Meeting our Maker... what's Heaven look like to you, prophets of the world?

"I'm surprised that anyone could do your work and NOT be a Christian."

Has anyone said this to you? What would your response be?

To me, God is IN everyone. In Genisis he BREATHS LIFE into Adam. From the very begining. He is the begining of our souls, of our having souls. Because of this, whether or not you acknowlege his prescense in your life, or accept Jesus as your savior, God is in you. Before you are even able to have your souls saved, you must have one in the first place. You have one whether you want it or not. Because God gave it to you. It's what seperates every one of us from the birds and bees and rocks and trees.

God is synonymous with Love. GOD IS LOVE. GOD EQUALS LOVE. If you have love in your heart for anyone, it is actually God. THAT is how you can be in service to others without being a "Christian."

A Christian is someone who accepts Jesus Christ as their savior. The keeper and healer of their souls. Without the cleansing of his blood, your soul does not go to Heaven... supposedly. I don't KNOW this to be true- I HAVE FAITH that it is true. Faith is simply believing in things impossible to be proven.

Now, it would make sense to me, that even though God wants us to "accept Jesus in our hearts" early on, He would not close off the gates to Heaven so quickly... even after an entire lifetime of opportunities given. If he cares that much about us, and has seen the suffering that has happened here on earth (which instead of God's kingdom seems like a kingdom of Temptation..) he would bring us face to face with Jesus after we die. Can you imagine, WHO THEN would make the "wrong" decision...

We stand face to face with Satan every day. He disguises himself as small temptations... breaking promises, not putting our 110% best into our job or school work, not telling the complete truth in every situation. He sneaks himself into the hardest, bleakest, darkest times... when we are the most vulnerable. He says things like, "You are very poor and your family is hungry... why NOT take a few bags of bread from the shelf while you do inventory... no one will ever know. And the grocery store has plenty of money anyway..." This situation is tricky, and I am sure is pretty common in this day and age where most of us are financially stressed.

In most situations, the person probably wouldn't get caught stealing bread and lose his job. God still knows. He knows that you did wrong. He also sees your starving family. He also sent his Son to forgive your sins because he knows that 1) your family is hungry 2) you're human and a sinner by default 3) Satan is knocking at your door 24/7 and leading you astray.

I have come to the conclusion that is God allows us to live in a sinful world HERE ON EARTH and face Satan on a sometimes DAILY basis... Wouldn't he also allow us to face Jesus face to face... at least once??

I believe that when you die, you get to see Jesus, whether you have been a "Christian" your whole life, or never before. I think that you meet him face to face. THEN when you do not accept him as your Lord and Savior you will go to Hell. What a fool would do that! Only someone who actually deserved to suffer eternal damnation. And what a slap in Satan's face... the Devil has to sneak into our lives repetitively in order to entice us away from God... but with one look at Jesus face, surely we would all acknowlege and accept Him. Thus, God wins the whole game.

SO you may ask... what is the point of living a Christian life NOW on EARTH if we all get that one last chance when we die, to meet our Maker... more on this later. :)

Devotionals

I decided to write a couple of devotionals for the Advent season. Even though I don't know what to do with them now. The first one is short and the second one not so much.

#1

"Dream of the Rood" is one of the oldest pieces of Old English literature. The author is unknown, but it is speculated to have been written between 600-800 AD. It is a poem written about a man who in a dream, has a conversation with the Cross that Jesus Christ was crucified upon. The Cross recounts the day. Before, he was a tree- alive and rooted in the ground. Then came the anger of the people, chopping him up, readying him to be the place of death for Jesus. He describes the pain of the nails being driven through Christ's hands, piercing the wood, and the blood that spilled out of Jesus, staining him. He remembers how valiant The Kind of Kings was. He remembers how he knew he must stand tall, strong and sure. He did this when he was a tree, so he knew how, but now he had a purpose for doing so.

Christmas day, a celebration of Jesus's birth. The beginning of the Sacred Life that will save us all through His Sacrificial Death.

As we sit around our Christmas trees this season may we be reminded of what is to come… A tree will become a Cross, and a baby, a Savior. May we live our new purpose, walk in the way of the Lord, and be a vessel for Faith, Hope and Love.

#2

Psalm 30:5
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

For many, the hustle and bustle of the holidays is due to frantically completing the Christmas shopping, cooking holiday meals, making calls back and forth to family and friends concerning traveling and party arrangements- all building up to that joyous moment that your child screams in delight because he or she got "the toy" they really wanted. Or you finally get to spend the day relaxing and sharing a feast with family you haven't or friends you haven't seen all year. For some however, it is not the case.

