Gift of Finest Wheat

Call me old fashioned, but I love a good ol’ song from the hymnal. Aside from the David Crowder Band, not very often does the same song or band put tears in my eyes so fast with chills running down my spine, and hairs on my arm sticking up. Now this is where I look for inspiration.

Last week at St. Andrew’s Cathedral the cantor announced Gift of Finest Wheat. Instantly I thought, “YES, we all know this one!” Not often do the q-tips (as my dad says) sing loud during mass.

For the first time I really read the words, wondering where God was leading His people.

Originally I intended to elaborate on the verses, but now, I will just type them below and ask you to read them. But not just read them, read them. It is a hymn I look to for inspiration in the words, not just the sound coming from the organ.

If you do not find the hymn inspiring, so what? Maybe it is not meant to affect you the same. Besides, if we all were intrigued by this song, communion would become quite redundant, boring, and a lot less inspiring.


You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat,

come give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.

As when the shepherd calls his sheep,

they know and heed his voice;

so when You call Your family Lord, we follow and rejoice.

You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat,

come give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.

With joyful lips we sing to You, our praise and gratitude,

that You should count us worthy Lord, to share this heavenly food.

You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat,

come give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.

The mystery of Your presence Lord, no mortal tongue can tell;

whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell.

You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat,

come give to us o saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.

You give yourself to us o Lord, then selfless let us be,

to serve each other in Your name in truth and charity.

A woman of love

In his mom's Christmas present!

Val Murphy truly was the essence of God’s beautiful creation. Her love for her family was evident in the way she lived during her time on earth. I remember visiting their house and seeing her husband’s lunch lovingly prepared for the next day and she would be sitting at the desk in the living room reviewing their cell phone bill, making a comment to Ryan about a text messaging charge.

She picked Ryan, Mitch Hopper and me up from the Salvation Army after serving soup. She sat in the audience of our City Band concerts Murphy and I performed in and on the Sundays I woke up early enough to attend 8:30 mass versus 10:30, there sat Val and Mike. This past October while visiting over a weekend Val came into their living room, showing us a child/ghost statue that danced and a skeleton that I believe sang “Bad to the Bone.” She found such joy in these figurines, clearly loving to prepare for every holiday.

What I am so thankful and blessed for is the incredible son she raised who has the same joy as his mother. He is so open and welcoming, just enJOYing his time with people, naturally pleasing others with his kind heart.
My heart aches knowing Ryan has to bury his mother tomorrow. Val and Mike raised him into a strong man and I pray for God’s blessing on Mike and Ryan as they begin a new adventure with Val watching over them. They truly are amazing and thank you for the blessings you have given our family!

Do as the Romans do?

To settle some confusion... In the post below when I state "grab and shake visciously," it is not literal. So no, I am not angry...just exaggerating my feelings with a little sarcasm :)

One night a girlfriend and I were discussing the life of a mutual friend and she said, “That’s great if he wants to go there someday, but what if he doesn’t take advantage of other things going on in his life until he gets there?”

She then briefly discussed her beliefs on how we can have these dreams and goals, but sometimes God gives us leads we don’t take and we arrive at our “dream” feeling regret, empty. We all have ideas of where our life may end up. Some people know exactly what they want to be, some know exactly where they want to go, and some have little direction except if they see the sun rise and know that way must be east.

It’s far too easy over hyping what may come. I tend to beat myself up about not taking advantage of various situations and/or opportunities, but since I cannot control my faults, there are a few select people in my life right now I would love to grab and shake viciously and scream at them, “JUST DO IT!”

But I control my decisions and no one else’s based on what God has in front of me so to each their own…

But pretty soon my decision may be to tell a certain person or two, “When in Rome…”

Lost in Translatoin

(All because two people fell in love :))
1-14-08
A few years ago while having a heated discussion about abortion I calmly stated how the baby inside the womb is different than an animal because God gave humans feeling and emotion, thus separating humans from animals.

The girl’s rebuttal?

“Yeah, well God also says in the Bible mentally retarded people are going to hell.”

Mind you, this statement came from a 20-year-old who also said the statement in a nasal, whiney tone (and there is no exaggeration here folks).

When she said it though, I sat there. Speechless. I should have asked her to show me exactly where the Bible says that or provide some other form of literature or prehistoric fossil stating this translation of what God said. Instead the subject managed to change and within 2 minutes I was in my room pacing, raging.

There are numerous frustrations I have with this statement and my heart aches thinking about it. First of all, seriously? We could all put good money down in saying that regardless the translation, the Bible DOES NOT say this.

