The place.....

Sometimes God leads me to a place where I feel very inadequate....but good..... because I know it's by his grace that I'm there....

Onward and upward.......

Lent....

This past week we held a service at church as it was "Ash Wednesday"...the beginning of the season of Lent. We talked about what this day meant to us as Christians, especially with our varying backgrounds...Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, United.....now all Covenanters. And with these various backgrounds came varied ways of expressing the season of Lent.

After we spoke of the meaning of Lent, we had a time of "receiving the mark" (as I like to call it), of the pastor smearing the mark of the cross on our forehead with ashes. It was a sign to myself and to others. Had the service taken place that morning, I would have walked around that day with dirt on my face. I would have had "the mark". It represented the sin of my life being displayed for everyone to see and for me to acknowledge that sin and begin a time of repenting and asking for forgiveness for the unrighteousness of my life. A humbling thing to acknowledge my sin to God but it seems we have a much more difficult time of admitting our sin to our neighbors, our family, our friends. Sin has a way of making itself look actually appealing, of making us want to entertain it and for it to become a part of us with our total approval. But the mark of the cross reminds us of the sacrifice that was a part of God's humiliation as he experienced crucifixion on a cross....in front of the whole city....his friends, enemies, disciples and family.

Why do I find it so uncomfortable? Why would someone put their life on the line and give it up......for me? Seems like when I realize the totality of this sacrificial death....I am humbled, beyond what I can express here....

But when we begin to search our hearts and see sin for what it is....something that takes us from the presence of God....... whether it's gossiping, excessive drinking, kicking the cat, obsessive sex, yelling in anger, gambling, stealing, always wanting more (rather than being satisfied with what we have been given), or not being hospitable or giving or loving or kind to others......then, we can move away from that sin towards a more healthy life. That is the job of the Spirit of God...to allow our conscience to be made more aware of our wrong-ness.

So the beginning of Lent sets me on a path towards wholeness and new life...one which I walk every single year.

Ya, I know. I'm a very slow learner.

Oh, by the way, that "cross experience" Jesus had????....it was for you too, my friend.

The Eagle(t) has landed....

Safely and soundly.

I may now rest in peace....so to speak.

A long Skype chat today with Matt was so very good....just to know he'll be coming to P.A. in a week or so too, makes me happy.

And he looked so wonderful.:-)

We spoke of changes....the seen and unseen.

And so I thank God for his safe return and how He has been working.... mostly in the unseen parts of his life. It is very, very good.

You were always on my mind...

" Licking the Candles" ceremony.
Flowers & Cake were enjoyed by all.

And these two hopefully landed right side up and intact.

It's been a good day.

Our children were foremost on my mind.....being a "birthday" day and a "homecoming" day.

Not sure how much more excitement I can handle...

The birthday girl and her daughter are now off to the movies.

Now we wait for a phone call from Winnipeg to say that all is well. Who knows....maybe they missed their plane in Delhi and they're sitting on the side of the road, holding a piece of cardboard which says "Winnipeg or bust".....and being in India no one would know what a Winnipeg was let alone a bust....and the police would come along and haul them off to jail for making obscene messages on the side of a road and they'd only get fed rice for many days and not allowed to use the phone to call their moms....and.....and.....

Well, you know how moms can get.........:-)

Tommorow we celebrate...

Shannon celebrates a birthday. I can't even begin to describe the joy that overtook our home the day she entered it!!! She is truly a gem. She's reliable, beautiful, loyal, honest, funny, sensitive and is always looking out for others before herself. I really like her! AND I'm proud to have been a part in growing her up to maturity, and into this beautiful young woman. We will wish her a "Happy Birthday" as she celebrates tomorrow.

And tomorrow as Shannon celebrates a birthday, we also celebrate Matthew's baptism day....26 years ago. He wore Shannon's baptism gown and he was nearly 2 months old. Some ways it seems like so long ago....and yet........

As we celebrate these two wonderful events we will also celebrate Matt's return to Canada.

It will be one great day! May God bless and watch over these two grown-up children of ours!!!

We are thankful and blessed.....

Walking the path...

But which path do we choose? Left or right.....or turn back??? We have a choice.

It's the beginning of Lent today, the season of making ourselves new again and the preparation we must involve ourselves in before this newness can take hold and change us.

It involves acknowledging our unholiness, our un-right-ness, our need for help and our need to be forgiven. It involves making choices....

We may wonder why it is necessary to go through this time of preparation. We've lived pretty good lives, haven't killed anyone, or taken anything that didn't belong to us, or cuss (too much). We've been pretty upright citizens and a good example of the human race, as far as we're concerned.

But there is something deep within us that knows better. There's something way down there that says we really haven't been what we could be and we've not taken things seriously, like feeding the poor and helping out those that need shelter and clothing.....loving our neighbor.

If we do all that, will we be better people? Perhaps. Depends I guess on our motives and why we do these good things. If it's to make ourselves look good to others, we might just as well stay home under the bed covers and hide in shame.

This is Lent...a time to revisit our motives, to decide which path we want to go on, a time to ask for help and forgiveness from God and others and a time to attempt to be better people......

Which path will I take?

It's a technological breakthrough....

Almost.

Being that church Council in the last few years, has successfully taken to communicating via email for good, sometimes lengthy discussions, so as not to take up so much time in talking when we DO meet, the only person behind the '8 ball' is husband. He knows nothing....computer wise at least.

Today the bull's horns were taken hold of and he now has an email account. If you want to wish him well in the beginning stages of this exciting adventure you may email him thusly: kenkent65@gmail.com You can tell by the email address that a problem could exist....

Now yes, an email account has been established, however, the how-to's of turning on the computer, how to use a mouse, which side to click and how many times......that's all going to be left for tomorrow's lessons. Usually he's a fast learner. We'll see how stubbornness and determination are able to go hand in hand in the matter.

I say, anyone who can drive a boat, pull a 32foot trailer behind a half ton truck AND back it into place, who can build most anything AND cook up a storm, not to mention pull a fish hook back out through his finger, MUST have quite a bit to back him up....although fine motor skills may not be his forte.

I say, he'll be an email whiz by this time next year. Of course, most people accuse me of being overly optimistic in most ventures.