Upside Down

Now it's time for the answer to yesterday's guessing game photo. This is a wall hanging by artist Devorah Sperber, and I found it hanging in a museum. The artist likes to use everyday objects like marker caps and thread spools to make things that look like only texture and color up close. But from a distance, you can see it is something very familiar. She is fascinated with the way we see things. This is a can of Campbells soup made from 1,292 thread spools. It was hanging upside down, and you had to look through the little viewing glass in the picture, which made it upright. But when I took my pictures, they came out upright in my camera. How very strange. Did you know that when you look at something, the image is formed upside down on your retina? It needs your brain to flip it around. This reminds me of a book my husband read called The Upside Down Kingdom. That would be the kingdom of Jesus, which is completely upside down from what the world wants. We prize success, luxuries, money and good looks. Jesus was just the opposite. I think he would have liked this artwork. And he may have even liked tomato soup.

"...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son Of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Matthew 11:29

More Than Meets The Eye

Take a very thoughtful look

At this wall hanging photo I took

It is not what you think you see

There's two more things that it may be

It's really more than meets the eye

It needs a deeper look, so try

So take your guesses, one or a few

And tomorrow you'll see from a different view

On my next post I'll tell you all

Then you'll REALLY see what's on this wall!

Zinnias

No, these are not mine. I spotted them driving around town and was completly enchanted. So was my camera.

Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.

Henry Beecher

Earth laughs in flowers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trinity

Come along and share our trip of this evening, way into the country to visit the tiny Trinity Lutheran Church. The graveyard actually existed before the church, as far back as 1740. In 1794, a log church was built beside it. Then in 1838, the log church was replaced by a brick building. In 1880, it was rebuilt again, and is the church you see here. There is still no plumbing or electricity in the church. See the lanterns hanging on the ceiling that serve as light when needed? Of course this is not a "working church". But for a few weeks during the summer, they have Wednesday night services. You can sit by the window to catch the breeze, or use one of the hand fans provided. Look out over the fields and listen to the cows moo along with the hymns. The only electricity is to the wonderful pipe organ, so when they have picnics, they have to plug the coffee pot into the organ. This gives the term "organic coffee" new meaning! Besides the obvious trinity, so many things in the bible happened in threes. Jonah was in the whale three days, Peter disavowed knowing Jesus three times, Jesus was in the tomb three days before he rose. There are many more, it can be fun to find them. I think Trinity is a good name.

"For there are three that testify; the spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." 1 John 5:7

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Cor. 13;13

Step AWAY From The Cow

Phil and I spent this evening having some quality time alone with our granddaughter, Anne Marie. We had a blast, and among other things, we went to the new Chik-Fil-A for dinner. They always have a fresh flower on each table. Beautiful, aren't they? The first week they opened, they had these parachuting cows raining down from the ceiling. And it looks like they even put Anne's picture on their placemats! Tonight their cow was there, playing with the kids and posing for pictures with them. "Look!" I told Anne "The big cow, let's go see him and take your picture with him!" But she was very afraid of the cow! She would not get close to the cow even with grandpa holding her. She kept her eye on the cow even while he was outside, just in case he might sneak over and turn up too close. But when we were leaving, we saw the smaller little female cow, with a bow and long eyelashes. Anne was not quite as afraid of her, and agreed to meet her if grandpa held her tightly. But you can see the suspicious look on her face. I did finally find out why she was afraid. She said this to me: "There's someone inside. It's not a real cow." Very smart girl, she doesn't know WHO is inside. We don't speak to strangers, nor do we follow them. Especially when we are four years old.

"He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because thy know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." John 10:3,5

Testing The Waters

Watch me! You have to test the water like this first.


Oh man! That's COLD!!

But I'm getting used to it, come on in!

Now to get down to some serious water play!

Going so soon?

Today we got our sprinkler pool and water toys out. I can hardly believe that it's almost August and we are only now dragging out the water toys! Ella had brought her bathing suit and couldn't wait. Of course she remembered to test the water first, and this did not escape my attention. Life is a series of tests, some that we are very aware of, and some that just pass us right by, unnoticed. Sometimes I feel that everything is a test, and I must get a passing grade. Then again, maybe I just need to lighten up.

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will recieve the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12

Distant Thunder

My blogging friend REMINGTON alerted me today that tonight's full moon is called The Thunder Moon. Rem knows all about all the names for the moon. Unfortunatly, it was too cloudy tonight to get a picture of it. But last night I had taken some pictures of the moon, so I am showing those instead. I am cheating by 24 hours, so instead of a Thunder Moon, this one is Distant Thunder. The Norse God of thunder is Thor. He was the god of the common man. He ruled over the air, thunder, lightening, wind and rain. He is drawn as having a red beard and eyes of lightening. He had a terrible temper, but he was actually the protetctor of both gods and humans. When it stormed, Thor was riding his chariot through the heavens. The chariot was pulled by goats, which he vented his anger on by throwing his hammer at them. One strike of his thrown hammer would make lightening flash and kill his enemies, then the hammer would return to him. His greatest enemy was a serpent, which he finally killed. But Thor then died from the snake's poison. Funny how it always seems to be a serpent that opposes God. To find out all about the real God of thunder, try reading the books of Psalms and Job.

"Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightening beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding." Job 37:2,5

"...how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?" Job 26:14

The Cutting Edge

I just read an article in the paper today talking about the new six blade disposable razor. That's right, SIX blades. So I went to the drugstore to check it out, and here you have it. Go ahead and count the blades. In 1998, Gillette introduced three blades with the Mach III. But really, isn't six blades getting a bit over the top? I think one reason they keep adding blades is because the refill blades can cost lots more. Much more than the razor itself. Comedian Will Farrell made a joke about adding all these blades when he did a phony ad for the immaginary Mach 20 "The eighth blade sends an electronic pulse which destroys the part of the brain responsible for hair growth!" Gillette claims that it's scientifically proven that multiple blades shave closer than just one. They say this is very serious technology with deep science behind it. There must be just the right spacing between the blades. Personally, I think the point is to leave plenty of space in your wallet! Do six blades really shave closer than three? There's got to be a cutoff point somewhere, doesn't there? Will they soon be fitting 100 mini blades into a giant head? One can only wait. Delilah did not cut off Samson's hair, as the popular story goes, she had someone shave it off. We don't know what implement was used, perhaps sharpened flint or something. But a single edge seemed to work just fine.

"Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him." Judges 16:19

Dog Days

Well, we are in the midst of another heat wave. But of course it is summer, so what can you expect? Today is supposed to set a two year record, with a heat index of 105 degrees. Yesterday it was about 98, and we got behind this poor pooch in traffic. He kept hanging farther and farther out the window, trying to suck in every bit of wind. You can see his ears are pinned back from the wind. But as the saying goes, it's a hot wind that blows no good! Because we were driving, quite a few of my pictures were too blurry to post, but you should have seen the miserable, panting look he gave me when he turned to face me. In ancient times, the star sirius rose at the same time as the sun during these hot days, and the Romans thought this bright star was making it hotter, so every year at this time, they sacrificed a brown dog, like our friend in my pictures, to appease the anger of the star. This is how the term "Dog Days" came to be. Silly Romans. But we are promised a place where the climate will be perfect in every way.

"Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Rev. 7:16

Walking On Water

Aren't these glass water nymphs lovely? I took these pictures two days ago at a botanical garden in Richmond, Virginia. They are actually clowns dancing on balls. They fascinated and enchanted me so much that I totally missed some good wildlife shots. My husband tried to point out the other creatures, but I was too taken with this sight to turn my camera away. I felt like a child in a fairyland. There was one who actually did walk on water, and he didn't need a ball or anything else.

"During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediatly said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

"Lord,if it's you," Peter replied "tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. Matthew 14:25,29

Transformed

You may think you know what these things are, but they have been transformed from something else altogether. These are from an exhibit by artist Brian Jungen called "Strange Comfort". He likes to take everyday objects and transform them so you can still see every part of the origional object, but also see that it is not the same thing any longer, it's now something else. He has made may other things, including totem poles from motorcycle helmets and a whale skeleton from white plastic lawn chairs. I took these pictures from the paper. The first is a tortise shell made from trash dumpsters, and the other two are ritual masks made from Air Jordan running shoes. This man sees not only beauty in common objects, but he sees them totally transformed into other things. Kind of like my friend Sandra over at MADSNAPPER. She looks at icky, ugly things and finds beauty and jewels in them. They become transformed. And one day, so will we, and our artist will be God.

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20

A Rose By Any Other Name

When is a rose not a rose, and when is a hibiscus not a hibiscus? When it's the Rose Of Sharon! The hibiscus are in bloom around here, and they are beautiful. See Phil standing by one? This is because I think the bloom is bigger than his head, though he doesn't believe it. But that would be if you spread it out. There are over 200 species of hibiscus, and the rose mallow hibiscus bloom is the largest, 12 inches across. The hibiscus syriacus is referred to as the Rose Of Sharon, a term taken from Song Of Songs 2:1. It is a symbol of the perfect bride. Sharon was one of the largest plains in all Palestine. And in the time of Solomon, it was wild and fertile, with many beautiful flowers. It seems that Solomon's bride was comparing herself to nothing more than these very common and ordinary, though lovely flowers. But then Solomon compared her to a lily among thorns. He seemed to have a way with words. And here they are.

"I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys."

"Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens."