Within minutes, it was truly pouring. As I got out of the city, I could see less and less. The water moved in waves across the road toward me – it seemed a bit like driving in the ocean. I considered pulling over to the side of the road, but I could still barely make out the white line, and I was going slow. I figured as long as those two things held true, nothing bad could happen.
Less than a half mile from where I made that decision, the world seemed to explode. It takes far more time to describe what happened than it took to happen, of course.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! It was as if several people set off rapid-fire, overlapping gunshots directly outside my window. The world shook with each “firing.” The light was brighter and more intense than I could describe. The whole left side of my body felt numb for several minutes, while the rest of me hyperventilated!
Initially, I thought that the van itself had been struck by lightening, which actually is possible. In hindsight, it seems more likely that the lightening struck one of the mile markers along the highway. I was in the right lane of a 4 lane divided highway, and I’m certain the lightening was not as far away as the median.
I briefly re-considered pulling over, but I was too scared. I think I thought of myself as a sitting duck if I pulled over. Plus, I wasn’t sure I could have made myself get back on the road until the storm was over, and I desperately wanted to get home.
It was a wild experience, to be sure. What a display of my God’s awesome power! I was shaking most of the rest of the way home, and was so thankful to reach home safely.
Birthday Bashes, Round 3 – Davey
Last Saturday, Davey turned 13! We normally have small family birthday parties, but he had requested to have some families over for dinner and some guys to spend the night, and we gave it the green light. You only turn 13 once, right?
I forgot about the camera until it was time for cake, but we had a mini Mexican buffet at Davey’s request: Beef enchiladas with green ench. sauce, beef and chicken ench. with red sauce, and chicken ench. with chipotle cream sauce (oh mercy, that was the crowning glory of the evening, at least, as far as my tastebuds were concerned), black bean salsa (mmmmmm good), chips, and applesauce. I was reminded, mid-afternoon on Friday, in the midst of making over 40 enchiladas, of just how much I love to cook – I had a blast!
Here’s Davey careening around the corner, headed somewhere fun, I’m sure. Grace is curled up on Mike’s lap in the background, next to Ellie & Maggie:
The birthday boy had requested a chocolate cake, and I made a pineapple upside down cake as well to be sure we’d have enough. I think everyone had sufficient dessert!
Some other fun pictures of friends and family. I didn’t do as thorough a job as I like of making sure I had pics of everyone, but I guess we were too busy having fun to worry about it!
And this one of Davey with his buddy Nate was too good to not show by itself:
We’re not much for sleepovers, and most of the families we’re close to here aren’t either, so the fact that Davey got to have a sleepover was a big deal. Sleepover is definitely a misnomer, though, because I don’t think any of the boys got more than a couple hours of sleep. They camped out “in” a tent out back, and they also got to move out our little firepit. They enjoyed roasting some marshmallows, and they sat around the fire talking all night long!
I played short-order egg cook Saturday morning, and Barak and I made some biscuits. I thought it was a good sign that the guys all were having a great time when they jumped up and ran back outside for more fun as soon as they finished breakfast.
It was noon-ish before we loaded everyone up and took off to take the fellas home. We enjoyed sweet fellowship with their families when we dropped them off. As you can see, we were all pretty tired when we headed home:
I think Davey thoroughly enjoyed his birthday celebration, and we felt blessed to get to celebrate with precious friends. Happy Birthday, Davey! You are truly a blessing to our family!
Coming soon…
… a real post about Davey’s birthday. It’s just that I overdid it in the garden yesterday, and am in the midst of my first big arthritis attack. At 35. I’ve known it was coming since I was in my late teens/early twenties, but still…
Anyhoo, while the swelling in my hands has gone down quite a bit since yesterday, to type more than a few words is quite painful, and I think I’m already over my limit.
Hopefully back and loquacious as ever tomorrow!
Please pray for Noah!
