dotcom dotcom

.the wallet tells all.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:22:00 +0000

As I was driving around doing those ambiguous arrends on my day off yesterday, I was listening to npr. On "All Things Considered" they did a story about one of the few Christian churches sanctioned by the Chinese government. NPR had gone to China originally to report on the growing number of Chinese christians in the athiest country, at the time of an interview with a local pastor, the devestating earthquake hit. The story then turned into one about churches after the earthquake, where they are meeting, what they are doing, how they are involved with the relief work. They reported that last Sunday with 30 people attending the church they raised 17000 yen, that is equivalent to 80 American dollars per person. Incredibly telling about Chinese Christians, no wonder the kingdom is growing faster there than anywhere else in the world.

Is there a church in America that could raise an average of 80$ on a random Sunday morning? No building program, no sermon series placing conviction for giving weeks in advance, no little kids creating Lotty Moon boxes...just raising money to completely give away...I'd like to see it.

.where my gurls be.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:21:00 +0000

I hate to be "that person" but I just have to for one second...then I'll be over it. I started this blog a few years ago and had been pretty faithful to it. While they all said, "sure Kate, I read your blog" only on occasion would I have a comment from them. It was the faithful lightbox that has been around since the beginning. And then...years later...all my ladies (and..yes, even some of THE LADIES) have joined the blogosphere. So I just want to give a shout out to all of you who are jumping in, a little late in the game, letting you know that after a brief hiatus...I'll be joining you again.

Let's just see who is out there these days, first of all, my best friend from high school (yes...highschool) met my old room mate who used to drive a black cougar (as I remember it). My first and last room mate from college, who happened to play a few pranks on people but seemed to NEVER get blamed, and a girl who could take anyone DOWN in an arm wrestling match but could never handle a simple love pat on the back. This lady may have lived above a strange hamburger joint, but mysteriously never smelled like beef. Martha came into the game a while back...but she deserves some recognition too. And OF COURSE we can be blog friends.

With some oldies come some newbies too...so my current room mate has a blog, this lady who fly fishes in skirts. And although she may not know it yet, we'll be real live co-workers in a couple weeks.

So ladies...hello and welcome. These are some amazing women, I recommend reading their blogs.

.sleeping under stars.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:29:00 +0000

in preparation for..

I'm going to sleep outside, in the city, just so I can use my new...

I'll keep warm by the super light and durable down in my...

.something I'd stand for.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:34:00 +0000

I wish America would completely withdraw from the Olympic Games 2008.

We would claim "We willingly put aside our opportunity for success, fame and gold for the cause of justice and to proclaim that we see the forgotten and hear the cries of the voiceless". But instead we'll turn our heads towards that olympic flame, cheer loudly "U.S.A." as to not hear that nagging voice of truth whispering 'what am I really supporting".

I love the Olympics. I love the tradition, the history, the commradory, the global unity and excitement. I love the underdog coming from behind to win and the dreams that are realized as obscure national anthems are played at award ceremonies...but I have to say, I don't think I'll be watching this summer's games...I just don't think I could stomach it.

But that's just my humble...but strong...opinion.

.sermon.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:30:00 +0000

the only way to escape sacrifice is to run from love

(more thoughts on Irwin's sermon to come...)

.daily henry nouwen.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:49:00 +0000

Enough Light for the Next Step

Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, "How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?" There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let's rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

.owen meany wouldn't dispute.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:51:00 +0000

"Many things the gods achieve beyond our judgment, " said the sorrowful girl. "what we thought, is not confirmed and what we thought not, God contrives."

.the next great idea.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:51:00 +0000

(the first great one was dotcom dotcom just in case you forgot...)

Netflix needs to hook up with Google (who DOESN'T need to hook up with google?) and make a way to update your queue by sending a text to google! how great would that be??

.someone addressed this very same thing a long time ago.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:38:00 +0000

I felt more loved when you said something hard, when you addressed some of the ugly complexities and dark realities that I've been choosing not to see. You are dear and safe. Thank you.

Don't be afraid to speak truth in love....it's more lovely than empty embraces and false praise. (i'm pretty sure there is something like this in the Bible...i just discovered it to be true...funny how it works like that...)

.one cute baby.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:30:00 +0000

.it's so simple in the moonlight.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:16:00 +0000

sometimes dreams just seem impossible...

.questions and answers.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:22:00 +0000

sometimes it's easier to be paralyzed by all the questions, frozen by the mysteries, stuck in wonder than to be active in that which we do know.

i'm guilty of such a thing.

