Home is...

"I guess it's that I know I can relax here. I can get sick if I need to."

Pleeeeeeaaaaaase....

When 80% of a sermon is composed of other people's stories, there is really no "meat" - it is all "leftovers."

Let the little ones come

B told me of seeing Jewish children rush in during the service and more or less take over - one yelling "Abba!" others climbing on the furniture. I wondered at the time how First Church would react to such a scene. Yesterday, we had 5 boys ranging from 8 months to, oh, maybe 12 or 13 at church. They didn't rush in and do any climbing, but Ethan and Zeb sang, Jonas gave commentary to the service and our 2 visiting young men decided to help the ushers take up the offering. It was great!

Also from yesterday....

Dava's message was on sacrifice. She basically spoke of the usual things - time, talents and money. Listening to her, however, my mind kept going back to a discussion in Sunday School. It was said that one thing that seperates Christianity from other faith practices is God's grace to us and the fact that we are to reflect that grace to others. Another statement was how today, the word "christian" brought about animosity, confusion and pain with many people. A survey conducted several years ago, showed that when asked what they thought of when they heard the word "christian," practically no one questioned said "grace."

Dava mentioned in her sermon that it is questionable whether anything any of us do in the name of service for God could be called "sacrifice." I agree. The more I sat there and listened, the more I realized that we do give of our time, talents and money...but how often do we reflect the grace that God has so lovingly given us?

Time, talents and money...same 'ole same 'ole. The same ole same 'ole just isn't good enough.

7 years ago...

...I began a "Three Year Reading Program." I got my certificate today. I am glad I finished, but, I have no clearer idea of what I am supposed to do than when I started - 7 years ago.

"Don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself."

Keep reminding me Eric.

Sad

She interrupts others' conversations with topics out of nowhere.
She brings up a totally different topic when you are speaking to her as if she was never really listening to you in the first place.

It seems like at times, she is in another world.

Then I watch her when she is not a part of what is going on - when she is not a major part of what is going on - and I see that she wants desperately to be a part of this world. She wants to be someone's whole world.

How sad to watch someone who is so sad.

From the mouth of a 4 year-old

Eric and Alec visited me last night. Eric said they weren't Trick or Treating, but Mamaw B said I would treat them anyway. He was right. I did have treats for them. He turned it around though - he treated me. Eric began telling me what he had done in Bible Study and quoted the scriptures he had learned, one of them from Matthew 6:34.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself."

It is good to ask questions, to think about things, to work towards something. It is good to consider our actions and strive to seek to glorify God in each and everything we do. It is not good, however, to worry so much that our lives are consumed by the "what if's," the "why's," and the "how's?" - to worry so much about the questions that we forget to do what it is we are supposed to be doing right now.

The disciples had a hard time seeing the "big picture." It seems they kept missing the point of Jesus' teachings time and time again. They had a particular vision of what they wanted him to be and do and when he showed them something different, they were lost. We too keep missing the "big picture." We have a vision in mind of where we should be and what we should be doing and when we don't see that vision coming to life, we get lost. Perhaps we need to look back at what Jesus taught and what Eric reminded me of last night:

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." The Message

What is it we are supposed to be doing? I believe we are to be praying for God's help to discern what it is we are to do and the strength to do it (because, it may not be within the realm of our own vision!). I believe we are to take it step by step - one thing at a time - God's time. There are things in our lives right now that are preparing us for work we will do later. We can't "get worked up."

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.