In the Bloodlands, wishes can come true… for a price.

Julia envied the birds, so she lured them to her windowsill with nectar and seeds, caught them barehanded, and ate them, still wriggling and shrieking, until she found she could raise her arms and lift herself from the ground.

Julia envied Maria her husband, so when Maria was walking along the cliffside with a satchel of ripe plums at her hip, a flock of birds flew at her face and pecked at her until she lost her footing. Only, instead of tumbling into the sea, never to be found, the satchel caught on a root and broke her neck, leaving her dangling there for Matthew to find when he went to see why she was so late returning from the orchard. Dangling, with the marks of a hundred tiny beaks pocking the skin around her eyes.

Matthew’s grief festered within him until it turned to rage. He buried his newborn son with his wife, and when the next morning found a stalk growing from the grave, with a single blood-red plum dangling from its end, he ate it, and fell into a fever that lasted for three days. He awoke alone, tied to a tree far from the village. Snapping his bonds as if they were rotted vines, he stumbled back toward his home. As he fell beside a clear stream to slake a thirst deeper than he had ever known, the face he saw in the water was that of a monster, as much reptile as man.

Julia has taken to wearing a cape that drapes under her arms like the wings of a bird, as she floats through the fields, on the verge of flight, but never quite breaking the shackles of the earth. Tiny messengers land on her shoulders and tell her Matthew is returning to the village, and she pirouettes, five feet off the ground, and goes to meet him.

Matthew sees Julia approaching from where he lurks at the edge of the wood, just shy of the light. A bird alights on his shoulder and whispers in his ear, and he knows. Bellowing a roar no human throat could contain, he charges from the woods, his clawed feet churning up the moist earth. She barely has time to lift her arms, five feet, ten feet; but he is faster than a man now, and he leaps up to catch her legs in a crushing embrace.

And suddenly they are soaring, above the clouds, the sun blinding, the wind deafening in their ears, spiraling across a sea of white foam, her avarice and his rage forgotten in this sudden moment, her exultation and his fear.

When again she swoops down, through the clouds, across turbulent waters, it is to a coast neither of them recognize. She is suddenly tired, and cannot quite veer away from the strange trees. His body weighs her down, her legs numb from his unfailing grasp. They crash into the straight boles, but he swings his legs out and they shatter under the impact of his armored shins.

When they at last touch down, tumble apart, to lay on the wet grass, suddenly exhausted, they stay there, unmoving, for a long time, listening to one another’s breathing.

*

She pauses, thoughtfully, her black quill hovering over the rainbow streaks she has painted on the page. Each serpentine line she has inked connects on part of the story to another, one band to the prior and the next.

“Hmm.” she dips the quill and starts another line.

Dear Friends:

We invite you to come with us for an unforgettable experience, a journey to renew and recharge your life and your faith as we travel together in the land of the Bible.
Traveling in Israel will bring new meaning to the Old and New Testaments.  We will visit places where Jesus lived, walked, served, and became a sacrifice.  Daily times of devotions will be led by myself and worship will be led by Hope Chapel worship leader, Miriam Porter.
We will be traveling with IGM TOURS, pioneers of the Regionaltour, an experience created with a cadre of scholarly guides and leaders who wanted tours to be more than crowded traditional church shrines and souvenir shops.  This tour takes us deep into the text, history and geography of the Bible.
Daily we will stand at panoramic vistas, and walk ancient paths using a hands-on approach to the
authentic Bible sites to get to the heart of the message.  You will be given specially designed resources in advance to help you better connect with and experience these places.
We will stand atop Mt. Arbel to overview the sites of Jesus’ public ministry around the Sea of Galilee.  We will sail on the sea in a double-scale replica of the Roman fishing boat and we will kayak on the Jordan River.
In Jerusalem, we will walk beneath the ancient city for the length of the Western Wall.  We will walk on the Herodian pavement upon which Jesus walked, and sit on the Temple steps where Jesus taught the parables of the Kingdom.  Miriam and I will also lead our group in a private communion service in the Garden Tomb.
The enclosed itinerary gives a more detailed overview of the many wonderful and varied activities we have planned for you.  Read the tour conditions carefully.  Notice that group travel includes airfare, hotels, meals, transfers & entrance fees at low prices unavailable for individual travel plus a fully escorted tour with a scholarly guide chosen just for us.
In numerous journeys over the past thirty years, my wife Sandi and I have found that traveling with kindred souls and like-minded individuals greatly enhances the experience.  We endeavor to provide time and space for rest and reflection but also realize it is good to have others to sit with, to laugh with, to shop with, to share a meal with…and the bonds of friendship remain long after the trip is over.
Come with us!  Return your registration form signed and dated with your deposit check.  This assures your space with the group.

