I Need a Hero

I watched the movie 'Doubt' last night.

I found it to be an engaging film, but in what I found to be a disturbing way. It definitely has a postmodern edge to it. Truth is obscured by the point of view from which it is seen, and the raw human-ness of the characters keeps the viewer not sure who they like and who they dislike. It is the opposite of the comic-book type movie that has been so common throughout the history of film. There is no hero in this movie. No one person working for the good of the others. Instead there are many people doing both good and bad, often for their own good, not for the good of others. In short it is a pretty accurate read on human actions.

'Doubt' is brilliantly acted. All of the actors did phenomenal jobs. Incredibly believable. It pulls the viewer in and makes you struggle and think. It is an excellent film.

But I need a hero. I need to believe that people can at times put aside their own needs for the common good. I need to see examples of people through whom the light of Christ shines.

This does exist. We know it does. How many examples have we seen of real life stories where people do this? Even if a story is merely a work of fiction I need to know that we as a human race have not lost hope in the good of humanity. I need to see that we as humans have not lost hope in the ability of God to work in this world.

It is not that I am still looking for my hero. I long ago found my hero in the person of Jesus Christ. I just need to see that others in the world are still searching for Jesus. After all what is the movie hero other than a pale reflection of Christ and his saving act? Movies, literature, art, so many of are pop-culture events, are the result of a search for truth, purpose, hope, and salvation.

For Christians these searches lead us right back to God. And our command in this world is to help others find the answer.

Art like 'Doubt' presents an answer that lacks hope. It lacks salvation and redemption. It presents this world as all there is. A 'this is it' mentality that tells us that good and bad are relevant to a person's view of the world. I suppose for people of this world that is true. But for people of God, there is so much more.

We are not lost in a world where 'this is it'. We live in a world of hope. There is hope in the good of the Heavenly Father, for God alone is good (Mark 10:18). There is hope in the good of the Kingdom of heaven that is yet to come. And there is hope in the brief glimpses of that Kingdom that shine their light on us here in this world. We see it all the time. In the face of the child who gives something of theirs to a person in need. In the forgotten pages of history where enemies helped each other. In the amazing stories that come out of despair. The nun who brings a face to the faceless. The country that unites peacefully to save thousands from concentration camps. (Denmark) The desperate alien who stays with the helpless accident victim, knowing it means deportation. The community of mere hundreds that raise thousands to help people in need. There are glimpses all around of hope, of truth, of redemption. It is real.

As wonderfully created and acted as 'Doubt' may be, it is not 'good'. It's lack of hope comes from people that do not know they need a hero.

I need a hero. And I praise God everyday that I do.

Light in the Darkness

'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." John 1:5

I love Christmas, I truly do. The whole season, both the Christian and secular traditions. The trees and wreaths, the ribbons and colors, the treats and feasts, I love it all. And the lights. I love the lights. Growing up I loved to drive around town and look at all of the decorated houses, especially the ones on the lakes so we could see the lights reflected in the water. (Okay not lakes, the man-made ponds in housing developments.)

I confess however, that for the last several years I have thought we should move the celebration of Christ's birth to be in the spring or fall since historically that would be more accurate. Then we could just have winter. Maybe have a midwinter celebration. Not a popular idea and one I would only mention in select company, and NEVER to my brother-in-law.

It is funny how a new location can change your perspective though. Living in a place where the sun sets about 4:45 and does not rise until almost 8 am, I am beginning to understand the reason that the call was made to celebrate Christ's birth at the darkest time of the year (in the northern hemisphere anyway).

Christ is our light. A light that the gospel of John tells us can not and will not be overcome by the darkness. As the people in northern climates lose the sun's light, having the light of Christ's birth to focus on seems ideal. After all don't we see light best through the darkness? Don't we feel the warmth and clarity of Jesus' life and love the most when we are struggling out of our darkest places.

So maybe Christmas on Dec. 25 is not historical. I am learning to let that go. Celebrating the brightest light in the world at the darkest time in winter makes sense. It brings hope, and isn't that the message of the Christmas Gospel? The hope the Christ child brought for salvation?

Preparation

Advent.

A season in the church year that is beautiful because of it's subtlety, expectation, and it's quietness. This is the way the church begins the liturgical year. No giant celebration, no great feasts, or festivals, but with gentle and quiet preparation.

