Jetsam: Praying constantly

We just returned, Vicki and I, from the fourth study with a fine young
couple, with two kids, presenting the gospel to them. We're praying all
along that the Lord will keep Satan from choking the word in their
hearts. They are searching, they seem to have found friends and a home
already in the church here. We do hope the Lord will grant them
repentance.

• I translated a song of The Missus' into English at the suggestion of the guy who apparently runs the site where a couple of my songs have been posted. He's a very helpful soul. When I mentioned offhand that she liked the music program he recommended to me and that she'd been writing some lyrics, he was interested in what she wrote. Except that it was in Portuguese. And he asked for translation. I asked her to see her lyrics, and worked today on the translation. She seemed pleased with the outcome. We'll let it set until tomorrow, do a final draft, then send it on to the tune guy.

• Took the Portuguese mag up to a copy shop near the university to see if they might give me a decent price as I contemplate lower numbers with the next issue. Until now, I've been printing larger numbers and giving copies away, in hopes of encouraging people to subscribe. We're actually starting over with this issue. But I can't keep that up forever, so now it's time to scale back. Tomorrow I should get an estimate, and we'll see if this will be an option or not. They print our regional Urbanova paper and do a nice job of it.

God of mercy, place your hand on me,
Let grace come down and touch me lovingly,
Give peace to smooth the brow and rest the mind,
Make strength and faith and courage grow entwined.
Where human eyes can never penetrate,
May hands hold firm, and feet step ever straight.

Jetsam: Letting the hair down

Can't seem to stop writing, but it's all off-topic or stream-of-consciousness or throw-away stuff.

Do I need a place to do this? I'm using the Posterous blog, but not auto-posting it elsewhere. At least, I hope I'm not. I think I got the right email config for it.

I've had this devo up all day in my browser. Hoping the thoughts rub in well under the skin, I guess.

Ever get the urge to wipe clean and start over? Hit the reset button? I'm talking work here, not life in general, for my part anyway. Maybe you'd like to talk life. Times are I'd like to cut it all back to the root, and do things differently. But then again I'm doing and even heading in a direction where I think God has given me talents. Sometimes, though, I'd like to be able to say—in a sense far different than the original writer meant it—"this one thing I do." Feeling spread thin, maybe.

Little increments can add up to drastic changes and divergent directions. Despise not the few minutes of new tangents. They can become great initiatives. So bring 'em on!

I heard it coming before I smelled it

I heard it coming before I smelled it. Unusual, since I usually smell it in the air first. The clothes were drying on the line, pretty much dry. (We don't have an mechanical dryer.) So I ran out and pulled them off just as the rain started falling. Maybe I saved most of them. Got a bit wet myself. Had to leave the flip-flops outside. But I love the cool rain. You'll hear no complaints from me.

The Missus and The Maiden are out buying groceries and some birthday presents. Reckon The Missus will kiss me for being a good hubbie?

#familylife
via Friendica

Most popular poem on my website

According to the stats, the most popular poem on my personal site is the Cloudburst offering, "Hospitality." Except that for the Cloudburst list, rarely do I post an entire poem. (Here's why.) My posts usually share something about the background or structure of the work. On this particular post, I shared the first of three stanzas.

Question: should I now publish, after three years of writing the poem, the entire work online? Do I hear a yes?