The two Amy(ie)s.....

Kind of like the Three Amigos, minus one.

Two good friends of ours (couples), who no longer live here, whose eldest children are daughters, whose names are Amy and Amie, just gave birth within two days...to daughters.  Our friends became grandparents with their first grandchild the same week.  I don't think that would happen too terribly often. Also, another couple who pastored our church here a couple years back became grandparents for the first time when their eldest daughter had a daughter in late February.  Uncanny!

Not sure what all those girls are about but it may be time to get crackin' on producing some sons....all you gals of child-bearing age!  (hint...hint...hint to 'you know who':)

Just good news all around.

Getting back to that sermon on Sunday, where Pastor Stacia spoke on being 'cut to the heart', I was reading in my book I've been plugging through for who knows how long entitled "The Heart of Christianity" by Marcus Borg, where he speaks of that very thing.  He speaks of it as being a 'thin place'...a place where soul and spirit meet, where God becomes real, where we know he is present, where we see in nature and people the part of them that is good and God-like and spiritual.  I have been to those 'thin places' many times in my life, some more intense than others but as I go about my day, I can see God everywhere, in everything, in places and people and experiences.  Those times are difficult to explain but there is a sense of fullness, of sacredness, of being able to see with new eyes and hear with new ears.  It's a time when I feel most human and when God is within me, breathing in and breathing out, looking out of my eyes and hearing with my ears...his presence intertwined with my being.  I love those 'thin places'.  I grow in those times, grow and change and become more responsible and grown-up in my faith.  If we are to live a Christian-centered life, then those times are vital.  We cannot keep on being Christians without some sense of becoming better people, and being more in tune with what Jesus set out for us to accomplish.  One major task is being watchful for social injustice and doing what we can to make it right.  It may be voting a particular way or becoming involved in organizations that attempt to make a way for the poor, or seeing that everyone is physically cared for when they are ill.  We must be watchful when governments begin to become greedy and insensitive and power-hungry, making the poor get poorer and the rich....get richer and more powerful.

We need to be about the business of love....loving...those who are marginalized, unlovely and who do not have a sense of pride in themselves.  Jesus said we are to be about the business of loving our neighbor.  Not sure how I shall do this, but I know when I get to that 'thin place', I will find a way.

Sleep well, my friends.