Earth Hour 2010

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LDG5

Wednesday, Lenten Day 7, LDG5-7:

1) Wintry mix, yes!

2) Mother-in-laws who look out for you!

3) Chatting with friends

4) praise for writing well

5) Ghost Hunter re-runs.

Contemporary Stations - Station One, the Garden of Gethsemane

Agony and desperation, that is what Christ felt on that final night of freedom. The Passover supper was long over, the "Last Supper" that he would share with his disciples, apostles, and friends. Now at last he comes to the Garden of Gethsemane with his closest companions where the weight of what is to come lays upon his shoulders like an elephant. Jesus is desperate ... in that moment he is completely and utterly human. He does not want to suffer, he does not want to die. Jesus is in agony and he cries out to his Father God, "Please take this cup from me!!"

The modern Jesus Christ Superstar captures the full expression of this desperate cry from the heart; I find that my heart agonizes with him. It is in that moment of desperation that I find I truly connect with Christ as the one so desperate and so longing for escape. There are a great many times when I am filled with that much agony and desperation - times when all I can do is weep for words fail me. Christ, though, finds some comfort from his heavenly Father God. Through his furtive pleas for release from the cup about to befall him Christ sacrifices himself and surrenders his will to God. I am not there. In my darkest hours of desperation I find myself defeated and exhausted but not willing to lay it before God and say "Your will Father, not my own."

Father God, I know that you are there - just as you were when your son Jesus Christ cried out to you in agony and desperation - waiting for me to concede and surrender. I know that your arms await me and long to comfort me. Christ, help me to endure as you did that night; help me to surrender my will as you did that night. Father God ... I know that I need to surrender my will to yours, be patient with this foolish daughter.

LDG5

Monday, Lenten Day 5, LDG5-5:

1) Blood drives that give me the opportunity to help someone somewhere

2) Monicas, all of us, where ever we may be! :D

3) Friends that we can joke with while giving blood (and racing to see who wins).

4) Out of country friends who pop in to catch up

5) Outback Steakhouse!! Yum!

Tuesday, Lenten Day 6, LDG5-6:

1) Crockpots

2) People who are so willing to help at the last minute

3) Praise Team members who jam!

4) Adam's sense of humor

5) Dragon Age when I so desperately need to escape

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...