Firefox rules, no matter how many times the new version crashes. At least it hasn't done stupid stuff like this.

Bah.

Anyhow, I've been gone for a while, and this is a little update to let you know why. I can't access the Internet at home, and haven't been able to for around a week. The reason is simple: the DNS is down. No, I don't know why. The problem is, I assume, at the ISP's end, but I don't really know, and I can't do anything about it since it's not my account (I connect to my landlady's son's computer wirelessly, with his permission, of course). So it's been a waiting game, and a bit of an irritating one, at that.

Right now I'm at a hotel for an away trip (working in Edmunston today and tomorrow), in case you're wondering how it is that I'm able to post right now. It's really late, though, so it's about time I signed off, after one more announcement.

I FINALLY GOT A DIGITAL CAMERA!!!!

Oh yeah, that's right. Finally, after years of wanting, I have one, thanks to my Dad's early Christmas present (sent me money, I bought to camera myself). A 10MP Canon which I got on sale for $150. There was another camera I liked more, but it was sold out, and I was too impatient to wait for more to come in. Anyway, my boss assures me that Canon is the better name (the other was a Fujifilm), so that's cool. Sometime, I'll post some of my photos on here. =D I took a few on the way up here, of course!

Well, hopefully I'll be back soon!

Ah! How could I forget? Well, thankfully, I remembered. I have some requests for prayer I'd like to make!

• Please pray for my niece, Faith. There are two lumps on her neck. The doctor assured my sister that it was just glands, but she is worried nonetheless, and is insisting on more tests (blood work, etc.) being done to be sure. Please remember her in your prayers.
• Also, please pray for my friend, Kathleen. She is a recent convert (technically, she was a Catholic before, but she was never really a Christian). She's been suffering a lot (for one thing, her husband is against her new faith), and she's still lacking understanding about some very important issues (such as her choice of entertainment... vampire movies, rock music...). The devil has been really beating on her, so please, keep her in your prayers as well.

Thank you, everyone! ♥

Making some adjustments. Not really going to lay out my plans yet. They are a bit sketchy, even in my own mind. But, I have faith and confidence that the LORD knows what He's doing, and He will work things out. I just need to learn how to rely on Him more. :)

I highly recommend the following website: Justified Walk. :)

Teach me to walk on Your ways, O LORD...

We always seem to find the time
To grumble and complain,
To think of all our troubles,
Our sorrows and our pain.

Yet if we would but stop and think,
I'm sure we would be glad
If we counted all the troubles
That we never had.

The loved ones we still have with us;
Our house that didn't burn;
Our automobile that wasn't wrecked;
The money we still earn.

When we're counting all our blessings
God gives us by His grace,
Let's think today of all the trials
We were not asked to face.

© Ramona K. Cecil

The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please!"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. "A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere—Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny,
"Do you love me?"
"Oh yes, Daddy. You know that I love you."
"Then give me your pearls."
"Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess—the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy? The one you gave me. She's my favorite."
"That's okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again,
"Do you love me?"
"Daddy, you know I love you."
"Then give me your pearls."
"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."
"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you." And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.
"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"
Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said,
"Here, Daddy. It's for you."
With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.

So like our Heavenly Father.

What are you holding on to?

I have learned this because I found the official website of the poem, which the author created in order to make the original version available. One may also seek her permission through the site (by email) for larger publications of the poem.

If you would like to visit the site and read the original, unaltered poem, please do so here: And God Said No.

Be blessed! :)

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree.

The last class I had to take was Sociology.

The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'

The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake, literally.

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.

It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son...

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did.

I did not move an inch... An overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men.

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'.

His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, "Good day," as he counted the few coins he had been clutching...

The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.

I held my tears as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.

He said, "Coffee is all, Miss," because that was all they could afford.. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.

That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray...

I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Thank you."

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope."

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope..."

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it.

Then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?"

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.

