Feeling Honored

Congratulations to the winners of the 10th annual poetry contest celebrating the Crystal Lake Public Library’s 100th Anniversary.

Pictured at left from left to right: Sharon Davis (1st Place Adult Contest); Reese Grindstaff (3rd Place Young Adult Contest); Alanna Taubin (1st Place Young Adult Contest); Kerry Nenn (Honorable Mention Adult Contest).  Other winners (not pictured): Michael Penkava (2nd Place Adult Contest); Sue Haslwanter (3rd Place Adult Contest); Victoria Tabert (2nd Place Young Adult Contest); Amy Ciavarella (Honorable Mention Young Adult Contest).

     Even if 4th place did not earn me one of the prizes, I was still excited to accept my certificate and read my winning poem to a (very small) audience at the Crystal Lake library. Among the listeners were my husband, whose sweet support I so appreciate, and my church group, whom he made arrangements with to be there too. I feel very blessed. I am praising God for this opportunity and for the great people He has placed in my life.

Below is my entry. Enjoy, but beware, I’m told it makes readers hungry.

Craving

My stomach has a craving
but it won’t tell me for what.
There’s a growling, a gnawing,
way deep in my gut. 

I’ve tried pickles and peanuts
and popcorn and pie.
Nothing will stop it
and I don’t know why. 

Donuts and ding dongs,
a decadent delight,
lollipops and licorice,
all candy in sight. 

Jelly beans and jawbreakers
just won’t do it,
not even bubble gum,
no matter how I chew it. 

What’s left to try?
On this quest for perfection,
to find the right taste,
I’ve tried every confection. 

I’ve raided the cabinets
and searched through the drawers.
I emptied the fridge,
and even made s’mores. 

Nothing seems to stop it.
No food will match
this hunger I have –
it’s an itch I can’t scratch. 

Not chocolate, or ice cream
or waffles with butter.
A different idea –
dare I mutter? 

What if I tried something else?
Could the craving be so stealthy?
Is it actually possible
that I want something healthy?

 

One Tag. One Gift. A Lifetime of Impact

You’re a seven-year-old boy who will not be getting the soccer ball he wants this Christmas. You are a six-year-old girl who won’t be receiving the coat you need this winter. You will not be opening presents with your parents on Christmas morning. Why? You are one of the 1.7 million children whose parent is currently incarcerated. Unable to hit the Christmas sales at the mall, unable to present their children with gifts, these parents need your hands and feet to minister to their children when they cannot. Living in surroundings most of us cannot comprehend, these children need you to reach through the bars and bring them hope this season.

How? Angel Tree.

It could happen like this.
Susan casually chooses a tag off the tree in her church foyer.  On it is a gift request. This will be a good project to let the kids help with, she thinks. Susan takes the tag home. She shows it to her kids, who agree to go shopping with her to purchase a gift for Jordan, a nine-year-old whose mother has been in prison since he entered preschool. Through Angel Tree, Susan, and her kids, Jordan receives not only the baseball cap he will treasure through high school and into adulthood, but he also hears the message of Christ and begins to know the love of God.

As you are making your Christmas lists this year, add just one more. You can choose to make a difference in a child’s life. By supporting Angel Tree through the purchase of a gift, or a financial donation, anyone can reach out to these children with hope.

What is Angel Tree?

For 30 years, Angel Tree has provided this opportunity to impact the lives of kids across the nation. Created by a convict who felt and saw a need, this ministry has grown to bless millions of families with both material and spiritual gifts.

During the Christmas season, Angel Tree partners with organizations to purchase gifts for the children of inmates. In the summer, the Angel Tree Camping program offers these kids the opportunity to attend youth camps. Year-round, mentoring programs match children with caring adults who share Christ’s love and offer guidance and support. From school supplies, to sports programs, to hot meals, additional donation opportunities provide support for these children the whole year through.

Ultimately, families are reached with the love and message of Christ. It is with this goal in mind that Angel Tree continues to seek support and extend this outreach.

What can I do?

Every person can make an impact. Share the love of Christ this Christmas through Angel Tree:

• Register your organization or church to be part of the program. You will receive all you need to create an incredible ministry opportunity for your group.
• Purchase a gift – simply select a tag from an Angel Tree. You can provide the gift a child might otherwise not receive.
• Find out more about involvement in the Year-Round Angel Tree ministries. Maybe you would like to be a personal mentor, send a child to camp, or pay for a new backpack in the fall.
• Donate. Angel Tree offers the opportunity to transform lives. By making a donation, your support will help families receive the hope they so desperately need.
• Pray for this outreach. The needs are many. The children are many. The prayers must be many.

Eternal Spring

Didn’t make it to the well today.
Too much to do.
Busy, busy. Later, yes, later.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Feeling thirsty,
but don’t have the time.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Supplies running low.
Maybe tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Don’t think I need to.
Probably I don’t need to.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Throat is dry, but I’m ok.
Don’t want to make the time.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
But I’m well supplied
With other things.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Unsatisfied, feeling dry.
Dehydration taking hold.
Did you make it to the well today?
Loved ones start to ask.
No. Not needed. I am fine.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Now I’m wondering why.
Body aching with longing.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Feeling parched and empty.
Oh but for a sip, but no.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
The drought in me goes on.
My heart a desert land.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
I am afraid I’ll never go.
Do I remember the way?
Didn’t make it to the well today.
But how I long for just a drink.
Brittle bones, cracked skin.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Not sure I could make the journey.
Too far. I’m too far.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
Is there hope left for me?
So dried out and weak.
Didn’t make it to the well today.
But I now know I must go
To satisfy this thirst.
Trying to make it to the well today.
But, too feeble. Too frail.
Faint,
fragile,
falling.
Can’t make it to the well today.
Through cracked, parched lips, I cry
Lord, have mercy on this dry and weary soul!
And it begins to rain.

