3rd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the third Sunday of Lent (using Cycle A for the RCIA scrutinies) are:

1. Exodus 17:3-7
2. Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
3. Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
4. John 4: 5-42
   

• Trust me
  
• God doesn't seem to tell us much about what's coming.  You may be tempted to think He's making it up as He goes.
• Have you ever been afraid that God wasn't going to come through?
• What made you afraid?  Did you think that God had abandoned you after leading you to a precarious position?  Did you wonder whether it was actually God who got you to this precarious position?  Did you maybe think that God was punishing you for something that you had done earlier?
• How did God eventually provide your needs?
• Did you change your mind about what you really needed in the course of this experience?
• How did all of that affect your relationship to God?
  

• Attitude of Gratitude
  
• Living the life of nomads must have been a big change for God's people in the Sinai desert.  Day by day, week by week, they had to put their trust on God for the next watering hole, the next pasture.  But God had proven over and over that He was looking out for them.  They just didn't focus on what they should have been grateful for.
• What are some of the miracles that God has wrought in your life?
• How have those (either individually, or as a collection) changed your attitude towards tough times in general?
• Do you feel as though you have more trust now, than you did 20 years ago (assuming that you're that old)?
• What do you think you could do to improve/increase your trust in God?
  

• Building hope
  
• Faith, hope, and love are the three cardinal virtues.  These form the foundation upon which the other virtues rest, the font from which all virtue springs.  Yet, somehow, we don't hear much about hope, and where it comes from.
• What you you hope for?
• What/whom do you hope in?
• What would have to happen to you before you lost all hope?
• What are some experiences that have strengthened your hope?
• How can you bolster the hope within you?
  

• Jesus revealed
  
• Jesus was frequently a scandal.  He crossed borders that no one thought could be crossed.  And He did so in perfect humility.  No grand gestures, no patronizing words.  He never played to the crowd.  It was all about the individuals that He ministered to.
• There are lots of boundaries.  Some are ethnic, some cultural, some economic, others are in place simply by force of habit.  What are some boundaries in your life?
• Can you imagine Jesus reaching across that boundary, touching those "on the other side"?
• Pick one particularly tough boundary that you face.  Picture Jesus reaching across that boundary and touching someone on the other side.  How is Jesus touching them?  What is He doing for them?
• Imagine yourself, standing next to Jesus, following His example, participating in that outreach.
• Imagine now that you are the only one in that scene who can see Jesus.
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. How is God calling me to participate in loss in my life?
   
2. Where can I be more honest with and more trusting of God?
   
3. Where is God transforming my life experiences into hope?
   
4. Where is God calling me to transcend my own limitations?

Learning the Rosary

My in-laws loved to go to Mass at Little Sisters of the Poor.

When my mother-in-law passed, I started visiting my father-in-law regularly.

We would always go to Little Sisters for Mass because I knew it meant a lot to him.

If we got to Mass early, we would catch a few decades of the rosary.

Reedy, quavering voices celebrating decade upon decade of God's faithfulness.

An outpouring of trust from those whose end was in sight, glory emerging among the walkers.

At first, I didn't see it.  All I saw was a bunch of old people in a care facility.

Gradually, I got to know a handful of them, hear their stories, learn their quirks.

Feel the depth of their perseverance, find the quiet strength in their weakness.

They taught me about my arrogance rooted in my own fading middle-age.

They taught me that God's faithfulness is in the long haul, the life long.

They taught me that memory serves best when it serves to remind us of God's Presence.

I remember that community every time I hear or say the Rosary.

Their devotion calling me to prayer and in prayer a shedding of the unneeded.

They whisper to me "see, it wasn't so bad to lose your fear of aging."

I hope that I learned a lesson among that community that I can apply elsewhere.

That God often reveals Himself in unlikely places, through unexpected people.

That God lives in and for the boundaries, those who are often invisible, forgotten.

That true strength often blossoms in abject weakness.

That faith, hope, and love grow in the rich soil of trust and faithfulness.

And that the seeds from which saints grow will often show themselves slowly.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the second Sunday of Lent are:

1. Genesis 22: 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
   
2. Psalm 116: 10, 15, 16-17, 18-19
   
3. Romans 8: 31b-34
   
4. Mark 9: 2-10
   

• Trust me
  
• After 43 years of marriage, my question is: "just what did Abraham tell Sarah when he took Isaac to Mt. Moriah?"  Second question might be "what sort of inner dialogue did Abraham have with himself when he heard this call from God?"  Third question might be: "in what ways did Abraham (and maybe Sarah) treat/regard Isaac differently after this?"
• What are some of the big losses that you've suffered in your life?  Pick one of the most painful ones.  This could be loss of a loved one, loss of a season in your life, loss of a job, a relationship, ...
• How voluntary was that loss on your part?  How did you participate in that loss?  Or were you strictly a victim?
• How did you respond to that loss?
• Where was God in all of that?
  

