In Light of His Word to Us

First Sunday In Advent

Luke 1:11- 16
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

I watch a movie this weekend called Simon Birch. It was about a young boy with a birth defect that caused him to be small for his age. He was a small young man, but he was large in his faith. He believed God allowed him to live for a purpose. He believed he would be a hero one day and that is why he walked the earth. Simon Birch was made fun of for both this stature and his vision. He died age 12 as a hero. When I read the Christmas story I always see a challenge to personal faith. In the story of the birth of John the Baptist we have to different reaction to a very specific and detailed word from God. God had a specific purpose for John the Baptist and his parents play a role in the fulfilling of that purpose. Zechariah saw the angel deliver the message and did not believe. It was a wondrous promise and Zechariah demanded proof.
Elisabeth on the other hand did not see the angel, nor receive a specific word from the Lord. When she become pregnant she gave glory to God believing his hand was in it. She said "The Lord has done this for me," … "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people” (Luke 1:25)

As we begin the season of Advent, as we prepare our hearts and meditate on the Word of God, His specific word to us and the evidence of His goodness in our lives let is receive the movement of the Spirit in our lives with joy. As we light the first candle let us determine to let the evidence of His work in our lives shine as He seeks to complete the purpose of our life in us. Let His light shine in us.

A thanksgiving memory

All My Grand Mother's Cat's were named Tabby.

I found this while looking for files to make my Master Piece of Thanksgiving Memories and More.

Posted on Zanga.

I am cooking dinner and making a list for a shopping trip tomorrow morning. I have my recipe book out and miscellaneous sheets of paper with recipes on them that I think I should one day put neatly into a binder. I think holidays are wonderful for the most part; hopefully they stir good memories, at least a few. I came from a family where holidays meant gathering with my aunts and uncles and cousin for big meals and a lot of laughter. It didn’t matter if it was Christmas or Memorial Day up at the lake we gathered together and ate. I love my family and my extended family they are the best people.

I was thinking way back into my childhood as I peeled potatoes tonight and recalled my aunt and uncles house in Hamilton, Ohio. My uncle was the pastor of the Hamilton Evangelical United Brethren church at that time and they lived in the parsonage. We gathered for thanksgiving there one year. I remember several things about those times. First there were probably 35 of us and the kids were encouraged to play outside while my aunts and grandma cooked, which was fine with me. This one time we climbed apple trees or maybe they were cherry trees. I had never climbed a tree before and if you are about 6 and never have climbed a tree before fruit trees are a great place to start. Except my aunt didn’t think so, I guess they were her fruit trees so we moved on. Next we got the BEST idea. We decided to take my aunt’s cat three flights of stairs up the fire escape on the side of the church and throw her over the top. The theory was cats always landed on their feet. For protection we planned to catch her with a blanket at the bottom. It was to resemble a circus act. I was chosen to hold one edge of the blanket. As the cat fell three flights and oh yes she did turn mid air and proceed feet first, I must have gotten nervous or something I let the blanket slip and the cat free fell to the ground. It was a pitiful noise she let out and everyone screamed at me. Fortunately after my grandmother inspected her, she was pronounced OK, to my great relief. My grandmother had a way a thinking everything we did was amusing and this incident proved to be no less so. She pronounced that her grandchildren were testing to see if cats really did have nine lives. She believed whole heartedly they did. So we came inside and for some reason I am not sure Anita and I made a sauce of flour and milk for the cat. I guess we were feeling bad that we threw her off a building, a church no less. Well, I guess she wasn’t hungry or milk and flour sauce is gross to cats who have experienced severe trauma and she refused it. We responded by pushing her face in it. My grandmother laughed, but at this point we were prohibited from playing with the cat anymore and told to wash up for dinner. I want to take the opportunity this Thanksgiving to apologize to all cats everywhere for the insensitive way I treated them as a six year old. Chow.

Another Zanga Post, BUT not the one I am looking for.........

