The Wall

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“What a dear old wall that is that runs along by the river there! I never pass it without feeling better for the sight of it. Such a mellow, bright, sweet old wall; what a charming picture it would make, with the lichen creeping here, and the moss growing there, a shy young vine peeping over the top at this spot, to see what is going on upon the busy river, and the sober old ivy clustering a little farther down! There are fifty shades and tints and hues in every ten yards of that old wall. . . . It looks so peaceful and so quiet, and it is such a dear old place to ramble round in the early morning before many people are about.” Jerome K. Jerome, “Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)” Ch. 6 (1889)

The Vigil

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"Waiting for flame in the eye of night,
I am the fuel for your fire.
Light calls ever unto light,
Make me a fleshen pyre.
Touch my lips with the altering coal,
Leave Your shining upon my soul,
Zion shall ever be my goal,
Zion the city of light."

I am up pre-rooster to be shepherd and host to our non-resident Seminary students. These nights I do not sleep so well due to my excitement that they are here--these full-time missionaries, pastors and lay people from around the world come for two weeks of Intensive courses, then back home they go.

About 12:00 a.m. my 9 year old daughter was asking me her usual round of philosophical questions . . . who acts the best: this color person or that? We talked about the importance of people in God's eyes and that God does not see color. I brought her around to consider what Person, rather than kind of people, we should look to as our model. She brightly replied, "Jesus!"

About 4:00 this a.m. I was awakened by that same daughter for child-hood reasons and as I drifted back off to sleep for one more hour, was impressed by how Jesus models my very ministry to me, as shepherd and host--Psalm 23 came to mind as my model for ministry, especially over the next two weeks. Shepherd, to those who need to know the way and find comfort in it; host, to receive spiritual nourishment and walk away on FIRE for God!

"So Lord, [please] move, or move me," as the song says.

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