I have been reflecting on this season in a different way this year because for the first time I am playing such an active part in planning it. As I prepare for each service, the preparation for each service brings out a stark revelation that I have never been truly aware of before. We have adulterated the season of Advent as much as we have the season of Christmas. We have twisted it to be about us, about what we can do, about how we can prepare for the coming of Christ.

This has become more and more apparent as I have read the texts for this week. Malachi 3:1-4 speaks of one who will come who is like a refiners fire, and like fuller's soap. Both of these things include preparing. The refiner's fire prepares silver and gold, burning away all of the impurities until it is a precious metal able to be made into a working object. Fuller's soap is a harsh soap that was used to bleach away all of the impurities in fabric preparing it to be used for fine garments. Both of these objects are used to make something ordinary into a thing of extraordinary value. Yet the value of the refined and cleaned object is not only because it is refined, but also because it is now usable. These ordinary things in life have been prepared for great use.

It is a fitting passage for Advent, a time of preparation. But we have taken Advent to mean what we do to prepare. The Malachi passage speaks of the one who is sent, our beloved Lord, as the one who will do the preparing.

Yet then we turn to Luke 3:1-6 and we hear John the Baptist tell us to prepare the way, prepare a highway, make this flat, tear mountains down and fill up valleys. We get excited about this of course because if there is anything we know how to do it is to tear things down and then cover over others. After all that is how we have been making roads and the way for kings to travel for centuries. We can do that. Yet when we look at our history, even just the brief period of history that Luke writes of in those first few lines, what we see is a path of destruction and brokenness left behind a human ruler who was hungry for power and control.

If I am sure of anything when it comes to our God it is that God does not work as we think He will. When in history has God ever done what was promised in a way that the people expected?

With that in mind it makes perfect sense that this time of Advent is another paradox in our faith life.

Prepare the way of the Lord, but be aware that you can not be the one who does the preparation. Make the highway straight, but the road Jesus will travel is not one made of human hands. Every mountain will be made low, every valley filled, but only God can tear down our high defenses and fill our empty holes and broken souls. Prepare everything to be precious in God's sight, but Jesus is the one who will be the refiner.

God is the mover in our season of Advent. God is the one who prepares us. Our Lord sits with us as we live through the refiner's fire, shaping us and burning away all of the impurities until we are so pure and precious that, just as silver does when it is ready to be removed from the fire, we show the reflection of our maker.

Make you reflect the preparation of our God the Advent season.

God is There

On the way home from visiting friends in the Twin Cities, I heard an amazing song.  It came right in the midst of me trying to figure out exactly how I was going to work my sermon for tomorrow, and why I chose to do it on Psalm 46 instead of preaching a standard sermon on Luther's view of Grace and justification.

All of a sudden this song came into my world and left me speechless.  For me it was a reworking of Psalm 139, just as 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God' was Luther's reworking of Psalm 46.  It reminded me that God's words are not stagnant.  They are alive and it is not just preachers who get to help other's understand them.  It was a powerful reminder of God's grace in action.

The song is God Is There by Diamond Rio.  (Yes I listen to country a lot!)

Surrounded by the darkness

It all came down to soon

Longing for redemption in this cold hospital room,

God is There.

What will she tell her family

Still her daddy’s little girl

She can’t believe she’s showing

Carrying the weight of the world

God is there

Where you think he wont come to

That’s where he’ll be

Waiting for you

God is there

In the middle of your night

In every single moment

In every single light

He’s reaching for you 

Right where you are

The God of the impossible is never very far

Oh, imagine a place He would never be

No height nor depth

Not life nor death separate you, ever separate you, ever separate you.

God is there

in the middle of your night

In every single moment

In every single light

He’s reaching for you right where you are

The God of the impossible is never very far

Oh, imagine a place where He would never be,

God is there.

Ooooh, God is there.

Circular Life

We have probably all heard the phrase, ‘the circle of life’.  It is a thought, a philosophy, a lesson for life.  It is used to describe the cycle from life to death.

However, within our lives, within that circle that extends from birth to death, there are various other circles within our life as well.  Times come when, in the midst our daily lives, when events circle around to us again.  I have had this experience more than a few times, usually through people who come back into my life.

Today while attending the Fall Theological Conference for the Southwestern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA (in which I am doing my internship) I have yet again experienced this circular way in which God deals with His Children.

