I thought you might enjoy the haiku that were written during recent Cribaby games.
I love God and friends.
My sisters are weird...duh!
Sisters are fun...duh!
A whale is fishy,
But he is not a zebra.
Therefore, he is good.
Some lamps are yellow,
but my fingers can touch them.
All lamps are bright! Yeah!
Bree Bree move your feet,
Because I do not like stink.
So Bree move your feet.
Five syllables...duh!
Not seven syllables...arg!
But five syllables.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Cribaby...
Two of my children made up a game the other day - Cribaby. I played it tonight for the first time. It was a blast.
Cribaby was originally played with a deck of cards and scored on a cribbage board, but you can play it without the board and just mark points on a piece of paper. The score isn't the point anyway. If you play with a cribbage board the object is to move your peg to the end first. (This could take a very long time.) If you use the paper method, you can quit when you want to. If you're in charge (like if you're the parent), you can do this when you are ahead. Oh, but, of course, the score isn't the point.
Anyway here are the rules to Cribaby...
The first person draws a card, making sure no one else can see it, and states outloud what card has been drawn. Simple right?
The person to the draw-er's left then does what is required according to the rules below.
If you draw...
A = Do a short one man play.
2 = Make a speech about the importance of dairy products.
3 = Lift the oldest player or the next to oldest if you are the oldest.
4 = Roar like a lion, then sing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
5 = Mime being a preacher.
6 = Pretend you are a piece of prairie grass in the wind.
7 = Write a haiku.*
8 = Stare 10 seconds at a light, then say knee deep deep knee 5 times fast.
9 = Sing a song of your choice.
10 = Draw an animal. If a person guesses it, both of you get a point.
J = Do some ballerina moves. (Please note this is moves. It's plural.)
Q = Recite a nursery rhyme. If you don't know one, too bad.
K = Choose one of the previous actions to do.
Joker = Lose a turn.
If the player to the draw-er's left performs the required action, they receive one point. There is one exception. If the card drawn was a spade, the actor (that's the person who did the action) loses a point. You may pass at any time if you think the card is a spade, but you must do so before beginning the required feat. At the end of each turn, the draw-er reveals the card drawn then passes the deck to the player to his or her left. That person then becomes the draw-er and play continues to the left.
Any questions? We've never played this game without laughing hysterically. Try it!
*A haiku is a poem of 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second 7syllables, the third 5 syllables. They aren't supposed to rhyme, but who cares? (See Heavenly haiku..., Cribaby haiku... and Waffles... for examples.)
Cribaby was originally played with a deck of cards and scored on a cribbage board, but you can play it without the board and just mark points on a piece of paper. The score isn't the point anyway. If you play with a cribbage board the object is to move your peg to the end first. (This could take a very long time.) If you use the paper method, you can quit when you want to. If you're in charge (like if you're the parent), you can do this when you are ahead. Oh, but, of course, the score isn't the point.
Anyway here are the rules to Cribaby...
The first person draws a card, making sure no one else can see it, and states outloud what card has been drawn. Simple right?
The person to the draw-er's left then does what is required according to the rules below.
If you draw...
A = Do a short one man play.
2 = Make a speech about the importance of dairy products.
3 = Lift the oldest player or the next to oldest if you are the oldest.
4 = Roar like a lion, then sing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
5 = Mime being a preacher.
6 = Pretend you are a piece of prairie grass in the wind.
7 = Write a haiku.*
8 = Stare 10 seconds at a light, then say knee deep deep knee 5 times fast.
9 = Sing a song of your choice.
10 = Draw an animal. If a person guesses it, both of you get a point.
J = Do some ballerina moves. (Please note this is moves. It's plural.)
Q = Recite a nursery rhyme. If you don't know one, too bad.
K = Choose one of the previous actions to do.
Joker = Lose a turn.
If the player to the draw-er's left performs the required action, they receive one point. There is one exception. If the card drawn was a spade, the actor (that's the person who did the action) loses a point. You may pass at any time if you think the card is a spade, but you must do so before beginning the required feat. At the end of each turn, the draw-er reveals the card drawn then passes the deck to the player to his or her left. That person then becomes the draw-er and play continues to the left.
Any questions? We've never played this game without laughing hysterically. Try it!
*A haiku is a poem of 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second 7syllables, the third 5 syllables. They aren't supposed to rhyme, but who cares? (See Heavenly haiku..., Cribaby haiku... and Waffles... for examples.)
Friday, February 2, 2007
Heavenly haiku...
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
What is Jesus like?
I see him now - fuzzy, blurred.
I will see clearly.
What is Jesus like?
I see him now - fuzzy, blurred.
I will see clearly.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Eyes see little here.
Lasting things are beyond them.
Look with your spirit.
Take down the tent, Lord -
As soon as you are ready,
You can take me home.
"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." (Ephesians 1:18-19)
Wake up and look, saint!
You've been called to know hope now!
Your riches are nigh.
"One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)
What's in my past - done.
I'm running to reach the goal.
The finish line calls.
"The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Do you hear the horn?
God's bugler is warming up.
Dead man! Wait! Hear! Rise!
"The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (2 Timothy 4:18)
I will be rescued.
You may not see it at all.
When death comes, I'm safe.
"In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4)
They're kept in heaven.
Nothing can harm my riches.
I'm an heir of God.
"Jesus Christ...has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him." (1 Peter 3:21-22)
At his Father's right,
Power unthinkable his.
All in submission.
"...the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne..." (Revelation 4:10)
Crowns thrown to the ground.
Worthless head gear is made naught.
God alone is King.
"I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!' The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped." (Revelation 5:13-14)
Every creature bows.
Not one stands before the Lamb.
Sing they all - face down.
"...there were loud voices in heaven, which said: 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.'" (Revelation 11:15)
Eternal ruler,
Conquering earth at long last.
Jesus is in charge.
"I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne..." (Revelation 14:2-3)
My voice warms up here.
It grows weary much too fast.
Lasting praise...can't wait!
"[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)
You cannot weep here.
Nothing at all can harm you.
Tears are no more - gone.
Seeing is...
There's a borrowed webcam sitting on top of my monitor today - a weird-looking, all-seeing eye. It kind of scares me when I catch it staring my way...but I love it.I love it because when I talked with my niece and nephew in Russia this morning, they squealed with delight. "There's Uncle Mike!" they shouted. I saw their smiles when I asked them silly questions. That wasn't unusual. I've seen them on their webcam before, but this time they saw my smile...and my silly faces. When they laughed, their faces came alive. Mine lit up too. And they saw it. Much better than one-at-a-time-please phone calls with disembodied voices or, worse, text on chat. Even if the picture is a herky-jerky, time-lapsed, blurry, grainy mess at times, it's live and two-way.
I think I'll miss this spherical wonder when I have to return it to its owner Sunday. We're doing a live interview with our Russian missionaries at the beginning of our church service. Pray the technology works. The church will see a family at home talking about God's work in their lives. That family, my brother's, will see their friends smiling.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
At the gates...
Two guest bloggers in one day! I've been waiting for this story for about a week. Names and details have been changed to protect my friends serving in a "closed" nation. (They did the editing themselves.)
My husband Bob and I are missionaries in the southern plains of Nepal. Not too long ago, Bob came across a woman with leprosy who was living in a straw hut on the outskirts of our village. The winter weather was unusually cold and he saw that this women had only a thin cotton sari wrapped about herself.
The next day Bob brought the woman a blanket and then asked her if she would go with him to a leprosy hospital run by Christians. The woman said she would go and so plans were made to rent a jeep to take her to the Leprosy Hospital.
In our area of Nepal, if a jeep is rented, it is then packed full of occupants all eager for a ride. So Bob, along with as many of our church leaders as could fit, crammed into a jeep to take the woman and one other person with leprosy to the hospital for treatment.
It was a Friday and upon reaching the gates of the leprosy hospital the jeep was stopped by the guard and Bob was told that Fridays were half days for the hospital and so everything was closed. There was so much disappointment that if you would have been there, you might have heard even the jeep itself moan! It had taken a lot of effort to organize the trip and so right when the goal seemed to be within reach, everyone’s hopes were dashed!
Bob then told the guard that the hospital’s director knew who he was and he asked if he could call the director on the phone and talk to him. Our people leaned forward in hopeful anticipation. Could Bob get them through the gates or not?! The guard inspected Bob. He had a scarf wrapped around his head like only Dehati people wear. (Dehati is a name given to people who live in Nepal’s plains and who have a distinctly Indian-type culture.) The guard, who was of higher standing in society than a Dehati person, adamantly shook his head and said that there was no way he was going to disturb the hospital director after hours.
Bob then asked the guard if he would call a certain pastor whom he knew worked at the hospital. The guard granted him that request and the pastor was called. After a short conversation on the phone, the pastor appeared at the front gates and, upon seeing Bob, he smiled broadly and said that the hospital director had been wanting to meet him for a long time. Dumbfounded the guard allowed Bob and his jeep to pass.
As they drove up to the director’s residence, our church leaders were giggling with joy. They were truly impressed that Bob had managed to get them inside of the hospital compound to see the director on a day off. As Bob went inside to visit with the hospital director, our people and the two lepers were directed into the clinic so that medical tests could be given to the two possible patients. Our people were awed by the cleanliness of the hospital and how professionally things were run.
Ram, one of our church workers, couldn’t resist joking around a little bit. He puffed out his chest and threw his shoulders and arms back and starting strutting around, acting like a big shot. All the rest of our people started laughing. Then Ram sat down and crossed his legs in grand fashion and pretended as if a servant was running to him to serve his every wish and whim. When he did this, the hospital doctors and patients also saw him and laughed at his antics.
