Bobbycobain and Doja (Doja has crossed over the bridge)


The Cat Necklace


The late Great Evil Witch Queen Scamp being cuddled by the baby Moo


Miss Demon, mother of all the kitties


Atlas, finest cat evah


the kittens, all growed up


Mr Thomas, enjoying the sun and shade!

a wonderful 1955 edition Child Craft which I loved so much that when my daughter was about 7 I lucked up on a set of them in Half Price Books and bought them for her ( my sister had kidnaped our set for HER daughter about 10 years earlier)

The Bumper Book
Mother Goose
Aesop's Fables
Uncle Remus (Disney version, sorry folks just love me some Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox and Brer Bear
Tom Sawyer
Eight Cousins
Rose in Bloom
Little Women
Just So Stories
Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons
various biographies written at about the middle school level
stories of various mythologies
anything else that I found appealing


I also had subscriptions to Jack and Jill, then Children's Digest, then Calling all Girls and I read Look and Life and the daily comics and the World Book

I sort of jumped into adult literature in the 7th grade, with To Kill A Mockingbird..

since he was a baby congressperson, back when I lived in Nashville(not my district unfortunately but we had a good Blue Democrat too), and am a long standing admirer of his father too.

My alarm went off with the usual annoying buzz, I hit the buzzer turnoff which brings in the radio (NPR of course) and the first words I heard "The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al Gore" well after that I couldn't lie in bed and listen to Morning Edition and dream the news. I had to get up.

Grew up on the KY TN border and always felt like Al Sr was MY senator more than whomever the KY Senators were at the time, and was proud to cast a vote for Al Jr in his first Senate race. Love the guy. Met him twice..once when he was probably on leave from the Army and his dad had just lost the Senate seat. I cashed a check for him in the bank where I was employed and when I saw his name I had to ask if he was in fact son of the Senator..then HE wanted to know if I was from Tennessee ..which led to me telling him how depressedmy mother was over his dad's Senate race..she wanted to jump the state line and vote over there! He liked that. Met him later and heard him speak when he was in Congress, and he was talking about the environment then. back in about 1979 or so.

the difference between a more traditional church (large or small) and a mega church in what they pull into the tax exempt umbrella is pretty impressive. I see the difference in the outreach, and what is done with the donations and income.


I am member of a church with a Justice Ministry, managed by an ordained minister who is a former Federal Prosecutor and practicing attorney. He helps people who have no recourse, no funds, no where else to turn with legal issues like child custody, nasty landlords, evil car repossessors,etc. This operates out of our general mission which serves homeless, aged, working poor etc with food, clothing, assistance in obtaining social services, infant formula for that period between baby's birth and WIC availability, etc. Several prominent local attorneys and a judge are on the board of directors of the Justice Ministry.

I shudder to think what would happen to this amazing man and his work if he had to account to the IRS. I have listened to him speak about his passion, this work several times and he almost glows ..if I believed in auras, I would say his is the size of a supernova.

I want to win the lottery so I can give some money to the Mission and the Justice Ministry.

To our knowledge no other church has anything remotely like this, it evolved from our fulltime ministerial staff seeking the absolute best way to use the unique gifts of this amazing man. A prominent member of the local media is a member of our church; he spoke to our Sunday School class a couple weeks ago..he said he joined this church because it has truly been the conscience of our community for over 100 years, and I do think he is quite right.

So I would hate to think we had to pay taxes on income/"profit" because all the things that serve the underserved in our community would be much more difficult to accomplish. Yeah we run a private preschool...well the parents pay tuition to put their kids in it and it is self sustaining. Yeah, we have a big campus and some pretty buildings...well when our current building was built, it was wisely placed in a location where lots of land was available..so we are a downtown church with a ton of parking. Yeah we gots some major players in our church...but when our ministers said let's use our wealth to help our neighbors (a major housing project was built 2 blocks behind the campus about 2 years after the church was built)..those were the neighbors they served, and have continued to serve. None of the other big downtown churches made that choice. Oh yeah, we lease that parking during the week to downtown workers at less than they would pay elsewhere, and all the parking revenue goes straight to the mission. WinWin! A foundation maintains the physical plant so we don't have to have continual fundraisers to fix the roof, etc.

