Good morning, or Great morning?

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. (Mark 1:35 KJV) 

 It's no coincidence that I woke up at 5:30am on my own today.

It was God challenging me to get out of bed and spend some time with Him before my busy day begins. For a few weeks at The Rock church in Point Loma - San Diego - our pastor, Miles, has been encouraging us to rise up an hour before our actual day begins and pray.

I've actually woken up most days since that call to action - either on my own, or with the help of Annie (my labradoodle) pawing at my face. But what's interesting is that it's ALWAYS one hour before my alarm clock goes off!

So, in a "God incident" (there are no coincidences) I woke up at 5:30am today when my alarm wasn't set until 6:30. Ha! I didn't rise and shine at that moment however. I did consider it ;) so I half way slept and half way dreamed for another hour until my alarm did buzz. I got up, fed te dogs, let them out and then say down for my morning prayer moment. When I opened the You Version bible app on my iPhone, today's devotional - was the scripture listed above!

This life is not a test, but an opportunity to learn and grow each and every day! Even if you are not on the Christian path like I am, you still have goals and dreams, right?

I am pretty certain if you seek those things out in the light of what is true and right in your heart and spirit, you will succeed! And I am also pretty sure that He will reveal himself to you also - as long as your eyes are not clouded with the ego of pride and selfishness - or by despiriting things like drugs and malicious desires.

Today, I learned that He is here, encouraging me to spend more time getting to know Him and less time "sleeping. in" I hope that you also "wake" early and find your calling!

Happy Morning Mother's Day!

Cheers to the blessings of our families and the joy of babies and children in the world!

Amen!

Poetry Wordle

This wordle comes from the poetry I write during my silent moments of prayer. 

You can read some those poems here.

It's interesting to see which words appear the largest, 

for they are the ones that repeat the most.

In my poems - it's ALL about TODAY, LOVE and LIGHT.

Yes.

Happy Mother's Day!

xOx,

Ms. Panda

flowers in your hair

Proverbs 1: 8-9: 

"Pay close attention to what your father tells you; 

Never forget what you learned at your mother's knee. 

Wear their counsel like flowers in your hair, 

Like rings on your fingers."

***

He is with me!

I know-

And it's easy for me to show!

The more I learn and grow

The more I can see and teach!

May my work be full of reach!

May my heart bring me to my knees.

Wearing His love like flowers in my hair,

That is how they will know He is there.

***

Second Corinthians says,

 “Though our outward bodies are wasting away,

our inward bodies are being renewed day by day.”

***

Dear God, 

Commit me to your teachings, a life together, the common meals and the prayers.

Amen.

***

He said to me through poetry,

"You will be needed more and more

Your strength and courage is what I called you for

Go and share my love with them

Go spread my light as your sister's friend."

***

Hebrews 10: 24-25:

Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out,

not avoiding worshiping together as some do, 

but spurring each other on,

especially as we see the big Day approaching...

***

If you would like me to send you a personal poem of strength and encouragement, send an email with your request and address to:

amanda.steinhaus@gmail.com.

xOx,

Ms. Panda

Hello DJ Ms. Panda!

After joining the Rock Church and getting "right" with God, the music that I had been listening to on the radio didn't have the same effect on me.  The beats and the tempos were still great, but the lyrics felt "empty."

I tried to get into Christian music and some songs got me pumped, because they were the same ones that we were singing in worship on Sunday mornings, and the same ones that could bring me to tears.

However, I started to feel a calling bubbling up inside of me - one to start making electronic Christian music.  I envisioned myself with two turntables and a microphone - beat matching and scratching downtown at 2am when all the clubs let out on a Friday night - inviting all the party people to come chill in my music space and come back down to earth, allowing me to minister to them with musical prayer.

I just needed one thing - to learn how to DJ and match up all those beats, create those mixes and write the meaningful prayers aka lyrics.

So I began seeking - and we all know what happens when we seek - we find.

It just so happened that my church, The Rock, offers a  DJ Ministry and I hopped on board just in time for the first class.  I recruited a couple of girlfriends and carpooled down to the awesome event space called the 1825 Ministry located at 705 16th St, San Diego, CA.  

Look at all the beautiful people who showed up that night!

Here I am learning to scratch and play with the cross fader...

