Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Beneath Blue Skies...and latest update on Dave

 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
            For His compassions never fail.
      They are new every morning;
            Great is Your faithfulness.
      “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
            “Therefore I have hope in Him.”
      The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
            To the person who seeks Him.
... For if He causes grief,
            Then He will have compassion
            According to His abundant lovingkindness.
      For He does not afflict willingly
            Or grieve the sons of men.
 Lam.3:22-25&32-33



Beneath blue skies and green-swept rise
And fall of all we have to bear
Of care and such, the touch of much
Ado becomes the sum of where
We were to where we are; the jar
Of starry deep and mist-kissed morn
On well-worn Way pours out New Day
...a tray heaped with Mercies reborn
As smiles and sighs, hellos, goodbyes
And second tries fill love’s lament
Beneath blue skies, green summer's rise
Will fall to fall, and Season spent

© Janet Martin



 This morning's update from Karen;


Hi everyone,
I am glad to report another awesome day. He walked again and sat up in his chair, They also took him down for x-rays today to see if we can find out why he can't move his right arm. Ultrasound later in the week.

Also the Dr said that he can have the oxygen mask off. They will keep an eye on him tonight to make sure his level stay high enough when he is sleeping. 
Please keep praying!
and thank-you. 

Monday, July 3, 2017

Renascence of Spirit



Wishing you a wonder-full day!

You have enclosed me behind and before,
            And laid Your hand upon me.
      Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
            It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

 Ps.139:5-6


Its archive harbors hunger
That wends its age-old way
From night to day where Wonder
Is never held at bay

The one who seeks will find it
It kindles star-straked Yon
With eons sealed behind it
It breaks dark bars with dawn

And spills its mercy-shower
Across the mist-kissed lea
And fills the bud with flower
And pilots Poetry

No one too poor to wear it
The wealth that Wonder brings
A renaissance of spirit
It gladdens common kings

And wakens in worn Being
With Hope and nothing more
A whole new way of seeing
What we have seen before

© Janet Martin

 Last evening's Update from Dave's wife Karen; 
(To new-comers; I'm keeping readers updated on a journey that began here)
Hello everyone,

When I arrived at the hospital Dave said he already walked the halls this morning. A little later the physiotherapist came in again, took him for another walk and then got him to sit in his chair to have lunch. After lunch he got back into bed. Soon his parents came down for a visit. Wasn't long after his parent came he was just so tired that he had a rest while we visited for bit and then I went to the family room to put my feet up while mom and dad stayed with him until he woke up and they came and got me.
Later in the evening Josh and Krista came to pick me up. 
Another good day and his pain is under control so that really helps.
Thank-you SO much for your continued prayers!


Sunday, July 2, 2017

Perfect Form...(and latest Dave update)



If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Cor.13:1

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Cor.13:7

Dave and Karen, through love will endure...but it definitely comes with the unexpected challenges
that being human is sure to bring...
Yesterday we went to visit Dave and seeing him sweat it out just to sit for a while or tremble as he reached for a cup of water was hard! Finally he was ready to lie down and after he was comfortable Dave's wife went out to pick up lunch and we stayed.
Jim, beneath Dave's instruction tried to situate the TV without a glare so Dave could watch the Bluejays game, so Jim "pulled it closer, no, back a little, now tilt it down, not quite so much, can you pull it back just a little"...and so forth til Dave said 'good!' and relaxed. Karen came breezing back into the room, pushed the TV aside (completely unaware of what had just taken place) pulled the hospital table to his bed so she could sit and eat her lunch(way past lunch time) Dave never said a word, but his look did!
It will take much patience as recovery begins.
Please pray for both of them to be able to cope!

Thank-you Lord, for zoom-lens!



Love takes on many forms
A tender touch
A servant’s smile
A side-by-side
Push through life’s storms
And sacrifice though wants beguile

But never spiteful words
Or rude
Or quick, flippant reply
For love is kind,
Patient and true
Thus it behooves both you and I

…when we are prone to
Flick that blade
Of hate or cruelty or spite
To think of Jesus,
How He stood
In our place that dreadful night

…and how He, meek
Unjustly tried
Retaliated with ‘forgive
His love so great,
For us He died
So we, through His pardon may live

Love takes on many forms
A warrior’s grit
With servant’s bow
And hands scarred with
The proof of it
That love makes possible somehow

