Sammi

Once again, I will be posting Wordy Wednesday on Thursday; today, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend Sammi.

I found Sammi on the side of the freeway on the way home from Cam's on Sunday night. He was running up the on ramp, and, being my mother's daughter, I couldn't just leave him. So I pulled off and was surprised when he immediately began trotting my way. When I crouched down and offered my hand for him to sniff, he eagerly greeted me with sloppy puppy kisses. I tried getting him in the car, but with no luck.

Fortunately, a moment later, a family in a white Prius came and helped me get him into my backseat. (If you're miraculously reading this, thank you soooo much for your help!) On the way home, he was calm and joyously stuck his head out the window; a family in a car beside me complimented me on my beautiful dog. When I arrived back at the house, my parents were ready with food and water for the adventurer. We set up a bed in the garage and left him overnight, praying he wouldn't freeze, and before I went to bed, I prayed over him, that he would find a good home.

In the morning, my mom and I drove around putting signs up on our half of the city. All day, I waited for a call. And all day yesterday, we waited.

And this morning, I'm pretty sure my mom decided we should just give him a home. Either way, whether he stays with us or not, this is Sammi, in all his morning cuteness:











When Sammi jumps up, he's huge! Probably as tall as I am, and he easily knocks me to the ground... and quickly makes up for it with sweet puppy kisses!

In the Presence of Abba

I read this book a while ago, Hadassah: One Night With the King. You may have been subjected to the rather awful movie version; if so, don't let it spoil this for you. The books was one of the most well-worth-it reads I've had, in my truly extensive experience with books.

But I'm not here to talk about the book overall. I'm risking copyright infringement for the purposes of sharing with you an excerpt, a piece of the book that hit me hard and has changed my focus. Without further ado, here it is:

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And the Mordecai asked the fateful question. "What was it really like to enter the Holy Place, the dwelling of the Almighty?"

The old man turned to his host and raised his eyebrows high. I could not tell whether he was giving Mordecai a quick reappraisal or glaring at him for his impudence. Then I saw that his eyes were watering. As he was completely motionless in that instant, I wondered if he was suffering some sort of internal breakdown.

But then he looked away, and two large tears rolled over the creases below his eyelids only to disappear in the sparse hairs of his beard. No, I could tell he was not angry at Mordecai for asking the question. He was merely preparing his reply with all the strength he could muster.

"Ah yes, the perennial question. Or at least, it once was. Ah, my son..." and he trailed off. Then he turned around quickly, with a surprising ferocity in his eyes. "It's not just what you think, you know. Everyone things it is all fear and trembling. And some days it was. Especially in my early years. But I will tell you the truth. The memory that keeps my heart strong and my head clear is the thought of days when my heart was pure before Him. When I had spent time reading the Sacred Texts, preparing myself beforehand, had sung His praises, asked for forgiveness, I would enter the temple and suddenly be engulfed in His presence...."

At that moment he jerked his head back and stared into the ceilings as if he were seeing some opening into heaven itself. He made a small keening cry, like that of a newbord child. Then he looked down and his gaze was turned so inward he seemed to have forgotten we were even present. Several more tears fell from his cheeks onto the table. Finally he looked up again, not quite back to the ceiling but just over our heads, as if meeting our gaze would have simply been too much at the moment.

"God really does have a presence, do you know?" He asked it almost petulantly, as though his proximity to tears was due to some skepticism on our part. "My whole being would throb with this awareness of His person. I thought I could feel His heart. And at such times I was glad everyone else kept their distance, because often I would dance and laugh and weep and sing and shout all at the same time because my chest felt like it would truly, truly burst if I did not. I felt--I felt... well, have you ever seen a young child greet a beloved father after a long absence? The little arms pumping, the little legs churning, the leap into his arms, the tears in the father's eyes? I felt like that. A child so overcome with joy at His return that all I wanted to do in this world was to leap as high into His bosom as I could. And I could feel His tears, too. That's the wonder of it, don't you see? I could feel His Spirit being fed, His heart gladdened, His pain--yes, His pain--being healed somehow."

... "I always believed," Jacob continued, "that the catalyst for these times of blissful closeness to Him was that I had focused my attention on Him, not on myself. Not on the fact that the Master of the Universe, may His name be blessed, stood in my presence, and I in His at that moment. I could not even think of such a thing, although I suppose it was true. No, like that little child, I was completely enraptured by His arrival and His presence, and my own part in the matter was completely forgotten. Then, of course, as He surrounded me and wrapped me like an infant in those Abba arms, it became more impossible to turn a thought unto myself. What caused His joy was not my puny righteousness--my holiness, which would have been like filthy rags to Him had He chosen to examine it. In that moment His charity--His favor--was far too great to scrutinize my fault. Again, it was not about me. Not about me at all. What caused His joy was seeing my rapture at His presence and the communion that it sparked. That is what gladdens His heart. Often I have to remind myself that the example of parenthood is not accidental. He is our Father. He is many other things, too, of course. But He is every bit as much a Father, and more, than any man whose heart has ever ached at being separated from his little ones."

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I know it seems random, just sort of put here, but I was trying to explain it to Cam today and I just felt like it was worthy of sharing... I didn't include the whole thing, for lack of desire to type all night, but I did want to share it with you. Thoughts on the matter? Does our joy come from just being with Him, leaping into our Abba's arms without a thought for anything else? Or does it come from something else? Where should our focus be? Most of the time, I blog for me and you just happen to read it, but this time, I'm blogging for us all, and I really really really do want to know what you think.

Wordy Wednesday: Affect/Effect

I'd like to introduce Wordy Wednesdays, even though it's Thursday, which will teach you something new about the English language. Sometimes, it will be correct pronunciation of words (for instance, that frozen stuff you eat is sherbet, not sherbert; and you frustrate me when you say fustrate); sometimes, correct grammar (no examples here; just study my blog and every word), sometimes, a little something about punctuation. I will discuss made up words that do work, and made up words that don't, the evolution (and, often, devolution) of the English language (thank you, Urban Dictionary), and so much more. In a nutshell, Wordy Wednesday is just one English nerd's attempt to save the word, one bad sentence at a time. At times, I'll play book critic, praising books with fabulous verbage, condemning those novels whose authors should consider burying themselves alive for the disgrace they've brought upon the English language.

As a fair warning, I think the Brits have it right: colour, realise, centre, ageing, cheque... you get the idea. I won't insist that you do it this way, but when you're trying to impress your boss with new vocab, just don't quote me letter for letter without checking the dictionary first.

For my first edition, let's talk about effect and affect.

effect--n. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence

There are a BUNCH of other definitions for this word, but you get the idea. Remember when you were six and learning about parts of speech? A noun is a person, place, or thing. Effect is a thing.

affect--v. to act on; produce an effect or change in

Verb... something that implies action. As a general principle, if you can add "ed" on the end of it, it's a verb. Let's look at some differences between these two homonyms:

The pain killers had a strong effect on her after the surgery.
After the surgery, she was strongly affected by the painkillers.

I cannot affect the outcome of the race by cheering.
My cheering does not have an effect on the outcome of the race.

One last note: If you look in the dictionary, it will tell you that affect is also a noun. This is true, but it's not pronounced the same way; nor does it have a similar meaning to effect. These two words are not interchangeable, even though they sound the same.

Go forth and make use of this information!