Okay, so I got Bored! (With the same music for so long) I’m upgrading my musicplayer,
now that I’ve got my own computer back. The Irish music is in there, but there are more songs mixed in.
I’m using a code from before “the crash”, so bear with me..the Christmas music isn’t all out yet.

for those who hadn’t read the previous post, I’ve just tagged this on,
since this doesn’t seem worthy of an individual entry.

blessings…Jim

+ + +

 

Well, she’s done it again! ( taught the “old man”) I am back from the Gulf now, and was
musing about what clever Irish anecdotes and sayings might be
worth putting up. I drifted over to Noelle’s site 
and found something I think is far more worth saying.
Without further ado…

“I wish that the Christian body could be more open about flaws and mistakes. I think that’s something that is ruining the church these days. Everyone has to come to church looking a certain way. The pastor is forced to make it look like everything in his life is going according to God’s will. No one feels that they are able to be honest about things that have gone wrong in their lives and places where they’ve strayed from God. It’s not that its not allowed. It’s just that no one wants to believe its a problem. Sure, we see it in our own lives. We know that there’s a bunch of places we’ve screwed up. But we don’t want to hear it from anyone else and no one else wants to hear it from us. At least, that’s the impression we’re giving off. But why?

I think that the church is afraid of having weaknesses in its body. We’ve forgotten that the grace of Christ is supposed to be sufficient to wrap around all those bumps and cracks to make us a united body. I think that people have forgotten that church isn’t where you go to pretend to be what you want. It’s where you go to be what you are so that you can praise God as truthfully and wholly as possible.

I don’t think that you can let Christ take full control if you can’t humble yourself and admit that you aren’t perfect. Sometimes I feel this imperfection should be stressed above the ways we’re growing and succeeding in our Christian walk. Not to the point where it drags us down, but the point to where others are aware of our struggles and can lend a hand in our journey to change and renewal. I don’t understand how growth can be accomplished without fixing your weaknesses. And this can’t be done outside the Christian body. I’ve noticed, also, that all too often Christians…myself definitely included…will take mental notes in church or when talking to Christians friends about things that will help to fix a certain problem, but the actual struggling and attempting to do so is done outside this context.


Perhaps I’m just blabbering. But I think it would do everyone…and here again I’m definitely talking about myself too…a lot of good if we could just be open about our trials. I’m sick of welcoming praise but being slow…and feeling like its only acceptable to be slow…to share my faults and my mistakes and be humbled and challenged. I really think that would do the body of believers a lot of good.”


Through youthful eyes the world is seen
in ways we’ve long forgot;
And through those eyes our faded dreams
are kindled, bright and hot.

Lord, let us not forget the flames
You lit in just-born days;
Oh Let Your Spirit Light in us
the vision of Your ways!

                                                   © copyright 3/21/2007 james a. smallish

from 1 Timothy 4:11…Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young,
but be an example for the believers in your speech, your conduct, your love, faith, and purity.

 

This is a reprint from last year..I am in the “Katrina” area on a home-building/repairing trip with my church, and wanted to get something out for the 17th…blessings, all…Jim

Saint Patrick (from CatholicOnline – www.Catholic.org)

Feastday: March 17
Patron Ireland

b. 387 d.461

Saint Patrick
St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints.

Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461.

Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone’s Irish.

There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.

Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.

As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote

“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same.” “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”

Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.

He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”

He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.

Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick’s message.

Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).

Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.

Why a shamrock?
Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

In His Footsteps:
Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.

+ + + + + + + + + +

Today when all seems Irish, and of the Gaelic sod
Remember friend, St Patrick; who had the love of God.

Who, even while imprisoned, prayed to his Father there
Remember on St. Patrick’s Day to think of all that’s fair.

Remember God the Father, and Jesus Christ His son;
With God’s own Spirit, Patrick taught, the Three are three, yet One.

Recall that when dark servitude befilled young Patrick’s days
’twas there he learned the things of God, and filled his time with praise.

So today if you are Irish, or of some other sod,
Remember friend, St Patrick, who had the heart of God.

