SPRING AND SUMMER SERVICES AND EVENTS                                                                                                                                                 

     Since January I have been journaling with great discipline, three pages each morning.  Then I do my readings followed by prayer and meditation.  It was difficult at first.  Three pages.  Uh!  Now I really look forward to that time with myself.  I just fluff up my pillows, lean back and let it flow.  I am using the journal by Julia Cameron who wrote "The Artist Way".  Thus, I am using "The Artist Way Journal".  Can we say good marketing boys and girls?  My point is that if we are to get past the surface of our lives, we must dig.  The most difficult part of digging sometimes is breaking the ground to get to the softer dirt underneath. 

     The term heart breaking and bone breaking are associated with pain, and at times, much pain.  So when we begin to do ground breaking in our own lives so that we can move from knowledge to wisdom, shallow to depth, thinking to feeling and flesh to spirit, it could sound, and many times is, painful and/or have its difficulty. 

     I believe those of you exist out there that would love to be closer to God and those around you, less depressed, less anxious and feel better about yourself, et al.  Well, that is going to be a process and not a destination.  And, that process will require some ground breaking.  You do not need to know where you are going, it will arise in you by the Spirit of God.  Take the leap and the net will appear. (Not original.)  Before any change can occur toward the abundant life, we need to know what is going on in our lives now below the surface.  Not just our activities or lack thereof, but what we think and feel about what was, what is and what shall be.  If we can begin to narrate the inner life, then we can begin to integrate God into all the fibers of our being.  What we do not know cannot be offered to him to be made whole.

     So, my encouragement to you is to add journaling to your spiritual practice.  And, if you want to do some one-on-one to discuss some of your findings and inspiration, I am here to accompany you.              

                                       Your Pastor

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                                                                                                                                                                        Why go to Church

A church goer  wrote a  letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday,  "I've gone for 30 years now" he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.  But for the life of me, I can't remember  a single one of them.  So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving so many sermons at all."  This started a controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.  It went on for weeks until someone wrote the clincher:  "I've been married for over 30 years now.  In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.  But, for the life of me, I cannot  recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.  But I do know this.  They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.  If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.  Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"  

When you are DOWN to nothing...God is UP to something!  Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.  Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment."

                                    

                                                                                                                                                                    When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus could you get that for me?