I hold fast to the idea that God brings people, events, and thoughts into our lives for specific purposes, and often can and does bring those same people, events and thoughts back round to us again.

One of the presenters here at this conference, Susan Briehl, has played that role in my life on several occasions.

When I was still in college, getting ready to graduate and had decided that I longed for a ‘normal’ life with a career teaching and a family so I had thrust the idea of seminary and being a pastor far from my mind, I went to Holden Village with a group from my Lutheran Campus Ministry.  Susan was the director of Holden at the time.  When she greeted our group at the beginning of our stay, she briefly mentioned the role we play in the ministry of God, and encouraged us not to put away thoughts of a change in our roles in the future.  They were good words for others, but I knew with the arrogant knowledge of youth that God had seen the brilliance of my plan for my life.

Years later, I came to realize while a missionary in Japan, that I was merely a steward of this life.  The life I had and the path on which I belonged, not to me, but to this amazing God that I could not wait to spend a lifetime serving.  So as I returned to the United States, it was with the faith that God’s voice was now beginning to drown out my own as I took the step to begin seminary.  

With this newfound confidence not in who I was, but in who God was creating me to be, I completed my time as a missionary with the ELCA by attending the Summer Missionary Conference.  One of the presenters at that conference was a member of the committee that was reshaping worship and developing the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book.  The tickling in my mind’s storage closet kept me aware that she was important to my story.  Somehow I knew that in this leader was a connection to who I was and to whom I was becoming.  When she spoke of the way one’s role in ministry changes, and gave her example (including her time at Holden), the closet door sprung open and spilled forth the contents of that long ago retreat.   I took heart at the time, feeling that this was an indication that I was indeed in the right place, at the right time, for the right purpose.  God had redirected, taking my detours and using them to strengthen me for His church.

Four years of seminary, of studying, writing, being emptied, and filled again, later, I have come to the last stage in this leg of the journey.  I am an intern, working everyday in this lifestyle we call ministry.   So it was a delighting and unsurprising surprise, that I realized I was once again sitting and learning from and with Susan, who has been present at so many significant moments of my vocational journey.  

Many would say that this is coincidence, happenstance, or simply a byproduct of being in the same, relatively small church body.  I certainly understand that those are the most likely and logical explanations.  

Yet for me the truth of this occurrence defies logic.  At least it defies human logic.  The truth is that God speaks through the people who proclaim the Gospel.  God works through each and every one of His children in amazing ways.  And God knows how and when to do this work.  God has brought Susan into my life at times critical to my vocation to help me remember who and whose I am.  I am not a teacher, a woman, a leader, a preacher, or a pastor.  I am God’s child, and more specifically I am God’s child of purpose.   

Farmers' Hands

They are often big.  Big, cracked, dry and dirty.  Weathered by time and hard work, these hands show strength.  It is a strength of not only a physical stature, but of time and purpose.  They show a strength of character.  

Hands that shake bankers hands with promise to begin each year.  These hands fulfill that promise with integrity at the end of every year.  These hands shape the land that has been handed down to them.  These hands gamble every spring by sowing the possibility of life into the dirt.  These hands defy the odds by nurturing that life into existence.   These hands plow out a life.  These hands provide life for others.  These hands offer back the life God gave them.

Over the past several weeks I have noticed these hands time and again.  I notice the dirt, the chipped and broken nails, the rough skin.  Above all else I notice the beauty in these hands.  

The beauty comes in the integrity, the perseverance, the nurturing.  The beauty of theses hands I see every week comes from the reflection of God that they show.  These farmers are reflections of their God, who created this world, nurtured it into life, and fulfills daily the promises that He gives.   

Listening

I grab my keys and my bag full of stuff while making sure that I have my cell phones before I head out of the door every day.  And yes I did say phones plural.  

I recently got a blackberry.  Although I know I do not utilize it as well as most do, still I love it.  I am able to text anyone I want, or email people at anytime.  I never even have to use it as a phone to be able to communicate with people. That of course is the way our entire society is.  We communicate now through face-book and twitter, and never even have to hear the voice of the people that we are talking too.

So convenient.  I have to wonder though, what we are missing  with this form of communication taking over our lives?  (Yes I see the irony of saying this through a blog. Still the question is valid, however.)

