homeless pigeons

every morning, i walk through our 'courtyard' to get to my office. every morning, i see pigeons eating away at the dirty food on the courtyard floor. and every morning, i think about the night before. you see, each night we have between 60-75 women and children packed in that courtyard, waiting to get a warm meal, a shower, and a place to lay their heads. it breaks my heart. but the point of this story is not that--this morning i saw the same pigeon i always see. he's dirty and broken, just like many of the people here. he's missing a foot--literally. where his foot should be is a stub instead. so mr. pigeon wobbles around eating the left-over food from the night before. it's sad.

although this may be a long-shot, i think this pigeon is homeless and finds comfort in living at a homeless shelter. (i promise you, he really does live here--i see him every day). so my thought is not profound, nor is it spiritual this morning; i just thought you'd like to know pigeons can be homeless too.

the end.

Tears in a bottle

She sobbed with her head in her hands. Looking up at her two-year-old, she smiled. Cece ran quickly to her mother, and standing on her small tippy-toes, she reached to wipe the tear from her face. A two-year-old wiping tears from her mother's face...it's enough to bring tears to your own eyes. I can only imagine what was going through Cece's mind as she wiped those tears away. "Mama, be happy--i can't bear to see you sad." As her mother is most likely Cece's source of joy, what kind of impact does it have on her to see her beloved mom the opposite of joyful?

As I witnessed this account today at work, I was on the verge of tears myself. However, it forced me to think on our tears of joy and tears of sorrow. Where do they all go? With each tear comes so much emotion, passion, frustration, excitement...One tear may be a spring time rain drop. Another tear may be the Pacific Ocean. Each one has meaning. Each one has a name. Not one is wasted.

"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." Psalm 56:8

There they are--filling up a large bottle held by the perfect hands of a King. The keeper of our tears is also the lover of our souls. A God who cares enough to keep track of each one of our tears surely deserves our whole hearts.

Our tears are not wasted. We are loved by the God of the Universe. And one day, when we get home, we will take our bottles--full to the brim--and pour them out as a love offering upon the feet of our Savior.

falling into fall

oh, fall, how i love you!

the cool weather has suddenly interrupted summer in san diego. last week, i was sweating in my house with all the windows and doors open. this week, i am cuddled up with sweatpants and socks (you know it is cold when you wear socks in san diego) with all the windows and doors closed. the abrupt change is welcome.

so, not only is the weather falling into fall, but, literally, i am too. i fell 13,000 feet on sunday. well...technically i only fell 7,000 feet and floated with a parachute for 5,000 more until my feet gently hit the ground. YES, I WENT SKYDIVING!

it was amazing and i would suggest it to all. i went with my sister and brother-in-law and we had so much fun. i'm starting to find out more about myself as i put myself in different situations. skydiving revealed to me how ABnormal i am when it comes to outrageous activities. i was not scared at all. in fact, the only nervousness i experienced was when i was signing a 29 page document stating "I WILL NOT SUE IF I BECOME INJURED OR DIE". but that nervousness passed quickly after i realized each paragraph said the same thing: 'don't die and don't sue'.

but in all honesty, i embraced the experience with all that i had. it took me a while to figure out why i was not fearful. then i realized that because i am not afraid of death, i have no reason to freak out when jumping out of a plane. my love for the lord is so much stronger than my love for life, so to die is gain and to live is christ.

p.s. i miss the leaves. sad day, southern california.