Klamath Tribes Restoration Pow Wow 2011

All is quiet on this Monday after Pow Wow, and normality, such as it is, has return to our usually quiet mountain town. But allow me to share with you some photos from Saturday afternoon's Grand Entry.






For more photo's check out my other blog:

http://thundercatt99.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/chiloquin-pow-wow-2011/

The Klamath Tribes Restoration Pow Wow Parade 2011

This weekend is the Klamath Tribes Restoration Pow Wow, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Klamaths regaining tribal status! To celebrate I'm offering pictures to this years parade ....



Yes .... Oregon Duck fans abound here!


More pictures are at my other blog:

Thundercatt99.wordpress.com

Happy Easter 2011!

May the miracle of the tomb invade your heart and burst forth with Resurrection gladness!

... Never throw out anyone!

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=Audrey+Hepburn#/d16vjnm

A really great quote I came across today ...

“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.”

~Audrey Hepburn

Amen!

the Good, the Bad, the Ugly: The Grace thing revisited ....

Just an observation … I think can be demonstrated again and again, especially what one sees on the news, that what many are comfortable saying to an unbeliever, we aren’t comfortable saying to a Christian. But the bottom line is … The Gospel is for Christians, too! We all love the story of the Prodigal son. Have you thought about what goes on the day after the party? What if the son messed up again in a week? Or even in a couple of days. What if he doesn’t live the life of a grateful son much at all? Or to be more lifelike, what if he sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t act all that grateful? Does that change the Father? Does the older brother get to come back into the story and say “Aha!! I told you so; I was right all along!”

The thing is that our brothers and sisters can be a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly. And Christ died for the sins of Christians too. And we need to hear that over and over again! We all need that grace to continue on the path of ‘glory to glory’! Grace is a word that describes how you feel before you kiss someone. I think it's like when a bird decides that it can fly. Lets dispense that grace to our brothers and sister so they can realize they are about to take flight!

I will be there for you ...

A quote I just had to share ...

"No one enjoys walking people through dark valleys or through painful reactions, but love says, I will be there for you. I may not know what to do or what to say. But I just cannot let you go through this alone!"

~Wayne Jacobsen

Chiloquin Pow Wow 2010

It was a great 2010 Pow Wow this year!! It’s Pow Wow time here in the metropolis of Chiloquin, Oregon, but I figured I would share anyways. The Restoration Pow Wow is always a big event every year in this former Rez town.

The event was large this year. At least 50 vendors surrounding the powwow dancing grounds offered food, shawls, jewelry and other goods. Rain drove the event indoors Saturday but that didn’t seem to dampen the spirit of the event. More than 100 dancers filled the dancing grounds and celebrated throughout the day. Looking forward already to next years …. Of course!

For more pictures check out:

http://thundercatt99.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/pow-wow-time-in-chiloquin/

Scared of the Dark ~ Rich Mullins

i don't remember meeting Him
He had just always been there
when people ask me, "how did you meet the Lord?"
i don't know how to answer.
meeting Him seems unavoidable
recognizing Him can be tricky
loving Him seems impossible.
people often ask that too - "do you love Jesus?"
and again i'm stuck for an answer
i know the right one - the answer you're supposed to give
i know that it presupposes so many things that it could hardly be honest
so i say
as much as i love,
i love Jesus.

if love was easier, i would love Him more
but then again
if love was easier, it would hardly be worth the little
it would ask
if i was stronger, i would love Him more
or maybe
i would more know how little i love

we grow slowly,
and love takes time...