With warmest regards,

Pastor Dan Brown

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!  I am getting ready to join my daughter and her family for the day.  There will be the usual festivities, with lots of warm, companionable moments.  Nothing dysfunctional, ha ha!

Yesterday, besides the usual errands, etc., I was hanging out with my youngest grandson Noah, who is out of school for the week.  He persuaded me to visit the local Borders store just around the corner, and since he’d been such a trooper already—he helped me pull the Christmas decorations out of the boxes and arrange them around the rooms—I capitulated.

Reminding him that Christmas is just around the corner, and he shouldn’t expect me to buy something expensive (LOL), I turned him loose.  And then had to redirect him a couple of times, because his eyes are bigger than the allowable price tag.

But we found something and came home.  While I put away my day’s purchases, he happily “read the directions” and put together his action figure.

Even though he now is reading for real, he actually “read” the directions of his various toys that needed assembling for quite awhile, by studying the pictures and working it all out perfectly.  I’ve always warned him that anything that needs assembling has to be done by him alone, or has to wait until he gets home to his parents.  That always motivated him!

So here is the finished product from yesterday, while on my tomorrow’s post over at Dames of Dialogue, you’ll see the results of some of my efforts!

Sheepfarmer’s Daughter is first book in a trilogy called The Deeds of Paksenarrion. The main character is about a young woman named Paksenarrion or Paks who decided that she did not want to marry the pig farmer down the way. Instead she runs away to join the army and finds her niche amount her fellow soldiers. It has a strength of storyline based on the fact of that the author had also joined the Marine Corps so she is familiar with basic training as a female cadet. Instead of working with guns Paks is learning swordplay and survival, but like most male dominated fields she has to make a space for herself and make friends. Like many fantasy tales the everyday world includes magic and deception. Lord of the Rings seems to be a partial inspiration for this story as orcs and wizards are in the background of this story as well. Friendship and connections are part of the journey to a successful choice of lifestyle and future. Paks’ future is adjusting as the series goes along and if you like strong female characters, medieval historical battle, and soldiers then give this a try.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Lord of the Rings is about a battle between good and evil and future of their world. The various groups of people, elves, dwarves, hobbits, and evil creatures. The difference is that magic defines the world of MiddleEarth and the direction of everyone’s lives. If you choose to read the Lord of the Rings make sure you have read The Hobbit first as it is the unofficial prequel to this trilogy. The hobbit is a story about a treasure, dragon, and journey that involves unintentional hero in Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who has never had a reason to leave home. The Lord of the Rings is centred around Bilbo’s nephew Frodo who unlike his uncle has always wanted to know about the world.

Big, big sky by Kristyn Dunnion

Sometimes it’s harder to kill than pod might think.I crouch in the dark, stare into the manimal’s shining eyes. It blinks right at me. It shakes in fear. Its thrumping furred chest quickens my own pulse. The thing wave-sends a sonic roll of pure emo: terror, disbelief, and a wee glimmer of hope…Rustle is a young scout in a tight-knit female warrior group of five. They’re trained to be aggressive, quick thinking, obedient-though for what exact purpose they couldn’t quite tell you. But somehow the group is falling apart now. The leader Shona turns out to be a traitor to them. Roku has disappeared. Rustle has failed to show her killing skills in a crucial test of courage, and is feeling quite separate from the others. Loo is a true warrior, ready and able for action of the most extreme kind, though Rustle’s private yen for her has not dimmed. Solomon, the healer of the group, is a steady hand, but not even her stability can save them.So when their StarPod is transported to the Living Lab, they all know that it’s time to make a run for it, or else they’ll be deplugged – finished, dead. It takes a lot of wit and energy, but eventually they make it to the outside of the great mountain where they’ve been raised and trained and programmed-and here for the first time they behold the big, big sky of the real world. (Source:LPL)

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.”

