Saturday, July 16, 2011

How great is our God!


Probably one of my favorite memories from our family reunion trip was on Sunday morning, when my cousins and I sang together at church. Glenallen picked out the song, "How Great is Our God," and while it is a great song and it was in a good range for all of us and it was familiar enough for the musicians to be able to just do a quick practice together before the service... I didn't understand how perfect it really was until later, when my dad got up and preached.

He talked about the Israelites... those silly, forgetful Israelites, who just couldn't seem to recall from one generation to the next the faithfulness of God. The whole book of Judges is practically about how God had to find a new way in every generation to help his own people rediscover who he was. Why couldn't they look back, hear the stories, read the accounts and continue believing by faith? Parents have a sober responsibility to pass on the truth of God to their children... but children, you aren't off the hook! Your responsibility is to remember... and decide whether to believe it or reject it... to carry on the stories of your parents and add some more of your own, to know him as your God, not just as the God of your fathers.

That's something I really love about spending time with my cousins. They aren't just creative, beautiful, talented, brilliant people - they also have chosen for themselves to love and chase after God... to call him their own. You can see it in their faces, find it in their actions, sense it in their relationships, experience it through their gifts and passions, and hear it in their songs:

"How great is our God!
Sing with me, how great is our God!
And all will see how great, how great is our God!"

Pass it on, cousins... be faithful to our God, and pass on that faithfulness to the next generation, so they can see and know, and call him their God too.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Blue

One day in Vancouver, I asked Kevan to give me a word of inspiration to write about, and his word was "Blue." So here's what came of that...



Blue. The light jacket on the back of a lawn chair that gently flutters in the breeze. Grandpa's gentleman shorts that he is wearing - navy, identical in shade and style to my dad's shorts, as they stand side by side. Blue. Grandma's thermos of peach juice that she pours into our styrofoam cups. The pattern on the serviettes we use to wipe melted chocolate chips from our fingers and watermelon juice from our chins. Blue. Dad's shirt, in horizontal lines, and his best friend's shirt, in vertical, as they reminice on childhood days. Mom's pants, as she sits cross-legged in the shade. Blue. Kevan's eyes, and his idea of a writing prompt. The sky, clear and seamless on this summer day. I lean back and look up through the maple boughs above - layers of green, webbing of brown wood, and highlights of blue - luminous blue. A bird, a plane, and a tuft of cotton seeds pass over, reminding me this is not a picture, a photo, a canvas landscape painting... though I imagine our delighted Artist God mixing his paints just so - to create just this exact hue that pleases his eye and thrills his heart... this beautiful blue.

Dream Weaver



Minor dreams weaved tight
In hues of silver and gold
So small yet precious

In the hands of God
Threads become a tapestry
Bigger than my life

Intertwined with more
My dreams hidden inside His
Woven masterpiece.

~ C.L.Chandler

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Photo blog: Cousin's reunion

And we arrived! Beautiful British Columbia
Grandma Chandler, serving tea

Kevan at Kitsilano Beach

the Vancouver cityscape

a cool quote, etched in a metal chair

Lion's Gate Bridge

Mom and Dad at Stanley Park

Family picnic

Kevan and Edward on the ferry, the Spirit of British Columbia

Living in the music

The Chandler women

my nephew, Toby, with a big Auntie Connie kiss on his cheek

on the pier, in Sidney

Cousins, walking through downtown Victoria

The most gorgeous hanging baskets throughout Victoria

Auntie Carol and Andrew playing and singing together

at the beach, on the Island

Uncle Colin gave Noah an airplane

Crackin' crab legs and eating Poutine, the last night we had together

A family heirloom: Great-grandma Chandler's tea set