spring in the city
the rapid click
of a shutterbug

Susan Beth Furst
Washington D.C. 3/16/19


Can you see the signs?


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

John 3:16 NIV


Hopefully,

Susan


Short and sweet this week! I had a lovely day visiting my sign in Washington D.C. and enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I took some great photos of the urban cityscape including some really cool row houses. And there was this fellow way up in a tree, I got a quick shot of him before he flew away... 

Another good reason to keep looking up...

;)

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Thank you!

Until next week,

Susan
​

​"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Matthew 25:35-36 NIV

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'  Matthew 25:40 NIV

And so it will be for the sheep, the righteous, gathered before Jesus when he sits on his throne. And so it will be for my dad...

My dad died early Saturday morning, the day before Easter. Dad had not spoken for days and his eyes were closed, but he was peaceful. My sister was with him and I was on the speakerphone. We played Tennessee Ernie Ford on the CD player. What a friend we have in Jesus, we sang along. We talked about heaven and told him jokes. We thanked him for introducing us to Jesus.

Hours passed and we got quiet. We just sat in silence, Lori in the room and me on the phone. Dad's breathing got shallow and very slow. But dad was hanging on, it wasn't time. 

It was Good Friday, almost midnight, but Dad wouldn't leave. At 12:15 am Saturday morning, Dad took his last breath. He had crossed over. He was with Jesus.

Lori said to me that it was just like Dad to wait. Did I mention he was stubborn? You see, he wouldn't have considered himself worthy to die on the same day as Jesus did.

That's the thing about my dad, he was humble. He never thought himself better than anyone else. He would do for others, before he did for himself. Maybe it was being the second of five brothers, or losing his mom at age twelve, or living with an alcoholic father...

We will be perfect in heaven. Jesus does that for us when we believe. What age we will be, I don't know. I do know my dad won't need his glasses. And his knees, they will be perfectly smooth, none of the scratches left, Jesus polished those off... 

​
Hopefully,


Susan
;)


"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16 NIV

All you need to know...


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His Peace,

Susan ;)

good vibrations…
 
Organ music and old hymns are essential,
and polkas too.
What is a wedding without a good polka?
And harps,
David played the harp particularly well,
especially when King Saul was in one of his
Saul killed thousands, but David killed tens of thousands, moods.
And Jesus is all right, you know,
just ask the Doobies.
I’m not sure about Black Sabbath.
It never ends well when you play on the dark side.
But we do have a good, good, father and
Jesus loves us, no matter what.
So, go ahead, sing, strum, and dance the polka.
Play your clarinets, violins, and cigar-box banjos!
Make all the music you can,
God is so big you
can never, ever, 
fill him up!
And that
is good...

 
night music  the frogs  fill the pond
 

God invented music, and he can sing,,,
 
 
Where were you?

​"while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?”
Job 38:7 NIV
 


​Hopefully,
 
Susan
;)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NIV

All you need to know...


You can sign up for weekly blog notifications delivered directly to your inbox. Just go to More, at the top of the page, click on Newsletter, and fill out the form. It is that easy. I hope you were blessed and encouraged by this week's post. Remember to share and Thank you for stopping by.

​Susan

Kenny waits by the dumpster
for a couple of bucks&
john 3:16 hope

Susan Beth Furst
November 2015


I have kept this poem since 2015, the year I started to write haiku. I have sent it out a few times, but it was never accepted for publication. Maybe it is just a well. The poem is about a friend I haven't seen in a long time. He used to stand in his spot, in the Walmart parking lot, and I would drive by with some dollar bills and a Jesus Pen or a gospel. Kenny was always happy to see me. We would talk about things, and he would hug me through the car window. He called me his angel. What he didn't know, was that he was my angel.

Then one day Kenny wasn't there anymore. I asked his friends but no one knew where he was. Eventually I just stopped asking. But I never forgot him, Kenny. If he is still alive I hope he is doing well. If not, I think he is in heaven, looking down on me, or maybe he is having too much fun, exploring the universe with Jesus by his side.

"Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!"
Hebrews 13:2 NLT

Life is funny, you're here and then you're not. People come and go and it is never easy when they leave, especially when they die. 

Albert Finney died yesterday. I loved him, even though I had never met him. I love his movies, especially Scrooge. It is one of my all time  favorites. I remember my parents dragging me and my sisters kicking and screaming to the movie theater. I was fifteen and I didn't want to be seen with my mom and dad at the movies on a Friday night. But I got over it real fast. The movie was Brilliant! The music was Brilliant! Albert Finney was Brilliant!

One of my favorite lines from the movie is strangely appropriate on the occasion of his passing.

"Remember Scrooge, Time is short, and suddenly you're not there, anymore!"
The Ghost of Christmas Present

We would all do well to remember that.


For Albert Finney, I shall miss you...

That night
at the movie theatre
Thank you very much...



