The Chronicles of Janie

My image I only brought one empty notebook with me. Okay, well, one notebook alongside a handful of miscellaneous reading material and a journal that's so pretty I'm scared to start writing in it. In case you're wondering, this is my version of packing lightly. Tea and books come first. Everything else is of secondary importance. The point is, that with one notebook and a plethora of thoughts, I'm forced to be a bit conservative of space. Instead of following my usual modus operandi of flipping to blank pages and indulging in random and reckless scribbles, I have been very diligently marshaling my thoughts into order. Bible verses decorated with fanciful borders, to-do lists, teaching notes, scraps of half-fledged poetry and blog posts and a newsletter outline are all crammed together in an economical fashion. As I flipped through the already-battered pages, looking for a blank space to write, I realized that this little notebook presents a surprisingly accura...

When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe, He reclined again and said to them, "Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. I assure you: A slave is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." John 13: 12 - 17 Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples | Paolo Verones When Jesus washed the disciples' feet, He was not performing any impossible task. Indeed, the only impossiblity lies in the fact that God, in fleshly form, was debasing Himself to a distasteful and mundane chore. In this fact we find the true beauty of servant-hood...that the servant is rarely called to do something that no-one else can do, but rather, tha...

This is the Blue Lagoon. It is the most beautiful, beautiful blue that you can imagine. We admire it daily from our balconies and the back patio, and after a few weeks of gazing from afar, there came an opportunity to get a closer look. We loaded up the motor boat, packed the lunch, the drinking water, the kids' swim rings, the umbrellas, the sunscreen (lots and lots of sunscreen), and headed for the dock at Mgarr. It was going to take several trips to transport everyone from Mgarr to the lagoon, and on the very first trip, the boat motor started making doubtful noises. So Jon, Carla, the kids, the lunch, and the umbrellas were unloaded at the beach, and the rest of us crammed into a vehicle and sped away to catch a ferry. The ferries are, essentially, like floating cattle cars. Ours wasn't quite as packed out as some I've seen, but we were definitely cozy. We sat very still, with enormous bags piled on our laps, and felt the salty spray and admired the water that c...