Category: Other Stuff…

Just What I Needed

On By dklinegIn Other Stuff..., School Things1 Comment

I turned the corner to leave the cereal aisle and there she stood.  A teaching colleague from years past; a friend that I hadn’t talked to in years pushed her cart with the week’s groceries.

You know how it goes, after the initial surprise, we caught up on stuff. You know, things like family. “How are the kids doing? Really they’re that old!?” Topics that only scratched the surface to be sure, but useful for folks who’ve been apart for a time. It kept the conversation going a bit.

As we chatted a little more we dodged the folks trying to make their way to the Special K.  We rearranged our carts so shoppers could get by then the conversation changed. The topic turned to God.  Yep, it happened right there in the grocery store, next to the Frosted Mini Wheats. Right there among shoppers filling their carts with tomorrow’s breakfast, in stepped God.

Several years ago, she and her husband left secure teaching jobs in a stable Christian school to start up a Christian school in the same town, in the heart of a neighborhood rife with poverty, instability and crime. A gutsy move, I thought at the time. They said, a calling from God.

God calls, indeed. He’s a God that not only calls, but over the years he’s demonstrated that he equips and blesses. Over the years God has made that little school a blessing to the neighborhood. He brought the right people together, gave them the courage to take a leap of faith and through them multiplied his blessing and grace to an impoverished neighborhood. God was and is at work through the Tree of Life School in the Edison neighborhood of Kalamazoo, Michigan. It’s an incredible story, to be sure.

That’s about where our conversation ended. For me it was an important reminder that God graciously walks daily with me too, as I try to fulfill his calling. It was a reminder of God’s goodness and faithfulness right there in the cereal aisle. Today, a little chat about God with a friend, just down the way from the Corn Flakes, was just what I needed.

Today’s gift.

Around the Corner

On By dklinegIn Other Stuff..., Square Inches, Unexpected DelightLeave a comment

The trail I walk on just about every morning is a mostly flat meandering path following a creek.  There are woods, fields and marshes that change with the seasons.  Today’s flowers are different from a month ago. Yet day by day things pretty much remain the same.

Sometimes unexpected things come along that surprise and delight.  Like this morning.  I was walking along, turning a corner that bends the path into a swampy area, when I met this curious traveler. 

We stood facing each other for a few minutes, long enough for me to get out my phone and snap a few pictures.  Delightful.

Today, I turned a corner that I’ve walked hundreds of times seeing the same scene almost every time, until today. A surprise.  A gift.  And then more.

So it is with life.  We travel in our day-to-day routines.  We work. We play. We struggle. We enjoy.  We fret.

We worry about what’s next, what’s around the next corner.  It’s impossible to tell.  Yet the One who created fawns and flowers walks with us as we travel our straight and crooked paths.  He tells us there’s no need to worry. 

So today, praise God who has all our corners, beginning to end, in view. Praise the one who reminds us “Do not be afraid… you are mine.”  Isaiah 43:1  Today’s gift.

“This is my Father’s world… O let me not forget…”

Diamonds

On By dklinegIn Other Stuff..., Square Inches, Unexpected DelightLeave a comment

While I took my morning walk I noticed that the overnight rain left droplets of water on things along the trail, in particular, on the grasses. The beaded drops looked like tiny diamonds.

My after-walk morning was empty and post-rain gloomy, so I decided I needed to hunt for more diamonds… with my camera.  Off to Crane Park I went.  Here is some of what I saw.

These droplet diamonds brightened my day.  I’m sure you have brightened the day for someone today as well.  Whether you know it or not, God the creator of all, is at work through the good things you do today.

You are today’s gift.

Home

On By dklinegIn Other Stuff..., ThanksgivingLeave a comment

I have good news and I have Good News.  First the good news.

I heard about each of them in January. (See “It’s January .”) Two babies, Finley and Danielle. Both helpless. They had problems. Big problems. Life threatening. Both in need of miracles. I followed their progress. I prayed.

Finley needed a new liver. Danielle was born three months and several pounds early. That was January and now it’s May. 

The good news is both are alive and both are doing well. Both have a ways to go. Most importantly, both are home from long stays in hospitals. Good news. Great news.

Now the Good News. The Creator of heaven and earth, God, one who first loved Finley and Danielle, he knew them before they were in their mothers’ womb. He preserved their lives and has plans for them. The two girls’ journeys continue and God walks with them. As he does with us. That’s Good News. That’s today’s gift.

My Clock

On By dklinegIn Other Stuff...Leave a comment

I needed a clock for my workroom, so, over the course of the last 6 months, I made one.

I thought about what I needed and a plan evolved. With my slightly less than average woodworking skills and undiscovered and mostly non-existent art skills, I went to work.

Click on the link to see how it went.  The Clock.mp4

Trillium (4) – Silly

On By dklinegIn Other Stuff..., Square Inches, Unexpected DelightLeave a comment

It’s raining today.  Of course, pictures of trillium would be interesting with droplets of rain water on them.  Especially if the flowers are open.  No guarantees there, though.  It would be a 30 minute walk to the trillium patch, in the rain that is with us for the day.  So, it would be silly to make the attempt. Right?  I’d be soaked.  My camera would get too wet.  I should just wait. Hmmm….  

So I did.  I stayed close to home.  I got a little wet.  The trillium would have to wait.

Rain. Today’s gift.