Jungle Yearnings

Sitting in a dugout,
Gliding down a river,
Looking upwards to the blue sky,
White, wispy clouds breezing by,
Tall jungle trees,
Pointing high!

Close my eyes,
Feel the tropical sun upon my skin,
Humidity in the air, cool water against my hand,
Dangling fingers swim in the green, brown river,
A soft mist sprays upon my brow,
Cooling water!

The jungle permeates,
Earthy, damp and musty,
A thousand years old!
The smell of a storm coming this way,
Sweet, sour, a bit of decay,
Jungle smells!

Listen! Listen!
What do you hear?
The cry of a majestic macaw,
The wind moves the leaves of the palms,
The water gurgles as it ripples,
Quiet sounds!

The sights of home,
The feel of home,
Familiar smells,
The sounds that call me home,
I hear the beckoning and I long to return,
Winding river, take me home!

The Things I See...

My Climb, my Fall, my Rescue

A re post ~

Flying over Mt. Duida, Amazonas, Venezuela

I must reach my God! I must see His face, hear His voice. He dwells upon the mount. The mount that looms above me. I am here below, in a deep, dark chasm, a pit. Yet, I know the way to Him lies above and I must go.

The path leading up is steep and dark. Treacherous, but I must risk it, for He has placed with in my soul a need to see Him, face to face. And so, I reach upwards, searching for a hand hold. First one hand, then the other, and with stumbling feet, I try to find a path to God.

I gain a bit, a foothold here, then stretching forth my hand, I slip! Slip backward and lose my ground! Striving, grasping, but I seem to not advance at all, and yet, with the weakening of my flesh, my soul does strive still!

My very heart cries out to climb to God, but I do not seem to progress. I know He resides above and that is where I must go. There is no other place of peace. I must go! Upward, upward! Go!

At that moment, I feel the strength of my arm falter, at that very moment, I lose my grip...and fall. Down, down...I fall to the lowest place. It is as if I had not attempted the climb at all. I am filled with despair knowing I had given it my all. I can not climb to my God. There is no hope for me. I am to die and forever be here in the depths of darkness.

And as I lay there, waiting for death, broken and afraid, I hear a sound upon the path. The sound of footsteps coming down the very way I had trod. The path that led to my fall. To where I now lay dismayed. Hearing the footsteps, I feel a glimmer of hope rekindled in my soul. Upon opening my eyes, I see my God, coming down for me! He reaches out His nail scared hand for me, He lifts me up, in His strong embrace, and all my fears dissolve.

Lovingly, He carries me to the mountain top. He places me upon my feet to stand in that blessed spot. And what a view I now behold as I stand atop the Mount of God!

I feel as if sunlight is in my soul, even as I hear the thunder of a storm below. I am calm on this height where I stand beside my God, for no storm or cloud can reach me. I am under clear, blue skies that reach for all eternity. I am strong in this place! No one can harm me. I am secure, at peace with all.

This is life! This is joy! My God has found me! He lifted me up to see His face! To hear His voice!
And now, His love I know!


I John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.

Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Isaiah 26:4  Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

These are thoughts I write down in my devotional journal. At times I must fight depression with chronic pain and find writing to be helpful in organizing my thoughts and reminding me of truths. I rarely share them with anyone, but decided to do so here. The mountain pictured is what was in my mind's eye.

baby monkey riding on a pig!

So

So... when I watch this, it makes makes me hungry!  Both of these make for some good eatin'!

IF

We profess to be strangers and pilgrims, seeking after a country of our own, yet we settle down in the most un-stranger-like fashion, exactly as if we were quite at home and meant to stay as long as we could. I don't wonder apostolic miracles have died. Apostolic living certainly has."
— Amy Carmichael


In the book 'If' by Amy Carmichael it says:




If I ask to be delivered from trial rather
than for deliverance out of it,
to the praise of His glory;
If I forget that the way of the cross
leads to the cross
and not to a bank of flowers;
If I regulate my life on these lines,
or even unconsciously my
thinking,
so that I am surprised when the
way is rough and think it
strange, though the word is,
"Think it not strange,"
"Count it all joy."
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Its her birthday~ share a word of wisdom!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!

 She is 19 years old today.

 What advice would you share with a 19 year old young lady?

Leave me a comment so that I may share it with her.

Something gets lost in the translation...

My husband was supposed to translate this poem, on the fly, during a bi-lingual wedding a few years ago. he first attempted to use the help of a Windows translation tool. ( I especially loved the translation of the author's name)

The Spanish Version

¿QUÉ ES CASARSE?
Salvador Rueda

Formar una pasión de dos pasiones,
Fundir en un derecho dos derechos,
Fraguar un noble lecho de dos lechos,
Y atar a una ambición dos ambiciones.
Juntar en un soñar dos ilusiones
Forjar un techo santo de dos techos,
Hacer un pecho puro de dos pechos,
Aunar un solo amor de dos amores.
Anudar en un lazo dos divisas,
Formar un solo trino de dos risas,
Con dos miradas fundir una mirada,
Con dos llantos enlazar un solo llanto.
Con dos canciones hacer un solo canto,
¡Esto es casarse! Lo demás no es nada.

 The Computerized Version

WHAT IS TO MARRY?
Rescuing Wheel

To form a passion of two passions,
To fuse in a right two rights,
To forge a noble bed of two beds,
and to tie to an ambition two ambitions.
To join in dreaming two illusions
To forge a ceiling santo of two ceilings,
To make a chest pure of two chests,
To combine a single love of two loves.
To tie in a bow two currencies,
To form a single trino of two laughter,
With two watched to fuse a glance,
two weeping to connect a single weeping.
With two songs to make a single song,
This is to marry!
The others are not nothing.



Here is the new version we translated together. I think we did a little better than Windows.

What Makes a Marriage?
Salvador Rueda

To take the emotions of two and make them one passion
To weld the rights of two individuals into the union of a couple,
To make a Honeymoon suite from two lonely rooms
To bind the ambitions of two people into one goal
To join in one dream the hopes of two people
To form a loving home out of two separate dwellings
To take two hearts and make them one
To combine two loves into one adoration
To tie a lovely bow from two separate ribbons
To blend the laughter of two into one melody
To take two perspectives and form one panorama
To transform the heartaches of loneliness into a cry of joy
To blend two separate melodies into a harmonious duet
That’s what makes a marriage. Nothing else really matters.