© copyright 2006 James A Smallish

A (Very) Brief History; courtesy  of the BBC

For much of the last million years, Ireland was buried and crushed underneath thick masses of ice. The story of Ireland really only gets interesting after the end of the Ice Age. At this time, Ireland was still connected by land to Britain and mainland Europe via land bridges. As the seas warmed and expanded, these land bridges began to disappear into the sea, and Ireland gradually assumed its present form. People arrived in Ireland 9,000 years ago and for many centuries afterwards people lived, loved, fought and died, but we know very little about them apart from the fact that they built some fairly impressive monuments like Newgrange and Knowth, and that they fashioned beautiful items from gold and silver.

The Celts

Then, about 2,500 years ago, the Celts invaded. They introduced many things that persist to this day, including their language¹, their games, their music, and a typically Irish attitude towards life. It appears that they were seen from the outside as a scary group of people, because the Romans gave them a wide berth, despite their partial occupation of Britain during the 1st Century AD.

Christianity (5th Century AD)

However, the influence of Roman Britain was to make its mark in a very different way. It arrived by means of a preacher called Patrick, and he brought Christianity with him. Very soon, the people of Ireland had taken the religion to their hearts. Christianity became the dominant religion of the entire island, so much so, that it became the island’s greatest export. Ireland became known as a land of saints and scholars, a creative land with great relics, majestic books, and magnificent golden ornaments. In other words, a nice easy target for anyone with a bent for looting and plundering.

Jimmish editorial: It was this very characteristic of the semi-isolated (from Europe and England) isle which led to what author Cahill refers to as the salvation of western civilization. In Ireland’s monasteries and universities knowledge and Christianity flourished, while the rest of Europe spiraled into the superstition and ignorance of the Dark Ages. Ireland literally “kept alight the flame”, and re-infused it into the rest of the world.

 When mankind dwelt in darkness drear
and grimly daily trod
’twas Patrick and his Irish kin
brought back the hope of God.
© james smallish 3/9/07

We’ll be discovering a bit o’ the heritage (and humor)
from which this country has drawn much, in the coming days…

of course, I speak o’ the Emerald Isle, Erin, or Eire.

EDIT: March 9th

---

We may not all be Irish folk
but there’s still aught to learn
From wisdom that’s been gained by kin,
from Tralee Bay to Erne

For ev’ry clan in all God’s land
Sees Him with their own eye
And we can grow from what they know
That may have passed us by.

We’ll listen not to ghostie tales
nor tellin’ o’ the wraith,
For God’s not in the banshee’s wails,
but in the Irish faith.
© 3/7/207 james a. smallish

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessed be God’s mighty Name
through flood, or ice or roaring flame

His love and care remain the same;

Oh, blessed be my Father’s name!

He made me though I’d earned it not
He loved me though I’d scorned it.
He cleaned my heart of each dark spot
And with his grace adorned it.

Oh, blessed be God’s precious name
With ev’ry pulse His grace proclaim

He’s filled my heart with His bright flame

Oh, bless, oh bless, oh bless His Name!
                                                                                                                                        ©3/2/2007 james a. smallish

(no, my computer’s not back yet )

 

 

 

Hard Drive Down
Data Retrieval+repairs=
$$$$ + Forced Hiatus
Blessed be the Name of the Lord
…jim

 

                             ©copyright feb 14,2007 james a. smallish

 

I feel like the office coworker who constantly shoves photos of
his/her dog/cat/baby etc., in your face…but…..

well, the fact is, I’ve been trying to post this definitely home-quality video for about three months now,
and I finally figured out, a) my video software, b) the YouTube upload requirements, and c) the vagaries of embedding a video in a Xanga blog..so here it is; my daughter Noelle, and her friend, Hannah, in a dance they choreographed and performed at church for Christmas (’05), to Erin O’Donnel’s rendition of
“Mary, Did You Know?”
*(as always with these things, you’ll want to “Stop” my musicplayer, on the left,
before you start the video.)

 

 

“ Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.  Let them praise his name in the dance: Let them sing praises unto him with timbrel and harp.  For The Lord takes pleasure in his people: He will beautify the humble with salvation.  Let the saints exult in glory: Let them sing for joy upon their beds. ” Psalm 149:1-5

 

Oh, Lord my God who rescues me,
I dance to praise Your Name
With all my heart and being, Lord
I’ll tell your works and fame.