Happy Thanksgiving. I tend to think about the past on this holiday, like the year in Florida when my niece ruled the TV all weekend and we were forced to watch unending episodes of the Planet of the Ape reruns on TBS' Planet of the Apes Thanksgiving Movie Marathon. She's a psychology major now, maybe there's a correlation, sweet kid, I miss her.
I got my little sister to start her own xanga site. She asks, who would want to read a middle-aged lady's posting? Well I call her the Erma Bombeck from Alabama. She's a hoot when she's on a roll, and she writes better than I do and I have tired to get her to write again for years now. She was diagnosed with leukemia several years ago and much she has to say is about learning to deal with her disease, which as of today there is little to treat her. Fortunately her type of leukemia is slow in progressing and her progression has been even slower than normal. Meanwhile researchers are looking for way to treat it . I don't think about her illness a lot, but yesterday was her birthday (24th) and sometimes I just have to acknowledge she is ill, which I hate.
Visit her and encourage her, pray for her too, it makes a difference, she can always tell.
Now an essay on the happy thanksgiving thing.
I don't think happiness and thanksgiving always relate, true thanksgiving takes place outside of happiness, the kind that God admires anyway.
I am thankful for the concept of thanksgiving; it is way to readjust our thinking and shape it into something that pleases God.
I am thankful for a God whose character causes me to look up and out and beyond myself.
I am thankful for a God who deals with me on every level with an amazing ability to engage me in meaningful ways and change me when I absolutely can or will not. We've walk a lot on that path this year and I can honestly say "thank you Father for delivering me, for healing me emotionally and physically and for giving me a greater sense of purpose and confidence that if You have called me You will enable me."
I am thankful for my little family and that it is just us plus April this year for the holiday. I am grateful for my extended family, whom many will receive the book Boundaries for Christmas from me. Just teasing, we are working on it and things are getting better.
I am thankful for all the ways I am able to express myself and the endless energy I seem to have when I do.
I am thankful for my church family and the amazing group of people I get to work with and all the things the Lord is working out through the church. I am glad to be a part of it.
I closing I am thankful for holidays where pumpkin pies and cranberries are featured.

Personal Prophesy

The first personal prophesy I received was as a new believer when I lived in Florida. It was from Isaiah 19, the prophesy concerning Egypt. Since I had just come out of the occult new age, it was clear that Egypt was a perfect symbol for my past. When I read anything concerning Egypt, my ears perk up.

Isaiah 19: 19- 25
19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witness to the LORD Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 21 So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. 22 The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25 The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

What stood out then was the striking and the healing.

“The LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.”

So even in the beginning of my faith walk, the Lord made it clear to me that these things would transpire. I did not have details. Today what stands out is:

The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance."

I am ready for the blessing.

My Mom Wrote... My Dad Too

She said... the day you were born was cold and the snow was falling. She made me cry. I love her so much.

I had a birthday today. I took off work to go to the doctor, had lunch and then a visit to my lawyer. The crazy way my bosses give personal days makes this option make the most sense. The highlight of day was of course lunch with Brenda. She is an artist friend from UTD and of course we talked art. She is also the director of worship arts at Christ’s Church in Plano. Since they are a liturgical church much of the work involves organizing 280 volunteers a month. So we talked software. She uses a program she really likes. We talked about some of her projects art wise she is involved in and a class she teaches. I plan to write about her Flag project .

She wants me to try to put a class together for the one she teaches. There are so many thing like that I want to do.

I have to have more tests next weeks, not looking forward to that. The trip to my lawyer was emotional. He asks a lot do questions… knows the implications behind events in the past. Just shakes his head as to why mediation was not pursued. The only thing I am pursuing is my landlord who still has not given me my deposit back, it is cut and dry. He broke the law. Today was a milestone and a closed chapter of my life, a little formality known as a will. It wasn’t as difficult as the divorce, but it was emotional.

Today was a beautiful day. Brenda and I ate on the patio and stayed to talk. She always blesses me. She is like gold. I have a peace about me and am resolutely looking to the future.

Isaish 43: 18 - 19

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.”

