I was at the Strandqvists' house the other day and discovered a book they had and borrowed it. Now I am chewing my way through it. It is a work book connected with a tape series that I really enjoyed a few years ago. I lent the tapes to someone and forget whom - too bad - but now I am enjoying the book. It is an old book by Mark Virkler called "Communion with God" and has good tips for becoming quiet enough to hear God speak. I need that big time! Often when I sit down to meet with God my mind gets invaded with thoughts of shopping lists, people to call, dinner plans, loads of laundry that need to be hung up to dry and other very important matters that make the world go under if they are postponed five minutes. Believe me, I need all the help I can get to learn to be still before God, and this book is good, although the woman on the cover looks like a bad joke from the eighties. It is a real work book, it even has quizzes and questionnaires so that you can find out what "worship style" you are, sort of like what the teachers always talk about with learning styles.

In it is this little poem that is so good that I just have to share it, a poem by Helen Mallicoat:

I was regretting the past and fearing the future.
Suddenly my Lord was speaking:
"My name is I Am."

He paused. I waited. He continued,

"When you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard.
I am not there. My name is not I Was.

When you live in the future, with its problems and fears, it is hard.
I am not there. My name is not I Will Be.

When you live in this moment it is not hard. I am here.
My name is I Am"