Password Protected

I tried to log onto WordPress at home.  I can’t remember my password and I think after so many tries it didn’t trust me at all.

I am going to try to log off here and log back on.  If I still can’t remember my password and WordPress doesn’t give me a temporary one, I may have to change my identity and write under a different name.

I hope this works.

See God

I like that the pure in heart see God according to Matthew 5.

If you have no other motives, you can actually see the Lord moving toward establishing His Kingdom using true believers. 

Manifesting Himself in vessels totally given to doing their part in spreading the Gospel…

Though you have to count everything else as dung, it is worth the excitement.

Help Around the House

I have to laugh…

Here I am living in an apartment while my husband is moving our home to Ohio.  He comes back into town for another load and to have preventative medical appointments.

He can’t sit in the apartment.  He has arranged my patio.  He has WD-40′d everything that squeaks.  I came home yesterday to spotless floors.  He has had in-depth conversations with the maintenance crew.

But the thing that made me laugh…  he re-grouted the shower tile in this temporary living space.

This is one of the reasons why it is easy to honor my mother in law.  She raised a son who is mindful of his household much more than I am.  (Or perhaps I am just as mindful but he gets there first.)

I remember setting up a campsite with him in early marriage.  We had rugs…’nuf said.

Now admit it.  I know you are envious.

Expectation

I read a blog yesterday where the writer suggested prayer and fasting changes the Lord’s mind.

I guess that would mean the supplicant thinks they know a better way? 

I wonder what would have happened through the years if Moses hadn’t plead with the Lord on behalf of the Israelites but rather tried to adjust his attitude concerning their destruction.

Power in the Move of God

I believe in showing up.  I believe if I am struggling with my faith that the best place to be is in the middle of a worship service.  I would have a better chance of getting things “ironed out” there then staying home and nursing any wounds.

I expect the anointed, preached Word of God to have an impact on me.  I do not have this experience all figured out and I need my Creator to mess with me, refine me, convict me of my sins and trangressions and build me back up.

How can we hear except we have a praying preacher? 

Lord, help us.  Put us in congregations of believers who dare to do Your will.  Establish us, help us to meld together into a healthy body.  Let us know the laborers among us and let them see our worth.

Live in us.  Breathe through us.  Build your Kingdom with us.

Live, Jesus.

Let’s Hear From Emily

In August of 2006, my daughter, Emily answered the questions listed below. 

Emily Neidigh

Outdoor Recreation Planner / FWS

Today’s Date: 08/29/06

1. What interaction with an animal and/or nature in your life has had the biggest impact on you?

There was a creek that flowed under a railroad track near my parent’s house. I thought it had such potential for wildlife – if only we could remove the tons of litter that seemed to cover it. We did a bit of work with what we could move and carry as kids. I guess that was when habitat restoration became a love for me – being able to remove some evidence of human impact and make the world look untouched – little miracles that even I can perform.

2. Did you have a favorite place in the great outdoors during your childhood?

My favorite outdoor place was in a tree. Any tree – any place. I read in them, climbed them, ventured to peer into nests and collected leaves as I believed a scientist would – to identify them all. I suppose if I had to choose a specific place, I would choose my grandparent’s farm. It was my job to venture as far and through as many barbed wire fences as I could when we visited at Christmastime. I was an explorer – a discoverer – seeing and experiencing things written in my head as an epic journal which would inspire many.

Now? I relied on a lot of different wild places when I was in college – as fortresses from the city. Now I live in rural America and find myself without just one place to choose.

3. As a former zookeeper, I would love to know what your favorite animal is, and why?

I love the dragonfly. Any dragonfly really, and almost any insect. I suppose the overall reason for loving an insect is because so many of them are misunderstood – not being “cuddly” or controllable. Really very fascinating creatures with simple – but powerful – construction such as the dragonfly to the more technical and acrobatic flies. The smallest difference between each species’ wing veination indicating their place in the world. And dragonflies.. well, there’s a time when that seemingly fragile flier can eat a small fish with alien-like techniques. Such things are fascinating and offer a challenge to the viewer.

4. What do you think is the greatest environmental challenge facing us now, and what do you think will be the greatest challenge in the future?

There are two things – and it can be difficult to accomplish them both. We need people to care about the resources enough to conserve them. But we need people to understand the difference between conservation and management techniques such as harvesting. I think Leopold said it best when he said “One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise”. We need to convince people that economics don’t matter if the natural world falls apart. Everything is linked and we need to look far enough into the future to at least try and see what investment will make the most difference.

5. If you could give everyone one piece of advice regarding the environment and our natural resources, what would it be?

When I visit a place that doesn’t have the resources to teach children the arts, I feel pain for those children and the beauty that they are missing. I hope that they will be able to develop an appreciation for those things if they ever get the opportunity to experience them. The same is with the outside world. There is something so refreshing – so timeless – so healing – about the outdoors. And everyone should get the opportunity to experience it. So, take the time. Get outside. Consider the life of the ant – of the tree – of the antlion waiting for a meal to slip into their funnel. When you walk a trail – don’t focus so much on the wildlife you see or don’t see – but imagine the wildlife that’s been there and what they may have been doing.

Cleaning House

Had a really nice conversation with a co-worker today.  She warned me she was going to be on vacation soon.  Her plans are to deep clean her house.

She explained the way she does this is to completely empty a room, steam clean the carpet, wash down the walls and the baseboards and then put the furniture back in.  She then moves to the next room.

She explains that she wants to be alone when she does this and likes to play her Christian music real loud while she works.  She then told me she does this twice a year.

I was curious whether she does the same with her Spiritual house.  She answered that she does the same thing for her soul.  This is very important to her.  She is unable to function when she feels filthy. 

Wow!  That’s all I have to say.

Parental Discretion

I figure I am done raising my daughters. 

With that thought in mind, I have trouble listening to anyone give their unsolicited advice to my girls or heaven help them – correcting them.

I do not feel superior to my girls.  I think my chance at wisdom is the same as theirs.  They serve the same God I do and they have their own relationship with Him.  He guides them. 

If they ask for my opinion, they know it is exactly that – only my opinion.  

I have decided that if I never knew my daughters I would still choose them as close friends.

Seared Conscience

The most damage a person can do to himself is to affect his conscience negatively. 

We should pray for a more sensitive conscience rather than work at numbing it.

Our only hope for the loss of conscience is the redemptive work of a perfect Savior.  Tears of conviction should not be taken lightly.  

The altar work after anointed preaching which convicts us of our shortcomings is the most important part of any worship service.

Sovereign God

The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.  Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.  Ps. 74:16-17