One last thing. The Hope.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
John 3:16 NLT

The New Living Translation of the Bible is very readable and easily understood. I highly recommend it!

Until next week...

Hopefully,


Susan 

;)

PS  Check out "Life Poems," on this blog. I am open for submissions of haiku, haibun, or short poems which celebrate the inherent value of life, inside and outside of the womb. Guidlines are on the Life Poems Page. Thank you!

Susan

Gagged

One day, they just stopped
playing it.
Then they took it off the shelves.
I found it forty years later,
in a bin
in the back
of a used record store.
I play it
in the dark,
very softly,
like cats
feet...
disappearing
in
the
f
o
g

unborn child
spinning the sound
of silence


In 1974 Seals and Crofts recorded the song, Unborn Child. It spoke about abortion. One day the radio stations stopped playing it. When I looked for it in the record store I couldn't find it. It was boycotted, I would say banned. It disappeared overnight and the voices supporting life were silenced.  

My heart has been heavy this week. The news of the abortion bill, passed in New York, and the one introduced in Virginia, took me back to my senior year in high school. It was 1973, the year Roe v Wade became law. I couldn't understand how we as human beings could sanction the taking of human life in the womb. I don't understand it now, especially now. We've come a long way, and in the wrong direction.  

I have been silent all of these years. It is time to speak. I am coming out. I am pro-life. That's all. No lecture. No sermon. Just the Good News. Jesus loves you and so do I.



We are special:

"For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Psalm 139: 13 ESV

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."
Jeremiah 1: 4 ESV


We are sinners:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3: 23 NIV


We can be forgiven:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1: 9 NIV

The Gift:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 3: 16 NIV

Jesus is the gift. It is up to you, only to open your heart, and believe.

 My Sin Story...

Jesus came into my life when I was very young. I can't remember a time when I did not know him. I was eight years old. My family was on vacation and we were attending church. But this church was a little different than my Lutheran, Jesus loves me, all is well with my soul, church, (not that there's anything wrong with that). The pastor was praying and we all had our heads bowed. The pastor asked if anyone had ever sinned...

Well, yes...

"But I already know Jesus," I thought.

Yes but...

"But they are little sins, surely I'm not that bad..."

Um Hmm...

Then the pastor said that everyone would have their eyes closed, so no one would see if anyone raised their hand.

Well, I started to feel a little bit more comfortable with the idea of admitting that I was a sinner, and God already knew that if I didn't raise my hand I would be telling a lie, so...

My hand shot up like a bat out of, well you know...

What happened next is something that everyone who is, or ever was, a member of a Baptist church is familiar with.

The Great I Gotcha!!

The Pastor, the one who assured me that if I raised my hand everyone would have their eyes closed, neglected to tell me that if I raised my hand, I would also be called up to the front of the church, and everyone would have their eyes very much opened. 

Mom gave me a look...

Dad walked up with me. I remember him telling the pastor that I already knew Jesus, but I got a packet of papers or something, anyway,

as a souvenir...

I tell you this story because it was the first time I remember ever admitting that I was a sinner.

And it felt good.

I think the pastor may have had to admit a little sin (of omission) that day too.

Everyone sins. We can't help ourselves. It's in our DNA.

But the day you meet Jesus, the Son of God, the one who took your sin on his back, so that you could live with him forever. That is a happy day.

A Happy Day Indeed!!


Hopefully,



Susan

"We all die," she told herself, "sooner or later."
 And she cried.
"The sharp colors hurt my eyes,"
The jade plant leaned toward the window, to suck up all the light, leaving a soft amber glow in          the shadows.
​"Perhaps that is where the healing is," she thought, "perhaps it has been there all along."

I lost a friend yesterday. Although we had never met, I knew her through her poetry and the pictures that she colored when she was depressed. She called it color therapy. Rachel was a kind and sensitive person. Her poetry was beautiful and hopeful, and her pictures were too. I am sad when I think that I won't see them anymore.

grey morning
I look for the colors
​you left behind


Death sucks...

So what do you do with that hole in your heart?


"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5 NIV

Jesus was, is, and always will be our healer. He heals us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He healed us when He lived among us, He healed us when He died on a cross bearing our sin as His own, and He healed us once and for all when He said "It is finished." 


Jesus was buried, but not for long. On that third day, He rose again. His tomb was and is still empty! And we, as believers, will live again!

And no, the disciples did not steal his body, do you think they could have fought off a Roman guard and rolled a two ton stone away from the grave, and then carried a dead body with one hundred pounds of embalming spices without anyone seeing them, ...to where?

They thought that it was the end when Jesus died, they didn't know he was gonna get back up out of that grave.

They were wanted men, a threat to the religious establishment, a threat to the Roman empire...

All they wanted to do was fade into the woodwork and go back to fishing...

But Jesus had other plans...

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
John 11:25-26 NKJV

​That is the question...

