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OW brightly glistening in the sun
The woodland ivy plays!
While yonder beeches from their barks
Reflect his silver rays.

That sun surveys a lovely scene
From softly smiling skies;
And wildly through unnumbered trees
The wind of winter sighs:

Now loud, it thunders o’er my head,
And now in distance dies.
But give me back my barren hills
Where colder breezes rise;

Where scarce the scattered, stunted trees
Can yield an answering swell,
But where a wilderness of heath
Returns the sound as well.


For yonder garden, fair and wide,
With groves of evergreen,
Long winding walks, and borders trim,
And velvet lawns between;

Restore to me that little spot,
With gray walls compassed round,
Where knotted grass neglected lies,
And weeds usurp the ground.

Though all around this mansion high
Invites the foot to roam,
And though its halls are fair within—
Oh, give me back my HOME!




—-Anne Bronte

What are the duties of equals?

The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each other,[1] in giving honor to go one before another;[2] and to rejoice in each other’s gifts and advancement, as their own.[3]

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We All Need to Pray

for the Stauffer family of Edson, Alberta, who have lost a beloved daughter and sister. From Terry Stauffer’s blog:

Last night at about 4:45 our precious 14 year-old daughter Emily was attacked and killed as she was out for a walk. We don’t know a lot of details, but we know that two young men came upon the scene right away, but it was too late for Emily.

Terry Stauffer is pastor of the Edson Baptist Church. Both Terry and his wife Juanita have commented here and posted Sunday hymns on their own blogs, and Juanita has contributed recipes to the Recipe Round Ups. So I feel like I know them, at least a little.

According to CBC News, here’s the statement the Stauffer family gave to the media :

The family of Emily Stauffer wish to thank the public for their sympathy and concern. We are mourning the death of our daughter, but we are comforted by knowing she is with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our daughter was a vibrant young woman who loved Jesus and her life.

Let’s pray

• that our heavenly Father comfort them and give them his peace
• that he uphold them minute by minute over the next days, weeks and months.
  
• that he surround them with family and friends to care for them.
  
• that he bring his justice in this horrid, horrid, horrid crime.
• that he use these circumstance to show (quoting Terry Stauffer) “the value of good, Gospel theology.”
• that he use the witness of the Stauffers to bring people to himself.
• that he give the Stauffers their desire that Emily’s funeral be “be Gospel-saturated and glorifying to Christ our Redeemer.”

Read more from Canada.com.

Update on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 9:17AM by rebecca

In the comments, Kim from Hiraeth suggests that we pray for the boys who witnessed the attack on Emily and went for help.  I can think of at least two requests:

• That God protect them from being severly traumatized by what they saw.
  
• That he help them remember what they saw clearly enough that the killer can be identified and caught and brought to justice.