I really began thinking about this as I traveled with a group of ladies to a larger city to watch The Church Basement Ladies: A Second Helping.  I sat in a van with about 7 other women and I just listened as they talked to each other.  For a person coming into a community what I learned was helpful, as a minister of God’s word, it is invaluable.  Only by listening can I know which of these women act as leaders, and which are content to follow.  Only through listening could I have heard the catch in the voices when the words stated facts that appeared innocuous.  Listening helped me learn about the history of not only the women in the car with me, but about the history of the communities and the congregations that they are part of.  

In my average mad rush to be out the door, to Do all the things that need to be done, do I listen enough?  

This is not just a nice question to keep in mind for relational ministry.  It is a vital aspect to who we are as people of Christ.  The concept of listening is deeply rooted into who we are.  In fact our Jewish ancestors were called to faith with the Hebrew word sh(e)ma/listen.  Listen Israel, God is the Lord, God is one.  Listen.  This word for the Hebrew people means so much more than just to hear the words.  It means to know, to feel, to understand.  It goes into the substance of who they are.  This is the heritage that we come from.  

Let those who have ears to hear, hear.  In other words listen.  Know that Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus is calling us to listen in the same way that God called the Israelites.  Jesus is calling us to listen to him, to our God, and to each other.  After all how can we serve our neighbor if we cannot hear their suffering through our own busy-ness. 

So as we reach for the keys, the phones, the computer, as we rush to check off the next chore, the next meeting, the next good deed, remember that we are called to listen.  Be still and Know that I am God.   Stop your business and listen to God’s voice, know that God is with us.  Still your heart, your mind, and know that God is our Lord, and that God is one.

New in Town

Have you seen the movie?  It is a fairly predictable movie in which Renee Zellweger plays a high powered business exec who is transfered to New Ulm, MN. 

By the time I finally watched this movie with some friends over the summer in Phoenix, I had already lived in MN for the majority of a year.  It was long enough to be able to assure my friends that although the personalities, folksiness, and accents of the characters were greatly exaggerated, the weather was dead on.   Through their laughter over thinking of me while they were enjoying 75 degree days in January, they warned me that I had not yet been in rural MN.  

They are right.  There is another similarity.  You see the other thing I remember about the somewhat forgettable movie was that there was a group of women who opened their lives up and welcomed the new comer with open arms.

That has been what I have found in my time in Southwestern Minnesota.  The people here are more than happy to welcome me in and share their lives with me.  

Just as it was the supporting characters of the movie that made the movie worth watching, it is the supporting members of the congregations and communities here that make Minnesota worth living in.  So although I am not sure I would recommend seeing the movie, New In Town, I do highly recommend living in Southwestern Minnesota.

"OUT! OUT! LET ME OUUUUT!"
These were the words that my niece was screaming after 30 minutes in her car seat after a 3 1/2 day drive to Dundee, MN, several trips to various towns surrounding Dundee, and two trips into The Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul).
She did well for a three year old, we kept saying.
The truth is however, that my sister and I were screaming the same thing, just silently on the inside. (Oh, okay, sometimes it was not so silent, but it was a LONG time in a vehicle!)
Once we arrived at our destination, we always had a great time. Whether we were stopping at a hotel to rest, unloading my stuff from the truck with the help of a wonderful family in Dundee, or going to the Mall of America to 'play' at the amusement park, we always had a great time.
Yet travel, as life, is less about the destination than the planning and traveling to get there. It was a blessing to share the traveling for the past two weeks with my sister and my niece. It was not without struggles, trying to keep the little miss occupied during the drive for example. We also incurred some minor injuries. (I do not recommend jumping off the side of the hotel room tub to children. The toilet is close, and the tub slippery!) There was also a great deal of laughter and companionship and joy along the way, despite the desire to yell, 'Let me Out!'
Now the traveling to Dundee is over. My sister and niece arrived safely in Phoenix to an excited Dad/husband and one year old sister. And I have begun my internship.
I have not yet arrived at a final destination yet, however, and I actually pray I never do. Life, learning, ministry, it is about the journey. The joys, frustrations, laughter, and tears, are all part of traveling together through life here on earth.
There will be times on this last stretch of my path to ordination when I am sure I will again want to yell, 'Let Me Out!', times when frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed and isolated will threaten to overcome the joy.
That is why it is best to take the journey with people. It is so much harder to laugh it off, cry it out, or muddle through when you are alone.
So thank you for being some of the people I journey with.
May your road be as blessed as mine has been.