My Dad's email...
yep it has shown up on our calendar again. little ruth's birthday. i suppose you have gotten our card and note, but i just wanted to re-enforce that with this e-mail. your mother and i have finished our devotions, and as we were talking and praying you were in our midst. november 18, 1955 the big day you came into our family with some of the wrinkles which faded away and you became a squirmy little peach, and you became an instant hit in my existence we fondled and kept you close for all your formative years. then you crept away, but we never lost you. we often wondered how things were going with you but kept a good relationship with you. i have many good remembrances, and some sorrows,but today i have peace for i know that in spite of all the turmoil of the recent year you are been Hanging in there, and thats good. i trust you will continue to 'KNOW WHOM YOU HAVE BELIEVED,A ND KNOW THAT 'HE IS ABLE ' have a blessed day-----IN CHRIST--- you are LOVED! your father

Praise Offering

Reading Isaiah 12 this morning… again a reoccurring theme. That is a clue that God is speaking to me. Sean got a job yesterday. No big deal? Not really. After a long series of difficulties surround a prank he and his best friend did months after they graduated from High School and a month after Sean turned 18, it is a real praise. This event has affected his life way more than he ever could have guess when the decision was made to mess with some kids they had been in an on-going confrontation with. Finally this offense is off his record and he can move on. We celebrate.

The night the incident took place was the night before I gave my testimony for a musical presentation at church called High Praises. I was asked to talk about praising God for Deliverance. I based it on the idea of a praise offering.This is a praise offering, this post. My testimony was a praise offering. So is Isaiah 12. The evening I gave the testimony I knew it was warfare. It went like this, "do not give your testimony and Sean will go free. Speak and I will bring you and your family down." When I stepped on the stage to speak I knew I was obeying God and defying the oppression that surrounded the event and my life. The enemy does not want us to praise God.

I have said over the last few months as Sean has been trying to get work that I will praise God when he does. I will make a praise offering. This is it. Interesting. I overslept yesterday so I was delayed in reading Isaiah 12… God’s perfect timing.

Isaiah 12
Songs of Praise

1 In that day you will say:
"I will praise you, O LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."

5 minute Testimony Written for High Praises, October 2003

The Thanks Offering is voluntary acts of worship expressing a gratitude to the Lord for healing from illness or deliverance from trouble or death. In my life I have been delivered three times; from Alcoholism, from New Age and from a debilitating illness. The Lord spoke to me recently saying when I had a chance I was to publicly proclaim what He has done in my life as an act of worship and praise. In the language of the Psalms it sounds like this

I will tell of Thy name to my brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee.
For You has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Neither have You hidden Your face from him;
But when he cried to You for help, You heard.

As you can see, when John asked me to speak about deliverance I was excited.
I visited my parents recently and they are a wonderful, gentle, peaceful people who love the Lord.. It is hard to understand why they would have a daughter like me. They raised me in the church and loved me and I repaid them with rebellion and sorrow. I became involved in the occult (or secret teachings as they are called) in 6th grade and I spent the next 18 years perusing it’s practices and teaching in the many forms it takes. I experienced a definite personality change. I went from a well adjusted child to an angry, defiant and depressed child, definite signs of the spiritual oppression and bondage. I spent the last ten years as a New Ager, primarily involved with Zen Buddhism and various forms of meditation. I had a spiritual mentor and spent a lot of my time reading and studying world religions. One New Age premise is there is no right or wrong. The goal of mediation is to escape dualism and live above morality as a sort of super spiritual person. A Christian apologetic author once wrote that when dealing with people in the New Age you encounter an enormous amount of spiritual pride. That is true.

Having given Satan a stronghold in my life and as a result of believing there were no moral absolutes I became involved in drugs and alcohol, because there was nothing to really stop me. The Lord used that to humble me. At age 25 I found myself at an AA meeting where I publicly confessed that, “My name is Ruth and I was powerless over alcohol and my life had become unmanageable.” Privately I confronted the fact that in my effort to be spiritual, the best I could do was become addicted. I was heading for divorce and I had alienated just about everyone I knew. I was an angry bitter person. But I was desperate to get my life put back together.
So I made two decisions. I made the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob my higher power. I began to pray for a true teacher someone who I could commit to and follow. I had been going from teaching to teaching in my spiritual quest and I was weary. I needed some direction. The Lord used AA to teach me to call out to Him, to pray daily, to be thankful and to admit when I was wrong and seek forgiveness of Him and others.

On Good Friday, April 5, 1985 while I was at work God chose to revealed Jesus Christ to me through a Radio program. He showed me that Jesus was the True teacher I was looking for. Most important of all He showed me the power that raised Christ from the dead was the power that was keeping me sober one day at a time. I got up from my desk knowing I no longer had to fear death that everything the Bible said about Jesus was true and that I wanted to follow Him. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon Good Friday, I would soon learn that it was not insignificant in that it was the hour when Jesus cried out His last words, “It is finished.”