May all the world so praise You
With feet and hearts and hands 
And joyful souls proclaim You
In all Your countless lands.
                                      ©james a.  smallish 02/07

 

 

 

Jan 26th, 2007…. Sooooo

I have four children; Matthew, Rachel, Sarah and Noelle, in chronological order.




Noelle & Matt



Noelle, Sarah, and Rachel
(in a dorm in Mexico)

Rachel was born in the afternoon on July, 23, 1981, at the University of Michigan Hospital, in Ann Arbor.
She started talking a little later than her brother had (5 months..no kidding!), but people commented that she
was fun to listen to, because she articulated everything very carefully..’Little” was never “liddle”, as we commonly say it., and so on.

 

Perhaps a sign of a good ear for the spoken word.(..in recent years, while working and shopping with her in Mexico, shopowners and Mexican mission workers have stopped her and asked about/commented on her Spanish…apparently she speaks it with the local dialect.) 

When she was 12, her school sent a large group of parents, students, and teachers to Mexico
for a multi-task mission trip; home building, Bible school/evangelism, music, medical.
Rachel went, and came back with photos of being baptized in the Rio Grande by a Mexican minister named “Mondo” (honest!). 

 

 

She’s never missed a summer since (she’s now 25) for going to Mexico. She’s spent her whole summer living in Mexico 2 or 3 times, working for Faith Ministries and seems at times more at home there than here.

 

                                       
This past December, she graduated from College with majors in linguistics and Spanish, and concentrations in English, education, and TESOL (teaching english to speakers of other languages).

She’s working in Ghana for 5 months with YWAM, after which she’ll be in Mexico briefly, then in Peru for a year working for Presbyterian Missions.

 

Latest post on Rachel in Ghana available:
(remember to stop Jimmish’s musicplayer first)
Here’s a link to some Ghanaian info:

Rachel’s Update Link

more from jimmish later

+ + +

“…this good news of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations…”
(from Mt 24:14)

 

First update from my daughter in Ghana…enjoy !
(you’ll want to stop my musicplayer before clicking the link)
Rachel’s Update Link

 

Edit: Jan 17… When am I happy(iest) ? see bottom of this post

+ + +

It’s amazing what we can see in God’s astounding world..
if we’re paying attention.

Last night, after a 16 hour shift , while walking to my car in a freezing rain,
I was privileged to still be awake enough to see
God’s “ice sculptures” along the way.

 

 

…this was right outside the door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..these; along the path

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and these delicate Japanese fans, or

Egret crests were right by the parking lot

 

 

 

 

 

“Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you– majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Ex:15:11)

Help us, O, Lord
to see your face
all around us;
ev’ryplace.

To see You in both great and small
to know Your wonder,
and enthrall

Not only in Your mighty deeds,
but also in the mustard seeds;
the universe in tiny things
e’en more the marvel of You sings.

O, help us see You ev’ry place

and so to know and loveYour face.
                                                                        ©copyright Jan 15,2007  james a. smallish

 

 

 

                       (thank you, Karen, for inadvertently prompting me to “get it in gear”
                                                              and put this up, with your weather questions)

 

Now for some answers to the burning question, “When am I happiest ?” Here’s a very partial list…

Happiest?

1.) When I’m around other people ( either in person or on the web..I love “discovering” others through their sites)

 

2.) When I’m with my kids or grandkids                                                


3.) When I’m working                        

 

4.) When I don’t have to work

5.) When I’m taking or working with photos
                  

 6.) When I’m singing (note: when I’m enjoying myself doing anything else that makes me happy, I’m likely to start singing)

…singing with others makes me REALLY happy!

7.) When I’m outside

8.) When I’m indoors (but I’ve got to be working on something; dishes, Xanga, SOMETHING)
9.) When I’m driving

10.) When I’m having “quiet time” with God”

 

 

11.) When I’m reading

12.) When I’m participating in an online activity….like this one, found at:
http://www.xanga.com/Featured_Grownups