What angered me more is I felt that was another one of this girl’s exaggerations on the situation, seeing if I would believe it, so lack of a fight was a win for her.

On a higher level though, what if someone actually taught her God cast this unto His people? Where did this source from? Who else is being fed this garbage?

Over the past year I have grown to understand the beauty of variety. I believe people grow in their faith several different ways and that truly is beautiful, enhancing the unique, intricate creation of God. Thus, being reminded by Rob Bell as of late, there are numerous translations of the Bible, one not necessarily being better or more right than the other.

What I take from it? God is love. He loves on others and we should do the same. They will know we are Christians by our love. That is the foundation of God sending down Jesus to die on the cross for us, isn’t it? Everything else builds from there. Or at least that’s my translation…

Teacher

One night at supper I was discussing with a friend the Grand Rapids area. A potential internship opportunity arose (the one I am now currently at) and after talking about what I knew of the town he said, “That’s where Rob Bell is from.” Having never heard of the man I went home and worked the google magic.

A month and a half later I sit in my “Conrad Hotel” apartment as my father calls it, in a suburb of Grand Rapids and felt it appropriate to begin reading Velvet Elvis. This past week has had me back and forth on what to do with my life. I recall loving my major, enJOYing the work I could someday do with it but before choosing the major I went from journalism to dietetics to high school theatre teacher to dietetics again to hospitality and finally to consumer affairs.

Today I realized my ideal environment is being surrounded by people. I have had a growing passion to teach and mentor others, hoping to get involved in a church here and help with CCD, youth group, etc. While getting ready for bed I kicked myself for not majoring in education. Ideal schedule, surrounded by people, the ability to mold young minds :), planning, organizing…oh my!

Then on page 21 of Velvet Elvis I read, “Anna, you do not have to go to school to be a teacher.”

What about your past and what about your actions integrate with your innate desires and future goals? How do they intertwine?

It is no secret I’ve had a desire since birth to be a mother. Now with this growing passion for teaching, of course! As a mother I will teach my child. Why do I love spending time with my nephews? Because their mother is mostly absent from their life. Obviously I will never be their mother, nor would I want to take that role, but it is the nurturing and loving on them I find rewarding.

Make a list of your passions. Discover those simple tasks you have always enJOYed doing. Find yourself and learn what you are all about. As alone, lost, and worthless as one might feel, God has something monumental brewing. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to influence?

Do you need a college degree for it all? Probably not. Do you need to move to Michigan to figure out what to do with your life? Let’s hope not because their economy can’t handle all of us right now.

Automotive State

(Two buddies I'll miss dearly)

Hey folks! At 7am tomorrow I will be heading for Grand Rapids, MI to start an internship with their minor league baseball team. Check out the Whitecaps if you're in the area :)





Please say any extra prayers you can because my mood changes by the minute on this "being a grown up" business. God has something in store; we'll just wait and see what happens!





I'll try and post pictures and stories (if they're intriguing).





See you on the flip!

My nephews fascinate me. They are incredible young boys with an innocence making them unaware of the reality around them. I fall in love with them more every day, the passion growing and it feels as though every day God stretches my heart more and more to make room for all the love.

Tonight a friend asked about a situation in our family so I briefly explained some of what is going on. For certain reasons I will not go into detail, but I can't help but look at the situation and be in awe of the amount of love amongst everything.

Loving isn't always easy, like walking out into the living room to see my youngest nephew throwing toys at his defenseless older brother. Of course it's an instant time-out and just the other week I made sure the one picked up every single toy in the room (since the time-outs seem to be less effective every day). It doesn't phase me to "punish" them though. They seem to 'somewhat' understand it is for their own good and it was their acts which caused them to sit in the chair. But how can you not love waking up in the morning to two red heads grinning at you racing upstairs so we can sit and eat breakfast together, just the three of us?

My nephews are blessed with so much love from family and they deserve every ounce of it. I don't deserve a single laugh, hug, or kiss from them because they treat me so well it's unreal. They just love to love and it is a beautiful thing to witness their love. Their youth doesn't allow judgment. They don't understand the concept.

They love my dad because he bakes the best and is awesome at basketball. They love my mom because she lets them dig in the dirt and she sings really weird songs. They love their great grandpa because of his cane and big red van. They love Uncle Paul because...well, TRANSFORMERS, duh! They love Aunt Dawinda (Malinda), she's just fun and loud like the rest of us! They love their dad because he is their dad, plain and simple.

And you know what? Nothing else phases them!