The Lord God is a God who delivers. He hears those who call out to Him. But He is bigger than that, He is a God who restores and heals. Twelve years to the day that I took my last drink I became ill and ended up in the ER. The illness left me weak and unable to function normally. It would never be fully diagnosed. The Lord used my illness to teach me that although He can deliver us from our trouble there are consequences for our sin. But He didn’t leave me there. He called me to pray and to live in His presence and He taught me to listen to His voice. He has almost fully restored my health.

It has been 18 years since I meet Jesus Christ on what I call my road to Damascus. He has more that restored my life and marriage. He has called me to serve Him with my whole heart. When I became I believer I had put aside art and my pursuit of it because I was not able to separate my gifts from my New Age beliefs. The call He has given me is to use my gifts and art to glorify Him and to teach and study the His Word. A privilege I hold dear.

I answered that call in March when I went forward in church and although I am only beginning to understand what that means I know that what ever He asks me to do I will do it as a Thanks offering to Him.

I cried out to You in my trouble;
You saved me out of my distress.
You sent Your word and healed me, And delivered me from destruction
Let us give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness,
And for His wonders to the sons of men!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And tell of His works with joyful singing.

Saturday, Class and Isaiah

I meet with my mentee and we were both really glad to connect again after a month. I need to get permission to give her my phone number because there has been too much

miscommunication as we try to get a hold of each other through other people. There was a break through in that both times as we meet and as she left, she came to me to get a hug. Then after that I talked her ear off and she talked mine off. We are planning a outing. We talked about a trip to the Meadows. I want her mom and little sister to come. On my way home as I was driving I decide to do this in December, take them to lunch and make it very special. I am completely excited. She said her mother would love to get out and do something, so would I. But I need to make it after finals.

She told me there was an event today she wanted to go with me to, an all day art event, but she wasn’t able to contact me.

The next class was fun. I had two ladies and then a group of kids who were brother and sisters and cousins. They razzed each other and cut up and I felt like I was in the middle of their family room. Man, I was tired when I got home. Lots of fun. There was a five year old boy, an eight year old boy, a ten year old girl and boy and two thirteen year old girls.

I am fasting again because the occasion seems to call for it and I have renewed strength in doing so. (But I am really wanting to eat black eyed peas w/own beef broth, mashed tat's w/skin on, smoked pork chops, & brownies w/fresh strawberries & whipped cream... SHANNON!)
I digress and I really was going to write something important, but I think I will go to Walmart and buy a video and lunch for next week. I can’t decide

I read from Isaiah this a.m. and I wanted to comment on that. I am reading through Isaiah in my quiet time.

“Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” Isaiah 4:5-6

This struck me because of the image. The cloud of smoke and the pillar of fire as reference to the Exodus and wandering. It being a shelter from the storm and a hiding place.

For me these two images, God’s presence and guidance and God’s sheltering and hiding are two very real and powerful images in my life. That is what He has been doing with me. Sometimes I get frustrated with the hiding. When you are in hiding you are isolated, but protected. I know God loves me, but sometimes it seems cruel, although I know it isn’t. I look back and know he protected me.

So I know I have written about this in the Window Text as I call it. So I look it up. I last wrote about the Element of the Cloud. The following note, not even finished text but ideas, is the last thing I wrote.

“These texts give an additional image of the Cloud of God’s presence as a shelter from the heat and the raging of the storm. What the people needed to be reminded of and what we forget in our personal wilderness journeys is that we are not only dependent on the Lord for our provision, water and the manna from heaven, but we are also in reality dependent on the Lord for our very life. Each breath we take is a gift from above. Psalm 22 reminds us that we cannot even keep ourselves alive. It is in times of duress that we see this the most clearly. It is then that the illusion that we are independent and have a sense of contentment and control is removed that we recognize that He is …. a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.”

We Can Talk About the Kids........