Sorry about the brag. Some would call this a MegaChurch, by definition we are because we have over 5000 members, but in practice we are so NOT a mega church. Liberal theology, dignified formal worship, activists galore for community causes, alternative worship services (more casual and 'hip' if you will).. The true MEGAchurches with their insular selfcontained fear mongering schools, political interference, etc just make me grind my teeth. Too many of them around here, too.

she has been nicknamed the "Gurl Goil" but my daughter and I have been assigned the task of officially naming her. Currently she resides in Wyoming with Mr Yellow Dog in a geology trailer some where off a beaten path that is off another slightly more beaten path which may or may not be near a paved road. LOL

1. when caulking, gravity is not your friend if you are working on the inside top of the window frame.
2. Caulk cleans up easily, "Good Stuff" foam crack filler/sealer does NOT>
3. hot dogs taste really good when you have been working outside
4. acetone sort of removes "Good Stuff"
5. early is good when it is Texas
6. my Sunday School class can have fun doing almost anything together
7. Mike should not be allowed to play with the really loud nail shooter
8. watching the house take shape is really neat

I have been flirting with the 35 pounds for a couple of weeks but never had it at weigh in.

It is great to pass those 5 pound mile markers! I went from a size 18 petite to either 14 or 12 depending on brand and style. I never thought I could lose that weight. Still need to drop another 25 over all but I now have 35 out of the way.

against us"

Well, I'm reading a novel about prewar Germany and Hitler is saying this to an underling

It was very creepy reading those words supposedly coming from the mouth of the Fuhrer whether he actually said them or not.

addresses just this issue. Sorry for the length.


Bothered by the cross
by Deanna Murshed

As someone who has been a Christian for a while now, I must confess that the idea of redemption through the cross has lost its power to bother or puzzle me as it did in the past.

I remember being jealous of folks who could confess a grand conversion experience that pulled them from lives of sheer drunken hedonistic debauchery - dramatic stories in which they were saved just in the nick of time - into resurrection just by the skin of their teeth. And although getting in by the skin of our teeth is surely true for all of us, it is at least more obvious in those great stories, for whatever reason.

But that is not my story.

Even my earliest memories include my mother sharing Bible stories with me. Though I struggled with the meaning or reality of these accounts to be sure - I can't recall a time when I didn't perceive myself within this grand story of redemption.

My mother showed me a simple faith. My father, on the other hand, questioned just about everything. And I somehow inherited both. God help those who hear me think out loud.

I also remember that as a child, the idea that Christ died on the cross and rose again for me - though it was repeated over and over again and I so desperately wanted to believe it made sense - seemed odd. But I think it was repeated often enough, that eventually, I just came to accept it. After all, the answer to almost any question in Sunday school was easy: "because Jesus died on the cross!"

So, somewhere along the road, I took it for granted that Christ lived, died, and rose again. Somewhere, maybe after I had responded to the sixth altar call - just to make sure God had duly noted my belief - I had heard it enough times to think I had this mystery of mysteries settled.

But every now and then, I come back to that place. Really, what in the world does this mean? Christ died on the cross. It is so easy to hear now that the absolute foolishness of it - and I mean that in the best possible way - simply ceases to amaze me.

But liturgical cycles are good for that - making you not forget any part of the story and asking you to revisit each station, as it were. One passage has been coming to mind (from John's gospel):



"Jesus replied, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life'" (12:23-25).

The version of the Bible called The Message states the last verse this way: "In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal."

The part that really struck me recently (though I've surely heard it read a hundred times) is that the dying of the grain is not for the resurrection of the seed itself - you do not die simply to be resurrected into a better you. You don't give up that bad habit or attitude, greed or grudge, simply to come out on top. (Though I suppose that's not a bad place to begin). No, the grain dies so that it can produce and reproduce life. The passage says, unless a seed falls to the ground and dies it is no more than a single grain.

The answer as to why the grain needs to die is for it not to remain alone. In other words, Christ died so that he could bear more Christs and grow his reign!

Though this way of living for others seems like such a radical (re)orientation, all of creation seems to be screaming this message. Every part of the wheat is living for the spread of life, wants there to be more wheat. The most basic cycle of nature reflects the divine order.

It is simply astounding, when I think about it, that the God of creation does not live for direct self-satisfaction! The God of creation who has all power and all might is in constant submission to another purpose. And God is inviting us to follow.

When one reads the surrounding texts in John where Christ is trying to explain to his disciples who he is and why he must leave them, he is rather indirect. He never says, I do such and such because that is my plan. Rather, he points to the Father and then says that the Father points to the Son and has given Him authority. And then the Spirit testifies of the Son and so on and on. And then the Father lifts up the Son. It is almost comedic how each part of the trinity points the finger at the other - not in blame, as in the human tendency - but because of a perfect harmony, submission, and a trade of trust and authority between each member. This is a wholly different order - a glimpse of what divine community looks like.

