gladness

that everyone is together for the close of the year

for meals and laughter and shopping and wonder 

in shared labor and scheming and clever strategy

by sun and candlelight

thanks be to God

who holds all things and gives generously out of all things.

mt batur

mt batur in bali, to one peak of which i am hauled by HOM and the kids one pre-dawn and from which i need to be handheld down. my quads and my hamstrings screech in agonal protest. it's ok, J1 keeps telling me. challenge develops character. it's all in the mind, HOM says. you can do it.

gentlemen. it's my character my mind my quads and my hamstrings.

cuca ♥ ♥ ♥

what i say is, this place makes up for some other meals we have in bali which are of the choose-your-seafood-sunset-on-the-beach-complete-with-noise-and-cigarette-smoke-and-oily-table-top type of dinner.

why i dislike the beach

1. the sand

2. the salt

what i say is, i like the beach in the same way i like the snow, which is on a postcard.

bali vs. pattaya

the beaches the trades the squalor the shrines the music the souvenirs the tourists. one forgets which is which after a while.

although it is a little less squalid and a mite more affordable. or perhaps that is the exchange rate.

my reason for this season

... she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

- matt 1:21

i will never understand the love that sends a beloved child to die so that another may live. 

room in my heart

o come to my heart Lord Jesus

there is room in my heart for thee.

- e.e.elliot

my heart is crowded and cluttered and unkempt and poorly guarded

but thou art welcome there, lord of all Lords.

psalm 117

praise the LORD, all you gentiles! 

laud him, all you peoples!

for his merciful kindness is great toward us

and the truth of the LORD endures forever.

praise the LORD!

for boundless mercy and overflowing kindness

on hearth at industry in joyful height and deepest distress

thank you for every unmerited grace.

thank you for this time with J and J, which should not be, but is.

and thank you for time with HOM, which often is, but remains sweet.

little ironies

i hear the most evocative rendition of O Come All Ye Faithful this year in the iphone accessories shop in vivocity. whilst in church we appear to be strenuously avoiding any hint of the traditional, in choice of the songs we sing as well as the way we sing what we do choose.

stopping by woods on a snowy evening

the woods are lovely dark and deep

but i have... miles to go before i sleep.

not at present though.

we finally come to the end of the year's travels and meetings and commitments and promises to keep. i can look deep into the woods now, and it's a deliciously exciting feeling.

advent

i thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus... God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

- 1 cor. 1:4, 9

a time to remember that it is God who keeps me faithful.

advent is God's gift. his great mercy meets my unbounded need.

8 dec again

every good and perfect gift is from above,

- james 1:17

i still thank God, with cheery gladness wild delight and abiding certainty in the perfectness of his gift.