He's always been there
even in that dark room where i
slept as a child
scared of that dark
in that room that seem to want
to suck me deep into the night's
great lungs
i hated the thought that we were all
hanging upside down - off the bottom of the world
and that all that darkness out there that we
might fall into
was just a shadow of our own selves
just a shadow you could fall through forever.

she said that You were out there too
and then she'd tuck me in so tight that i would likely be safe
till morning
but no woman - not even your own mother
can kiss you without mixing some unspoken sorrow
into her affection
and i always thought
she might be kissing me good-bye
as well as good night

my aunt said that Jesus would knock on the door of my heart
and if i would open the door
He'd come in and sup with me
and when i was old enough to be ashamed of trying to tether myself to my mom
(with that last desperate good night)
i decided
that instead of lying there being afraid
i would listen for His knock.

i heard all kinds of things
scary things
amplified by the dark
and by my nervous and hopeful listenings
was it the voice of Eli? or the call of God?
was it the limbs of the trees outside?
or the knock i was to open to?

i did not worry about what Jesus would find to eat if He came in
i was a child and knew that out of a crowd
a boy would most likely have some fish and some loaves

but i am no longer a child
i am no longer afraid of the dark
i have new things to fear
i am no longer afraid that i will drift away from this world
i am afraid i will never escape it.

and i'm not afraid of good-byes
i've become so used to them it scares me.

i have never heard any knocking sound
that was distinct from every other noise
but i have learned to listen
and i'm thankful for learning

i don't know that the rumble of the thunder
or the crackle in a good fire
or the hum of my wheels
is the sound of Jesus knocking on
the door of my heart
but i'm thankful to Him for all
those sounds
and for giving me ears
and for teaching me to listen.

i don't know that the lonely ache that i
feel - even when times are the best
and friends are near -
is the way that it feels when He knocks,
when He calls,
but i'm thankful to have a heart.
i don't know that He would like everything in it
or that He would find any fish or loaves anymore
or much besides stone and snakes.

but sometimes
i get really brave, and
if i don't open the door
i at least unlock it

and when i look in
or when i look out
i can see that He's just always been there.

meeting Him seems unavoidable
recognizing Him can be tricky
loving Him seems impossible

we grow slowly,
and love takes time


-Rich Mullins, 1997

Just Give Me This

A cool little poem from the pen of "Author Unknown" ....

Just Give Me This A chance to start over...

A lover who keeps short accounts
A song that bubbles from my heart
A mind that can think in longhand as well as on an iBook
A prayer that is a lifestyle--not empty words.
A chance--just a chance--over and over and over again.

Isn't that grace?
Isn't that unmerited favor?
Isn't that the only way to make it from here to eternity
without cracking up--
crashing and burning--
wearing out to death?

Eternal life starts now.
Just give me this.

A Thought From Ruth ...

Ruth 4:11-12 "... We are witnesses! May the Lord make the woman who is now coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! ...And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Jacob."

What a really strange thing to say when one looks at it! Did the Elder really want Ruth to be barren like Rachel, or unloved like Leah was? Then in v12, it gets more bizarre, for did the Elder want Ruth to do a Tamar number and disguise Herself as a prostitute and bear a child by her father-in-law? This seems like at first glance like its saying, "I was your marriage was messed up so that you can do the good that only comes through hard times." So why would this toast possibly be thought of as good?

There can be a big obstacle to relating to God. There seems to be no higher goal really than feeling better now ~ the Bible calls this "the flesh." But the problem is that a lot of the times "Gods best" looks far different from we want it to. Could it be that the Elders prayer is for brokenness, the power to trust God no matter what? We pray often for God to maker things better, I know I do, and then things often stay the same ... then we take things into our own hands... We want things to improve! Fixed! Like now ...!

I think it goes like this ... Its like the Elder told Boaz, "You married a lovely, beautiful woman, and I want the best. But if the unthinkable happens and Ruth turns out to be conniving as Rachel or insecure as Leah, God will still being at work to bring about the good He intended."

This is a very freeing thing to ponder upon! I know for myself that having ones dreams smashed around a bit may be God's best after all. The broken dreams are actually just pieces in a bigger puzzle to help us get to the bigger dreams, not really dreamed up yet. The desire for feeling good now may be a limit on us to really fly later! Just some thoughts ... Have a blessed evening everyone! Tim

Down The Broken Road ...