Little Noah Estes is headed to the hospital again tonight, with what looks like another central line infection. If you don’t know about Noah and his family, you can read their blog here – Our Quiverfull. And whether or not you have time to get to know them, please pray for them.
Birthday Bashes, Round 2 – Stephen
Our plans for Stephen’s birthday:
Jonathan take the day off work; sleep in; have something yummy for a late brunch; leave for Little Indian Creek Conservation area with Dad and Mom Smith between one and two o’clock.
What actually happened:
Jonathan took the day off work; we slept in; Jonathan got a much needed haircut. When he got in the shower, he discovered we didn’t have any water. He spent the next several hours figuring out the problem (switch on the pump went bad) and fixing it. I spent the next several hours trying to put together our picnic supper without any water. Thanks to our beloved neighbors, things came together, just later than I had hoped. We finally left the house at around 4 o’clock.
And we proceeded to have a terrific time!
Some friends mentioned Little Indian Creek Conservation Area to us last year. We visited once last summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. The creek is crystal clear and is, for the most part, quite shallow. But there are areas where the water gets deeper so the kids can get some swimming practice. There are quite a few gravel bars, lots of trees, and turns in the creek, so multiple families can string out along the creek and each feel like they have a private space.
Since we arrived late in the day, it wasn’t long until we had the whole area to ourselves, which was fun. Here are some shots of our frolics:
And the birthday boy in his new floatie suit (mostly):
About the time we started thinking about our picnic supper, it started sprinkling. As we discussed what we might do about our picnic supper, it progressed to raining. So we headed to the van, where the kids changed into dry clothes. By the time that project was finished, it had stopped raining. We decided to see what we would find driving further into the cons. area, because there were signs about camping only in specified spots. We thought perhaps we would find a nice place to picnic.
Something I learned about conservation areas vs. state parks in Missouri is that when cons. areas have camping spots, they’re free. At least when they are “rustic” camping spots like at Little Indian Creek. There are several camping spots spread out near the gravel road that runs through the area, as well as a good-sized loop of camping spots around the “privies,” which are actually composting toilets, something I found very cool. But my thing for composting toilets is a tale for another day, I suppose.
Back to the birthday story… we found a camping spot that still had some wood in its fire pit, and spread out our quilts and food while the guys built a fire. We had a lovely picnic!
And then we headed home for cake, ice cream, and presents (not necessarily in that order). Stephen loved all of his goodies. He was also very tired and didn’t make it all the way through his cake before being carried off to bed. We were glad that we had him open presents first!
All in all, though the day ended up being much different than the one we had planned, it was a wonderful day. We all are so thankful to have this precious little boy in our family, and we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating his birthday.
And perhaps next year, I’ll manage to post his birth story!
Thought-provoking
I generally find Molly‘s posts to be challenging and thought-provoking. She rocks my boat on a regular basis. Molly took a break from blogging for a while, and I’m glad she’s back. This post called The Way of Love: Thoughts from a Former Pharisee has been open on my computer since I first opened it on Monday. I just keep going back to it. Mulling…
Birthday Bashes, Round 1 – Grace
As you’ve likely already read, our sweet Gracie turned 6 on Monday. We had a fun evening celebrating her birthday.
After a supper of John Denny Casserole, peas & corn, and applesauce, we decided to go outside for a while to enjoy the beautiful evening. We headed up the hill to the pond:
Rolled down the hill:
Smiled beautifully for Mama:
And admired the ducks (who get herded up and down the hill in the morning and evening until they get bigger):
Then we headed back down to the house for Grace to blow out the candles on her Strawberry Shortcake Cake:
And to just generally have ourselves a grand ol’ time:
(p.s. – the PW SSC Cake was absolutely oh-mercy-me good!)
A post-giveaway post
Just in case you’re visiting because you have good news of my having won a giveaway, here’s a perfect place to comment! Or you can send an email to the address on the right.
Yes, I feel silly making this post. I just don’t want some generous soul to be confused about how to reach me.