• Attitude of Gratitude
  
• When I was young, we had a slogan: praise God anyhow!  You could read that many ways, I suppose.  I imagine that the intended reading was that the committed Christian defies expectations, defies hardship, defies fear and finds reason to praise God regardless of the circumstances.  A more repressive reading denies you permission to be honest with God.
• When something really eats at you, do you take that at all to God?
• If not, why is that?  Do you think He's too busy to listen to you complain?  Or do you fear that the very act of praying will broaden your horizons, give you a different perspective, and perhaps ruin your bad mood?
• Do you ever get the word from God that He agrees with you, that what you're going through really sucks?
• Why do you think that is?
  

• Jesus interceding
  
• Growing up, we had what we called prayer chains.  If you had a need, you'd call someone, they would call three or four people, each of them would call three or four people, and very quickly, there would be this throng of fellow believers in prayer on your behalf.  I'm very old, this memory predates Internet and e-mail.  But we never gave much thought to Jesus praying for us.
• Do you ever get into a situation where you don't really know what to pray for?  Sometimes that happens in the beginning, you have no idea what the options are, where to go, what to hope for.  Other times, you can get to this place after many fruitless attempts to resolve the problem, and you have all but given up.
• Have you ever prayed to be shown what to pray for?
• Have you ever gotten that prayer answered, even though you thought you knew what to pray for?
  

• Jesus revealed
  
• You have to love Peter.  When something big happens, we always want to find some way to get back into touch with that event.  We build shrines all of the time to things as meaningful as where Elvis slept, or the hill where Jesus was crucified.  Nothing wrong with that, but God wanted them to get something out of the now that they were in.
  
• When do you find it hardest to listen to what God is saying to you?
• What have you done to try to avoid those circumstances?
• How do you tell that you are getting "hard of hearing" with regard to God's will in your life?
• How might you become more sensitive to God's moving in the now?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. How is God calling me to participate in loss in my life?
   
2. Where can I be more honest with God?
   
3. Where is God transforming what I'm praying for in my life today?
   
4. Where is God calling me listen more/better?

Carrying the Wood

Father tells me that we are going to a distant place to worship.

Somewhere far from the sounds of the bleating goats, and sheep,

Somewhere that affords us a view into a great distance.

Somewhere that reminds us how close our God is, in every place.

 

Worship means sacrifice.

Sacrifice means slaughter.

Once the slaughter, then the fire.

Then the smoke of our prayers rising to the heavens.

 

The wood for the fire weighs heavy on my back.

I am proud to bear this burden.

Our journey must take us above the timberline,

To a place where the trees cannot grow.

This much wood speaks of a grand sacrifice.

One that must burn long in order to burn completely.

Father tells me that our Father will provide the sacrifice.

I do not know what that means.

I am lashed tight to the wood that I have carried these miles.

I see the setting sun glinting red on the upraised knife of flint.

I look my father in the eye as tears stream down his face.

And I find comfort that I will not die alone.

No matter where I have gone since that day -

I have never been alone.

The whisper of a breeze brings angel voices to my ear.

The soft caress of raindrops reminds me of my father's embrace.

And I know that both of my fathers are always at hand.

The one who wielded the knife, and the one who willed it.

And I know, that no matter how, or when, or in what company I die -

That death will have meaning, that death will matter, that death will serve my Father.

Shalom!

1st Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the first Sunday of Lent are:

1. Genesis 9: 8-15
   
2. Psalm 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
   
3. 1 Corinthians 10: 31-11:1
   
4. Mark 1: 12-15
   

• Welcome to creation
  
• Creation is not just a backdrop for the human drama to unfold in.  Instead, creation is a part of us just as much as we are a part of creation.  When we are fully human, that benefits all of creation, and when we learn to take our proper place in creation, we become more and more able to receive God's blessings through His creation.
• What are some things that you have learned of/from God through His creation?
• How can we be better stewards of God's creation right now?
• Does it matter that our puny efforts make a small difference?
  

