Shout Aloud

"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song." -- Psalm 95:1,2 (NIV)










photo (c) 2006 by DKF

Concert

Hyper Static Union

David Crowder Band

Third Day

Third Day (in disco mode)

We danced, we sang and we worshipped...
There was a little blue grass music, a hint of disco and a lot of ROCK!
All the bands were rockin' the house, and God was in the midst!
(Click on the underlined band names above to go to their websites.)

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

What do YOU see? (3)

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

Hinds' Feet

"The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me walk upon mine high places."
-- Habakkuk 3:19

I started rereading this book today. It's a great book that I got as a birthday gift in the mid 90's. My friend thought it was appropriate for where I was at in my spiritual growth at the time. Right now, I'm in a place that I need to be reminded.

The main character in the book is named, Much Afraid, and she is from the family of Fearings. The whole story is about how she is able to slowly let go of fear and find healing as she learns to trust the Chief Shepherd on the journey to the High Places. It is an amazing picture of how Jesus sees us and relates to us and loves us. I highly recommend this book if you're needing a picture of God's love for you, whether you just need a reminder or if you've never known the love of Christ in your life.

I'm Hungry

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple... Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you 'Seek his face!' Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me..." -- Psalm 27:4, 7-9a

"I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells." -- Psalm 26:8

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hungry
Sometimes it feels like I’m
talking to the air,
spilling out my joy and despair
into a big abyss.

And night after night I
sit here alone,
playing my guitar and
singing my songs,
hoping to hear Your voice
singing along, but
all I hear is
the traffic outside my window.

And sometimes it seems like You’re
a million miles away and I’ll
never greet the day
that I’m not hungry anymore.

I just wish I could
feel Your kiss,
and gaze into your eyes,
and see your loving smile
and dance.

photo and poem (c) 2006 by DKF

What do YOU see? (2)

photo (c) 2006 by DKF

Jesus vs. the Furious Storms

"Then [Jesus] got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"

He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm."

-- Matthew 8:23-26 (NIV)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So often, what seems like a "furious storm" is happening all around me and I get scared and I panic. Do I need to panic? Not at all... Because I know Jesus is just a shout away. But do I remember this and seek His aid? Sometimes I cry out to Jesus immediately, but it is more likely for me to retreat into myself and operate in panic mode until the "Jesus light bulb" turns on in my head. It makes me sad to think that my actions might grieve the heart of God.

Lord, I don't mean to doubt You. I know that You are the ultimate authority over all of heaven and earth. I know that You love me more than I could ever fathom and that You have the power to calm each and every storm that I may encounter, but it's a hard concept for me to grasp fully. Please help me to put all of my trust in You and give me the courage to walk in it!

Just imagine that it's you in this boat with Jesus at the helm...
That's an extremely comforting image for me to contemplate.
How does it make you feel?

photo (c) 2006 by DKF

The Fountain of Life

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light."

-- Psalm 36:5-9 (NIV)

Ever feel like you don't know whether to stop or go and you just seem to be going around in circles?! I feel like that often. How many times do I need to be reminded that God is my fountain? Time and time again, I forget that He alone gives me life and He alone is my light. Maybe if I just paid more attention from day to day, His signals would seem clear to me. Maybe if I took my focus off of me, and looked to Him, I'd be walking down a well marked path and I would have no doubt what my next move should be.

Lord, thank you for Your love that "reaches to the heavens, [and] your faithfulness [that reaches] to the skies." Help me keep my focus on You. Open my eyes, my ears and especially my heart to the signs You place in my path. Please give me the courage to follow those signs, wherever they may lead me, because "with You is the fountain of life" and that's where I want to be! I love You, Lord! Amen.

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

God's Creation

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

Scenes Around Town

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

I AM the Conqueror!!!

I was bored tonight and there was nothing on television and I played my guitar and sang some songs and read a little and no one was online to chat with and I didn't have any new emails to reply to and I was itching to post something new on my blog but I didn't have anything to say, so... I decided to try my hand at some balloon animals. Now, I know most people wouldn't just have the supplies around the house to engage in this activity, but I guess that's just one more reason that I'm so special. :)

I already knew how to make the "3 Twist Dog," but I wanted to expand my knowledge base. So I attempted a giraffe and a snail and a swan and an elephant... Just as I was thinking that I would really NOT be happy if the balloon popped... POP!!!!