Spring Fever

It is definitely spring in Minnesota.  Beautiful flowers are scattering their petals, scent, and pollen all over the place.  People are creating excuses to be outside.  Children can be heard laughing all over while they scatter dandelion puffs before they can even manage to get their hands near their lips to blow on  them.  

"Spring has sprung, and so shall we," as Freak tells Max in Freak The Mighty (one of my favorite books for adolescents).  It has indeed sprung.  All over the place, and much to the superb dislike of my allergy overwhelmed senses.  Yet despite the sickness and colds that allergies are determined to bring, I have greatly enjoyed this spring.  

It has been a new experience to watch the season of new life overlap with the liturgical season of Easter.  I am used to Spring ending soon after Easter as the summer makes an early appearance in Phoenix.

Here though the preparation that the earth is undergoing in winter echoes our preparation during Lent.  The new growth of the springs is then echoed by the season of Easter when we celebrate the promise of resurrection and the newness of the church.

We can of course argue that the church is no longer new as it is over 2,000 years old.  Yet it is also the body of Christ, and it is made new everyday as we are made new everyday.  That is the gift of resurrection that we often do not see.  Yes we await eternal life with Jesus, but we also live a life today that has a new start whenever we need it, even if that need is moment to moment.  

We prepare during Lent to grow into the newness of Christ.  Or at least that is the opportunity that we have.  Often it serves only to prepare us for a long Eater Sunday.  Well my prayer for you this spring, this Easter Season, is that the celebration of Resurrection Sunday is not forgotten, but is remembered everyday as you become yet again a new creation in Christ.  

Christ is Risen!

Blessings,

Tina

Prairie Star Ministries

I had the wonderful experience this past weekend of visiting the site that I will be interning at beginning in September.   It was a truly blessed weekend, and a great chance to get to see where I will be living and working.

The site consists of 5 congregations.  Two of these churches are in small towns.  I will be living in Dundee, MN where the congregation of First Lutheran is located.  Evangelical is located in the town of Heron Lake, while the other three congregations, Immanuel, Amo, and Grace, are all open country churches.  There is also a retreat/education facility as part of the parish as well, called Shalom Hill Farm, and yes it is an actual farm.

Some of you may chuckle at the thought of me in this situation.  After all I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ which is not only a very large city, but smack in the middle of the desert.  As if that was not enough the only other time I have lived away from home I lived in Tokyo, which is one of the largest cities in the world.  Yet here I am getting ready to live in a place that has a population of just over 100 people, and work in a ministry that will require driving around from one small congregation to the next.  I am sure many of you will find the thought of me living and working in such a situation comical.  I also chuckle from time to time about how out of my element I will be.  However, I chose this site purposely, knowing that as I learned how to be a pastor in this setting, I would have the chance to grow in a situation that I have never been a part of.  

I am of course scared about how good a job I will do.  I will be out of my element.  I will be on a huge learning curve.  I will also be sure to make a few thousand mistakes along the way.  Yet I get to do that among a great team of people who will all have a large stake in this ministry.  I do not just mean the other pastors that I will work with, but all of the other who work alongside them, and all of the people who attend the congregations.  

I am sure that this will be a wonderful opportunity to grow further in my call to ministry.  This is probably true because it is such a change from my past experiences.  I look forward to the experience and to sharing it with you.

Peace in Christ!

Life in Community

Yesterday I had to once again evaluate my feelings about living in community.  I will claim that we should endeavor to live our lives in a way that the people around us uphold one another in every aspect of life.  This would mean, in theory, that I believe that we should call attention, gently and with our neighbor’s best at heart, to things that others around us need to change.  

This is an easy enough sentiment when I perceive others as needing that corrective intervention, maybe it is not as easy when it is I receiving the corrective.  I will admit that I used to have trouble with anything that could even potentially be viewed as criticism, and that I still have to work at not taking things too personally, or thinking that that voiced concern takes away all the good that there is.  Yet, I also have to recognize that I have become much better about this.  I have also learned that I can evaluate what others say and take it or leave it, in short I realize that other peoples’ opinions are just that and are not necessarily better or worse than mine.