.a predictable blog about a sunset.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:12:00 +0000

This past week I was in Arkansas visiting my family. My mom and I had to drive into Oklahoma to pick up Brett, Rachel and Aubrey from the airport. We happened to drive into the Sooner State at the most perfect time of day in Oklahoma…sunset. If you’ve been there, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Say what you want about Oklahoma, but there is something so sweet, so perfect, so lovely about sunsets over those expansive planes. Bursts of orange and pinks as far as your eye can see, an explosion of day into night. And as the sun quietly slips away past the horizon there is this instant of calming breathlessness…like the inhale right before an anticipated kiss, it’s invigorating and calming and unlike any other breath taken that day. In this moment of breathlessness everything freezes, silently and expectantly life stops..for a moment. Paused for beauty. And as you stare west you feel as if this extraordinary second was just for you and the rest of the world fades into a blur. Then it’s over…not disappointingly, although you wish you could exist in that colorful moment forever…night comes with it’s own treasures and hidden secrets…but you remember that moment, tucked away and fondly treasured.

I just cried. All of this evoked so many emotions. I love looking back…but it’s hard, it’s hard because it was so very good, but back then I could only dream of what was ahead. I cried because I missed that life, I missed my precious friends. I cried because I realized that there is probably so much to my life right now that I’m missing, that my eagerness for what is ahead and those days of sadness over what has gone by is depriving me of a deep gratitude for my life in this very moment What is it about our human condition that robs us of this very moment, right now, this season, this day, this time? Why are we constantly looking longingly ahead or regretfully behind? And how can we stop this? How do I live right now, fully present to this moment, fully existing and thriving and soaking up everything that is swiftly becoming yesterday.

And now I’m back in Denver and ready to crunch the leaves on the sidewalk outside my apartment on a slow and pleasant fall stroll…but my, that sunset was beautiful

.dangerous woman.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:11:00 +0000

This is my mom doing some teaching in Malawi, Africa. I am so proud of her.

“May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God.

May we pray deeply and teach wisely.
May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.
May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.
May we be strong and gentle leaders.
May we sing songs of joy and laugh out loud in the face of fear.
May we join our tribe and thank God for our sisters.
May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us.
May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.
May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.
May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.
May we do good in the name of Jesus and by the power of God.
And in the name and by that power, may we change the world.
Jesus, make us dangerous women.”

.for you.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:57:00 +0000

i'm discovering, that which i most fear, contains the greatest of rewards...

so plunge.

.the most over-used metaphor ever.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Fall is approaching. The breeze carries a cool autumn kiss. The air, fresh and cleansing. Night crawled into the day with an eagerness that lingering summer nights lack. The city woke to a crisp morning and now lays its head upon pillows, blankets pulled tightly up under its chin and windows just slightly cracked allowing autumn air to dance in the room while it sleeps. There is something enchanting about the changing of seasons, especially from innocent and light summer into the mysterious fall (plus fall in Denver, city and mountains, is nothing short of wonderful). And not to get all metaphorical…well, let’s just get metaphorical, it’s nice when seasons change. I have this sense of change looming in my own life…and in a perfect twist of theatrical irony it happens to be at the same time that summer chooses to leave and fall emerges quietly (although, with today’s sudden drop of temperature, it pronounced it’s arrival quite bluntly).

I have to say, I’m hesitant to claim potential change out loud. It seems that once you say it, it becomes a disappearing vapor. Strangely, there really is nothing looming ahead, nothing glamorous or romantic to anticipate, nothing extravagant or astonishing taking place, minus the great change of no longer working the miserable night shift. But isn’t hope for change beautiful? Simple and energizing hope. I don’t really know where it came from and I guess I didn’t realize that it was lacking in my heart. Hope caught me by surprise. I won’t be so bold as to say that I’ve known hopelessness, but hope has seemed very far off before and searching for that distant, glimmering light has been complicated and challenging. This is all so vague, I realize, but listen to Sigur Rose ( ) untitled #3 and you’ll understand. Something has emerged and it’s just nice. It’s a weighty thought, one which I hope to always carry , of those who live in utter hopelessness every day…no matter which season is coming and which is waving a slow good-bye.

.discount tires.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:20:00 +0000

routine oil change, $24.95...final cost of the day...quite nearly $700.00...turns out you're supposed to 'rotate your tires' (whatever that means)...imagine this....only female, on the phone, in tears (tears from the tires and the novel i'm reading about sudan, which is not the book to be reading while paying for tires, for a car you don't want, in america, when your heart is to be car-less in africa). I'm pretty sure the mechanics, covered in their dirt and grime, didn't know what to do with me. i recovered and even found out how to fix the little light bulb in my head-lights.

but i have tested, and proved, the fact that tears just might get you out of a ticket, and now i think i'll add, get you "3 star tires for the price of the 2 star ones"

this one's for you, mechanics of the world.