I think being salt and light hangs in the balance when we find ourselves in conflict. I am basically shy by temperament, as a child extremely shy. Painfully shy. I learned as an adult to use my imagination, something I have a lot of to overcome a lot of my shyness. When I get in situations where there are a lot of unknowns it comes back to me. Using my imagination helps with the unknown. Let’s say I go to a dinner at church, I am new and I don’t know anyone. I can go and sit with complete strangers and imagine I know them. It is helpful if they remind me of someone. I can pretend like I am not shy and imagine myself as a person who isn’t. It just works. It gets me through the rough stuff which for me is being taken out of the familiar and starting over. I have had four major moves where I have had to start completely over. All of the moves without the benefit of a job to help establish contacts and make friends. Each time we moved I knew no one, where as my ex had contacts, they being one reason we were there. Friends hire friends and co-workers bring coworkers along. All this to say, I am basically a shy person who does not like new situations or conflict. But like I learned to deal with new situations I am learning to deal with conflict. No easy task for me.
My usually response to conflict is to leave a situation or if I cannot to shut down emotionally. Since the divorce I have learned that when I shut down there is a reason and I have learned to address the reasons the best I can. I have come a long way. Writing this journal has been good for me in that I have been addressing issues and event from my past that in the past would cause me to shut down. The more I “get it out” the better I feel. The more I address problems the less I need to shut down. The more I deal with the uncomfortable the more confident I feel. So life goes on and I get better. In doing so I want other people to have the same liberation I have seen happen. I don’t want people to settle for status quo, especially if the status quo is toxic.
Scott and I have learned to address lots of issues together. It wasn’t easy at first, but it is more so now. We expect it, that is when there is conflict to resolve it and move on. We are really close. Sean is just more easy going and I have always been able to talk to him. We have something called fitness. Our relationship fits, Scott and I have to work on it… but then we are more alike in some ways, artistically. Scott doesn’t have a shy bone in his body. Man, I just love my kids and we just keep going on and slowly life gets better. I am grateful for this time together. Priceless.

****
Sisters

Mary,
I am sorry that you had the problem with your friend and she decided in a cruel way to end the friendship. I know it is painful and I will not say what people said to me when I lost so many friends at church, “she just wasn’t a real friend.” Well if she wasn’t why do you feel grief and pain? Something real has been lost.

You always affirm me. I can’t tell you what it meant to me when my world fell apart to not have to explain much to you because you know me so well. You probably explained some things to me. That is what happens when you know someone, you can see what we can’t. You never hesitate to tell me. I trust you in that. In fact today after I got your email about the assignment you are doing with your life coach and I thought about us I realized I trust you more than anyone in the world. I trust you with myself. Like I wrote in the blog a few days ago, I trust you with the difficult things. I mean the DIFFICULT things. And you have never disappointed me in that. We have been through a lot haven’t we?

I trust you to say what you think. I love how you always defend me and believe in me. I love that I have always been important to you, that you are always there. When I lost all my friends, you stood by my side. When I was in so much pain, you knew my pain… it didn’t cause you to run.

Then I love your sense of humor and your way with words. I love your playfulness and your imagination. Of all the things I want for you besides complete healing is for you to write. I want to see you find your voice and then your wings and I want to see you take off and do more with the written word than you ever saw coming. You are so much better at it than me.

In the past I have seen you dragged down and defeated, almost. But I don’t see that anymore. I would like to see you write about why that is. What happened? I want to know how you look at death and life. I want to know about your walk with the Lord. See, I want you to write because I want to know more about you. Maybe you don’t even know this, the change; maybe I see it like you see things in me. I tell you it is there, this change of mind and spirit. It is full of life and it needs to be out there, or I think it does.

BTW, I posted this because I want people to know how we are. And thanks for all……… too much to say.

Ruth

Living with Cancer

Every once in awhile my sister will write about her cancer. I always feel I need to respond. She usually corrects my thinking, which is OK. I am not the one who has been asked to carry this burden, but I do like to remind her I carry it with her, in prayer and just plain old love. You have to understand how close we were, how close we are. She is so much a part of me.

When I knew I was an alcoholic and I needed help, I didn't want to tell my parents. Mary went to them and did what I could not do.

When my marriage went south and my ex called my parents and used the "d" word before I was even close to that decision and my mom became upset with me for a year, Mary, kept talking to mom until she understood what was going on. I could not have done it myself.

Here is her recent post.

