GLORY

Leslie made this quilt for the niece of a woman we worked with at Thalia Lynn in Va Beach. She (her niece) and her husband were heading to Thailand to serve as missionaries. Their 'call verse' was Habakkuk 2:14: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." so Leslie quilted this wall hanging for them as a ... commissioning quilt.
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about the game

We came dangerously close to winning tonight. we play seven inning games. top of the 6th, we were ahead 6-3. bottom of the 6th, the team from melrose UMC had scored 8 runs on us. at the top of the 7th we went three up, three down, and that was that.

Two REALLY COOL things happened, though. Tyler and Ricky showed up to play. Tyler has had a really REALLY rough last couple of months ... more. Ricky injured his knee last summer - playing softball, in fact, and had to undergo extensive surgery and rehab ... I let Tyler play right field, and I sat out as an extra batter, then let Ricky hit in my place. He got a base hit. And Tyler caught a pop fly to right field to throw a guy out.

The let down was palpable ... but we still had fun.

maybe next time. :-)

M&M's, Sue, and the Christmas get together. there are as many stories to tell of our years as roommates in college ... funny, it really only turned out to be ... just under 2 years, if i sit and think about it ... fall of 82 to spring of 84, with stacey having bailed out of 1357 and into marriage ... :-)
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the nativity was a christmas gift to Leslie. at our hanging of the green service, sunday school classes were responsible for the hanging of the greens, we invited guests and visitors to take a piece of the nativity up and place it on the table. worked out pretty cool.
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The Sanctuary where Jerusalem Baptist Church meets, in Emmerton, Virginia. This was shortly before Christmas of last year. That is why the front of the sanctuary has all those poinsettias.
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Tuesdays with Judson

Judson, our 4 year old, went with me to History Land Nursery on Newland Rd. this morning/afternoon. He sort of enjoys tagging along. He's gone with me to 3 or 4 of my visits to the worksite at Greenfields, on Rt 17, and is more comfortable there. A couple of the guys live in a trailer home onsite, and we stepped in to visit with them while they finished up their lunch. Judson went into 'intro' mode - burying his face in my shoulder, and not answering any questions or making eye contact with either Jesus (Chewy) or Daniel, his brother. It was a little offputting, but they seemed to understand, and didn't seem offended. (sigh)

The devotional went a little longer than usual. It lasted about 20 minutes. Usually I'm done in 10. it went well, though. told the story of Joseph, giving thanks in all circumstances b/c we don't know going in what good will come through them ... not to NOT allow complaints, but to realize that most of what we live through makes us stronger, or maybe wiser (hopefully) or at least ... gives us life experience to move forward ...

Our encuentro on Sunday went REALLY well ... we had 35 men and women show up, along with 20 or so members of the church -- and THEY ENGAGED EACH OTHER!!! FINALLY It was a pretty animated game of Dominos. But hey, whatever works. :-)

Dr. Morris and the congregation were incredibly gracious and welcoming. After the Devotional (which Leslie gave ... I translated for her when she got in a little deep :-)) Dr. Morris shared in song - he sang 'How Great Thou Art' ... and got an ovation from the group.

One note. Three of the guys left right before the worship/devotional time. Partly because they were tired, but mostly (I found out later) because they just became so homesick. :-(

I can REALLY identify with that. I hope to reach them over the next couple of weeks - before the next Encuentro, to hopefully start to ease that... we shall see...

grace & peace

let's see if it goes this time ... :-)
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got to do the devotional outside as well.
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these were all taken at totuskey baptist church in haynesville va. it was a perfect spring day.
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this is a little over a year old, but this is us. :-)
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How do you catch a six year old?

it was hard to get a rythm going, but for a few minutes there we had it. throw. catch. throw. catch. throw. bounce.:-) we moved around each other as we stepped and reached to get the ball to whap into the pockets of the gloves. we ended up going around the face of the clock. at one point, caleb asked to move into a shaded area of the yard, since the sun was full on his back (though low in the sky).

he'd been asking me all afternoon to do this. we finally were able to. i intentionally waited until later in the afternoon (close to 6), so that the heat wouldn't be such a factor.