Then Bob showed up and said that the director had invited everyone over to his house. Immediately Ram forgot about his acting and everyone got up to go visit with the director. They were a bit taken a back. The director wanted to visit with them also??
At the door of the director’s house our people started taking off their shoes before going inside, but the director assured them that it was perfectly fine to come inside with their shoes on. After visiting with our leaders for a short time, the director got up to go get tea and cake for them. Again our guys were stunned at such a show of hospitality for ordinary people like themselves, who in Nepalese society would be considered on the lower end of the spectrum.
After the director left, Ram again went back to his acting. He was even a bigger shot now because he had walked into the director’s house with his shoes on. (In the culture of the area, one is to take one’s shoes off in the presence of important people upon entering their house and in older culture if a person was very important one even left his shoes in the yard before approaching the house.) So it is understandable why it was such a privilege for our church leaders to leave their shoes on. Ram was thoroughly enjoying himself doing his "big man" routine and so all our people again started giggling and trying to suppress their laughter. When the tea and cake came they all straightened back up again.
After hearing this tale, from those who were there, I couldn’t help thinking about a similar scenario. That scenario is when each of us has to approach heaven’s door. You know, when we get to the pearly gates of heaven and from the outside we see some of its magnificence, we will be in a similar situation as our village church leaders found themselves. As we stand at the gates of the Kingdom of God, we will probably wonder how insignificant people such as ourselves could ever rate to be able to enter into the light of heaven’s splendor.
At the gates the angel guard will ask us, "What makes you think you can enter into heaven?"
At that time we will reply, "We know God!"
Then the angel guard will say, "Everyone says they know God. That is not a good enough reason to let you pass!"
Then we will have to say, "Well, talk to Jesus. He knows us and he will confirm to you that God knows who we are!"
So then the angel guard will call Jesus and when he arrives a bright smile will be on his face. Upon seeing us, Jesus will say, "Welcome into My Father’s Kingdom. He’s been expecting you!"
What joy will be ours as we pass through heaven’s gates into heaven itself. I think we will experience so much joy that we will not be able to contain ourselves. And when God the Father summons us into His throne room, and only at that time, we will fully realize what an awesome privilege it is for us to be one of His children! That God would accept the likes of us, because we accepted His Son, will truly be a humbling experience. We will see that even the poorest beggar who believes in Jesus will have all the rights of God’s beloved children! Hallelujah!!
Guest Blogger, Debbie
My husband Bob and I are missionaries in the southern plains of Nepal. Not too long ago, Bob came across a woman with leprosy who was living in a straw hut on the outskirts of our village. The winter weather was unusually cold and he saw that this women had only a thin cotton sari wrapped about herself.
The next day Bob brought the woman a blanket and then asked her if she would go with him to a leprosy hospital run by Christians. The woman said she would go and so plans were made to rent a jeep to take her to the Leprosy Hospital.
In our area of Nepal, if a jeep is rented, it is then packed full of occupants all eager for a ride. So Bob, along with as many of our church leaders as could fit, crammed into a jeep to take the woman and one other person with leprosy to the hospital for treatment.
It was a Friday and upon reaching the gates of the leprosy hospital the jeep was stopped by the guard and Bob was told that Fridays were half days for the hospital and so everything was closed. There was so much disappointment that if you would have been there, you might have heard even the jeep itself moan! It had taken a lot of effort to organize the trip and so right when the goal seemed to be within reach, everyone’s hopes were dashed!
Bob then told the guard that the hospital’s director knew who he was and he asked if he could call the director on the phone and talk to him. Our people leaned forward in hopeful anticipation. Could Bob get them through the gates or not?! The guard inspected Bob. He had a scarf wrapped around his head like only Dehati people wear. (Dehati is a name given to people who live in Nepal’s plains and who have a distinctly Indian-type culture.) The guard, who was of higher standing in society than a Dehati person, adamantly shook his head and said that there was no way he was going to disturb the hospital director after hours.
Bob then asked the guard if he would call a certain pastor whom he knew worked at the hospital. The guard granted him that request and the pastor was called. After a short conversation on the phone, the pastor appeared at the front gates and, upon seeing Bob, he smiled broadly and said that the hospital director had been wanting to meet him for a long time. Dumbfounded the guard allowed Bob and his jeep to pass.
As they drove up to the director’s residence, our church leaders were giggling with joy. They were truly impressed that Bob had managed to get them inside of the hospital compound to see the director on a day off. As Bob went inside to visit with the hospital director, our people and the two lepers were directed into the clinic so that medical tests could be given to the two possible patients. Our people were awed by the cleanliness of the hospital and how professionally things were run.
