Here are some photos from our recent service project at Lillaskog Bed and Breakfast during the recovery from the Yosemite Rim Fire
Blog Posts
Design
Psalm 39 says:
I will praise:
I am wonderfully made;
what you do is marvelous,
I feel it in my soul.
I was walking to work, and saw this engine. I am not a good mechanic. I mean I can fix anything, but when other people, the “good” mechanics can fix something in thirty minutes, it takes me a couple of days. It’s not because I drop my tools, (though I am usually slowed down by “righty tighty”– does that mean clock wise (where the bottom goes rightwards, or counter clockwise, where the top goes right wards? I was pretty good at tightening jar lids and screws until someone quoted “righty tighty, lefty loosey” to me in the eighties. . .Life was never simple again. . . but I digress.) it’s because there is a lot of stuff in an engine compartment. I just look, and look, and fiddle. . . and don’t forget the instructions. I’m the kind of person who reads them, counts the parts (several times) organizes them by size, shape, color and function or whatever else strikes my fancy, and still, tries to do something creative (aka. wrong).
My neighbors, love their cars. Thy love their engines, They have chrome plated breather covers! They know how the whole thing goes together.
When I see anything well made, well designed, and running, I spend just a moment in prayer. God is the great designer. God is the great mechanic. God is the great engineer.
Power
Isaiah 40 says:
He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases their strength.
This is rush hour in San Jose. It’s called rush hour, because that’s the one thing you can’t do. At least that’s the way it is for the cars in the lanes to the right. They aren’t quite stopped, but they are going only a little faster than I can walk. (I’m walking, by the way.)
When I am going to work, I sometimes feel faint because, well, it’s work. Sure, I love my job, but it is WORK, and I’d rather stay at home and read a Barbera Hambley novel, or play with my computer, or just stare at the ceiling.
When I return home, I’m tired because my job is pretty physical, and I sometimes forget to eat enough to sustain me. I seldom get my full eight hours of sleep. I sometimes forget to drink enough water. I seldom take time for formal morning devotions.
Good thing God’s Grace for my daily needs is not a function of my input!
To make it worse, the civilization in which I live seems to meddle with my traveling to and fro. People and their automobiles are always in my way. They clog the streets and sidewalks.
God is with me, God is also with all those encased in their cars. God is good at being with all His children at the same time.
Great White Throne
Mathew 25 says:
I was a stranger, I was naked . . . you took me in.
So, as I believe the Bible is the divine and inspired word of God, then I have to believe I walked right by Jesus, this very morning on the way to work . . .
I saw him lying there between the discount store and the motorcycle repair shop, on the corner of Parkmoor and Meridian, right here in San Jose, CA.
I let him sleep
. . . but I’ve been seeing a lot of him.
Dominion
Psalm 1 says:
He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water.
This oak tree is not planted near water. I is on top a dry hill overlooking an urban landscape. This tree, though is designed for this environment. However it is still a dead tree.
(Not shown in the picture is the healthy oak tree behind me. You’ll just have to take my word that it’s there.)
I like this spot. It’s quiet, down below is all the noise and hustle of the city. I don’t get to stay here, though, because I have work to do, and I come up here to work, and there will be more of it as soon as I get back down to the bottom of the hill.
Sometimes I feel as if the need to work is like a dry desert wind that makes me like this tree. The fact is that my work is something that nourishes me. It feeds me for one thing. It gets me out of the house. Introvert that I am, I might never leave if I had a choice even though my spirit needs the interactions I get every day with other people.
I recognize, sometimes, the nourishment that God sends my way. . .
Genesis 1 says:
I have given you every herb bearing seed . . .
When I was a child, and living where there were neither asphalt roads nor trash services, we burned our trash. I always liked this job, because the trash was fascinating to me, and so were the flames.
As a grown-up christian, living in a place with strict anti-pollution and anti-littering measures, and see trash, my first inclination is to be judgmental. How dare some careless person selfishly discard their garbage and force others to pay for its disposal.
This is a common sight: trash in our garden. (This is the parking lot of the Great Mall in Milpitas, CA just north of San Jose.) Even so, there is beauty here. The shapes of the crumpled paper napkin entrance me. . .
Was this paper napkin sent by God just to put a little more beauty in my life?
Probably not!
But I could have chosen to do several things including taking responsibility for it (would have take me hours in this place, but I could have chosen to do it.) I could have chosen to call the mall management and made some functionary’s life miserable. Or I could have chosen to glean what blessings I could from this.