Last December, a just a few days before Christmas, a co-worker of mine lost her 8-year old little girl due to heart problems. This December my cousin's 9 month old baby had a stroke, indirectly caused by a virus that as I write, persists, leaving them in the hospital for Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas. This past Wednesday a co-worker lost her best friend to suicide. Thursday, a different co-worker came home to find her husband on the floor, unresponsive, his spirit already Home to the Lord. December holds much weeping.

The busy rush of December for me has been making food for my friends who are in the midst of mourning. Going back and forth to Children's Hospital in Dallas to hold my cousin's hand. Listening to my co-worker recount the last conversation she had with her friend the hour before he pulled the trigger. December holds much weeping.

The faces I see before me are frantic with worry of illness, pain of loss, and fear for the soul. Then out of the mouth of these faces comes the question, "Why?"

Why… why… why? How am I supposed to answer this question?

The only thing I have been able to come up with is, "I don't know." As I listened to the painful cries and questions of my co-worker until the wee hours of Thursday morning, I prayed. I prayed for guidance. For words of wisdom, comfort and love. It was awkward as I waited. I asked God, "what am I doing here?" and "what am I supposed to say?!" I didn't think I was doing any good. Finally, it came.

I told her that God saw all things, good and bad. Though taking one's own life may be a sin, God saw the suffering of depression that led up to it. I recalled and paraphrased the footprints story. "You remember, the Lord and some guy were walking along the beach, leaving two sets of footprints in the sand. Then something happened and the guy turned around to see only one set of footprints. He was like… 'Hey wait a second… Lord… why is there only one set of footprints? I thought you were walking right beside me always?' and the Lord said something to him like, 'Yeah, I was… then you fell, and so I carried you.'"

Though my account of the footprints story was severely watered-down, the picture came across. That God sent His Son to heal all of our suffering and cover every sin. To carry us in our weakest moments, in our worry, our pain, and fear... to an everlasting life of joy in the Kingdom of Heaven.

On the night before Jesus's birth, Mary and Joseph probably experienced worry, pain, and fear. What was to come? But then, a star appeared. A bright light, like morning! Jesus was born! It was a time to rejoice! The darkness was pushed away by the Star of Bethleham and like a beacon, shone! Jesus Christ is born! Worry, pain and fear were replaced with hope, joy, happiness.

Psalm 30:5
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Pray, Lord...

As the darker elements of life- fear, worry, loneliness, pain, anger, sickness, and death reoccur, so does the light- hope, joy, and happiness because of the birth of Jesus. May Christmas be a light in the midst of darkness. Warmth and comfort during the onset of the winter season. And remind us of the love God has for us, and because of this love, sent us the gift of Christ, and through him, eternal life in Heaven.

Carry that weight...

Ever since I heard that people "backpacked across Europe," I have been wanting to go.

I started my training today.

First-aid kit, flashlight, yoga mat, yoga book, journal, gallon water, jar of peanut butter, raisins, two fish knives, cell phone, sweaters, tape

"Loop D" Tyler State Park. Pine tree forest. 2.14 miles. Start time of 4:30pm.

Mantra: Do not get lost or take too many rests. Learn to read map better.

Other thoughts... What would I do if I came across a pack of hogs? A cougar?

The pack is a challenge on the hills.

Those trees I could climb and the hogs wouldn't get me. Is it better to appear confident to a mountain lion, or would he take that as a challenge? Would pretending not to see him matter?

If I die today, at least I die living.

The pine forest, one of my many homes.

I see the lake. Close to safety. Close to the noise.

End of trail. 5:30pm. My pack did not slow me down- next time make it heavier.

After the trail, I found this fallen tree and did some yoga on it. Namaste!

Tyler State Park Review...Now how do I tie this into knitting?

Well, so this blog may not be directly concerned with knitting, but isn't that metaphorical? You know, since knitting itself is a wonderous linkage of yarn, winding around itself to create something more than simple fibers, but something useful and beautiful? Not that this blog will be of any use or have beauty... but it will be something more than itself... if that's possible.