Ram, one of our church workers, couldn’t resist joking around a little bit. He puffed out his chest and threw his shoulders and arms back and starting strutting around, acting like a big shot. All the rest of our people started laughing. Then Ram sat down and crossed his legs in grand fashion and pretended as if a servant was running to him to serve his every wish and whim. When he did this, the hospital doctors and patients also saw him and laughed at his antics.
Then Bob showed up and said that the director had invited everyone over to his house. Immediately Ram forgot about his acting and everyone got up to go visit with the director. They were a bit taken a back. The director wanted to visit with them also??
At the door of the director’s house our people started taking off their shoes before going inside, but the director assured them that it was perfectly fine to come inside with their shoes on. After visiting with our leaders for a short time, the director got up to go get tea and cake for them. Again our guys were stunned at such a show of hospitality for ordinary people like themselves, who in Nepalese society would be considered on the lower end of the spectrum.
After the director left, Ram again went back to his acting. He was even a bigger shot now because he had walked into the director’s house with his shoes on. (In the culture of the area, one is to take one’s shoes off in the presence of important people upon entering their house and in older culture if a person was very important one even left his shoes in the yard before approaching the house.) So it is understandable why it was such a privilege for our church leaders to leave their shoes on. Ram was thoroughly enjoying himself doing his "big man" routine and so all our people again started giggling and trying to suppress their laughter. When the tea and cake came they all straightened back up again.
After hearing this tale, from those who were there, I couldn’t help thinking about a similar scenario. That scenario is when each of us has to approach heaven’s door. You know, when we get to the pearly gates of heaven and from the outside we see some of its magnificence, we will be in a similar situation as our village church leaders found themselves. As we stand at the gates of the Kingdom of God, we will probably wonder how insignificant people such as ourselves could ever rate to be able to enter into the light of heaven’s splendor.
At the gates the angel guard will ask us, "What makes you think you can enter into heaven?"
At that time we will reply, "We know God!"
Then the angel guard will say, "Everyone says they know God. That is not a good enough reason to let you pass!"
Then we will have to say, "Well, talk to Jesus. He knows us and he will confirm to you that God knows who we are!"
So then the angel guard will call Jesus and when he arrives a bright smile will be on his face. Upon seeing us, Jesus will say, "Welcome into My Father’s Kingdom. He’s been expecting you!"
What joy will be ours as we pass through heaven’s gates into heaven itself. I think we will experience so much joy that we will not be able to contain ourselves. And when God the Father summons us into His throne room, and only at that time, we will fully realize what an awesome privilege it is for us to be one of His children! That God would accept the likes of us, because we accepted His Son, will truly be a humbling experience. We will see that even the poorest beggar who believes in Jesus will have all the rights of God’s beloved children! Hallelujah!!
Guest Blogger, Debbie
On The Slumber of Christianity
This is from my brother! (The guinea pig is not his.) He and his wife Christy are missionaries in Russia under the care and supervision of Northwest Yearly Meeting. They are, as I post this, writing for the Daily Journal on Barclay Press' website. This is one of their entries. Barclay Press is the publishing arm of Evangelical Friends International. (That's enough links to keep you busy for awhile...now for the message.)A couple weeks ago, my brother, Mike, recommended that I read a book called The Slumber of Christianity by Ted Dekker. Although we don’t have a Christian bookstore that would carry such a book, I was able to find an audio version of the book online, so I downloaded it immediately. I listened to the book on the many recent train rides to and from Moscow until it was finished. It was a great book in every way . . . except that it’s now stirring a change within me that makes me uncomfortable. It’s a good kind of change, but a change nonetheless. Change almost always causes at least some discomfort, even if it is a desired change.
Ted Dekker encourages us to look at everything in the light of eternity. This has helped me to see the futility of some of my activities. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” I have a habit that I often take too far, watching movies. I thoroughly enjoy escaping to another world for a couple hours at a time before returning to the real world. Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying that I suddenly think watching movies is a sin, but if given a choice, I’d rather watch a movie than study Russian or clean the toilet or even go to bed. For me, watching movies can sometimes hinder me from devoting myself to things that could improve my ability to minister, something that matters far more in the light of eternity than a couple hours of personal enjoyment.
Paul often refers to faith as running a race. Thus, yesterday’s second verse, I Corinthians 9:24: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” I’ve been asking myself a tough question: “What is the goal of my life and faith?” Isn’t it all about eternity, heaven? Isn’t that the prize? Paul was concerned about being disqualified (I Corinthians 9:27), so why shouldn’t I? Therefore, I MUST “throw off everything that hinders” (Hebrews 12:1). That’s not comfortable, but it’s wonderful that, in spite of my tendency toward the things of this world, God is still not finished with me yet. He loves me so much, beyond my wildest imagination!
Guest Blogger, Patrick (I just had to add another link!)
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