Twenty Ten

I like to back the under dog. My Honduran soccer team...not the most popular. My faith, not the most popular. I could go on, but there is something about that which is not greatly appreciated. Someone told me that this new year is overwhelmingly favored as two thousand ten. Given what we did the last century, twenty ten would make more sense. Since it is not preferred...that might just be enough to get me to use it...at least for a few months anyway. The problem is that in Spanish there is consistency in that last century and this one they always use the thousand, so I might slip into that in English without even trying.

Speaking of under dogs, this hymn I heard today I had never heard before. Maybe it is already very popular and I am just jumping on the bandwagon over 100 years late, I am not sure. It spoke to me at any rate enough for me to include the lyrics here and study up some on the man that wrote it...Ralph Hudson, quite the hymn writer (among the over 50 hymns he wrote is included at least one I know "Satisfied") who happened to die in Upland Indiana in nineteen o one.

We did not sing nor our hymnal include all six verses here, but I found them so I am including them. I know people generally do not like to read lyrics like this, but these words need no music to speak me thinks, so I am attaching them here for your edification I would pray:

At the Cross, by Ralph Hudson
1. Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I?

2. Was it for crimes that I have done,
he groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

3. Well might the sun in darkness hide,
and shut its glories in,
when Christ, the mighty maker, died
for man the creature’s sin.

4. Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine
and bathed in its own blood
While the firm mark of Wrath Divine
His soul in anguish stood.

5. Thus might I hide my blushing face
while his dear cross appears;
dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
and melt mine eyes to tears.

6. But drops of grief can ne’er repay
the debt of love I owe.
Here, Lord, I give myself away;
’tis all that I can do.

refrain:
At the cross, at the cross,
where I first saw the light,
and the burden of my heart rolled away;
it was there by faith I received my sight,
and now I am happy all the day.

I am not happy all the day...but I smiled and thought about how I should be just singing/reading that refrain over and over again.

We have tried to take some time to just relax and smile this past week...I have made a concerted effort to spend some more time with the kids, do some just fun things like playing with the Wii that someone blessed us with for Christmas, legos, playing futbol, and even baking some honest to goodness chocolate crinkle cookies, things like that. I did not give myself entirely over to this endeavor still trying to answer emails and such, but did do a good enough job that I completely forgot to write an update to send out on the first of the month, something for this week's to-do list among other things.

We did have time to get Reina's AC unit installed in her old room so she can get back to seeing patients there (thanks Jeanine for the unit!) although all we did was supervise Jorge doing all the actual physical work of getting it in, the bars on the outside of the building to protect it, etc. as well as stopping by to see how Dora's wall is progressing (nicely, thanks for asking) and almost emptied out the clothing container while we wait for the one in queue to clear customs...and enjoyed a brief but very enjoyable and spiritually beneficial visit from some friends. Friends that happen to include this year's His Eyes president and our newly crowned coffee shipping coordinator. Speaking of that, the harvest is in full swing, there is some of the last of 2009's harvest in the US available for sale via the aforementioned shipping coordinator. We should have 2010 ready to go sooner than we thought!