my 2 pennies

[where to begin]
LW has Thanksgiving traditions. This was our Thanksgiving service this morning. One thing we do is cardboard testimonies. Another is Pastor Steve walks around the auditorium & allows people to say a few words of thankfulness. He got close to me & I wanted to speak, but was close to just bursting into tears of joy. My reason said so in the first service:

LW 1st service 11.20.11
[@ 1:09:24]
MOM WAS @ LW TODAY!!!! The songs were perfect. It was just a wonderful service. The food bank was low this year so we did a food drive today. Collected almost 3 tons! I'm thankful Mom was @ LW today [first time in 11 weeks!]
Thankful to all those who came to see her this morning.
Thankful for their prayers.
Thankful our church cares...about each other...our county...the world.
thankful I'm allowed to go there.
[1:20:00] thankful for an empty basement!!!
thankful I get to help, in different ways.
Thankful for growth group
Thankful for b-day parties. [Hey Big Dave, it was your b-day, but WE got the gift! you.]
Thankful for my wife.
Thankful that sometimes God takes something away & gives us something else.
[thankful Mick & I are closer even though she lost her job]
Thankful for friends I haven't heard from in years connecting on facebook.
Thankful for nieces who want Uncle Brian to go to "King Burger" with them.

Yahweh,
Thank you so much
for parents,
who love & help out at church
for my darling wife
who's voice is my favorite song
for growth group guys
who care for,
pray for [& with] me
for a church who cares
& reminds me "it's not about us"
for our wonderful pastors
our helpful staff
for the family
both that I know & don't know
who have come to me
and spoke of their appreciation for my parents
thanks for being the ultimate parent!
THE best friend anyone could hope for
thank you dear Jesu
I needed a savior
and you said
OOO! pick me!
Thank you Jesu
for being the prince of an
un-dieing King
Thank you for being 3...
yet 1
Thank you for being unfair
I should go to hell
if life were fair
thank you for making life unfair
Thank you for saving me
from me
Thank you for all you have written into my story
and all you will write
may my story glorify you
and show others why you matter
Thank you for sending your spirit
"till, the work on Earth is done"
Thank you for being the Prince of the
un-defeatable kingdom
thank you
that I will one day
worship you
to your face
Delirious said it best:
"I was born, to kiss your feet"
thank you Oh High King God
for being you
and loving me

your kid,
B

poem time

Well, Mom is doing fairly well. She's hoping to go to the Doctor in 2 weeks without her wheel chair. No new job for Mick just yet, though I have begun to look as well. And I'm feeling guilty for ending a conversation with an old friend on facebook...

The Crush of Time

time
so little of it, sometimes
feels like I brush people off
for lack of it
good friends
flung across the continent
finally in contact & I talk for a hand full of minutes
before I feel I'm being pulled to other things.
I sign off
hoping they don't feel
as I do
about me doing it
a time for everything
Ecclesiastes says
but that time
keeps on running out on me
Feels like there's
no time
to keep time
of the time
I thought I had
oh well,
maybe next time
[did I say that the last 2 times??]
ugh.
well as I told a friend
moments ago on Facebook
I gotta go
[I'm out of time one here]

b.e. noll

a new poem

Poems out of mud

We are
rough around the edges
growing
and not always sure
that we are doing it right
bumps, scrapes
stumbles, wobbles
a therapist friend is right
"life is hard,
wear a helmet"
sometimes
I don't know where
I'm being lead
most of the time
I think the times I hate being in the most
are the times
I was born for
the times
when The Bible
transforms
from the book I own with the thinnest pages
to...
a blanket
a fortress
a sword
perhaps at times
a velvet hammer
I need all of these
comfort
a place to hide
a weapon to fight with
a firm, but gentle nudge forward
I guess
we're all poems
poems coming out of the mud
getting cleaned off
cut
pasted
edited
so that we make sense
so we can share
the journey
realizing
we aren't alone
we aren't
the only ones
to stair into the darkness
and wonder
if we'll be able to come out
the other side
in one piece

by b.e. noll

Well, Mom is home & steadily improving. She sat up to eat today.
and.....in other news, my wife lost her job as of 5pm yesterday.
A co-worker said to me: "...and, your all calm with it...? WOW, how can you be so calm??" I tried to come up with something "awe inspiring" to say. You know a "bumper sticker in the making". Yeah, total blank. So much for being a poet, huh. I exhaled & simply said God. That's how. It doesn't sound that impressive. She said she'd be "freaking out". "God created the whole universe in 6 days with his mouth... how hard can it really be to get 1 little girl a job?". Then I think of Shaddrak, Meshach, & Abednigo, [Daniel 3] "We know that God can rescue us for this furnace... but even if he doesn't, we still won't bow down & worship anyone else." [ok, that's a B. Noll paraphrase, but it's not that different]

I need to go for now...
May His grace drip from your fingers,
B