.read out loud.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 05:59:00 +0000

"if you ever asked me
how my drawing classes are going,

I would tell you that I enjoy
adhering to the outline of a thing,

to follow the slope of an individual pear
or the curve of a glossy piano.

And I love traling my hand
over the smooth membrane of bond,

the intelligent little trinity
of my fingers gripping the neck of the pencil

while the other two dangle below
like the fleshy legs of a tiny swimmer.

I would add that I can get lost
crosshatching the shadow of a chair

or tracing and retracing
the slight undercarriage of a breast.

even the preparations call out to me-
taping the paper to a wooden board,

brushing its surface clean,
and sharpening a few pencils to a fine point.

The thin hexagonal pencil
is mightier than the pen,

for it can modulate from firm to faint
and shift from thin to broad

whenever it leans more acutely over the page-
the bright yellow pencil,

which is also mightier than the sword
for there is no erasing what the sword can do.

We all started with the box and the ball
then moved on to the cup and the lamp

the serrated leaf, the acorn with its cap.
But I want to graduate to the glass decanter

and learn how to immobilize in lead
translucent curtains lifted in the air.

I want to draw
four straight lines that will connect me

to the four points of the compass,
to the bright spires of cities,

the overlaping trellises,
the turning spokes of the world.

one day I want to draw freehand
a continuous figure

that will begin with me
when the black tip touches the paper

and end with you when it is lifted
and set down beside a luminous morning window"

drawing class. billy collins

(oh for the days when we'd read outloud what was silently printed on paper...love.)

.aubrielle raye ferguson arrives.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:03:00 +0000

here are some pictures of aubrey for everybody who couldn't be here for such a happy....

http://okbu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014124&l=8bf8e&id=7980032

http://okbu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014124&l=8bf8e&id=79800322

.africa pictures.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:00:00 +0000

click and watch and let me know what you think. thanks for being interested...

Africa Pictures

.untitled.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:55:00 +0000

"there is this thing keeping everyones lungs and lips locked...
it is called fear and it's seeing a great renaissance"

.addendum to previous post.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:03:00 +0000

Redemption of this world is a joint effort. Alone we do nothing, together we work out God's salvation and restoration of this earth. So be redeemed...redeem...wherever you are placed, bloom there.

.there's no such thing as 'sexy poverty'.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:53:00 +0000

When does hope become idealism?

I don’t think one can help but be nothing short of overwhelmed by the needs and evils of this world. And I’m not really sure how one can look at the flashing scenes of people globally suffering and not be moved to emotion (oh wait…except for the fact that maybe we don’t get a chance to really see when Anna Nicole and Paris Hilton get 98% of our news coverage…ridiculous). But why does it matter? Why be emotionally engaged or thoughtfully aware…really…why?

How does hope work itself out? How do we stay hopeful and lively and energized and motivated and resilient when there is always going to be a line at the Denver Rescue Mission every night at 5:00, when there is always going to be Rebels killing unnecessarily, and when those little boy soldiers are always going to have nightmares of forced murders and dreams of what a childhood would have been like…until they have forgotten how to dream. Do we, do I tell myself sweet and soothing little lies of another possible world? When it comes down to it…who am I fooling, and what am I doing, what will change….nothing. Relapse occurs, patterns are formed, cultures clash, evil succeeds and good suffers defeat. Sure “in the end” you say...but what about today, what about tomorrow? What will come of the lives of the children who don’t have a chance, or of those whose suffering makes death imminent daily. Am I a fool…what am I really doing and does it even really matter. Am I really hopeful that peace is possible between Fatah and Hamas, or between any Middle Eastern faction and their enemies? Do I believe that the LRA will no longer fight to destabilize Northern Uganda and instead live civilly throughout Uganda and Sudan? Am I holding our for the day when families no longer rent out hotel rooms on Colfax to live in because of the regeintrification taking place throughout Denver?

I must admit…I don’t have hope for all these things…but I do have hope. I have hope for one little girl in Africa being taught about her precious and holy body, no matter what man has done to it, and that she is loved and cherished, and she can have Life. I have hope for Nazira, my friend in Beirut, I have hope that she still speaks with Jesus, the man whom she feel in love with when reading of His interaction with a lonely and forgotten woman at the well. I have hope for a soccer team of boys living in squatters camps in Swaziland. I have hope for women giving birth in Morocco. I have hope for a hurting girl working in a coffee shop somewhere between Rogers, Arkansas and Farmington, Missouri. Where you are…I have hope. I have hope where Jesus is being beautifully reflected and humanized on this earth. Be bold and love, in grace show truth, thoughtfully and intentionally live like Jesus…I’ll remain hopeful.

