LDG5

Well, missed Friday and Saturday so here goes ...

Friday, Lenten Day 3, LDG5 - 3:

1) DVD's that allow me to save $400.00 instead of Broadway Tickets at Chrysler Hall

2) Friends and Family who will sit through Cats - omg, what a weird Broadway Play!

3) Caprica

4) Pierson Toyota...gettin' the car's 20,000 AND the recall all in less than 2hrs!

5) The netbook - kept me entertained

Saturday, Lenten Day 4, LDG5 - 4:

1) The blue bus!

2) Visioning wonderful things for the church

3) a delicious lunch that will keep me slender!

4) Great friends who understand my 'vision' isn't always easy to explain.

5) The Garden of Gethsemene.

LDG5

My girlfriend, Renee, is doing a Lenten Daily Gratitude 5 list each of the 40 days of Lent. I thought, after reading her first two, 'Wow!'

I've decided to follow suit and in conjunction with my Lenten Stations of the Cross posts (which will be on Sundays ... which oddly enough aren't counted among the 40 days of Lent, weird, huh?). This particular posting will be my "catch up" s0 there will be two LDG5s listed here.

Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, LDG5-1:

1) flexible church staff that is willing to step outside of the box

2) my daughter, who is coming into her own and is absolutely amazing

3) my husband, who is patient and understanding and puts up with a LOT

4) my best friend, who understands that I won't ask for help and so just leaps in with both feet

5) my pets who entertain me each and every day :)

Thursday, Lenten Day 2, LDG5-2:

1) Google search

2) health

3) a therapist who is very patient with me and lets me keep at my snails pace

4) a team on True North to work with

5) vision and insight and the drive to make it so

Alright, all caught up now...LDG5-3 will be in another post later in the day.

This Lenten season I encourage all of you to make a daily gratitude list yourself - count your blessings and be thankful!

Ash Wednesday

Ashes to Ashes

Mortal. I have come from the Ash Wednesday service where I have been reminded of my own mortality. More than that though, I was reminded of the mortality of Jesus Christ—God made mortal man who will be sent to not only suffer the sin of the whole world but will die for the reconciliation of those sins to God the Father.; His Father … Himself..

I am suffering a crisis of faith right at the moment, experiencing a “Dark Night of the Soul”. My mortality is not in question for I am keenly aware of my mortality as I rapidly approach 50. No what comes into question is my immortality, the after life, the what happens after death. I fear that belief falls upon a magnificent work of fiction—the creation of a brilliant mind who with the best of intentions created an afterlife of joy, peace and happiness to comfort a dying loved one. Whose to say this isn’t so? Truly do we have any way of knowing?

Christ made flesh, mortal, to lead the way for all to follow. And now in a mere 40 days we will be celebrating the life of the risen Lord; a renewed life everlasting with God. Alleluia! I just wish I had assurance. Lord I believe—help my unbelief...

Stations of the Cross

Ash Wednesday is February 17th this year and I will be participating in the Stations of the Cross blog Via Crucis beginning on that day. In conjunction, I believe that True North theme for the next six weeks, February 21 through March 28, will be the Stations of the Cross. If you're in the Hampton area, come check it out.

Longing to ...

Wow! It seems soooo weird to NOT be able to attend worship services on Sunday. The weather, with 4 - 5 inches of snow blanketing the area, caused the powers that be to determine that for the safety of the congregation (and probably themselves) the services would be cancelled. The parking lot was filled with snow and the cost of snow removal was astronomical (that's what happens in a community where snow removal equipment is at a premium!). It's rough to go from attending three services on Sunday to attending none. Wow...again.

However, it did cause me to ponder on our freedoms in North America, heck the Western Hemisphere. We have the freedom to determine whether we will meet as a body of believers or not; we have the opportunity to decide as individuals if we will be going to worship or not; we are free to choose which service style we'd like to go to, which church, what belief. I think about those countries, nations, that don't have those same freedoms. People who are forced to worship in a particular way to a particular set of deities at a particular worship center or face dire consequences - persecution, prosecution, penalties that could include death. Wow, again...again.

I pray for the day when all people will have the freedoms that I have - when all people will be able to worship how they choose, when they choose, and where they choose. I pray for the religious freedoms of all people throughout the world.

girl in the dream

I am who I am