Anyone who reads this purely as a State Park review can dismiss the first paragraph as it is just nonsense. I promise I did not eat any of the fabulously colored mushrooms that I found today on my journey! I went to Tyler State Park this morning and hiked two trails. The first, Black Jack Nature Trail, is a mere 0.5 miles and can be used as a warm up or cool down. It has some nice flowers such as the Wild Violets and some others which I will identify and list later. Hues of green, pink, purple, yellow, and one orange blooming plant are displayed. You can do this trail leisurely in 15 minutes.

The second trail named "Loop A" was great! It was longer, at 2.53 miles and took me approximately 2 hours. I stopped a lot to gaze around and study the different mushrooms. I also like to deviate from the trail a bit to go look at stuff. So a fast hiker may be able to do this trail much faster. You first go thru what I affectionaly deemed "The Baby Pines". When you begin and end the trail at the top of the forest you will go through some tall grasses and lots of tiny baby pine trees. I quickly found a walking stick because I was walking through continuous spider webs (I feel guilty in retrospect!) which were very itchy. The walking stick would go before me and knock them down.

I crossed a ravine, down the hill, winding deeper into the forest. My favorite tree is the pine tree so being surrounded by a pine forest was heaven! I only saw one tiny frog, one juvinile skink (lizard), one dead luna moth, and one cave cricket eating a mushroom. There were only a couple of wasps that I noticed and I think those were dirt dobbers. No hornets, no mosquitos. The biggest surprise were the mushrooms! Everywhere I looked there were mushrooms! Of all shapes, sizes, and colors! I am going to provide a list of them below. Pink topped (no spots), up-turned, 70's goldenrod yellow, black necrotic looking, white nipple looking, orange, tiny brown, large toadstool.... they were everywhere!

The gift shop had nothing really native to the park itself except some carved wooden keychains in the shapes of trout may or may not have been made from a local wood. Apparently you can fish at this park though, and take your catch home. The bathrooms were very nice, new, flushable toilets (not port-a-potty style), though I found it strange that the only sign in here was this:

Boletus oliveisporus

Kuo, M. (2007, December). Boletus oliveisporus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/boletus_oliveisporus.html

pennywhistle music and irish festival

So, I'm expanding this blog a bit... Another important thing in my life is music. It's been there longer than knitting has. I play the flute and now the pennywhistle. Since some of my roots extend from Ireland (McCallum) and Scotland (Clan Anderson) I'm sure that's why I'm playing the music I am now.
Below are some resources for pennywhistle sheet music. It always helps a bit when starting out especially for me since I was trained to read music.

Irish Songs Lyrics With Guitar Chords By Martin Dardis
Traditional Irish Music Tunes & Instruction
TinWhistle Music
The Session

I'll add more as I find them!

The North Texas Irish Festival was AWESOME! I saw some really neat groups. We all sang to the Wild Rover. I was so excited that I remembered most of the words. Drank several a Guiness, petted many Irish Wolfhounds and Great Pyrenees. I found one lady who was spinning wool into yarn but didn't run into any knitters to talk about jumpers (sweaters). The lady spinning was busy when we went by, so I didn't chat with her. She probably knew some knots. Next year I will take a started project and ask around for someone to show me some knots if I find any. I was pretty overwhelmed with everything that was going on! There were several booths representing Clans, though Clan Anderson did not have one that I saw. Perhaps next year. There is however a National Tartan Day celebration March 28, 2010 in Dallas, where I hope to find some kilt-wearing Andersons!

Eastern lands...

Obviously many things must have happened between now and September! I have moved back to the Piney Woods and am loving how every day when I drive to school at sunrise there is a different picture almost every time. Lately the weather has been diverse. Sometimes there is so much fog you cannot see but 30 feet in front of you. Sometimes there is less and you can see the outline of the skelaton like branches of the trees. There has been snow and ice, heavy on the branches and truly a wonderland emerged. Other times the sunrise is so beautiful to see on a clear day. The sun can be yellow, orange, pink. The pine trees are magical and I wish I could stop every time to go explore. I'm pretty sure that is illegal, being private property. I hate fences sometimes.
I have visited the people at First Monday that have the yarn for sale and sheep farm. I think it's called Golden Fleece farms. The guy there showed me how to weave. I think that I would like to try that sometime, weaving.
I finished a couple projects and gave them as gifts for Christmas. I still have a bunch of yarn to work with though and have been stagnant due to time. My new job certainly does not allow for knitting like my old one did. Hopefully over spring break I'll pick it back up!
I'm going to the Irish festival this weekend in Dallas. I'm going to ask around for people who know about Irish fisherman sweaters. :)