• Learning to learn by learning to be humble
  
• The humble person is blessed because they have nothing to prove, no need to make sure that everyone/anyone knows of their contributions.  So the humble person is able to be receptive to what God has to show them, and able to quickly leave behind that which no longer does them any good.
• Think of a time when things would have gone better had you been more humble?
• Why do you think that it's hard for you to be humble?
• Has it gotten harder or easier to be humble as the years have gone by?
• Do you think that "fake it until you make it" works with humility?
  

• Making all things new
  
• I've always wondered why God chose to spare Noah and his family and instead just start over.  My theory is that God likes to redeem the irredeemable, heal the broken hearted, and bind up the wounded.
  
• Think of a time in your life when you needed real help, and you turned to God.
• How did God bring you through that challenging time?
• What was God's solution to what was hurting you?
• In what way is that hurt still with you today?
• Are you a better person because of that experience?
• Would you go through that again, if given a choice?
  

• Urgency
  
• I sometimes wonder what life would be like if we could live forever.  We probably would get nothing done in life because we would know that there is always a tomorrow, so there would be no urgency to get anything done today.  Jesus must have sensed that His time with us was going to be short because He certainly started His ministry with a bang.
• If you prepared a "spiritual bucket list" of things that you wanted to experience, give away, achieve as a Christian before you die, what would the top five items be on that list?
• Do you think that God feels the same way about those items as far as their importance?
• If you were to spend some time in prayer with that bucket list, what do you think God's response to it would be?
• If you only had time left in life for one of those items on your list, which would it be?
• Why?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Is there anyone in need in my life that I need to reach out to?
   
2. Where might I need to seek greater humility in my life?
   
3. Where is God transforming past hurts in my life today?
   
4. Where is God calling me to be more focused?

Oiling My Tools

Here's the awl that my uncle Hiram gave me when I was first learning carpentry.

It's worn handle fitting snugly in my palm, its sharp point ground down through the years.

 

And the block plane that Joseph gave me for my 16th birthday gleams so in the afternoon sun.

Reminding me of the many surfaces that we have shaped and smoothed together.

 

My chisels, sharpened to a dull sheen, arranged in perfect order stand in their rack.

A mute testimony to the patience that cousin Jacob had with me when he showed me how to use them.

 

I've had steady work these years.  No matter where I've gone, folks always needed a carpenter.

These tools have earned me a warm welcome wherever I have gone.

 

And now, I must leave them for someone else to profit from them.

I say good bye to each of them as I remember our hours and days together.

 

Reminding me of the calm and peace of these years, and how I have set down such roots here.

But those roots still bolster and strengthen my heart as I prepare to leave this place, these tools.

 

My family will find new homes for these old friends.  Up and coming wood workers

Looking to make their way in life building what needs to be built, and repairing the rest.

 

As for me, it is time to take what my Father has shown me here in this place of peace.

And show it to others, that they may find the face of the Prince of Peace within me.

 

I'm not sure what lies ahead, but I know what will sustain me in these weeks and months before me.

The smell of bread baking in the hearth, the sound of the village blacksmith, the calls to prayer.

The hand of my Father through all, in all, because of all.

It is all within reach, none of it to be grasped, but only to be given away.

I run my hand over the satin smooth surface of my last trestle table.

I smell the forest from whence it came, and the creator from which the forest came.

It is all one.  I'm never far from home.  Home is always where my Father has called me.

I am leaving that I may bring them home with me, to me, through me.

Shalom!

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46
2. Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11
   
3. 1 Corinthians 10: 31-11:1
   
4. Mark 1: 40-45
   

• Outcast
  
• Calamity can often lead to loneliness.  Even if the stricken one receives visitors, those visitors do not share your circumstances, they cannot know what it is really like, they are other from you, separated by an invisible barrier of need.  Only the truly empathetic can cross that divide, and so identify with the one in need that they are really able to touch the stricken deeply.
• When has anyone ministered to you when you were stricken with some calamity, be it the loss of a loved one, your job, a relationship that dies ...?
• How did they reach out to you, help you really feel that they were, in some significant way, with you in that circumstance?
• How did that reaching out on their part change you?
• Do you think that it changed them?
• What does it take to be able to minister to someone else that way?
  

• Transparency
  
• It's easy to confine repentance and forgiveness to the confessional.  But I think that confession goes on frequently in a healthy relationship.  Forgiveness even more often.  By forgiving and accepting forgiveness, we have a unique opportunity to learn the heart of Jesus, and find mercy as we learn how to be merciful.  Giving forgiveness frees the wounded one.
  