Every long lost dream
Led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart
They were like Northern Stars
Pointing me on my way
Into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That lead me straight to you….
(Rascal Flatts, “Bless The Broken Road”)

It has been a difficult week! Now, I know – I’m no saint. Never have been. And I trust in the Gospel, that all who believe and are baptized will be saved. But it’s hard, at times, to recognize that it’s at least partly my failures at truly righteous living that have brought me (and those I love) to these kinds of impasses. A friend suggested to me that there is a big difference between prayers of supplication where I turn my prayer concern over to God and let it go, and praying just to manipulate God into giving me what I want. Ouch. There are many days I still can’t find the line between those two. I know beyond any doubt that I know how to do the latter much better than the former.

And then there are the words from singer Wayne Watson’s old classic, “Home Free:”

Out in the corridor,
We pray for life
A mother for her baby
A husband for his wife
Sometimes the good die young
It’s sad but true
But while we pray for one more heartbeat
The real comfort is in You
You know, pain has little mercy
And suff’rings no respecter or age
Of rank or position
I know that every prayer gets answered
But the hardest one to pray
Is slow to come
“O Lord, not mine
But your will be done….

Yeah, no kidding, Wayne. When I heard of older children’s ‘difficulties’ so to speak, I told him, “I keep telling God, ‘You’re not checking my list!’ And the fact that I even have a list is a good sign that I’m not quite all there, spiritually…”

In the end, I have to come back to the simple answer: God is God, and I am not. This side of the final trumpet, I will never know the “whys.” All I can do is sing and pray Wayne Watson’s chorus:

Home free
Eventually
At the ultimate healing
We will be home free…

Hard to Get

This song by Rich Mullins, like nearly everything that amazing guy wrote, blesses me and makes me feel more comfortable in my own skin as a believer ...


Hard to Get


You who live in heaven
Hear the prayers of those of us who live on earth
Who are afraid of being left by those we love
And who get hardened by the hurt
Do you remember when You lived down here where we all scrape
To find the faith to ask for daily bread
Did You forget about us after You had flown away
Well I memorized every word You said
Still I'm so scared, I'm holding my breath
While You're up there just playing hard to get
You who live in radiance
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin
We have a love that's not as patient as Yours was
Still we do love now and then
Did You ever know loneliness
Did You ever know need
Do You remember just how long a night can get?
When You were barely holding on
And Your friends fall asleep
And don't see the blood that's running in Your sweat
Will those who mourn be left uncomforted
While You're up there just playing hard to get?
And I know you bore our sorrows
And I know you feel our pain
And I know it would not hurt any less
Even if it could be explained
And I know that I am only lashing out
At the One who loves me most
And after I figured this, somehow All I really need to know
Is if You who live in eternity
Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time
We can't see what's ahead
And we can not get free of what we've left behind
I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears
All the words of shame and doubt, blame and regret I can't see how
You're leading me unless
You've led me here
Where I'm lost enough to let myself be led
And so You've been here all along I guess
It's just Your ways and You are just plain hard to get.'

There is a new tomorrow ...

If there is a future there is time for mending-

Time to see your troubles coming to an ending.

Life is never hopeless however great your sorrow-

If you’re looking forward to a new tomorrow.

If there is time for wishing then there is time for hoping-

When through doubt and darkness

you are blindly groping.

Though the heart be heavy and hurt you may be feeling-

If there is time for praying there is time for healing.

So if through your window there is a new day breaking-

Thank God for the promise,

though mind and soul be aching,

If with harvest over there is grain enough for gleaning-

There is a new tomorrow and life still has meaning.

~ Author unknown~

beyond the bitterness

Just some thoughts ... One thing thing God seems to be driving home in me lately is the importance that I move beyond the bitterness that I have held against some people in the church that I've came across over time. I feel like one of the steps that I need to take in order to wade through this issue is to express thankfulness for the ways that God did draw me to him through church.

I don't know if any of you all want to join me in doing this, if not, that's totally ok. But here goes....