That's DJ Ketchup next to me! He is pretty awesome for offering up his DJ equipment to amateurs like myself to come and stumble all over.  However, he said it best that first night,

"Once I turned my equipment over to God,
I received more blessings than I ever did when I was hoarding it all to myself."

Amen DJ Ketchup!  Thank you for feeding that calling :)  Now, it's feeding mine!  AWESOME!

Here is a video of me scratching on that first night. 

I had so much fun!  It's hard not to smile when you are learning how to do something fun!

***

Tonight was the second session and we worked more on timing. Here I am scratching on REAL records.  

SO FUN!!!!

 I just wish I had a set of turntables at home so I could just spend hours on end perfecting my craft.  For now, I will just have to stalk Guitar Centers and go to these types of workshops, but once it gets to the point where I can start making my own mixes - watch out Christian music - you are about to be changed forever :)

DJ MS. PANDA is set free!

xOx,
Ms. Panda

The Love Story of Alicante

 During the 11th century, the Moors ruled over a thriving port city on the Mediterranean Sea. 

Rich in history, this city was the ultimate prize to victors of numerous wars.  

In the time of our story, a fair Moorish King ruled the land and lived high above its port in the Castillo de Santa Barbara, this breathtaking castle...

   

The King lived in the castle with his beautiful daughter, Cantana, who was his pride and joy.  Cantana was a free spirit, full of joy and love.  She was as lovely and soft as a rose, yet her amazing spirit and open heart made her beauty shine brighter than any star in the universe  Unlike other princesses, Cantana appreciated her servants and treated them as equals.  She especially loved attending festivals in the city, for it was then  that she was able to live freely among the many colorful people of her father's kingdom.

On the summer solstice, Cantana begged her father to grant her permission to celebrate the most important festival of the year, the Bonfires of Saint John.  For weeks the villagers built elaborate parade floats in all of the city's streets - all for one purpose - to burn as bright, big fires in honor of Saint John.  The King, knowing his daughter's lust for life, agreed to let Cantana attend the festival, but only if she promised one thing - to stay in the company of his guards at all times - for the King would never forgive himself if anything happened to his beautiful daughter.

Cantana, thrilled by her father's approval, decorated herself in silks of all colors and pinned her hair with the most fragrant flowers from the castle's garden.  The guardsmen accompanied her down the mountain, but had a hard time keeping up as Cantana skipped ahead for delight in her thoughts of the celebration that awaited her.  Fires, fireworks and friends from all walks of life smiled as Cantana arrived to the street party.    

She danced and laughed and talked with many cheerful people through the night.

On the sandy beach, where the pyrotechnics lit fireworks, Cantana sat and rested awhile to take in the show and admire her home - the Castle - as it rested quietly atop the mountain above the city.

Just then, a beggar from the streets approached Cantana.  As her guardsmen began to stop him, Cantana said not to worry and invited the man over.  He introduced himself as Ali, and confessed that he had been following her since her first appearance at the festival hours before.  

He said, 

"Everything about you is unique. 

From the top of your head 

to the tip of your toes.  

No one else can walk how you walk, 

or laugh like you laugh, 

or dance how you dance, 

smile how you smile, 

or shine like you shine.  

You're one of a kind.  

You are amazing to me."

Cantana admired Ali for his bravery.  Even though he was a beggar, she saw him as her equal.

She knew that his heart was pure and immediately felt a strong explosion in her heart. 

Cantana was going to save him from his life on the streets.

She grabbed Ali's hand and danced around him singing,

""All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small, 

All things wise and wonderful-

The Lord God made them all.

Come with me, Ali!

I will love you just as He made you -

To my heart you are true.

You are amazing to me, too!"

And while the guards were watching the fireworks display, Cantana and Ali slipped away to dance and sing and laugh and smile the night away.  

The next morning, Cantana arrived back at her father's castle and declared her love to the King.

"Father, my King, 

as you are aware, 

the love in my heart knows not class, 

and I want to be married to my heart's true love.

He is Ali."

The King became very upset, for Cantana had broken her promise to stay with the guardsmen all night.

In his anger, he forbid Cantana to marry Ali and told her to make him leave immediately!

The hearts of both lovers broke together at that same moment.  

Their knees became weak and tears poured from their eyes as they fell to the ground.

Overcome with sadness, the light that once shined in Cantana's heart went out.