I don't know about you, but completely surrendering my will for another goes against every grain of my self-preserving being. And it looks nothing whatsoever like our capitalist culture which encourages us to think the opposite - both economically and morally. The world says that if each individual seeks out his or her own personal fulfillment, we will all ultimately benefit. But the gospel compels us to seek the benefit of others with no guarantee of anything in return.

This is a terrifying invitation that should bother us.

But do our motives have to be absolutely perfect in the sight of God before we can follow? And can we ever reach the point of being perfectly other-oriented? (If so, I'm in trouble).

But I'm comforted that in scripture, I find myself in good company. Christ's disciples followed him for many reasons - not all of which were noble. Ironically, sometimes they were selfish in their pursuit of selflessness. Sometimes they sought to gain something (to meet earthly or eternal needs), other times because they knew there was no other way. Later, they figured a few things out - saw Christ more fully - and their motives changed to those of gratitude, and ultimately, they imitated Christ's example to obey simply because God is worthy.

So, I've come to believe that we hold on to this mysterious truth for different reasons at different times in our lives, though we may never come to fully understand how it is that Christ's death saves us.

That we should follow Jesus in his death so that we might really live is the message of this Easter season.

May God have mercy on us as we follow this call.

Deanna Murshed, integrated marketing manager at Soj

my church.
At the end of the service, the ministers stripped the altar of all vestments, candles, cross, and the humongo Bible that is normally there, and carried them out of the sanctuary. I don't recall this from past Tennebrae services and wondered why they did this.

The service was awesome. We had Communion, then some music, then a series of readers read the events from the Garden of Gathsemane to the Entombment. Between each reading there was music by the choir, which was wonderful and full of variety, and the sanctuary was slowly darkened as the readings progressed. Candles were lit on the altar, and at the end of each reading, the reader snuffed a candle.
At the end only the permanent votives behind the choir and the small organ light and a tiny reading lamp for the ministers was still lit. We all left the sanctuary in complete silence and very dim light. The smallest potlights in the ceilings were relit to the dimmest setting so we would not fall or trip going out in the dark. Came out to a rull moon.

Beautiful service.

I picked up at the church garage sale last week. Starting book 2, set in Prague.

Pre WWII Germany/Austria/Czechoslovakia, Hitler, refugees, underground, resistance, etc.

Good read. Moves fast, likable characters and horrid villians. The 2 main characters are driving me crazy in the way they are handling their PERSONAL lives (i.e. when are they EVER going to admit they really love each other), but the depiction of Austria at the time of HItler's takeover is stark, detailed and frightening.

It has been a while since I read a book in this genre...I have been immersed in epic fantasy lit, light detective fiction, and thriller fiction(like Jeffrey Deaver, Dan Brown, etc.) for quite some time. After seeing "V for Vendetta" last weekend, I decided it was time to revisit the Europe of the 1930's and 40's.

I just have to go there every so often, to remind myself of how easily a nation and its citizens can lose their souls, and to also be reminded of the heroism of those who resist.

I have to think about my mom, as she would have absolutely loved these books. She so often told me that what happened in Germany could happen anywhere, and she read in this genre of fiction often..she called them "good Jew Books" and many times I would visit her and she would hand me a book to read (usually very thick ) and tell me "you MUST read this..it is a good Jew book, my favorite kind". She considered them important reading, whether classified as great literature or popular fiction.

These books may be technically classified as "Christian Literature" due to the deep faith evidenced by the main characters but definitely NOT preachy. Fiction depicting faith can be written without going off the deep end!

I hope it hasn't been posted to death, but here is the link, and I highly recommend it.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/a...

Yep the first patch of bluebonnets that I have ssen this spring. I know they have been creeping up from South Texas, it is just so good to see them every year.

A drive toward the south might be in order in the next few days to see the glory that is a field full of blue.

crucifixion.

Would all the houses of worship have guillotines over the altars?

For reasons I can't even begin to explain, this popped into my head on the way to work this morning, perhaps triggered by a large billboard advertising Easter Events and a local large Southern Baptist church, and which featured a very large empty cross.

It would have been a lot harder to have a ressurection, too come to think of it.

Without the resurrection, Christianity would have most likely morphed into its mother faith...

Or what if they had used the drowning test that was used in Puritan America?

The mind boggles.


I am going to get some more soup.