She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son, the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:

Unconditional acceptance.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to love people and use things - not love things and use people.

- Author Unknown

I challenge everyone who reads this to do this project!

For one day, smile at three (or more) people, and record their responses. I'd love to hear your results!

A warm welcome to all my visitors today.

I have been doing some reading, thinking, and, yes, some writing, as you have probably already noticed. It had been quite a while since I had written a non-haiku poem, and then I wrote three. (I posted only two here, but the third is on Allpoetry along with the other two—you can only view it if you are a member, but I may change that.)

My life is not as simple as I would like it to be. A simple life is best for so many reasons, the most important of which is to develop a closer relationship with God. The more activities and distractions we have packed into our lives, the harder it is to develop and maintain a close connection with God, and to hear the Holy Spirit's still, small voice.

I read a few blog posts, mostly focused on the Sabbath, on a blog I recently discovered called Seedlings in Stone. Wonderfully inspirational—I highly recommend you visit! I also watched a sermon on Moore to the Point, called God is Not a Begger? Why Your Ministry Must Become More Pathetic Before It Can Be Less Pathetic. It is a really powerful message and was a real "light bulb moment" for me. In addition to these two things, early last week I read a small book entitled A Life of Simplicity (available through Amazing Facts), which begins with a slightly different version of a story I once posted here called The Scheme. These three things have combined to speak to my heart very clearly about where I've gone wrong in my walk with Christ. The road to fixing this is not short, and it's not easy. It will require a lot of discipline and effort. It will require investing time and energy into my most important relationship, and will require drawing away from many activities online that I enjoy, and that, in and of themselves, aren't even bad. Sometimes, even good things can be bad for you if you do them too much. I want to do what Jim Hohnberger, the author of A Life of Simplicity, said: To abandon the good, and even the better, so that I can have the best. I want to have the life that Christ offered, to the full! I want a life that has depth and meaning, with fulfilling relationships with those around me.

I am not going to abandon blogging, understand. In fact, I am planning on soon starting a new blog, Eye of Faith. How soon, I'm not sure (I'd like to say "tomorrow," but...). We'll see.

But in general I need to significantly reduce my time online, and increase my time in the Word. Furthermore, I need to properly schedule my time, especially on my days off (of which there are many), in my effort to simplify my life. I need to clean out the clutter, both physical (got lots of that) and spiritual (might be even more of that than physical). And... I need to take care of my health, again both physical and spiritual. Seriously. I know the scheduling will help with that, though. Also, the idea of a "technology Sabbath" sounds great. I think I should indeed not use the computer, at all, on the Sabbath. If I want to talk to my Mom or something, I can use my phone (yes, I know, not a complete technology Sabbath, but, you know, I like to talk to her about spiritual things). These are all changes that are difficult for me. I am, in essence, an Internet addict. I need my daily "fix" which is typically a very long-lasting fix. I mean, at least smokers have a cigarette or two and then go back to work. Not I... I just keep at it for hours and hours. It's definitely time to make some much-needed changes to my lifestyle.

Pray for me! I'll need it!

(And while you're at it, you might pray for my Dad, too? He really needs it. He's led a very disheartening, depressing life, has had what many would call a life-long string of "bad luck" and needs the Lord desperately. He knows about God, believes in Him intellectually, believes the Bible, and all that. But he has no faith in God, no trust, no confidence. He won't hand over all his woes, cares, and concerns over to God. Please, pray for him to open his heart and let Jesus take FULL control, and not just treat Him like He's somewhere "out there" watching Him.)

Thank you, everyone!

Beauty
in the
rain,
grey sky,

drooping
branches.


The
downturned flowers
drip,
struggling to

stay
upright.


They
soon will
arise,
sparkling with

tiny
diamonds.


Sitting
on the
couch
with a

soft
blanket.


Peace
and rest
on
the most

beautiful
day


of
the week.
Serenity
and joy—

I
rest.

© Alanna Kierstead