Noticing Greatness in Others

Have you ever recognized the greatness in others? Have you then told that person that which you see in them?

my wife said something to me last nite that made me see that she saw the greatness in me. it was very meaningful. it got me to thinking, how often do we tell others about the greatness we see in them?

the next time you see greatness - tell them. i know that i have people i need to talk to - to let them know.

the beauty of it all is that God sees the greatness in us. we are not average. we are beautiful people.

enjoy: Peanut Butter Twix
and continue to check out our LENTEN BLOG.

thank you to Lilly Lewin for mentioning us in her blog post: Resources for Lent.

a season of lent

my wife + i have started a Lenten blog in which we plan on posting daily about all things related to this season of lent. i recently finished reading the book a Lenten Hobo Honeymoon
by Edward Hays. it has challenged me to look at lent as a spiritual journey... a journey in which the goal is to fall in love with Jesus all over again... at a whole new level... to reciprocate the love that God has for us.

orange lament {a.k.a. mourning the loss of a sweet friend}

apparently adults can develop food allergies later in life. at least that is what James Li says.

yesterday morning i indulged in my usual breakfast... which of course is no breakfast. but i did happen to grab a clementine or two from the fridge - to be eaten at my convenience. at my convenience - i indulged... immediately after downing two oranges - i was forced to eat a muffin from Dunkin Donuts. our secretary brought in a gun and held it to my head and made me eat a coffee cake muffin... which tasted strangely like a donut. they must fry the muffins in the same oil as the donuts.

immediately after eating, my mouth began to feel funny. the best way i could describe it is sort of a hybrid between the feeling of a sore throat - only in my mouth mixed with a strange itchy sensation with the added feeling that i had just eaten a bunch of Red Hots. I had not, in fact eaten any red hots.

deductive reasoning told me that there must have been something in the muffin that was causing such duress. the itching subsided after oh, about ten hours... or less... i lost track. it did, eventually go away.

today, for lunch i had some left over Papa Johns pizza. i gave my daughter a Clementine orange as part of her lunch. she ate half... so i, being the good father that i am - ate the other half. almost immediately i felt that same feeling as the day before.

"Ah ha!" i exclaimed! "it's gotta be the orange!"

so it appears that i am now allergic to oranges... or is it clementines? i may never know. i shall be too afraid to ever eat anything related to the lovely, delicious orange. parting is such sweet sorrow. i now know what Romeo must have felt when fair maiden Juliet was forbidden to be with him. i could take some Benadryl - but the last time i did that i was found nearly unconscious in a tent for the betterment of a day... missing out on the fun and sun and music of the Ichthus music festival.

what is the lesson learned? Don't Do Drugs.

spiritual lesson learned? Sometimes tasty, pretty things can kill you. (or at make your mouth itch)

I blame Adam.

snowblind

14 inches of snow... at least that is what i measured outside my front door. it's the most snow we've had around here in quite some time. often, after a blistering snowstorm, the cold arctic airs blows in and it's almost as if it's too cold to snow. today, the cold, dry air was bitter... single digit temperatures. the cloudless sky left us with nothing but frigid air and a bright sun magnified by the pure, white snow covering the ground.

snow blindness. the magnificent sun shines down upon a natural, earth-covered reflector blanket of snow. it can make your eyes do funky things... it can take several minutes for your eyes to adjust to the brightness and then back to any other alternative lighting.

the sun, such a beautiful object that provides so much for the inhabitants of this land - (light + warmth, nourishment, etc.) when mixed with white, pure snow becomes sort of toxic or damaging to the eyes. shielding or hiding the eyes is the only hope for relief.

sin is most often presented to us in bright + colorful ways; as a seemingly productive entity for our lives. we look at it with deceptive knowledge as if it will provide for us some sort of nourishment that will enhance our state of being. but when we surround ourselves with sin we struggle to differentiate between good + bad; light + dark; healthy + destructive. often, the extent of pain and destruction as a result of our sinful indulgence can not be noticed until later. much the same, symptoms of snow blindness don't always present themselves right away.

sin causes a sense of snow blindness. we can no longer see the sun... we can no longer see the Son.

the angel of light masks and morphs into many things... those things are nothing short of deceptive. if we take our eyes off of Jesus for even one second - we open ourselves up to a justification of actions that are not associated with Christ. we begin to look at an alternative 'light' that burns our retinas. that prolonged exposure to such a false light makes it more difficult to see the true light of Christ shining on the right path to righteousness.

there is no new revelation here. just a dangerous observation. as i hid my eyes from the extreme bright of sun + snow today, i couldn't help think about the spiritual side of being snow blind. the hard part - after giving in to temptation and being blinded by the damaging, deceptive light of sin - is crawling back into the spotlight that Christ has shown for us... even as his path is again revealed to us - our sin can be nothing short of exposed... the false light leads (ironically) to darkness - and that darkness can not stay hidden once we return to the all-encompassing light of Christ.

as lent approaches, may we all humbly walk back into the safe, warm, nurturing light of Jesus Christ. may we acknowledge defeat - and embrace victory... may we fail forward... into the arms of Jesus. His light takes away the jaundice of our sin. Fix your eyes on Him.



snow blindness

snowblind - 77's

angel of light - petra

whiter than

Things that Should Be Invented

A cake dispenser machine

A Machine that cuts your hair in your sleep

A national mermorial dedicated to the cast and crew of the movie 'The Goonies'


that's all i got so far... feel free to add your ideas...