April 2014 – Page 4 – Barnstorming

Two Weeks Into Spring

April 5, 2014 barnstormingblog4 Comments

A look around the farm and nearby to find our spring

Listening to Lent — If You Tarry

April 5, 2014 barnstormingblogLeave a comment

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.

Refrain

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.

View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?

Lo! th’incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.

Let not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
~Joseph Hart

When we are comfortable,
well fed,
not in longing~
we are slow to respond to the call,
tending to tarry in satiety.

It is in our times of need
and soreness
and worry
that we reach out, frightened,
to find it is then
we are the most fit to be received
into His arms.

Listening to Lent –Mountains Call

April 4, 2014April 4, 2014 barnstormingblog2 Comments

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
- Refrain:
  Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
  How measureless and strong!
  It shall forevermore endure—
  The saints’ and angels’ song.
When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
~Frederick Lehman

Each photo taken of the horizon
of our farm’s surrounding mountains
and silhouetted trees,
of glowing colors and hues
in clouds and sky,
is my mere attempt to scribe
for the record
the love of God
unchangeable
strong
pure
coming from above
reaching down
to touch
even one
such as me.

Listening to Lent — In the Morning When I Rise

April 3, 2014 barnstormingblog2 Comments

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus
~Jeremy Camp

Those who know me well
know I fret and worry
better than most.
Medical training makes it worse.
It teaches you to think catastrophically.That I do, for a living,
to always be ready for the worse case scenario.

When it comes to my own aging body,
it isn’t hard to come up with worse cases.

When I rise, sleepless,
to face a day of uncertainty
as we all do at times,
I reach for the certainty I know
to comfort me
body and soul
when I am afraid~
give me Jesus.

Listening to Lent — By and By

April 2, 2014April 2, 2014 barnstormingblogLeave a comment

Some bright morning when this life is o’er
I’ll fly away
To that home on God’s celestial shore
I’ll fly away.

Chorus:
I’ll fly away, oh Glory
I’ll fly away in the morning
When I die Hallelujah, by and by
I’ll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have gone
I’ll fly away
Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly
I’ll fly away.

Oh, how glad and happy when we meet
I’ll fly away
No more cold iron shackles on my feet
I’ll fly away.

Just a few more weary days and then
I’ll fly away
To a land where joys will never end
I’ll fly away.

When I die Hallelujah, by and by
I’ll fly away…
~Albert Brumley

Most of us don’t want to let go
of this familiar soil,
rocky and muddy as it is.
By and by may seem too far
but it could be today.

As I’ve watched folks die,
it is not so much flying away
but letting go of here
to be led there to that new home,
picked up and carried
to a Hallelujah by and by.

Listening to Lent — Church With Broken Wings

April 1, 2014 barnstormingblog1 Comment

Men of faith rise up and sing
Of the great and glorious King
You are strong when you feel weak
In your brokenness complete

Shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
He’s Lord of heaven and earth

Rise up women of the truth
Stand and sing to broken hearts
Who can know the healing power
Of our awesome King of love

And shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
He’s Lord of heaven and earth

And we will shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
He’s Lord of heaven and earth

We’ve been through fire, we’ve been through pain
We’ve been refined by the power of Your name
We’ve fallen deeper in love with You
You’ve burned the truth on our lips

Shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
He’s Lord of heaven and earth

And we will shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
Yes, He’s Lord of heaven and earth

Rise up church with broken wings
Fill this place with songs again
Of our God who reigns on high
By his grace again we’ll fly

Shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
He’s Lord of heaven and earth

Yeah, we will shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is Savior to all
He’s Lord of heaven and earth

Yes, He’s Lord of heaven and earth
Yes, He’s Lord of heaven and earth
Yes, He’s Lord of heaven and earth
~Robin Mark

There is much wrong with the church overall,
comprised as it is
with fallen people
with broken wings
determined to find flaws in each other
in doctrine, tradition, beliefs.

What is right with the church,
is who we sing to,why we sing,
whose body we are part of
despite our thoroughly motley messiness:
Our Lord of Heaven and Earth.

I come from Pacific Northwest farmers going back four generations: the daughter of teachers, married to a son of farmers. We have raised three children who are making a difference in the world in their professional lives and as people of faith.

While keeping my eyes and heart open to the extraordinary things around me, I have worked over forty years as a family physician as well as a steward of the small farm we call home.

What I harvest in words or pictures finds its way here.
I welcome your messages and comments sent to emilypgibson@gmail.com

…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. … And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4: 8 -9

What is my only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
~Heidelberg Catechism

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
~Mary Oliver

To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
~ T.S. Eliot

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To live is so startling, it leaves little room for other occupations.
~Emily Dickinson

I believe in God as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
~ C. S. Lewis

Remember this. When people choose to withdraw far from a fire, the fire continues to give warmth, but they grow cold. When people choose to withdraw far from light, the light continues to be bright in itself but they are in darkness. This is also the case when people withdraw from God.
~ Augustine

Hello, sun in my face. Hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields…Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.
~ Mary Oliver

The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope while darkness does its work.
~ Wendell Berry

Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine the true poetry of life.~ Sir William Osler

But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
~George Eliot’s final sentence in Middlemarch

If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
~ E.B. White

Geese appear high over us, pass, and the sky closes. Abandon, as in love or sleep, holds them to their way, clear, in the ancient faith: what we need is here. And we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye clear. What we need is here.~~ “The Wild Geese” Wendell Berry

Let it come, as it will, and don’t be afraid. God does not leave us comfortless, so let evening come.
~ Jane Kenyon from “Let Evening Come”

You can only come to the morning through the shadows.~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Look for what you notice but no one else sees. ~Rick Rubin

If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. ~ Thomas Merton

This life therefore is not righteousness,
but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet
what we shall be,
but we are growing toward it.
The process is not finished
but it is going on.
This is not the end
but it is the road.
~Martin Luther

Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.
~ Mary Oliver

It is not your love that sustains the marriage —
but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

She has done what she could…
~Mark 14:8

What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good on this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?~ J. R. R. Tolkien from The Hobbit

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