• Have you ever gone to someone to tell them about a failure in your life?
• What prompted you to do that?
• How did they respond?
• Was the experience healing for you?
  

• The good of the many
  
• Doing something for the glory of God is not as easy as it sounds.  What is easy is self-deception.  Someone might put themselves last in all cases out of a false humility, or out of a poor self-image that needs healing.  Conversely, someone who has achieved a measure of fame during their lives, like Billy Graham, did so to God's glory.
• How would you define the Kingdom of God?
• What are you doing to help bring that kingdom to earth here and now?
• How do you know that your actions support the coming of the Kingdom?
• How would you know when/if God calls you into something new/different?
  

• The human touch
  
• Jesus touched the leper before He cleansed him.  Which was more amazing, that Jesus, an observant Jew touched a man with leprosy, or that He was able to heal him instantly?
• Who are some people who have welcomed you in one way or another into the community of saints?
• How did they do that?
• How did that welcome transform you?
• Was that welcome a single event, or a process?
• How have you welcomed others?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Is there anyone in need in my life that I need to reach out to?
   
2. Where might I need to seek or give forgiveness?
   
3. How am I bringing about God's Kingdom today?
   
4. Where is God calling me to be more welcoming?

The Road Home

When I first went to the priest to be examined,

We both cried.

He found some bread for me, wrapped it in cloth,

And sent me on my way.

I left word with him to tell my family of my condition.

I could not endure the long, last goodbye.

I knew that I was near the leper colony by the smell

Carried on a wind of despair.

They all knew I would eventually look, 

And smell just like them.

No welcome to a new way of living death.

They were all past all that.

And I knew that if I stayed there long enough -

I would be beyond empathy as well.

But then Jesus touched me, defiled Himself -

Knowing my hideous state.

I rushed to the priest again to present myself cured.

We cried again.

And now, now I look at the road to home

That is not the same.

I can never see friends, family, village, my people

The same again.

I do not want to settle back into a comfortable place

Of indifference to others.

I hardly know where to start this next journey in my life

Toward what Jesus calls the Kingdom.

Maybe this Jesus can teach me how to touch the refuse of society

And in so doing complete my healing.

Shalom!

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Job 7: 1-4, 6-7
   
2. Psalm 147: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
   
3. 1 Corinthians9: 16-19, 22-23
   
4. Mark 1: 29-39
   

• Too much noise
  
• Dwelling in the present is all but impossible nowadays.  Instead we either brood over the past, trying to find healing where there is none, or worry about the future before we have any chance to influence it.  Meanwhile, the present, the eternal now as Richard Rohr calls it, passes us by.
• Do you ever feel as though you never get the chance to "catch your breath" in your daily life?
• Do you think that you can afford to keep going like this the rest of your life?
• What are the alternatives?
• Would more prayer in your week help?
• Can you afford to take that time?
• Can you afford not to take that time?
  

• Faith sharing
  
• In Protestant circles, we would share testimonies with each other.  These were stories from our personal lives that illustrated God's goodness, kindness, and mercy.  I remember listening to these stories and trying to see how to achieve the same successes that the story teller spoke of.  Instead, I should have been listening to these stories to deepen my faith.  In Catholic circles, we often speak of such dialog as "faith sharing".
• When was the last time that you did any "faith sharing" with anyone?
• Do you think that the sharing of your faith did them any good?
• Do you think that it did you any good?
• Why not make that a regular part of your life?
  

• Transformative testimony
  
• Writing for me is transformative.  I rarely know just what I'm going to end up saying when I start a poem.  Sometimes the surprise I feel when the last line comes out takes my breath away.  I suspect that spreading the Gospel is meant to be like that.  Touching lives, comforting the afflicted, bringing hope to the downtrodden cannot help but transform us.  We become more deeply the Gospel by sharing who we are in God.
• What have you given away that has transformed you in the giving?
• Did you know that you had that grace to give away in the first place?
• Did the person receiving that grace that you offered appreciate that gift?
• Would you ever be able to be that generous again?
  

• Making peace
  
• I'm always impressed that Jesus never seems to get annoyed, frustrated, or short-tempered.  I wish I could say the same of myself.
• Would those who love you most say that you roll with the punches pretty well, that nothing ever really phases you, that you are always able to see the best in people, events, happenings?
• What do you think would help you learn more patience?
• How would prayer factor into that process of achieving more patience?
• Is it worth it?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where can I learn to be intentional about living in the now?
   
