PAD Challenge 13-2 Quiet/loud

Joyful Noise

Drums, guitars, piano, mikes

Clapping, singing, shouting

I confess,

I wear earplugs to church.

When God whispers

in His still, small voice,

I want to be able

to hear Him.

PAD Challenge 13-1 loud/quiet

shout                 
long, loud
scold, yell, cheer
fan, teacher, librarian, mom
Shushing, sneaking, tiptoeing
soft, quiet
whisper

PAD Challenge 12-3 Disaster

The One Who’s Able

Disasters happen every day

To someone, somewhere in the world

A building burned, a huge house hurled

And smashed to smithereens like clay

A storm leaves all in disarray

Disasters can be big or small

An earthquake or a missed phone call

A thousand dead or burnt souffle

Sometimes disasters can be good

They often offer a fresh start

A better job or neighborhood

With that in mind you can take heart

And turn to God in earnest prayer

Depending on His loving care

PAD Challenge 12-2 disaster

Praying Mama

In Louisiana, hurricanes

were common as alligators

and my daughter lived down there

and whether she evacuated

or toughed it out in the hospital where she worked,

I was up in Colorado being a praying mama.

So glad she’s now closer to home in Arizona.

Still a praying mama, but I got lots of practice

in her Louisiana years.

PAD Challenge 12-1 disaster

Disaster

I grew up knowing about two Johnstown floods, 1889 & 1936.

since I lived fourteen miles northwest of it in New Florence.

When I was eighteen and while I was spending the summer

in Cheyenne Wyoming, the third one happened in 1977.

When I first heard about it on the radio, I pictured

a few loaves of bread floating around in store aisles,

but as the day progressed I realized it was much worse.

One of my cousins was on the missing list, (but later found).

A great uncle I barely knew was killed along with his girlfriend

and her daughter. A trailer court I used to visit was wiped out.

A total of 84 people lost their lives and hundreds lost their homes.

Johnstown never recovered: businesses and employees left for good.

I came back from Cheyenne and got a job at Johnstown McDonald’s.

The town was a depressed area and the job itself was depressing.

To make matters worse my three closest friends were unemployed:

due to the flood, a broken arm and being out of work for the winter.

I’d hang out with them and they’d talk about sleeping in while I

had to get up at five and work at McDonald’s. To me, it was a disaster.

Poetic Bloomings words to live by

When in doubt

Love God and others

Can’t go wrong

Love Him in thought, word and deed

Love others by being kind

Try on other’s shoes

PAD Challenge 11-3 forgiveness

The Cage

Bitterness keeps long accounts

And the debt is never paid

It rots you from the inside out

That’s how grumps are made.

Forgiveness quickly sets free

From revenge’s bonds

Both the one who did wrong

And the receiver of the wounds.