Archive for April, 2010

My wife and I went to our first Emmaus “gathering” this evening. It is a monthly opportunity for us to rekindle our Emmaus relationships, involvement and commitment. It was nice to see folks on our walk and in the community again.

There was good conversation followed by awesome worship. The music was inspirational and uplifting. It was a small version of the Christian radio that now dominates my car radio and daily commutes. We sang contemporary praise songs like “Sing, Sing, Sing” (Chris Tomlin) and “Amazing Grace” (the modern version, also by Chris Tomlin).

My favorite was a version of “Blessed Be The Name” by Tree63. Now normally I am a fairly reserved worshipper, probably because of my Lutheran background and heritage. It goes back quite a ways all the way to my great grandparents who were Lutheran missionaries to China. But through the recent experiences of the last month or so along with my immersion into scripture, I have been loosening the reigns of worship to more fully reflect what I believe God calls us to do — completely submit to Him and praise him completely and fully from our hearts. It was during the “Blessed Be The Name” rendition that the moment caught my soul. The beautiful sound of praise. The harmonious tunes of worship. The fellowships of believers. Tears of praise streamed down and stumbled across the smile on my face as I lifted up my voice and my hand in praise of my Lord. It was exactly what I was made to do and such a fulfilling and moving experience. And it brings so many thoughts into my mind. As a guy, to release and reject society’s image of a crying man. As a churchgoer, to embrace this as a more often occurance and seek it routinely. As a worshipper, to completely submit.

It sure has given me a reason to pause and reflect on my worship of the God who made me and who sacrificed His perfect Son for my sake and salvation.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

There isn’t a lot that can truly leave me speechless. The video snippet below showing a “representative” in our Congress at work truly leaves me without words. Now think about this folks — we, the taxpayers, are paying him over $150,000 a year, plus a car, Washington residence and a huge severage and health care package for his “services” and insane questions. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the bottom of the barrel.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I enjoy my country drive to work. Whether going to work or coming home, it is a decompressing time that allows me to soak up God’s creation whether it is gorgeous outside, raining, cold and snowy, or picturesque. There is so much for me to look around and ponder. To see His creativity. And if I am aware and observant, there is always something neat around me.

This morning was no different. I was about 3 miles from the house when, out of the corner of my eye from the direction of the rising sun, I see a brown bird flying at a 45 degree angle towards the car. I figured it was a hawk…..until it got closer. Then it began flapping its wings frantically. It seems that the female turkey hen didn’t want to hit (or get hit by) my car driving along the country road. She barely cleared me and I leaned forward to look out and up the windshield to see this large hen 3-4 feet above my car.

Once clear, she stopped flapping and resumed her glide into the trees and away from harm. All I could say was “Cool!”.

An even better drive was last Thursday. It was a day after the full moon and it was hanging low in the western sky brilliantly beaming out against the clear morning sky. As it descended, it got bigger — just like it does when it rises. In itself, it was a beautiful picture.

And then I looked in the rear view mirror to see the glazing ball of orange rise across the Kentucky countryside. I literally could get both glowing balls into my field of view as I looked ahead at the moon while the rising morning sun was in my rear view mirror. As I changed course down the highway while there were no cars around, I literally could turn my head back and forth, east to west, sun to moon to capture a truly amazing rare sight.

It only lasted a few minutes and I felt like I was a witness to one of God’s nature creation secrets. I wonder how many others were able to enjoy that morning gift last week.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

“God built a bridge from death to life
with 2 boards and 3 nails”

And how appropriate is this sign on Easter Sunday.

He has risen!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

This posting is from my wife. It was on her Facebook page to her friends and is an amazing story.

My Friends,

This is so amazing I just had to share it with you. On the way home we stopped at Kroger Pharmacy to get D’s pain meds. I dropped off the prescription and wandered over to find some essentials D would need over the next few days. It’s been a long day and I was focused and Kroger was a mad house (maybe because of Easter). I could hear in the background a little boy screaming, “Mommy, she is from MY hospital” over and over. I had forgotten to take off my Kosair Children’s Hospital name tag and he spotted it.

Next I hear, “Mommy I want to talk to her”. That was followed by an “Excuse me”. I look up to see a little boy and his mom — the child an obvious cancer patient. If I had to guess he was about 4, a very tiny 4. I gave him my 100% attention. I explained that I actually didn’t work at Kosair but was very honored to meet him. He went on to explain that he loved Kosair and he was just there today for his chemo treatment. He said he really did love it but he didn’t want to have to go back for anymore treatments. He also said he had many surgeries and didn’t want anymore.

He talked a mile a minute and all with an incredibly beautiful smile. We chit chatted back and forth. His name is Dawson and I told him I would pray for him. He said “Yes please!” and then asked his mom to get him out of the cart so he could hug me. He gave me a huge hug and I thanked him for touching my life.

This is a God moment. I know we were both put in Kroger at the same time for different reasons.

Dawson touched my heart today. Please join me in praying for Dawson that God take this cancer from his little soul and heal him. I have seen today what the power of prayer did for us. God will heal this child.

I reiterate the call to pray for little Dawson. What an amazing soul!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Today is a very important day because my son is having surgery. He is having inclusion cyst removed and while the surgery isn’t life threatening, it is surgery none-the-less.

Please keep him in your prayers today.

It reminded me of when my oldest daughter had surgery right before we moved to Kentucky.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

I spotted this sign on the way home from my wife’s Emmaus follow up meeting.

“Google can’t fulfill every search”

I’m not going to leave this message alone without saying that I believe God intentionally made a God shaped hole in our beings that can only be filled by Him. We try to fill it with knowledge, logic, sex, money, power, food, alcohol, drugs, art, hobbies, people, family, new age philosophies, and almost anything else but Him.

So if you are searching; if you feel a hole; if you have tried some or all of the above to fill that hole to no avail, why don’t you try the risen Christ who loves you more than you will ever know. He is worth more than all that Google could or ever will find. Hence the reason for the sign from God.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net