~ Edward Sandford Martin

Thanksgiving is upon us… marking the beginning of another holiday season. The holidays are a great opportunity for sharing love and being with friends and family… It is a time of happiness and reflection. Memories and tradition…

So here we are this year, on the brink of holiday frenzy and abundance… please remember there are those who have little to nothing to be thankful for… there are those who simply are… So now I ask all my friends and family to simply Be… Remember charity and lend a helping hand to your neighbor… simply ask and listen for we are all in need of something…

I have been a supporter of the WFP for the past couple of years… I believe in their mission… I encourage all to think about a charity, one which matters to their soul, and join their community as a supporter… Take the first step…

One Weeks Food Around The World

This photographic journey around the world was a feature in Time magazine… the first reaction I had was wonder next shame… thinking upon the waste…

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

This Thanksgiving Day, let’s remember what we truly have to be thankful for. Let’s take a good, hard look around us and realize that while we may not have everything we want, what we want is not always what we need…

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

~ Cicero

Thank you all and have a happy thanksgiving…

Lots of Love

Enreal

Thank you for helping us build the Wall Against Hunger. You can view your card here:http://wall.wfp.org/node/4266
and see it on the wall here: http://wall.wfp.org/wall?guid=4266.

Please share your card with your friends and family. Let them know that they too can create a card.

If you have a blog or a site, you can also help get the word out by adding some cool wall banners available here: http://wall.wfp.org/banners.

Thank you for your gift to WFP and for helping in the fight against hunger.

-World Food Programme

My confidence has bounced up and down,
i do not feel as certain as before,
A loss of the illusion of control
for more often i do not know,
do not know how to negotiate this place and way.
I no longer make definitive statements
all i utter seems to end in a question mark
For i am no longer sure
of much,
of anything.

Automatic pilot is on strike,
As i must react to all that comes in
what was known becomes unknown
in this different zone
what was familar becomes unfamiliar,
i am like a child
learning once again
i know longer know
how to cross the street.
where to eat
where to buy paper
how to get the hot water in a shower
how to find the question make on the keyboard
where to ride a bus, and which one to take
even the simple takes thought
And my mind is constantly active
not confident in the little decisions i make
was this the best place
was i overcharged
what do i eat
prices no longer make sense
not just the currency but in their relation to one another.
why is this so cheap and this so expensive,
all is different as i negotiate new terrain.

It is stress,
not a negative,
not a positive,
it just is,
a heighten sense of alertness
where one must always decide
react
not with customary patterns,
but in new ways
i feel alive
i feel exhausted
i grow

slowly it will return
and i will be more sure
having stretched my boundaries,
i will leave this uncomfortable zone
of that i am confident
and though i must pass through this zone,
the more i do the more confidence grows
the more i challenge myself
the more that i pass through
the more that i believe that i can.
And i am starting to understand this place.

The Babae Ensemble Presents…
Pinay Stories
Connection, Memory, Roots

An evening of original written work, theater, and performance by an all-Filipina cast.
Stories that will inspire, empower, and uplift you.

Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5
8pm show; doors open at 7:30pm

Off Market Theater
965 Mission St. #250
San Francisco, CA 94104

$12 admission
For tickets, visit http://brownpapertickets.com/event/89703

Pinay Stories is a national cultural arts project of GABRIELA USA that centers on collecting creative efforts of Filipino women in the United States reflecting their life stories, journeys and current lives.

–

Babae (Tagalog for “woman”) is a grassroots and volunteer-based organization of Filipina women in San Francisco dedicated to supporting and empowering Pinays through critical education, leadership development, and community building. We are committed to taking up local and global struggles, immediate and long-term concerns of our communities, especially those directly impacting Filipino women. As part of the Philippine women’s movement for self-determination, we are committed to working towards a future of real sisterhood and international solidarity, true gender equality and opportunity for all women, and genuine sovereignty and democracy in our homeland.

info@babaesf.org | www.babaesf.org

–

GABRIELA National Alliance of Women is a grassroots-based alliance of more than 200 organizations, institutions, desks and programs of women all over the Philippines seeking to wage a struggle for the liberation of all oppressed Filipino women and the rest of our people. GABRIELA-USA is the first overseas chapter of the Philippine-based organization, extending the Filipino womens mass movement to the United States.

www.gabusa.org

“Great joy in camp we are in view of the Ocian …”
– Capt. William Clark, Nov. 7, 1805, from the journals of Lewis and Clark

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Different time, different coast. But the sentiment is the same.

Dipping the wheels in the Atlantic

This morning I was awakened around 6 o’clock by Al telling me that there was a blackout. Sure enough, there was. We got dressed, went for a ride (to what I thought was the dry side of the mountains – I only gave up after the storm got worse and worse) and came back home for lunch (to keep food from spoiling or anything, we went out to eat. I learned that Wendy’s doesn’t use foil on their burgers anymore. LOL. I also learned that I’m nowhere near the adventurous eater I used to be, steering clear of a burger called the baconator even though it had applewood bacon. )

The lights came on around 3 to cheers all over the house. I’m glad. It was starting to get cold.