 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water
welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:13-14

Thirst

To see your light so bright that it outshines everything else

To hear your voice so loud it drowns out all my other thoughts

To feel your love so immensely that it erases every black emotion

To have your glory flood over my soul so fully that it washes away all else

That your presence would rain down on everything in me, drenching every inch

That no part of me could escape your loving embrace

That no shadow on my heart could exist in the amazing radiance of your grace

That I see you, all of you, so clearly, that my gaze strays nowhere else

Kerry Nenn – Author!

I’ve been writing poems and short stories since old enough to wield a pen. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t dream of being a published author some day.

30 years later, that day has finally arrived. My first book, Random Thoughts, has been published! It is now available on Amazon.com.

Waiting so long for something makes its arrival feel a bit strange. It’s not how I expected. I wonder if anything ever is. Part of me wants to shout from the rooftops, give a big Woohoo! and attempt the cartwheels I haven’t done since those days when this dream first began. Another part of me thinks I can’t make a big deal of it because…well, that’s the question. I feel like my heart is being held back…in an attempt at humility? because I’m afraid no one will like it? because people publish books every day so in the grand scheme of things it’s not that grand? because it took so much longer than I had hoped, so now it’s more relief that it’s done than excitement that I feel? because I would love to be able to show it to my dad, and it’s two years too late? because it’s so much more exciting and significant to me than everyone else around me? I’m sure it’s some combination of those things, and more.

What I do know is that I’m grateful to be published. I thank God for the opportunity and pray the book is a blessing to at least one person out there.

I also know I do not plan to stop here. God willing, we will next see a children’s book by Kerry Nenn.

I wonder what it will feel like to see that in print.

Summer School

Summer 2008

I lost my job. I had been praying for a new job. My plan was to find something then quit my current job. Instead, I was laid off with no prospects in sight.

I got a new job. It paid less than the previous one. I got a new home.

I love this job, which I still have. Our new home is smaller, cheaper, with easier upkeep. The new location led us to our current church home, which I also love.

Lessons learned:

• My prayers are not always answered how I expect them to be.
• God works everything together for my good. He provides for all my needs.
• The Lord guides my path when I trust Him.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Summer 2009

I lost my car. I was in a terrifying car crash. We rolled over on the highway four times.

I got a new car. I got a new sense of mortality.

Lessons learned:

• God answers when we cry out to Him.
• I must and can trust Him with my life and death.
• He must have more planned for my life, because I survived a crash that could have easily been fatal.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Summer 2010

I lost my dad. After four weeks of battle in the hospital, he went Home.

I lost friendships. Relational struggles turned my world upside down.

I got a new perspective. I got new friendships – with the same people, at a new and deeper level. I got a new heart.

Lessons learned:

• I cannot rely on my human relationships to sustain me, to fulfill me.
• In Christ alone can I find my strength. He is my foundation.
• Forgiveness. I learned about forgiveness.
• Sometimes we are stretched in painful but effective ways to grow our faith, our character, our love for God and others.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25

Summer 2011

I lost material possessions. The basement flooded. It wasn’t very bad, and we really lost very little. The biggest loss was in time. Move everything out. Clean everything up. Put everything back.

I got another new perspective – on “stuff.”

Lessons learned:

• The more stuff you have, the less free you are.
• Don’t be too attached to material possessions.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-20

Summer 2012…

TBA

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

The Whole World

Some friends of mine recently travelled to Pittsburgh, PA. This was not a fun jaunt to visit the sites. They were bringing their seven-year-old son to see the best in the nation for the specialized surgery he needed.

To fast forward a bit, God did amazing things to work out so many details, provide for his health, see him through recovery, and get them all safely back home to Chicagoland. Praise the Lord!

But, let’s back up a bit, to the days they were out east, visiting doctors and preparing for the surgery. From what I saw and heard, their faith was sustaining them. They seemed to be doing well. Strange, then, it was, that I was struggling. My heart was so heavy for their situation. Being so far from home, away from normal comforts, away from many friends and family members, all sounded so tough to me. Add to that the uncertainty of exactly what the procedure would entail and the possible risks involved.

It just sounded like so much. I wanted to be able to be there with them, to pray with them (even though I was praying for them already,) to give a hug if they needed one, to remind them in person they are loved and not alone even though they were so far from home. I felt such a burden for them. God used this to continually bring me to Him in prayer.

At one point, while praying for them, I again had thoughts of wishing I could do more and of concern that they were far from where I or others near home could easily help. It was then that God reminded me, that, though they were far from my hands, He had them in His. I wasn’t there with them, but He was. “I’ve got them.” was the phrase that was impressed upon my heart and mind. It was ok.

Reassurance, relief, gratitude, hope, and peace flooded my soul. Humility worked its way in, too, as I was reminded I can do nothing, compared to God. Who cares if I’m not with them, or where I want to be in any other situation, if God is there?

It was so good to remember this truth. Whatever any of my friends face, He has them. Whatever my family members are going through, even if I can’t be with them, God is. Whatever situations in my life that I try to get under control, it’s all in God’s hands.

“I’ve got them.”