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 ...