P90X-day 6

Dear Tony,

Although the excercise on day 5 (which lands on Friday for me), legs and back, is a good workout, on day 6, I can barely sit down.

Can you cool it on the squats?

Thanks.

Franciscan Prayer

It is my desire for my life to be lived out as the Franciscan Prayer below:

May GOD bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half truths and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.

May GOD bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May GOD bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

May GOD bless us with enough foolishness to believe we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done.

And may the blessing of GOD, Who creates, redeems, and sanctifies, be upon you and all you love and pray for this day and forevermore.

Grandparents

On December 27th, 1940, my grandma and the man she was going to marry got in a truck, each of their oldest siblings and spouses in tow, and went to the preachers house. When they arrived at his home, he was on his way into the barn to feed his pigs, wearing overalls of course. Once they got the preacher out from the barn, he came inside, and 8 of them stood in a room and my Grandparent's committed their lives to each other before God. Once they were married, the 6 of them drove to Birmingham to have dinner at a hotel.

No fancy wedding ceremony, no fancy reception. They stood before God with a few people they loved dearly.

They had an honest, God fearing marriage. My Grandpa went home to be with the Lord when I was only 2. I look at pictures of him and wonder what it would have been like to know him here on this earth. All I can live by are the stories Grandma tells me about him, about his childhood, about how hard he worked as a farmer to provide. And it makes me proud to be his granddaughter.

I can't wait to meet him in heaven.

Haiti-The Earthquake and Our Response

These past couple of days have been chaotic. With our church's connection to Haiti through our short term trips and Missions Month 2009, a deep sadness came over me. I have been there. I know the names of these individuals.

Right after we learned of the earthquake we began making as many phone calls to whoever might have information. Cell towers were down and those that weren't were being bombarded with phone calls finding out the condition of loved ones. After hours of waiting, word came to us that all were ok. Which was a relief, but I was once again grieved knowing all those that were suffering.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It is a neighboring country. Abject poverty is something that can not be ignored. Yet, we decided not to pay attention until this tragedy occured. Now a country that had very little has even less.

Anne Jackson blogged about Rachel Evans on a different subject, but I came across her latest post titled "We Already Failed Haiti" She hits it right on.

So now that this tragedy has occured and the world's eyes are on Haiti, what is going to be your response....what is going to be the response of the church?