(I wrote this post at two different times...i think hope began to work itself out...and still is)

.to do.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:38:00 +0000

first:

find direction

second:

make some goals

.letter.

noreply@blogger.com (kate) — Wed, 23 May 2007 14:44:00 +0000

My Dear Friends and Family,

I wish I could sit with each one of you on a porch with a breeze and see your eyes and listen to your stories as I tell you mine. And spend a quiet and slow afternoon in your presence.

I’m writing to tell you what some of you may already know. I’m headed to Africa this summer. I am going to northern Uganda to work in a medical clinic in a refugee camp with Global Refuge International (www.globalrefuge.org). From July 7 through the 22 I’ll be touching the broken and needy bodies of Ugandan refugees, brining the touch and whisper of hope into their impoverished lives.

Northern Uganda is a war torn area, where for over 20 years the Lord’s Resistance Army has been fighting and rebelling aganst the Ugandan government. Young playful boys trained into killing soldiers, little girls forced into prostitution, babies ripped from their mother’s arms, man’s life destroyed. This ongoing war has resulted in over 2 million people being displaced from their homes and villages, forcing them to live in refugee camps with frightening sanitation, meager food resources, the rampant transmission of HIV/AIDs, inadequate to completely unavailable medical attention and an overall air of hopelessness. Over 80% of the entire population of northern Uganda lives in displaced camps where life is horrific. The medical needs of northern Uganda are overwhelming with a doctor to person ratio of one doctor to every 200,000 people in these camps. (learn more at http://www.monitor.co.ug/, http://www.allafrica.com/, and of course http://www.wikipedia.com/)

Global Refuge is an organization dedicated to demonstrating the love of Christ to victims of disaster, conflict and persecution. GRI humanizes the love of Christ to these destitute people by providing acute medical care, HIV/AIDS education, testing and treatment, community health education, and ministry. They currently have a small team of American workers living in Northern Uganda. These workers go into the camps to bring medicine, education, laughter, Good News, and hope to the Ugandans daily. They are also empowering Ugandans to take over the clinics and ministry once they leave. A part of our trip to Uganda will be to energize, refresh and minister to those who are daily pouring out in the name of our Lord in such physically, emotionally and spiritually demanding ways. These people are serving in the hard places.

I want to ask you to join me in this journey. Join me as I prepare for Uganda and continue walking with me as I return. Learn with me as I discover the atrocities that take place throughout our world leaving people suffering with no signs of hope and as I discover how good and powerful the Gospel truly is. Feel with me as my heart breaks for the overwhelming needs of these people. Pray with me as I ask God to somehow reveal His hope and salvation to those in such appalling life conditions.

When God brought this opportunity for me to go to Africa I felt Him ask me to make sacrifices in order to go. He has taught me what it means so say ‘no’ and to live without (although I think we hardly know what it means to go without here in America). This has been, and continues to be, a beautiful and challenging lesson of discipline, understanding God’s provision in my life, His desire for a simple lifestyle, and the overwhelming abundance in which I live (see Matthew 6:19-21, 25-34). But I also recognize that He has graciously blessed me with a dear and treasured community of family and friends. This community is enriched and deepened by contributing to one another’s live by prayer and giving (see Philippians 4:16-20). I ask that you join me in this trip in prayer. Please pray for the Ugandans, think of them throughout your day and ask that our God will join your heart with our suffering brothers and sisters living in this country, pray for my team that we will be unified in one spirit of service and compelled by love as we prepare and go, pray for me that God will begin a life transforming journey of loving the unloveable and that my heart will be clay in our Gentle Potters hand as He forms me into His servant. I also ask that if the Lord leads you to give, either to my trip or to Global Refuge (see their website for a list of their needs and a way to donate), I ask that you obey His spirit promptly. In obedience, giving and sacrificing there is a beautiful and lasting reward to which no earthly treasure can compare.

I would like to continue to tell you about the trip, but I realize that hardly anybody has time to read a novel length letter, which I could definitely write…(turns out I can be kind of long winded and not at all ‘to the point’ and if you’ve read this far then THANKS!). So I’d like to keep you informed and updated on things such as the needs and work of Global Refuge, the situation in Uganda, prayer requests for my team, Ugandans, and myself, and also what the Lord is teaching me as He leads me on this journey. I’d like to send out e-mails to keep you connected and informed. Please let me know if you’d like to be apart of these updates, you can just e-mail me at katelferguson@gmail.com.

If you have received this letter, please, please know that you are a treasured and invaluable person in my life (unless of course you are reading this on my blog ..I can’t really control who sees that J). My life is rich and full because of you, my story would not be the same without you. Love to you.

Bless and Be Blessed,

Kate

“I do not ask for success, I ask for faithfulness” Mother Teresa