Walking the Line

Some of you might not know about my life before I met Chris.  I grew up on a cattle ranch in California.  I not only live many, many miles away from it now, I sometimes go many, many days without thinking about my childhood.  I get lost in the busyness of city life and ministry.  But today I was transported back in time. 

This morning at our team meeting I was telling Rick that I’m tired of being asked to do things I’ve never done before and have no clue what is expected or what to expect.  I get a lot of oppurtunities to do new stuff all the time in this line of work and sometimes I wonder what is I do know how to do. 

This evening God reminded me.  I read Rick’s blog, then clicked on a link to a blog of someone that he knows, but I don’t and then from her blog I clicked a link to yet another blog and there it was.  What I know how to do: gathering, sorting, weighing, shipping.  All things you do with cattle. 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Thanks God.

(Check out the pictures of the ranch on Flickr.)

To add some Christian classics to my reading list I(DeAnn) have started “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis.  I have always been intimidated by it, but since I just finished “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard Foster and found it to be great (and easy?) reading, I thought I might as well give it a go.  Right now I’m on Book 1, section 4.  That might not seem like a lot (the intro was very long) it has been a lot of information to take in and meditate on.  Here are a couple of quotes:

“If the eternal Word speaks to a man he is delivered from many conjectures.  That one Word is the source of all things, and all things speak of that Word.  That Word is the Beginning, and that Word speaks to us.  All understanding and all right judgement are derived from him.  When a man sees all things as that one Word, refers all things to that one Word, views all things in that one Word, then he can be inwardly stable and rest at peace in God.”

“We do well to believe less than we are told, and to keep a wary eye on our own impulses; whatever it is, we should think the matter over slowly and carefully, referring it to God.  Unfortunately our weakness is such that we are much more ready to believe and speak evil of others than good.  Yet perfect men do not lightly believe everyone who chatters to them, since they know that human nature is weak and inclined to evil, and very easily betrayed into slips of the tongue.”

 I can see why this book is a classic. 

What are you reading?