The church I grew up in taught me that it was possible to know God. There were some beautiful, normal, messy people who took the time to let me into their lives. I saw in them that it was possible to live for something bigger than myself, and I saw the freedom that it brought those people. Looking them, I knew that all this church and God stuff was not just something we talked about or used to make a place in society, but it was a relationship with a living, breathing God. They made me want to live that way too.

I was taught that "personal purity" or "holiness" issues are not just personal, just-you-and-God issues, but that they were things that would affect my relationship with my family, my friends and my (then-future) spouse. I think this is something that has helped me from just saying "screw-it" to these issues when I started questioning certain aspects about Christianity. They didn't know it, but they were teaching me that to live in community, all your dirty laundry affects those you love in some way or another. We are all connected in that way. (Thanks Pastor Hank)

Probably the most important thing that I took away from church (besides finding Jesus of course!) was the conviction that God could be sovereign and loving at the same time. It wasn't that the doctrine was explained to me extremely well, (not bad either) but I really understood it from watching how others trusted God. Especially trusting Him in the face of situations that seemed cruel and hopeless at the time. Thanks to Melissa, Bob, people here ... the list goes on ....

That's hopefully just a start.... Give me strength to bear the fatigue of this coming day with all that it shall bring.

Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray You Yourself in me.

Amen. Tim

Being Right!

Some thoughts going through my mind over the past few days ...

Christianity can be a real challenge for me, as Jesus calls us to accept our mistakes. Accepting is not the same as excusing, however much the two things may get confused in my head. I am what I do, and I cannot hide from that. But darn ... I really want to be "right." Even more difficult, Jesus asks His followers to admit that we cannot do anything about our mistakes without the loving grace of God.

Grace is a foreign element for people who like to be right, as it means trusting in God instead of in yourself alone. (That’s not easy when you secretly think that God should hand over the managerial duties of the universe to you.) A friend at work (whose name I cannot spell lol) helped me to realise this when he said, “It is more important to be kind than to be right.”

This jolted me. I thought of Jesus’ words: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.” There is surely a difference between the righteousness that Jesus makes a priority and merely being right, a difference that Paul elaborates on in his first letter to the people of Corinth:

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Corinthians 13:2, 4-5

Once you know this, it gets easier to be generous with other people and not chalk up their mistakes on some private slate. It ceases to matter whether you were in the wrong or in the right, or possibly a mixture of both. St John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic who suffered imprisonment and persecution for his faith, wrote that, ”In the evening of life we will be judged on our love.” He was drawing on the Bible’s teaching that faith, hope, and love are the only things that will last into eternity, ‘and the greatest of these is love’.

Have a most blessed evening everyone!

Avshalom & Rebecca/The Last Kiss Was Missing

A true story ... A tearjerker even ... In 1915, Sarah Aaronsohn fell for the handsome & dashing Avshalom Feinberg. But she was heartbroken when fell in love with Sarah's, Aaron's and Alex's younger sister (who is not mentioned in the Wikipedia excerpt) Rebecca. He and Rebecca courted and, just before Avshalom set off on his fatal mission to Egypt, agreed to marry after the war. He said that he would come back to her; she said that she would wait for him. Avshalom, of course, never returned.

Rebecca was inconsolable. She never married ... The only knowledge regarding Avshalom Feinberg's fate was the testimony of Lishansky, a team member. He said that he & Feinberg were caught in the crossfire when their Bedouin guides became involved in a gunfight with local Bedouin (from another tribe) near Rafiah. He said that Feinberg was shot and killed.

Fast forward about 50 years. In 1967, after the Six Day War, the Israel Defense Forces established a military government in Sinai. IDF military government officers in the Rafiah area learned that a certain date palm in the area was referred to by the locals as kubr yehudi, "Jewish grave." They went to investigate and, lo and behold, discovered Avshalom Feinberg's remains (which were subsequently positively identified). The date palm had (in the 50 years since his death) sprouted from dates that Feinberg was carrying in his pockets when he was killed. The tree's roots were entwined around his bones. Feinberg's remains were re interred with full military honors at the IDF cemetery on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. An elderly and frail Rebecca Aaronsohn was present and was given the flag that draped Feinberg's coffin. She passed away a few years later.

