Neon lights flickering
Outside the cafe
Ice on the windshield
Stars in a black sea
On a winter road
Flurries of snow
I'm ready to go

Past farmhouse and pasture
Our voices together
Rise to the drumming
Of big-rigs and trailers
Long hours to daylight
A rumbling bus
Our bed and our board

Heavenly Father
Remember the traveler
Bring us safely home
Heavenly Father
Remember the traveler
Bring us safely home
Safely home

In the towns off this highway
The people are kind
They welcome us in
I sing in their church halls
Old hymns and prayer songs
With lifted hearts
We rejoice in the Lord

Heavenly Father
Remember the traveler
Bring us safely home
Heavenly Father
Remember the traveler
Bring us safely home
Safely home

I long for my family
And friends to remind me
Of where I have been
And where I am going
And where I come from

Heavenly Father
Remember the traveler
Bring us safely home
Heavenly Father
Remember the traveler
Bring us safely home
Safely home

-Fernando Ortega, Traveler

prayer and cancer

A few days ago I was faced with the deadly sins that I see in my life...my pride, my slothfulness, my unbelief, the fact that I put my hope in things other than the Lord...and as I went to bed I was thinking about prayer. And this was my thought: I know that Jesus Christ is my ONLY hope, but sometimes I kind of think of prayer as taking some new and unproven medicine to cure my cancer. Sometimes I don't think prayer is really going to work, but I know I have no other hope and it's my best bet.

How awful is that? And yet totally normal, and I am sure other people feel like that sometimes...right?

Fireflies and such

Is anyone else ready for SPRING??? I mean, it is March 2 and 40 degrees. I sometimes wonder why God DOES things like this. Have you ever thought about how when God does something with the weather, he has to purposefully affect EVERYONE? Like when it snows, if the roads are blocked, for some reason God has decided that he wants EVERYONE to be stuck or to slow their lives down. Some things seemingly affect only one of us. I know that because we are the Body of Christ, nothing really affects only one of us, but weather changes VISIBLY affect everyone.
So today it was cloudy. I noticed that affecting my thoughts, motivation, and general mood. I know it affected others, too...but God for some reason chose to do that. And he is sovereign and has a really good reason for it. Because my mood has been lower, I have noticed my need for Jesus. Which of course is a good thing.
Tonight I am procrastinating writing down my lessons in the Memphis City Schools lesson plan format. Doesn't that very sentence just make you fall asleep? It kills me. My plans are all written out, but I have to put them in a certain format. If you are reading this in your cozy home while you drink tea and sit by the fire reading a book, think of me and say a prayer.