Stephen Foster

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — That first line of the first verse of the Stephen Foster classic doesn’t sound quite right. The Pedee?
But that was in the first draft of Old Folks at Home as Foster conversed with his brother Morrison while mulling over the lyrics for his new song.
“One day in 1851, Stephen came into my office, on the bank of the Monongahela, Pittsburgh, and said to me, ‘What is a good name of two syllables for a Southern river. I want to use it in this new song of Old Folks at Home,’” Morrison Foster recalled, according to information available at the Suwannee River State Park, our campsite on Tuesday in the final week of our transcontinental bicycle journey.
“I asked him how Yazoo would do. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘that has been used before.’ I then suggested Pedee. ‘Oh, pshaw,’ he replied. ‘I won’t have that.’ I then took down an atlas from the top of my desk and opened the map of the United States. We both looked over it and my finger stopped at the ‘Swannee,’ a little river in Florida emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. ‘That’s it, that’s it exactly,’ exclaimed he, delighted, as he wrote the name down; and the song was finished, commencing, ‘Way Down Upon de Swannee Ribber.’ He left the office, as was his custom, abruptly, without saying another word, and I resumed my work.”
The Suwannee River (Foster misspelled it) flows south from the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. Foster never visited the river and had no association with it. But the name fit nicely into the lyrics. After he wrote the song, Foster sold it to famed minstrelman E.P. Christy.

Dining in the dark at Suwannee River State Park

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Fellow rider and blogger Reg Prentice likened this transcontinental bicycle ride to a ski jump: The hardest, scariest part is at the start, followed by a landing and then a long coast to the bottom of the slope.

Monument to Ray Charles in Greenville, Fla., his hometown

Around a campfire near Ichetucknee Springs State Park: Kami, Reg, Dave and Jenny

“Honesty…. is such a lonely word…”

Remember the song “Honesty” by Billy Joel? 

“Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard.
And mostly what I need from you.”

 The words of that song really hit home this afternoon.

A couple of days ago, I read a post on the blog of a musician that I used to keep up with years ago.  This person (who shall remain nameless) has been through a lot over the years, and this particular post was very open and honest about frustrations and how life had gone.  I was touched by this person’s willingness to confess shortcomings and emotions that most of us don’t want to admit, let alone look at or concentrate on.

So, in response to what I was reading, I posted comments.  My heart’s intent was to let this person know, “I used to admire you for your talents.  Now I appreciate you for the reality of who you are, because we’re not that different.”  I was kinda open and honest about my own journey, in an effort to say to this person, “you’re not alone.”

Well! I have checked back to see if this person had any response to what was said, and this afternoon I discovered that the post had been deleted!  Comments and all!

Now, I know I can’t assume that it was MY words that caused this person to do that.  Maybe it was a fluke.  Maybe… something happened to the server, and that one post happened to suffer an untimely death.  I don’t really know.  But there’s this gut feeling down deep inside me that says, this person was shaken by what you said.

I will tell all who read this blog, I would rather you be honest enough to spit in my face, rather than avoid me to keep from hurting my feelings.  The “unknown” is harder to deal with, than the “cold hard truth.”

I wish this person well, but my new-found appreciation for where this person now is in Christ and what this person is dealing with, has been dampened somewhat.  For now I not only will have this “what did I say that was wrong?” feeling hanging over my head, but I will have to fight off the demons of discouragement and doubt.  For if encouraging someone by telling them that they have had a positive impact on people’s lives is the wrong thing to do, then what else is left? 

The pain in my heart is real, and I will be going back to crawl up into Father God’s lap, to cry on His shoulder for a while.  This hurts.

And yet, God knows.  For He has been hurt a lot too.  People want to erase His Words, all the time.

Thank You, Lord, for shouldering my tears, for carrying my pain, for helping me to love as You love.

“A magical place indeed”.

The air alive and glowing with energy, like a vivid dream… you could smell the ethereality of it…

“A peculiar, magical place….”