"great catch!"
"good throw!"
"keep your eye on the ball all the way into your glove, and bring your other hand into the glove after the ball!"

it's odd. don't remember doing anything like that with daddy.

i suspect we WOULD have, had we had the opportunity. but as it was, i don't remember owning a baseball glove growing up ... and it wasn't that big a sport in chile anyway.

to be honest, it seemed kind of boring, watching it at grandaddy and grandma's ... almost like golf still is NOW ... :-)

picture this: the sun going down, a slight breeze blowing. not too many bugs, caught one mayfly on the strip on the back of my ball cap, and mostly blue sky above. and your six year old son spending time with you because HE wanted to.

it's not iowa. it really IS heaven.

getting with the program ...

so i've downloaded hello (http://www.hello.com/index.php), but there seems to be some sort of network error. can't login to the app. :-/

maybe later ... will try again.

oh ... made it through the night ok. didn't sleep. the boys fell asleep around 4AM. we pulled into the driveway about 6. Leslie and Hannah were getting ready. Good to at least say bye to them before crashing for 3 hours.

then up and rush to Caleb's T-ball game. that went well as well. not sure who won, or if they even keep score. there was a nice breeze, so the sun wasn't too terribly hot.

came home and laid down on the bed. the boys were more interested in watching TV than in sleeping. Judson is now asleep. Caleb is waiting for him to wake up so we can 'go do something'.

we'll be visiting harvey, then coming home to play some catch, hopefully.

wonder where the leftover spaghetti is from last night?

pray for me. i'm off to a lock in with Caleb (6) and Judson (4) and about 50 other screaming children and teenagers. just got home (for a minute) from the softball game (lost 11-6 ... no major foulups. only one, really. happened to coincide with the one time the ball came out to right field ;-) )

tomorrow caleb has a t-ball game at 10, not sure how well he'll be up for that. but anyway. i've still got the message perking ... and then sunday afternoon we'll have an encuentro at Shiloh.

had a good good visit with cecilio and cirilo last night. looking forward to seeing them tom ... uh sunday.

grace & peace.

What IS It About Forgiveness?

it didn't go where i thought it was going to end up. i ended up telling the story of jacob and esau, and how esau's response to the reunion after 20 years said more about forgiveness than pretty much anything jacob did. there's an amazing verse, it's jacob speaking to esau, after esau welcomes him with a big hug and crying together:

Genesis 33:10
"Jacob said, "No, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God--since you have received me with such favor."

beginning text remained the same. then shifted. that happens a lot. i know i need to start working on my sermons earlier in the week (read: NOW, TODAY, RIGHT THIS MINUTE) ... i don't know if it is procrastination (or i do and would rather not admit to it) or if it is bona fide 'letting it perk' throughout the week.

it still came out to a full 7 pages. translated into 35 minutes. didn't feel like it, intended to pick up the pace, but it didn't happen. let everyone out at 12:10. it'd be interesting if the congregation were exposed to the services i grew up with in santiago - 45 minute to hour-long sermons the norm rather than the exception. especially sunday evenings ... usually LONGER on those nights.

Elwood came up to me yesterday evening and said that the sermon was my best yet.

i hope that doesn't mean i need to keep making them long.

visited shirley and pete for the first time this afternoon while taking them lunch. shirley fell a couple of weeks ago but didn't tell ANYONE. actually didn't want to go to the hospital, even though she heard her ankle crack on her way down (as she fell). correction: they DID tell their youngest son, who lives in Urbanna, but also swore him to secrecy. the sisters and older brother were all consequently angry at him for keeping the secret. their granddaughter in Topeka was getting married this past saturday, so they drove out over a 3 day period (1,400 miles one way). kept the leg elevated, but it still didn't do it any GOOD, according to the doctor. it was good to get to know her and them a little better. pete doesn't come ... though somewhere in the back of my mind i seem to remember his visiting once over the last year ... not sure though. their granddaughter graduated highschool at 15, college at 19, and med school will be this coming saturday. she's 24. her father is a heart surgeon, her mom (shirley's daughter) raises horses.

harvey's sister passed away last night. viewing is tomorrow evening, funeral wednesday 1 PM at totuskey. Margaret, though she was sitting up, doesn't look that good. she is still confined to the bed and the wheelchair. i suspect there is more going wrong with her than just the fungal meningitis would account for.

there's a sparrow that builds her nest in the front door right-side wreath every spring. this year there were 5 eggs. all hatched. one chick fell out, but i put it back. she still cared for it. apparently they don't reject babies that have been touched by humans after all. the chicks are getting bigger and bigger. their feathers finally started to come out overnight on saturday. they now look up at me and just stare. it's been fascinating to watch them grow. don't see the mama ... or rather, don't startle the mama away that much anymore. apparently she's spending more time gathering food away from the nest.

they should probably be ready to fly in another week or two ... max.

theological reflections?

nah. i got nothin'. :-)

Kori and Anna Kiss spoke last night at family night, about their ... trek ... their ... pilgrimage from Hungary and Romania, respectively, to Budapest and the international baptist lay academy, then to prague for the international baptist seminary, then being told they had to find another school, since all the faculty was being fired from that one (another form of ethnic cleansing, if you ask me).. and ended up at BTSR in richmond and then ended up being called to pastor Bethany church in Callao, VA. Amazing stories. reminded me of what it means to live by faith ...

On A MUCH Lighter Note ...

