Congratulations Mr. President.!!!

January 20, 2009.

A memorable day as Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Memorable because he is the very first African-American to hold this position.

It's been a long haul since Martin Luther King, Jr.

I salute President Obama......not because he is worthy of any great praise, not because he is now, as some would say, a savior of the world, not because he seems like a very fine fellow.....no.

I salute him because anyone who is willing to hold this office, shows that he is willing to take on the burdens of his country, he is willing to see major changes and he is willing to be an example as to what needs to be done to recover their floundering country. I trust his willingness will be proven in his deeds.

May God protect, defend and preserve him by the power of the Holy Spirit and may that Spirit go deep and dwell within this man as he holds office. May God keep him humble and righteous, putting the needs of others before himself. May the lure and temptation of power and wealth be kept from him and instead, may he find his strength and sense of power only in You.

Amen.

Luke and Mr. Obama...

This big boy had his tonsils/adenoids out on the Inaugural Eve of the first black President of the United States of America, January 19, 2009.

Perhaps Luke's mommy and daddy will tell him the story when he gets older of all the celebrations happening in North America as the U.S. prepares to swear in their new President, Barack Obama.

Both Mr. Obama and John F. Kennedy will share their ceremonial inaugural day - January 20 - Kennedy in 1961 - the year Mr. Obama was born.

So, little Luke will be able to say, when they play re-runs of the Presidential swearing in ceremony 50 years from now, "that January 20, 2009 was the day I was recovering from my tonsil surgery."

Quite momentous.

It is for me too actually....this is also the day my mom died....January 19, 1989....

May God watch over and take hold of the United States of America....and may He especially heal little Luke's throat and ears very quickly.

And now for some cough medicine....'nite.....

Re-new....

After a few of us were complaining about our ailments this morning at church a friend stated: "Well, I intend to outlive my body!" chuckle....chuckle....chuckle And I think she meant it!

When we realize that these bodies we have been given will be with us to the end of this life and when it becomes evident that no, we won't be getting a new body to work with any time soon, it makes us think about what we would/could do to RE-NEW these old worn out ones.

Renew....making something new AGAIN. Take off the old varnish, the old paint, the old wall paper, sand down to the real wood underneath, which was there at the beginning....and simply starting over....making it new....AGAIN.

We can't do that with our bodies. Oh, we can take off 50 pounds, tone up those flabby arms and bellies, exercise our hearts by walking, running, swimming etc., get face lifts, liposuction and diet pills. We can even get new hearts, lungs, legs and nose jobs. We're still left with our old bodies. Maybe in a bit better shape, but we can never be like we were in our youth. We're stuck with what we've been given. ughhhhh

Our spirits are different from our bodies. It's something that can be made new again. Work needs to be done though, you know, the sanding down of our anger and hostility, the scraping away our pride and self-righteousness, the peeling off our jealousy and arrogance, those things that need cleaning and refining and polishing. When we find that the only thing that can make our spirits new again is God, that's when we can begin the renewing. Only then.

I'm desiring to be re-new-ed. I want God to come into me and make my spirit new again. I need him to enter in those places that need sweeping and chiseling and some extra mopping.

Spirit clean-up is hard work. I find it's tiring work. It's tiring because some days I don't see any sign of improvement. Things I've been working on for months, dare I say years, are still visible and I look as dull and ugly as I did the day I started my "home improvement". I need to continue to remember Who it is that is doing the renewing. Our desire for change, His desire and mine, need to mesh to get the job done.

Psalm 51:10 says: "God, create a pure heart in me. Give me a new spirit that is faithful to you."

Ya. That about sums it up. I'm going now to get the paint remover....

Dry and prickly spirits...

This is what my throat feels like.....a wooly cactus. Dry. Prickly. And downright wooly.

Another cough is upon me. Not as bad as some I've had. But still, it sets you back a peg.

Thinking again on Mr. Wooly up there, I think that is kind of like our spirits when we are far away from God. We go for months without water....Living Water. We become parched, dried up and not very productive. Without the Spirit's living water we aren't much use. Sometimes we don't even recognize our need for water. We just go about living and wondering why we feel so..........lacking....or.......unfulfilled.

Christ is the Living Water. He comes to us when our spirits faint and pours it on us like the first rain of spring. What does it take to recognize our need for the Living Water.

Not sure.

Some things happen to us that are difficult and when we are faced to turn and look at ourselves in the mirror we see brokenness, sadness and pain when instead, it could be joy and peace and contentment.

We pride ourselves on being independent from anyone or anything. It's our pride that can take our joy away and in that pride we remain independent........ when what we really need is to be dependent on God, which of course, is when we experience his joy and peace and contentment. It's quite a delimna.

I'm off to bed but before I go, I'm taking some Benelyn to soothe this dry and prickly throat.

May Jesus be the Benelyn in your life this night.... the soother and comforter of dry spirits.

Look....

I shall simply remain silent.............

Structures....

We have some pretty significant structures in our fair city. Bridges. Churches. Historical buildings. New buildings. City Hall....as seen through the early morning reflections of the Forest Centre Building.

It's really fun being able to capture some of these on camera. I think I would love to visit other places so I could do more with my handy dandy Olympus. I think I got the bug of taking pictures many, many years ago when we were standing at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle. I remember lying down on my back and pointing the camera straight up and caught the outer round edges at the top and the enormous steel girders holding it all in place. I'll have to try and find that one. After that, I found great pleasure in finding the soul of a building in its architecture. What manner of person would come up with a specific design and why? How would that design meet the needs of the people who would enter it and use it and care for it. How would that structure give meaning and purpose to those who used it - just by how it was built?

Interesting to think on.....

It's a good thing husband is good at navigating and doesn't mind me telling him where to go, so to speak. I think he has quite a bit of patience with me actually, when I ask him to stop here and go there, just so I can get my camera clicking.

Perhaps one day we will see more than the soul of Prince Albert...perhaps somewhere like London U.K., New York, SanFrancisco, Moscow, Budapest..........Saskatoon, Regina, Wakaw, Northside.......I must be realistic too! Besides, any place where there are people , there are buildings with "souls".

Maybe I'll begin to pray that one day I'll be able to do some serious photography.....I think I'd like it.

Inside....outside....and a fight with the elements...

(You can click on the pictures....any time you like.)

Walls make all the difference. I think you will agree.

I work in an office where, if you don't look outside, you could visualize yourself being in the tropics. Plants are blooming or waiting to bloom, and you can almost smell the musty aroma of rain, as it drenches the parched ground.

Setting your eyes to the outside of the building however, you are thrust into a totally different mentality - one of harshness and crispness and cutting cold. Minus 35 to be exact.

The air hovers in crystals and smothers trees and steel girders alike. No mercy. Life outside the walls is caught in frost's encompassing death grip, with no hope of letting go. But it's beauty is enticing me to follow.......and I do. Mitts off, I begin my bare-fingered fight with the elements.

Click....a sunset is captured. I won.....this time.