Two classes of human beings defy
psychological categorizing
and are full of surprises:
Poets and Saints.
~ Sigmund Freud

Don`t cry yet;
there`s still God!

~ Carissa Cooper
When you have exhausted all the possibilities,
remember this -
you haven't.
~ Thomas Edison

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves,
for they shall never cease to be amused.

~ unknown

Use what talents you possess:
the woods would be very silent
if no birds sang there
except those that sang best.

~ Henry Van Dyke

Experience is something you don't get
until just after you need it.

~ unknown

Hope means hoping
when things are hopeless,
or it is no virtue at all.
Faith means believing the incredible,
or it has no virtue at all.

~ G.K. Chesterton
Poetry takes something
that we know already
and turns it into something new.
~ T.S. Eliot

When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself.

~ Oswald Chambers
Planting seeds
inevitably
changes my feelings
about rain.
~ Luci Shaw (from her poem "Forecast")
The first demand any work of art
makes upon us is surrender.
Look.  Listen.  Receive.
Get yourself out of the way.
~ C.S. Lewis
Doubt comes from a struggling mind.
Unbelief comes from a struggling will.
~ Chuck Missler

Remember that
the darkest hour
only lasts 60 minutes

~ on the girls' bathroom wall/Gordon College
If you're going through Hell,
don't stop!
~ a great song I can't remember (anyone know?)
Do not have your concert first, and then
tune your instrument afterwards.
Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer,
and get first of all into harmony with Him.
~ Hudson Taylor

Is prayer your steering wheel
or your spare tire?

~ Corrie Ten Boom

One good thing about being wrong
is the joy it brings to others.

~ unknown
The best translation of the word "love"
is the name Jesus;
That will tell us everything about love
we need to know.
~ Canon Tallis
It is the nature of grace
always
to fill spaces
that have been empty.
~ Goethe
a children's book is
any book
a child will read.
~ Madeleine L'Engle
I would like to
paint the way a bird sings.
~ Claude Monet
Creativity
is a way
of living
Life
~ Madeleine L'Engle

"Maybe you've not yet tasted
your favorite food"
(regarding the feast prepared for us in heaven) 

~ Randy Alcorn in Tell Me About Heaven
All shall be well
and all shall be well
and all manner of things shall be well.
~ Julian of Norwich

Spiritual warfare
isn't just casting out demons;
it's Spirit-controlled thinking
and attitudes.

~ Dean Sherman/YWAM
Beware of paying attention
or going back to what you once were,
when God wants you to be something
that you have never been.
~ Oswald Chambers

Start by doing what's necessary,
then what's possible,
and suddenly you are doing
the impossible.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

When writing,
be more or less
specific

~ unknown
I loved Christmas
until I grew up and realized
I had to make it happen!
~ an exasperated customer at the Living Cornerstone bookstore

My best friend is a person who
will give me a book
I have not read.

~ Abraham Lincoln

You will ask me where I get my ideas...I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned...in the silence of the nights, early in the morning... tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

~ Ludwig Von Beethoven

Even if you're on the right track
you'll get run over if you just sit there.

~ Will Rogers

In the Valley (Carol's Song)

For Carol Perez, who spoke these thoughts to me...
Video Exclusive
Verse 1:
Here I am in the valley
Where death has met me and applied his sting
But don’t cry for me in the valley
‘Cause God’s in control, and I wouldn’t change a thing
I have spent much time in the valley
This one’s no different than others before
I have learned so much in the valley
About hope, and peace, and a love that restores

CHORUS:
So here I rest in the valley
Safe in the wounded hands of love
The arms of Jesus surround me
While my broken heart is sheltered above
He’s opened a door in the valley
Where hearts can be healed and prisoners go free
Come run with me in the valley
Where death brings life, and the bitter is sweet
In the valley, In the valley

Verse 2:
I’m not afraid of this valley
Although I know the days ahead are long
My heart takes courage from the Truth I know
‘Cause I’ve learned to sing the sweet Valley Song
I’m made whole in the valley
Jesus won’t hold back his comforting touch
No other way to be like Him
This Man of Sorrows, my heart loves so much



© 2007 Cincogatos Productions
Words & Music by Lisa LaLonde

How the Song Was Written

When Frank Perez died, he left behind his wife, Carol, whom he had known since they were children in the same neighborhood. Carol was now facing life without her best friend. But fear and regret was not what came out of her mouth when she spoke with me a few days after his death. As she shared with me, I started jotting down the phrases she was saying, which included the idea that she had no regrets and “wouldn’t change a thing.” An amazing statement from a new widow, but it represented her complete faith in God and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

The next day these words came out on paper when I wasn’t even looking for them, straight from Carol’s heart through my listening ear. Within a few hours, there was her song, as if she had written it herself.

I sang it for her at Frank’s service. Really, I sang it for all of us. I think Carol knew that it was her best love song.

We recorded this a few weeks later so that Carol could “keep” the memory of it. It is an exculsive video to this website, and not on any recording yet. It is my hope it will bless more people than just Carol and myself and the family that misses Frank.