This is such an incredible story which gives even me watery eyes! He said that he would come back to her and he did; she said that she would wait for him and she did. I cannot help but think that now, at last, thanks to God in His great mercy, that Avshalom Feinberg and Rebecca Aaronsohn are together and that he is giving her the thousand kisses that he wrote about so beautifully.

Elef Neshikot, A Thousand Kisses

First kiss on your white forehead

like a bond in the middle of your figure

and from it come out in glowing abundance

of kisses to your hair

like a crown of pearls made of kisses

I will rain down on the ebony of your curls

that you'll be my beautiful girl

the perfect princess of all the girls in the city.

A thousand kisses to you my love

a thousand a kiss and a kiss

a thousand kisses to you my dear one

so small, so sweet and beautiful.

And also to your ivory white innocent neck

flexible like the neck of a swan

I will cover in chains of kisses

girl of (pure) water, my little one

and right now I'll just put my head on your shoulder

in order to find in it your heartbeat

and kisses for no reason too without lust or limit l

ike flowers thrown by a bride.

A thousand kisses to you my love

a thousand a kiss and a kiss

a thousand kisses to you my dear one

so small, so sweet and beautiful.

The sky isn't in front of my sinful eyes

and I'm not indulging in you till I'm fully satisfied

The light isn't in front of my impure lips

and my chest is scorched until the end

thousandth kiss is not possible, love

the last kiss is missing

only 999

sweet thundering kisses

but still I'll kiss you a thousand kisses.

A thousand kisses to you my love

a thousand a kiss and a kiss

a thousand kisses to you my dear one

so small, so sweet and beautiful.

~Avshalom Feinberg's

Pow Wow Weekend!!!

It’s Pow Wow time here in the metropolis of Chiloquin, Oregon, but I figured I would share anyways. The Restoration Pow Wow is always a big event every year in this former Rez town, but this year has additional meaning to me. Back when I was in the hospital and beyond sick a goal of mine was to be up and about in time for Pow Wow. And here I is, out and about!!! Praise God! Have a most blessed day everyone!!!

Tim

From Ashes To Roses

I have some time this evening so I thought I would share one of my most favorite passages of scripture ...

The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.

He sent me to preach good news to the poor,

heal the heartbroken,

Announce freedom to all captives,

pardon all prisoners.

God sent me to announce the year of his grace—

a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies—

and to comfort all who mourn,

To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,

give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,

Messages of joy instead of news of doom,

a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.

Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory.

will sing for joy in God,

explode in praise from deep in my soul!

He dressed me up in a suit of salvation,

he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness,

As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara.

For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers,

and as a garden cascades with blossoms,

So the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom

and puts praise on display before the nations.

In reading the Gospels I am keenly interested in observing the ministry of Jesus Christ, His attitude towards those who were acknowledged, confessed sinners. To the woman that was brought to Him caught in the very act of adultery, He shows great tenderness, understanding and grace. "Woman, where are your accusers?" "Sir, I guess I don't have any." "Well, neither do I condemn thee, go thy way, sin no more." (John 8) Oh, how tender He deals with her. Then there is the woman at the well in Samaria. Now she wasn't the most moral woman around obviously. She had been married to five different men. And then finally decided marriage wasn't for her and so she was just living with a man. And yet Jesus in His dealing with her was so gracious, revealing to her His identity. Oh, the attitude of Christ towards the sinner was always beautiful! He had good news for sinning man and those that confessed and were aware of their sinful state. "Bouquets of roses instead of ashes" indeed!

“Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness...know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again.”~unknown author

The Peace of Wild Things

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

"When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."


Tim, heading to the woods on another hot day ....

Miracles

I like this quote ....

A miracle is not the breaking of the laws of the fallen world.It is the re-establishment of the laws of the kingdom. -Sourozh