The Chronicles of Janie

So, I had just reconciled myself to the sad truth that I am not, and never will be, very good at writing novels...when I started working on a novel . That's right. Another novel. That I'm determined to finish. Same old story as all my other unfinished novels. The intense urge to write has grabbed me in earnest, so I'm working on a story line I came up with last year. I refreshed the plot with a few twists that really, if I do say so myself, make a pretty darn cool story. I'm worried that I'll end up jinxing myself if I divulge too much, so I'll just say this: picture ancient Irish mythology happening in modern-day Missouri. Yeah. Weird, but I think it really might be very cool. I'm still not under any delusions about my writing skills, and I don't really have any plans or ambitions for this story. I've just decided that I'm going to have fun making up characters and writing about them and not worrying about anything else. And hey, at the ver...

Yes, this is probably a strange thing to write about. But I've seen a big problem. I've seen several intercessor/servant/encourager types (self included) get burnt out and lose their spiritual energy because no-one was around to build them up when they needed it. And, after a lot of thought, I've decided that maybe it's time to shed a little bit of light on this situation. I can only speak for myself here, but I think it's a safe bet that there are several people like me out there who are also feeling the need of someone to come beside them and encourage them. Here goes... Here's what floats my boat: Helping people and making them happy. I want to see sad people smile, hurting people laugh, discouraged people find hope. I tend to identify hurting people very quickly, and, as soon as I identify them, I want to help. Seeing anyone suffer is emotionally painful for me, and I want to help in the most meaningful way that I can - whether it be praying for the perso...

I'm not really sure where I'm trying to go with my photography and poetry anymore. I've decided that I just don't have enough ambition or determination to make it to the top (wherever that is). I don't care about fame or fortune, which is a good thing, because I doubt that I'd have the skill to achieve either of them. I have messed around with photography for several years now. I'm a fairly decent photographer. People say that they like my work. Maybe they're just being polite, or maybe they really do like it. But I think I've reached a point where I'm going to have to start investing a lot more money into my photography if I want to progress any more. Do I really want to do that? Is my photography even worth it? I have toyed with the idea of trying to publish some poetry, but I don't think that I really have the guts to try. I'm fairly certain that it would be rejected by a publisher, and I don't have the money to self-publish. ...

I can't remember exactly when I first met her. But I vividly remember my feeling of utter panic when God told me to go talk to her... I'm on the praise team, so I always spot the new people when they come into church. I saw her walk in, and sit shyly down at the back. I saw that no-one else was really stopping to spend time with her. And then I heard God telling me "you need to go talk to that girl." I hesitated for several minutes, hunting for an excuse to not go. "God," I said, "You know I'm terrible at chatting with people. I can't make small talk to save my life. What on earth am I going to say to her?" But God wouldn't accept my excuses. I could feel the pressure of His urging, and I knew that I needed to obey. "OK, God. Here goes. Please give me the words to say." So I walked up to her, shaking like a leaf, and introduced myself. She said that her name was E--, but volunteered no other information. This conversa...

I've debated a long time about whether or not to write this post. It seemed like a kind-of silly thing to write about, but it kept coming back to my mind. So, I decided to go ahead and spit it out. If you think it's silly, please know that I'm somewhat inclined to agree with you. ;-) However, I have had the thought that there might be someone out there who is like me. Someone who may read this and feel a little less alone, or perhaps be challenged by one of my points. Maybe no-one told me. Or maybe I just didn't listen. Or maybe it was some of both. Anyroad, here are some of the lessons I've had to learn the hard way. I'm sure some of them are things everyone learns in the 'growing up' process, though many of them are probably unique to my personality. 1. Learn how to listen to God. Learn what His voice sounds like, and what you have to do to hear Him. Once you've established a 'talking relationship' with God, you won't settle for an...

We couldn't Skype with Dad today. Mom and I both tried to call him - multiple times - but the call just wouldn't go through. So Mom (naturally) started wondering out loud why we couldn't get ahold of him. My thought: It's pretty amazing that we can get ahold of him at all! Think about it. He's in Japan. We're in the U.S.A. That's a 14 - hour time difference. We are separated by an ocean (North Atlantic or North Pacific, depending on how you look at it) and yet, we can both talk to and see each other pretty much any time we choose. Amazing, no? I think we tend to get pretty darn spoiled by our modern technology. We start to think that our priorities are of utmost importance, that the world revolves around us (because, most of the time, it does ), and that the things we want to accomplish have to be done immediately. I became painfully aware of this mindset while I was in Moz. The internet on the base there would pack its bags and leave nearly every time ...

The singing and dancing started on Saturday, and carried on after I went to bed. I envied the Mozambicans' ability to seemingly sing and dance forever when I woke up in the night and heard the drums and voices still going strong. A part of me wanted to go out and dance with them (even though I'm pretty abysmal at that sort of thing), but I knew I'd be dog-tired if I did. I'd had a lot of trouble sleeping at night, so the few hours I was able to snatch were very precious to me. I figured I'd better be boring and sensible if I wanted to get up early to do baptisms the next morning. Things had quieted down a bit when my alarm went off around 3 am. I had slept in my regular shirt, so all I had to do was roll out of bed, wrap a capulana around my waist, grab some sandals, a scarf to cover my untidy hair, and try to make it out the door without running into anything in the dark. The predawn air was clean, fresh, invigorating...and cold. By the time we'd gotten t...

Soo...I've been rather neglectful of this poor little blog. My neglect has not been caused by business or even a lack of things to write about. In fact, I have had several ideas for posts. I've thought about writing a post about how much I hate clothes shopping, or what I think about introverts, or how guilty I feel about spending money, but all these posts struck me as being too negative, or too self-centered, or too...something. So, I deleted them. Here is something I wrote awhile back. I briefly entertained the idea of writing a collection of my thoughts in book form, but decided that was a very silly, me-centric thing to do. So, here is the thought I had one day around twilight. Twilight    The bridegroom, the sun, is giving Earth a final kiss before stealing away and leaving her to the nursemaid, night. Earth heaves a contented sigh as she slowly succumbs to night’s sleep-spell. She is quiet and peaceful, content in the presence of her familiar nursemaid. ...