​What about the Jade plant? Take a close look. It has seen better days. It is scarred and beaten and yet it has life. And just as it sucked up all of the light producing a place of healing, a soft amber glow, so does Jesus. The one who was, and is, and is to come. The one who is eternal.

​
So be happy! When death comes knocking at your door, and you can be sure that he will, spit in his eye. Because Jesus came to Save, and when you believe in Him you will live forever!

For Rachel

freedom
dancing with colors
I can only imagine



Until next week,


hopefully,


Susan


:)

PS Oh death, where is your sting?

"Keith, man?
Didn't I tell you?
Anytime, anywhere
all you gotta do is call


Nothing can separate us from the love of God!
Romans 8

Jesus
hangin' out with
the usual suspects

In the most unlikely places

I Am



I saw this in the grocery store last night. Keith Richards on the magazine rack and Jesus less than a yardstick away. I knew I had been given a gift, so I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. There was a haiku in there somewhere. 

It came to me fast, the imaginary conversation between Keith and Jesus. Actually the conversation was pretty much one-sided, but when God speaks, it is usually polite to just be quiet and listen. And what did Jesus say?

"I am here, even if you can't see me because I'm three magazines to your left, and we are both facing forward." (Of course Jesus can see everything, all the time, but that's neither here nor there). "Just call me, Keith! When you are ready! I can hear you, even without a phone!"

Of course I'm joking...

Sort of...

Jesus is everywhere, all the time, 24/7. And he is ready to listen. Really, all you have to do is call. A simple, "Jesus help!" 

And you don't even have to speak. He knows your thoughts. But don't worry, there are a lot of people who have worse thoughts than you. In fact when it comes to bad thoughts we are all pretty much in the same trash can.

Jesus came to save us.

That is what He wants us to know.

So, if the world is getting a little heavy on your shoulders,

If life seems crazy and you wonder why you are here,

Ask the one who knows.

He will show you the straight path. It's really not so bad. In fact once you are on it, you won't want to leave.

Jesus loves you!

Bad thoughts and all! 

He is here to take them, and then some!

All you have to do is call!


Oh, the usual suspects...

Jesus came to save the lost, the sick, and the broken. That is all of us, even those who seem to have it all together. Jesus knows, remember what I said about him knowing your thoughts...

Jesus was notorious for hanging out with alcoholics, junkies, working girls, the IRS people, even Kings and higher-ups in the government. He also hung with average joes, women :o , and children. And last but not least, the religious leaders of the day. 

And if you're telling the truth, we all fit in at least one of those categories.

So, If you need help, he's waiting...


hopefully,


Susan

​;)

"For God so loved the word that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

​PS This is really good news...

​sick bed
Jesus in the room
I count my blessings


rockin' pneumonia
covered in prayer&
three blankets


day nine / new year's pneumonia


I've been sick in bed with pneumonia for almost two weeks now. New Year's Day it hit me. No warning. Within a few hours, a cough, chills, and a fever. Blindsided. And I had so many plans. I was ready this year. Ready to get my doctors in order, my writing in order, my house in order...

What do you do? Nothing. Really. I could barely keep my eyes open.

The first week was a blur. Day eight, I had a thought about what I wanted for breakfast. Improvement. Day thirteen, I am up and dressed (Pajama casual), cooking (instant oatmeal), writing   (a little), and watching a bit of TV. I still have trouble keeping my eyes open.

The thing is that I should've/could've gotten my pneumonia shot last year. My doctor highly recommended it, in fact he insisted, but I said no, for good reasons I might add, which I'll not go into here.

"I'll never get pneumonia," I thought.

The best-laid plans...

(Robert Burns is my new favorite poet)

So what do you do when there is nothing you can do?

What I haven't mentioned about being sick with pneumonia for two weeks is that I was really afraid. I was afraid that I would never get well, or that maybe I would die. I am almost 64 years old you know, stranger things have happened. 

When fear takes over, your imagination can run wild, and not in a good way. 

So what do you do?

I turn to the Word.

Why? 

Because Jesus knew that Satan uses fear to attack people. In fact, He was always telling people, his disciples mostly, not to be afraid.

There was the incident when Jesus was walking on the water and Peter and company thought He was a ghost!

Fear can paralyze. Fear can torment. Fear can keep you stuck in a place you don't want to be. Fear can keep you from getting well.

Jesus came to set us free from fear. He is stronger than fear. He is stronger than anything Satan can throw at you. Including pneumonia... 

So when I am afraid I let go of that fear and Freefall. I imagine God's hands stretched out underneath me and I know he will catch me. He hasn't missed yet! 

"The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free..."

Luke 4: 18

There is something about Jesus announcing good news to the poor and freedom to the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and the lifting of the oppressed. Jesus can do it. Jesus did it and he does it today. All you have to do is open you hand and take the gift of freedom and life that He offers.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

​Have a good week!


hopefully,

Susan


PS Luke 4:18 was written especially for me. I know this because my birthday falls on April 18. Not a coincidence. What is your birthday verse?  ;)

​
​