But what about the larger community in which we live?  The community that lies beyond family, friends, school, work, church, etc?  I have always felt, or at least thought I felt, that the idea of community with certain boundaries of course, was just as needed.

That was until yesterday.  Yesterday I was driving along Lake Street in Minneapolis just enjoying the beautiful spring day.  As I stopped at a red light a car came up beside me and honked repeatedly, then fervently motioned for me to lower my window.

With his angry eyes blazing he yells, “You have no brake lights. None.”

Completely taken aback by his manner I simply looked at him with wide eyes and rather lamely said, “Oh. Okay.”

“Humph.  YOU HAVE NO BRAKE LIGHTS!!”  He yelled again, obviously impatient with my lack of immediate action.

“Okay.  Thanks.”  I could think of nothing else to say at that moment with him continuing to glare at me.  Of course the second the light turned green and he squealed through a left turn, I thought of several witty comebacks from, ‘Thank you very much Mr. Sunshine,’ to, ‘Oh let me pull my magic wand out and just fix that right up.’  I mean seriously, my mind continued on.  What did he expect?  How would I know that my brake lights were out?  They were working the last time I stood behind my car.  It was just in for a bunch of little repairs during which time they check that stuff.  And what did he expect me to do about it right now, here in the middle of the street?  The big jerk.  And yes, let us pretend that I am that nice during my internal rants.

All through this tirade in my head there was a quiet little voice just waiting to be heard. This is just part of living in community. Conscience?  Spirit-led thought?  Rationality?     

And this is what I want to help build?    

He is just a concerned neighbor, doing his best to protect his community.  Isn’t that what you believe we all are called to do?  Ugh.  Don’t you hate it when your own principles and ethics come back to interfere in your life?  

I do believe that.  I do think we should act on that value, holding each life around us as valuable and a beloved part of God’s creation.  This man was doing that.  Or at least there was an attempt there.  Yes his delivery was harsh, extremely harsh.  However he sought to let me know of a potential risk to myself and others.  Who knows how long this problem has existed, and no one else has brought it to my attention.

What about next year when I am working in ministry setting that includes 5 small congregations, working out of a town of about 5500 and living in a town of about 100?  I am of course not at all familiar with small towns, but I am pretty sure that I will get a whole new perspective on community and what it means to hold one another accountable.  

Community is messy because it involves people and their human natures.  This leads to misunderstandings, misinterpreted communication, and even sometimes just a basic clash of personalities.  What a disaster.  What a potential land-mine of problems.  What a beautiful expression of imperfect, often misguided, sinful persons all holding onto the wonderful promise of being redeemed and reconciled to God and to each other through Christ.

Welcome to the world of community, Tina, hold on for the wild ride.

The Reason Behind

I had this brilliant idea (well truth be told a few people gave me the idea) that I should start a blog so that people can keep track of my internship year.  This made great sense since I know there are so many people out there rooting for me, praying for me, and supporting me who want to know what I am doing.  

So I set up the blog, choosing the site, the name, the subject, and the layout.  Then I let it sit for about a month.  So many reasons, so many excuses.  All true, all valid.  Yet the truth behind it was that I just did not know what to write.  What does one write in a blog?  What do people want to read?  And most importantly what is my purpose in writing it?  Is it an outlet for my own thoughts?  A way to catch people up on the random thoughts I have had, or the small occurrences of my life?  Is it a way to reach people with the message of Christ?  The more I questioned myself, the less sure I became about any of it.  So I just let it sit.  

Life of course has a way of going on, ready or not.  I found myself being overwhelmed by Life.  Some major things happening, a lot of stuff to do, and just the everyday grind began to fold in on me.  I found myself thinking, 'I could write about this,' more and more frequently.   Soon I realized that the answer to all of those questions was yes.  So like me.  There is no one purpose, no one reason, no one concrete, easily identifiable thing that I was attempting to do.  Instead there is only the 'feeling' that I should do this.  There is the drive to be faithful to God and what He is doing in my life.  There is the desire to help other people in their walk, to share with them what I am doing and how, in the hopes that it finds a way into their life that aides them in some way.  

So if you are reading this, welcome.  Grab ahold of something and hold on, because there will be no rhyme or reason for my entries, other than for some reason I felt compelled to share.  I hope that it provides you with something tat will make you think, make you feel, laugh, cry, and above all will help you in your journey with God in this life.

Blessings to you!