Happy Dance
I'm celebrating. It's November 1st and I made it thru the entire month of October without getting sick! First time in 4 years (yes, count 'em, 4), that I have not had a virus in October. This is a big deal for me. 3 years ago I when I caught a virus I was sick for about 3 days. 2 years ago when I caught one I was sick for 3 weeks. Last year when I caught one I was sick for 6 weeks (honestly, 3 weeks in October, 3 weeks in November). This year: zero days, zero weeks! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!
October's been a rough month all around for more than the last 4 years. 7 years ago this October I was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). Talk about a kick in the pants. Sept. 11, 2001, well, we all know what happened on that day, the next day was my first (and unfortunately not my last) visit to an oncologist. Three weeks later, I got my diagnosis.
Since CLL is a chronic cancer, they don't treat it until it becomes totally necessary to. Chronic cancers grow much slower than acute cancers which makes it harder to kill those nasty cancer cells. So, it was kind of weird to be told you have cancer, but they're not going to do anything about it. I'm on what's called watch and wait (or as some people refer to it: wait and worry). It takes some getting used to.
One of the downsides of having CLL is that my blood counts are flip flopped. My white cell count it high and my red blood count, while it's normal, it's on the low end of normal. And since my white count is up, I'm more at risk to catching things, like viruses. In the last couple of years I feel like I've been one big virus magnet, I seem to catch them at the drop of a hat. That's why it's such a big deal for me that I made it thru this past month without catching one.
So, happy dance, happy dance and in the words of Ren and Stimpy - Happy, happy, joy, joy!

*********

I have a friend who I love, him and his wife who is suffering at the moment with cancer. TJ has helped me so often deal with Mary's cancer as we haved talked and he shared about himself. I could talk to him and Janet about it because they walk the same path.

Of all the things I missed, that I regret is not getting to serve with TJ and Janet more. Sometimes it makes me want to scream, UNFAIR. I have protested this the most of everthing that has happened. I loved being on a team with them. This is the reason, the post above me and then if you know them, you'll know why I write these words I write. Because I know you understand how I feel and feel it with me.

The Way of the Cross

I have been reading through the book of Mark in my quiet time for the last few weeks. The last few days concerned the betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death and finally today the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I guess since I often read the story during the season of lent, it seemed slightly out of place, not that it is ever inappropriate to remember Christ’s suffering. It probably doesn’t occur in the liturgical calendar in November. I do not go to a liturgical church, although I have. Today we had a taste of the liturgical reinvented in a very beautiful mix of candle light and quiet, music, scripture and prayer as we “walked” through the stations of the cross before communion. Powerful? yes. Beautiful? deeply. Memorable? I hope to remember it.

We were asked to bring some burden to the cross which was in the center of the stage area draped in purple cloth, illuminated by dozens of candles. The stage is where the pastor usually preaches and the band plays. Those elements were removes as distractions to worship and were placed in the back of the church. We faced the front of the church and followed along in song and prayer. With the assistance of PowerPoint images and the text we were able to join in corporate prayer. The scripture was read and interpreted in Jesus’ voice. Jesus spoke. The thoughts of Christ were read by our worship leader and written by him too, I believe. Through the mind of Christ he asked the congregation very powerful questions and we were given a time of response as we came forward for communion, a practice we are familiar with. We also placed our written burdens in a basket before we took the elements.

We experienced the scriptures today as we celebrated our union as the body of Christ. We were asked to become one with our Lord and position ourselves to be used by Him. We were given a chance to worship without distractions.

As we participated I remembered a friend and fellow Bible study teacher whom at one time co-taught classes with. We particularly concentrated on making the scriptures real through the use of symbolism, hopefully giving richer meaning to contact with the scriptures. She assisted me the first time I lead a mini prayer retreat and as I sat there today I remembered a story of reconciliation that took place at that first retreat. My friend had us all (about 14) drape ourselves in black cloth symbolizing our sin. We went forward and knelt before the cross which was draped in red and prayed a prayer of confession. Then we place our black cloth are the foot of the cross and left it there. One of the ladies attending came to my friend and confessed bitterness towards her from a situation years before. These ladies were leadership and they then prayed and cried together. It was a powerful thing for leadership to be releases from unforgiveness and find unity. No small thing.

I am waiting for other stories to be told about today. This is mine.