Picture's!

What is it they say about good intentions? And who is "they"?

Sorry about it being almost a month since last I wrote with you in mind, but it has been flat out crazy around here. Or maybe I'm the crazy one.

I'm going to post some pic's in order to share with you what in the sam hill has been going on around here.

I've been seeing my fair share of these. That's the sun coming up behind Burger King, which is across the street from work. BTW, I won't be using the name of the company I work for because I don't want them to know about me cuz they will stock me. They have moved open time to 4:00 am. This pic was taken around 7:00 am. 

We have been having some of these here, what I like to call, a controlled burn.

This is what I get to drive into in the mornings. It's our main street and there are snow flakes that line both sides of the street. When I see this, I almost forget how crabby people can be.

This is Gracie with her stick. I know, it does look a little big for her, and she's a big dog. We have burned all the small sticks so she has been forced to pull up small trees and smack us in the back of the knee caps as she runs by. Dang Huskies!

This is our wild and crazy Christmas tree. I believe in forcing branches to loosen up by placing heavy ornaments on them. Yes, I do know that there is no topper. I'm looking for a new one. See Santa in the corner?

Here's Santa! We got our yearly gift from Maker's Mark and this year it's a "Deck the neck" scarf. The gift's are meant to to go on a bottle and to be given as a gift. Not happen, just saying.

There's Preacher man, hanging lights! After he finished, he got sick and has been sick for 4 day's now. 

I just wanted to say Hi, before the season got away from me. Thinking about you and wishing you Burger King sun rises and really big sticks to play with!

Peace Out!

Question One!

Part of my "official training" as a spiritual director had my path cross the path of Rev. Dr. Frederick Schmidt. Dr. Fred has done and continues to do so much for the Kingdom of God. On top of everything else, he is an Episcopal Priest. Dr Fred lost his brother in January to a brain tumor. His brother's name is Dave. 

Dave asked the hard questions about spirituality and the church. While Dr. Fred was one of my professors, he talked about writing a book called The Dave Test. It is now out and his blog is taking some time, in the next 10 weeks, to ask some question to see if it passes The Dave Test. So if I feel like it, I'm going to ask us to think about those questions too.

Taking the Dave Test during the Holidays

Question One: "Can I say life sucks?"

Illness, job loss, divorce, anniversary of the death of a loved one, these are a small showing for things that can and do happen around the holidays. Suffering doesn't take a holiday. These experiences are, by nature, isolating. They cut us off from what and who we have known. I mean think about it, how many people are going through a divorce in your church? Do you know? They usually stop going to church. 

During the holiday's we assume that everyone should be sweep along in the holly jolliness of it all. How many times have you heard someone say "Oh, get over it, it's Christmas!" "Can't you just get in the spirit of the season?" Hang on a minute…let me think about it…."Can I just say life sucks?"

Sometimes I think we forget Jesus was born in the shadow of Herod's raging paranoia! Children, baby boys, were being killed by huge numbers. But God...

Holiday celebrations that pass the Dave test are honest about those realities and people who can say, “life sucks” they are among the best to celebrate with on those holidays. Why? Well, why not? When we acknowledge that life can be hard, we open ourselves up to possibilities of seeing hope. Hope in the people who have suffered before you and lived through it. We might need to celebrate the holidays without ignoring life's realities. We might want to share our story with someone who needs to hear some hope.

So, can I say that life sucks? Well friends, right now it does. But God…..