2. Who might need to hear about how God is blessing me these days?
3. Where might God be calling me to be more generous?
   
4. Where is God calling me pray my way into more peace?

Finding time to pray

The dew lies gently on rock, soil, leaf and branch -
The goodbye kiss of last night to the arriving day.
A crisp chill full of pregnant with promise of a new beginning.

My body is rested, my spirit is weary, worn, depleted.
I find a smooth boulder to sit down on.
Letting my muscles conform themselves to unyielding stone.

I relax my skin, let the chill in, thanking my Father for the dawn.
Gradually my breathing slows, each becomes a season of its own.
My breath greeting and becoming one with the air around me.

Through my closed eyelids, the sun invites me into the new day.
I rejoice in the soft glow that I feel, taste and see around me.
I remember yesterday, and thank my Father for each touch, encounter, healing.

I open my hands, letting my body be a fleshy echo of my heart.
I know this time is short, but I savor the moment anyway -
Knowing that the Father and I are one, whatever befalls us.

Still, still breathes my heart.
My blood flow slows as I settle deeper into my Father's arms.
And move beyond mere knowing into the center of my being.

My Father waits for me there, in stillness and majesty.
We gaze upon each other in love, affection, and deep unshakable joy.
And that is enough for us both, now and always.

Frantic my friends are.
They see nothing but unrelenting, gaping need and hunger all around them.
They panic that I am not there to feed all those clamoring for attention.

It's time for us to continue sowing the seed of the good news.
Calling forth from my brothers and sisters their deepest hunger:
Eternal love, affection, and deep unshakable joy.

Shalom!

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Deuteronomy 18: 15-20
   
2. Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-7, 7-9
   
3. 1 Corinthians 7:32-35
4. Mark 1: 21-28
   

• Be careful what you say
  
• Speaking and acting with authority are not the sort of activity that most of us rush into.  We second guess ourselves, wondering "what if I'm wrong", "did I really consider all of the possibilities", or even "who am I to say anyway?".  But in spite of all our doubts and misgivings, we are asked to stand witness to the unseen realities that pervade the universe that we find ourselves in.
• What are three things that you would like to hear said during your eulogy?
• How certain are you that those three things will come up in your eulogy?
• How long have those three things been a focus in your life?
• Why do you think that someone looking at your life would conclude that those have been your priorities?
• What might you do differently to make those priorities more evident in your life?
  

• Finding a soft heart
  
• Many things can make us "hard of hearing."  If we have been hurt in the past, and the necessary healing has not had a chance to come, we may be hyper alert, always looking to avoid getting hurt the same way again.  Or we may want something so much, that that one desire blots out everything else in our life.
• What are some things in your life that have made you hard of hearing?  They might be anger, pride, jealousy, ...
• How have those things hurt you?
• Why is it that you cling to them?
• What would life be without that obstacle in your heart?
• What's next on that journey?
  

• Letting go for dear life
  
• It's easy to define ourselves by what we have, what we do, how we earn a living, even our past.  But none of these things are us.  All of these and more have impacted who we are today, but none of them really define us.
• What is something that you've had to give up in your life?
• Was that hard?
• Was that a conscious decision, or just a new set of habits that you "fell into"?
• Do you think that God calls us to shed just for the sake of shedding?
• Do you feel more free in your life with that "thing" that you thought was so important?
  

• Your words are drowned out by your actions
  
• Talk is cheap.  It can happen that our words become divorced from our actions.  The words themselves might be technically accurate, but lacking in meaning or significance because our life does not bear witness to those words.  Those words die, or worse yet, rot.
  
• Think of someone whose life reflects their words, and whose words reflect their life.  What about them inspires you to step beyond your comfort zone, give you courage to dare the impossible, call you forward to greatness?
• What of that inspiration is something that you could apply this coming year, this month, today?
• Would they be able to help you take that first step?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where can I learn to be more prophetic in my speech and writing?
   
2. How might I be more trusting of God?
3. Where might I need to let go of something that has served me well, to make room for something even better?
   
4. Where is God calling me to follow inspiration?

Finding the Courage

These fits come over me without warning.
Rage like a tempest, fear, despair
All rising like a flood with no escape.

I saw him enter the temple by a side door,
Eyes downcast, feet shuffling,
His robe in disarray,
As though he had arrived unprepared.

But my friends, they told me that Jesus would be there.
The preacher from Nazareth that everyone was talking about.
Perhaps He could give me comfort, find me a measure of peace.