Overcome by despair,

she looked one last time into Ali's eyes and said, 

"If I cannot be with you, 

my true love,

I do not wish to live."

Ali replied, 

"If I cannot be with you, 

my true love,

my life is also over." 

So the two star-crossed lovers joined hands tightly, 

ran quickly from the King and the guards

and jumped from the castle walls and far down into the salty sea below. 

The King immediately felt remorse for his hasty response to his daughter's plea, 

and overcome by his sadness he kneeled at the castle wall and cried for weeks. 

His tears slowly eroded the mountain into the shape of a Moor's face.

To this day you can see what the trail of the King's tears created.

  

The name of the city - Alicante - forever echoes the sad love story of Ali and Cantana.

THE END

The Blind Men and The Elephant

I overheard a story today that has Hindu origins, but basically describes the concept, "All roads lead to God."  It's just a short anecdote I overheard and thought I would share.  I may not have the whole story here, but you will get the point, I'm sure.

The story is about a few blind men in India who encounter an elephant.  

Curious, they all touch different parts of the animal to try and understand what it actually is.

One of them grabs the elephant's leg and describes, "It's like a tree trunk."

Another grabs its tail and says, "No, it's more like a vine."

Yet another grabs its ear and says, "You are both wrong, it is like the fan of the palm."

The story illustrates that without an objective authority to see the whole animal as an elephant, the men will always cling to their ideas and how they feel - convinced that they are right.  

Similarly, different religions claim that their interpretations of God are the right and only way to interpret His glory.

However, we can only be open to the existence of something greater than anything we can see or imagine during our short and seemingly "blind" trials on earth, which makes me wonder, "Do all roads lead to God?"

One thing I know for sure - God is Love - and the Word is my path to receiving His blessings. 

What do you think?

5 movies that inspired my writing career

Today is the first of two theme days that occur during the month-long Blogathon challenge.  Our topic: 5 movies that have inspired you, or inspired your writing.  As a writer for kid's, I am pretty inspired by animated films, more than dramas.  Therefore, most of my choices are kid's flicks.

1. "Shrek"

As a creative writer with a child-like perspective, I remember vividly when the Shrek movies came out.  Their humor and grown-up references hidden in the fairy tale theme opened my eyes to a new kind of creative writing. I was in college at the time and the Shrek series inspired me to write this play.

2. "Up"

Not only did "Up" have an incredible story line, but it has gifted me with phrases like "Collar of shame" which I used in this post where I actually have a picture of my dog, Lucy, wearing the dreaded E-collar.

Being the happy owner of two canines, I also loved the fact that the dogs in the movie wear electronic translator collars that allow the viewer to hear their "doggy" thoughts.  My hands down favorite example of this was the simple word, "Squirrel!" Anytime someone said the word "Squirrel" all of the dogs would go running to find one. I still laugh about that and even use it on my dogs! It never fails!

3. Finding Nemo.  

Similarly, I love the voices of the seagulls in "Finding Nemo." The way the writers had them say, "Mine?" "Mine?" "Mine?" all the time, is so relevant to how one-track-minded they are.  Eating = survival.  It also illustrates the ego and how we are always fighting for what we think is ours.  It was a pretty small part of the movie, but very moving to me and something I've been inspired by in many ways.

4. "Kung Fu Panda" 

In both Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2, the writers leave the viewer with powerful thoughts. From the first movie, my favorite line was from Master Oogway under the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom.  "There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.  That is why they call it the present."

In the second movie, Po is challenged to find "Inner Peace" - a concept that many might expect to blow over a child's head.  He meets the Soothsayer, who tells him, "Your story may not have such a happy beginning, but that does not make you who you are, it's the rest of the story, who you choose to be...  So, who are you Panda?"  The most important time is NOW.  Kung Fu Panda is my "Zen" movie.  It not only inspires me in my writing, but also in my daily living.  As Master Shifu explains, "Anything is possible when you have inner peace."

5. "The Goonies"

"The Goonies" is my favorite movie of all time.  To me, it is movie perfection.  It has an awesome story about finding the treasure of the lost pirate One-eyed Willie, excellent bad guys, funny moments (the Truffle Shuffle) and a happy ending (finding the treasure!).  I think "The Goonies" represents storytelling at its finest.  

I love movies and good storytelling.  Last year, during this theme day, I wrote about my 5 Favorite Children's Picture Books.