It scared the @#$! out of me! It definitely started my heart racing, and I'm sure it scared my cat more than it scared me!! I did end up being successful in the end though. I conquered the balloon animals, and it made me feel better!

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

Light Seeker

"You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."
-- Psalm 18:28 (NIV)

So many times I let myself dwell in the darkness when God's light is just a prayer away. It takes so much more effort to grope my way through the dark, but in some ways it feels more comfortable there. Sometimes it just feels good to be walking blind because I can choose to ignore what's around me and live within any illusion I choose. Therefore creating a place seemingly free from fear because I only perceive what feels safe from moment to moment.

The problem with that is that I often miss out on the blessings that surround me. I often miss the abundance of what God has in store for me because I am too stubborn to acknowledge the good things that He has filled my life with. He answers my prayers regularly, but sometimes I make a choice to look past His answers into the world I've created in my imagination that is dark and empty.

I don't want to live in this self imposed darkness anymore. Today I choose to step out of my dark illusions and accept God's blessings as answers to my prayers, even if His responses aren't what I had envisioned when I prayed. Today I choose to be a light seeker instead of a light snuffer. Lord, give me the wisdom to choose Truth and the strength to step out of my comfort zone.

photo (c) 2006 by DKF

Good things & PEZ

This just goes to prove that

good things come from PEZ!


The Tick character and images (c) 1998 by Benjamin Edlund

My Buddy

Meet Oreo. He's my buddy.

(He's actually not my dog, but I love him like he's mine and I have
the privilege of being his caretaker when his family goes out of town.)

photo (c) 2006 by DKF

A Renewed Journey

I opened my Bible randomly before church today and came across Psalm 119:81-82 (NIV). It says, "My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. My eyes fail looking for your promise; I say, 'When will you comfort me?'" All of these words pulled on my heart strings. I was convicted that I don't put my hope in the Word because I rarely read it on my own. I deeply long for and frequently pray for God's guidance, but I don't delve into the precious resource He's given us in the Bible. Even though I stake my life on key verses, I am often reminded that there is so much more to learn written on those pages. So I am setting forth on a renewed journey through the Scriptures. Though I'll make many stops along the way and I may get derailed at times, I've got a one way ticket from here to my final destination. All aboard!?

photo (c) 2006 by DKF

More country scenes

sign above circular window reads:
Ev.Luth.St.
Johanes Kirche
20.Sept.1891

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

Country scenes

I love the fact that even though the town I live in is growing by the minute with new businesses and housing and even additional city bus routes added seemingly everyday, that scenes like the ones pictured above are still only a few minutes down the road...

photos (c) 2006 by DKF

What do YOU see?

What does this cloud resemble through your eyes?


photo (c) 2006 by DKF

The Tick & PEZ

(If you're wondering, their feast contains,
in part, hot dogs cut up to look like octopi.)

The Tick character and images (c) 1998 by Benjamin Edlund

The Lake House

There's something intriguing about a relationship that ends in true love when the participants have only communicated through letters. I really liked this movie, despite the fact that they never even try to explain why a man in 2004 is receiving letters from a woman in 2006, and vice versa, through a common mailbox at the lake house where they live in their respective years. Fortunately, I got caught up in the love story and forgot about the unknowns and impossibilities pretty quickly. (As a side note, I really really like the house. It's not practical at all, but it's super cool! It's built on stilts in a lake, the walls are all glass, and it has a big tree growing in the middle of it with a remote control retractable glass roof.)

The movie did inspire me. It made me want to journal my thoughts and feelings more. Not just through my poetry, since that comes very sporadically, but in rambling prose just to get stuff out of my head. Since I don't have the man of my dreams waiting in my past... maybe I'll write letters to my future husband, whoever that may be... or maybe I'll write letters to Jesus... or maybe I'll just write for the sake of writing... Maybe someday there will be someone anxiously waiting at their mailbox to get their next letter from me. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens, but in the meantime I'll try to start pouring my heart out on paper and see where it takes me. Maybe I'll learn what purpose waiting has in life. Until then, I'll just keep pushing onward and waiting...