She had awoken to a scene and a dilemma. There before her stood two paths. Unlike others she traveled before…

where the long winding road lay before or behind or side to side…

“the light is brightest above, yet perhaps I shall wander below…”

Static clung to the light, bringing electricity to sound, sparks to sight…

A wind wispered in her mind…

“A magical place indeed”

She said these words aloud as she found her way down

I travel now, move quickly through time and space. The entry i had written in my journal yesterday seems so far away that i can no longer type it up here and that is fine. For if the emotions i felt were temporary, they will return, but i hope not for i was going to write about resentment, and that feeling is gone.

When you move through space, travel quickly, emotions bounce up and down, intense and near the surface. And they claim you for a moment. But what this reminds me, it that all is fleeting and passing through, nothing is permanent. And my movement makes the movement within much faster and deeper – nothing sticks around for long. And when i am in a negative zone where it feels so encompassing i must remember that it will pass. it may come back but that too will pass.

I will not write about resentment here, though i did in my journal. I had to let it pass through me through words. But if i write about it again, i will only return to that space where i do not wish to be. My emotions have been near the surface – the tears i shed on the plane because i forgot to bring headphones, so real, an internal meltdown, only to find there were some in the seat 0 and yes i could watch the film. All is raw, but that is good, all i felt for months in stability seems like a dream, as will this that i write. 

In these troubled economic times, stories about families working to put their lives back together are even more poignant than usual.

While I was a social worker, I often encountered and, in fact, worked to assist families struggling with addiction issues.  Finding treatment and then maintaining that hard-won sobriety in a supportive environment was often a key to success.

Spirit of Woman  is an organization/treatment center in Fresno, CA, that has been addressing these issues for many years.  In today’s Fresno Bee, there is an article on the front page of the Life section that spotlights this particular program.

Apparently, an old hotel has been renovated and serves as a home for rehabilitating women who have recently been reunited with their children.  The women learn to live “sober,” while caring for their children and completing necessary tasks to help maintain the home.  They attend classes and therapy throughout the day.

In the article, the founder/chief-executive-officer is seeking donations to help improve the rooms.  A pleasant environment, which is a key factor in promoting a chaos-free life, is necessary.  While the rooms now are clean and neat, they are showing the wear of age.

Now some may say that these women should be happy just to have a place to stay—and that’s certainly true—but we all know that our environments are crucial to our inner well-being.  Our surroundings do not have to be expensive in order to achieve this feeling.

Personally, whenever I am depressed or feeling frustrated with things going on in my life, I look around my home and take comfort in the few beautiful objects that seemingly encircle me with warmth and comfort.

Studies have shown that people even respond positively to certain colors.  Some colors evoke peace, while others stir up more negative emotions.

All of this is directed toward eliciting compassion from each of us for those less fortunate…those who are struggling—with the consequences of their own poor choices, certainly—but who still deserve our empathy and any strength we can offer.

If you wish to reach out during this season, I am sure that there is a place in your community, just like this one in mine, that could beneft from your used and no longer needed items.

During this upcoming holiday season, my vow is to turn away from my own feelings of self-pity (for the tough economic times, etc.) and look around at those less fortunate.  I am sure to find many!

Alternative music great for Advent.

One of the things that has occured to me as I get ready to celebrate the most joyous season of the Christian Year, is that there is some incredible music out there that we may not think of as “Christmas” music but in terms of the uniqueness and finality of the Incarnation is just perfect. Here’s just one example from Michael Card-

“You and me we use so very many clumsy words.
The noise of what we often say is not worth being heard.
When the Father’s Wisdom wanted to communicate His love,
He spoke it in one final perfect Word.

He spoke the Incarnation and then so was born the Son.
His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed and make a way Divine.
And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.

And so the Father’s fondest thought took on flesh and bone.
He spoke the living luminous Word, at once His will was done.
And so the transformation that in man had been unheard
Took place in God the Father as He spoke that final Word.”   (One final Word from the album “Joy in the Journey”)

The song captures the essence of the event and is indeed most fitting for Advent. Michael is a very talented artist not only in writing verse but in the music as well . His songs are laced with Biblical themes and characters such as Mary and Joseph. His well known Immanuel is another song perfect for Advent. These songs for me capture the true spirit of the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Listen to the title song from JOY in the JOURNEY.

WAUKEENAH, Fla. — A milestone: I had my first flat on Monday.
After nearly two months on the road and more than 2,800 miles of riding since leaving San Diego on Sept. 20, I was the only one in our small bicycle caravan who had not had to change a tire — until Monday.
But I can’t blame my German-made Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. My rear tire was like an innocent mugging victim. It got stabbed.

Our campsite near Marianna, Fla.