© Janet Martin

this morning's update from Karen


Good Morning dear, faithful, praying friends,
I am glad to report another good day for Dave. He sat up in his chair for over an hour and half and walked to his sink in his room and back. He was much stronger on his feet today because he kinda dragged his walker today, where other days he was putting all his weight on it.
It is so great to his see his improvements these past couple of days, but I know I have to prepare myself that one of the days again will not be so good. Dave, Joshua and the Dr. all say that he will have some good days followed by some bad ones so l know I have to be ready for that again.
So, please continue to pray for him. People are wondering where he will go for Rehab. We don’t know yet; where ever a bed comes available, either Freeport, Guelph or Cambridge. With the long weekend I can't see that happening until Tuesday or later.
Last night I also got another good night sleep with helps me to stay strong. I even got to enjoy the fireworks in Drayton with my good friend Shelia. Dave asked his nurse if she thinks he will be able to see any fireworks and she thought maybe he would.
Praise God for all the healing that has taken place in Dave already, with all the prayers going up. Hope everyone had good Canadian 150th celebrations cause we did. Dave got a Canada Flag on this lunch tray and Canada Day cupcake with a coffee which he enjoyed on his supper tray.
David just started drinking coffee again so that also is a sign that he is feeling better. For anyone that knows Dave, knows he likes his coffee. He didn’t want a coffee until Friday. So we are counting the ups taking place and counting on your prayers to help us through the downs! Thank-you!

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Prayer for Canada or From Shore to Shore



Happy 150th, Canada!

Take time today to reflect on why you are a thankful Canadian! 


 The above articles are printed in a Special Edition from The Wellington Advertiser to celebrate Canada's 150th Birthday!

From verdant sweep and fresh sea deep
And Rocky mountain grandeur
From rolling plain of rippling grain
To babbling brook meander
Lord, keep this land within Thy hand
And we, who troll its river
From shore to shore, let us adore
Oh Canada, Thy Giver

From solitude of winter’s wood
To spring’s green welcome wending
To summer’s flower bowers filled
And autumn-orchards bending
Lord, keep this land within Thy hand
And we who till its acre
Let us adore from shore to shore
Oh Canada, Thy Maker

This bit of loam that we call home
Of wild-life, still-life forest
Of maple tree and liberty
City and country glorious
Lord, hear our prayer and lend Thy care
To we, of sundry weather
From shore to shore and door to door
Bless Canada forever

Lord, let us guard with loyal heart
And love, one for another
This true north strong and free, that we
May all be sister-brother
Lord, bless and keep us kind and true
And in your Mercy grounded
And not forsake the faith whereon
*This Canada was founded

© Janet Martin



* Cartier resolved to take formal possession of the country, and to indicate, in a conspicuous manner, that he did so in the name of the King, his master, and in the interests of religion. With these objects in view, on Friday, July 24th, a huge wooden cross, thirty feet in height, was constructed, and was raised with much ceremony, in sight of many of the Indians, close to the entrance of the harbor; three fleurs-de-lys being carved under the cross, and an inscription, "Vive le Roy de France." (Long live the King of France)The French formed a circle on their knees around it, and made signs to attract the attention of the savages, pointing up to the heavens, "as if to show that by the cross came their redemption." 

JACQUES CARTIER.

By Thomas D’Arcy McGee



I.


In the sea-port of Saint Malo ’twas a smiling morn in May
When the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the westward sailed             away;
In the crowded old Cathedral all the town were on their knees
For the safe return of kinsmen from the undiscover’d seas;
And every autumn blast that swept o’er pinnacle and pier

Filled manly hearts with sorrow and gentle hearts with fear.

II.


A year passed o’er Saint Malo—again came round the day
When the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the westward sailed             away;
But no tidings from the absent had come the way they went,
And tearful were the vigils that many a maiden spent;

And manly hearts were filled with gloom and gentle hearts with fear
When no tidings came from Cartier at the closing of the year.            


III.


But the Earth is as the Future, it hath its hidden side,
And the Captain of Saint Malo was rejoicing in his pride
In the forests of the north—while his townsmen mourned his loss

He was rearing on Mount-Royal the fleur-de-lis and cross;
And when two months were over and added to the year,
Saint Malo hailed him home again, cheer answering to cheer.


IV.


He told them of a region, hard, iron-bound and cold,
Nor seas of pearl abounded, nor mines of shining gold,

Where the wind from Thulé freezes the word upon the lip,
And the ice in spring comes sailing athwart the early ship;
He told them of the frozen scene until they thrill’d with fear,
And piled fresh fuel on the hearth to make him better cheer.


V.


But when he chang’d the strain—he told how soon is cast

In early Spring the fetters that hold the waters fast;
How the Winter causeway broken is drifted out to sea,
And the rills and rivers sing with pride the anthem of the free;
How the magic wand of Summer clad the landscape to his eyes,
Like the dry bones of the just, when they wake in Paradise.
            


VI.


He told them of the Algonquin braves—the hunters of the wild,
Of how the Indian mother in the forest rocks her child;
Of how, poor souls, they fancy in every living thing
A spirit good or evil, that claims their worshipping;
Of how they brought their sick and maim’d for him to breathe

            upon,
And of the wonders wrought for them thro’ the Gospel of St.
            John.


VII.


He told them of the river whose might current gave
Its freshness for a hundred leagues to ocean’s briny wave;
He told them of the glorious scene presented to his sight,
What time he reared the cross and crown on Hochelaga’s height,

And of the fortress cliff that keeps of Canada the key,
And they welcomed back Jacques Cartier from his perils over sea. 

  

Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. 
Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, 
or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. 
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
 Joshua 24:15-16