My heart went out to him, 
Seeing the torture written in the lines of his face.
And then I knew what I would share today.
And a deeper understanding of why I am here.

We locked eyes, each seeing the other for who he is.
He knew me in an instant.
And I knew I needed to stay and find healing and rest.

I knew that healing him would cause a sensation.
Violate the mean spirited shadow of a Sabbath that they celebrated.
Shatter their notions of who their Father can be for them.
Offer them the chance to melt their cold judgemental hearts.

He spoke of freedom from sin, freedom from hate, and anger.
He told us that the Father could transform that pain into joy.
If only we have the trust to let Him truly be our Father.

I saw him growing more and more restless in the back.
I reached out to him with my eyes, told him I wasn't going to leave him.
My love and compassion for him soared through my words
And then, in a spasm of pain, he shrieked his agony.

I wanted to run to His arms, and the same time send Him away.
I tried to think what life would be like without the burn of this hatred.
And all I heard in reply was "trust me, give me your hand."

Lifeless he lay, spent, drenched in sweat, and beloved.
I took him by his hand, and raised him up.
Telling him that he had every right to stand among God's children.
Restoring his hope for tomorrow, and the courage to step into his sonship.

Shalom!

3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Jonah 3: 1-5
   
2. Psalm 25: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
   
3. 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31
4. Mark 1: 14-20
   

• Effective words
  
• Prophets generally spend their time telling folks things that they do not want to hear.  Sometimes, the same message needs to go out over and over again, and it seems as though that message just gets ignored over and over again.  One example might be abortion.
  
• How does God communicate to humanity?
• Does that include protest marches outside of abortion clinics, letters to your congressman, your decisions when you vote?
• How do you know whether you are personally called to be prophetic?
• Do you think that God calls "full time" prophets?
• Why can't God just use "professionals" for His prophets?
  

• Learning how to learn
  
• When I was RCIA director, I realized that faith formation was a very different thing from faith information.  Formation is about passing the faith on from person to person in the context of the community.  Formation cannot happen in a vacuum.
• How has your faith been formed through the years?
• Who are some of the folks who had a big impact on your faith formation?
• If you have been involved in helping someone else form their faith in God, how did that experience transform you?
• Does faith formation have to be in the context of a formal curriculum or program?
• How do you know that we are passing on the true faith to someone?
  

• This too shall pass
  
• When things get crazy, my mom likes to say "this too shall pass."  I think that's her way of saying that the bigger picture, those truths and realities that don't pass, should be the center of our lives.
• At the end of the day, what is the "bottom line" that you want to be able to say about your life as God's child?
• Looking back over the things that you gave yourself to during today, did you do anything that did not support that ultimate bottom line for your life?
• Why did you do that?
  

• Late bloomer
  
• Nowadays, conventional wisdom holds that we all need to change jobs every few years.  When I entered the job market, the expectation was that you found your niche in life as soon as you could, get a good job in that area, and stick with it until retirement.  I suspect that most fishermen of Jesus' day expected to stay in that line of work as long as they were physically able to do so.
• What are some of the really big changes to the sort of work that you do?
• Have you ever wondered why that change did not come along earlier in your life?
• Have you ever wondered whether the earlier work that you did somehow prepared you for that transition?
• How do you think that things would have gone if you you had known at the start of your career, what you would eventually end up doing?
• Was it better that you didn't know?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where can I learn to be more prophetic in my speech and writing?
   
2. How might I be a means for forming someone else's faith?
3. Am I truly indifferent to the physical world around me?
   
4. Do I trust God to be preparing me for his next calling in my life right now?

Thanks Dad

Dad, I never got the chance to properly thank you for raising me.

Seeing your dedication to a job well done taught me the value of work.

 

You taught me that a job well done is a job well done

Regardless of who its for, what or even whether you get paid.

 

Seeing the time that you spent with me in Boy Scouts

Taught me the value of time spent with my family.

 

Your love and concern for your family and community

Showed my that giving myself away is transformative.

 

Giving myself away meets the needs of others,

And leaves me with more to give to the next one in need.

 

You always encouraged me to follow my dreams,

To reach for that unreachable star,

To be true to the destiny that God has for me,

No matter where, how, or when that leading might happen.

There have been surprises along the way.

But you told me to expect those as part of life.

Thanks for teaching me to be open, and grateful.

Pray for me that I can use all these lessons until we meet again.

Shalom!