We lost our game last night against Henderson/Carmel UMC, something like 15 to 20. It was actually close there for a while. Then I ran from first base to the dugout to get my glove, thinking we'd had our third out, only to realize that we HADN'T ... but I got to fill that position on my race back TO first base ... :-/

Somewhere along in there I either pulled or strained my ... hamstring? (not sure, whatever it is that is on the back of my thigh ...) it HURTS ... but that's what I get for not warming up and stretching more before the game started ...

Still and all, it was a fun game ... I need to pick up some cleats. The game started shortly before 9:30 PM (scheduled to begin at 9, but the game before ours ran a little long). Our game lasted an hour and 8 minutes. By that time there's a good bit of dew on the grass. That can only get worse as the summer goes on.

Interesting to feel sore like this ... I really REALLY need to get in shape ...

I DID score two runs, and got hits each time I was up to bat.

Two low flies came out to right field, and I was too far back, and the sneakers I wore just weren't cutting it.

I think the guys on the team who don't know me too well are not sure how to treat me ... they realize I'm the Pastor, but they don't yet rag me like they do each other. Let's see what I can do to help them get over that. :-)

The images ... even the THOUGHT of the images, are ... are ... there's no word that is adequate. Discomforting sounds like a pair of too-tight underwear. Appalling seems too snobbish. Unsettling is an understatement. Heart-rending comes closer ...

We began a discussion Wednesday evening during prayer time that i need to continue tomorrow morning - on forgiveness. I cannot walk in the shoes either of the prisoners or of the Berg family. I cannot walk in the shoes of the guards, or the masked perpetrators of the beheading. I can approach the event with ... a broken heart.

I can't help but cry for the families of the dead. I can't help but cry for the desensitization ... the dehumanization that the guards and the masked men have suffered to bring them to a place where they can commit the acts they committed and still function, in whatever twisted way we can define the word 'function' that means.

Tony worked on my brakes yesterday morning. I sat with him, being mechanically challenged as I am, and just visited. He and I are the same age. He was in the Navy, he has two teenage sons. His wife teaches our children gymnastics. He works for a local defense contractor. He saw the video on the website. He said what surprised him was the intensity of his response -- and it was sheer rage. He wanted to go and kill the men RIGHT THEN.

So the passage for tomorrow is from Matthew 5:

43"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.?

Pray for me. I'm not sure where this is going to end up. I just know that that is the passage I need to preach from.

grace & peace

Monday ...

feeling the pain from Friday night's softball game a little more today than yesterday, and a little more than Saturday. Feeling my age and realizing I REALLY need to get in shape. Oh Well. Something for next year's resolutions. :-)

Actually had a good time. Shocked everyone, most of all myself, by hitting a double my first at-bat. Slid into First my second at-bat, but the runner that was going from first to second got tagged out there, so didn't get to follow through.

Jerusalem Baptist Church (Emmerton) has a long, illustrious history of NEVER winning a game. I don't intend to tarnish that record in the least. It's made for good, clean, fun every time they've gone out to play. Schedules have simply not allowed for the team to get together TO practice.

Mother's day was good. Had an Encuentro at White Stone yesterday afternoon. 22 there. Smaller group, but we all knew each other. There WERE two or three brand new guys there, but they were related to men from last year, so there was already a connection.

Next time, we meet at Shiloh. First African-American church in the association to host a gathering ... I'm thinking it may be the ONLY African-American congregation IN the Association. Dr. Morris is the moderator this year. Neat, neat people.

Sorry. I know I should be adding some thoughts that are perking ... and I will, but I just don't have the energy right now.

Midweek ...

Started the day off loopy. Bubble not in the middle. took the pager back to the hospital, as part of going off-call on the chaplaincy rotation, which i do every tuesday. took judson with me, ran home to check mail, delivered appropriately to the various slots in the office (youth, treasurer, WMU, Music Director, etc), then met Leslie and Soozin at Northern Neck Gourmet for lunch. still feeling odd.

Got home and there was a wonderful, warm message from Elwood, just calling to wish me a good day, glad we are here, and just hoping that i'd be able to get out and enjoy the day and the beauty of it (it was in the low 70's, sunny and clear for most of the day - absolutely gorgeous!). funny how one message can work to turn the whole day around!

This evening at church i introduced Celebration of Discipline, and will begin going through it next week. small group. Linda, Wilson, Kitty, Jack, Soozin, Pat, Jean, Margie, Leslie and the 3 kids ... John, and ... Cliff ... I think that was it. Hilda and Herbert are in England, Jim and Mary are in North Carolina ... Sam and Annie Mae come periodically, and I'm not sure about Tony and Janice ... or George... still, a good comfortably-sized crowd ... at home with each other.

Nice to feel like a family.

not a lot to write about ...

I mean, i'm sure there's TONS of stuff to write about, just not in the frame of mind to do it.

sorry.