Genesis An Impression 

Life's Circles Revisited

Kyra is my 4 year old grandaughter, but she is so much more. She is really a sweet little girl who talks to me as no child ever has. I guess when mine were growing up I didn't take enough time to listen. Even when the eldest grand(now 15)was this age I didn't have the time available that I do now. Kyra and I are buddies, sometimes co-conspirators in a plot to devour all of the world's cookies in a single night. We bake together, and snack together. We laugh and play and do some really silly things. We enjoy the same type of movies and especially cartoons, and we read books together. She went for her first mortorcycle ride this past fall. We had to wait until her feet would reach to sit up and her head fit the helmet. If nobody else is around we have chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk for breakfast with a banana for desert. I guess one could say my heart has been taken by her beautiful smile and the wonderful ways God has blessed her life. I was told a short time ago by a fairly new parent that we really only have about eighteen summers with a child. I pray it is more, but logical thinking tells me it can't be. Like my own sons and daughters these grands(9 now)must all grow up and move on to their own lives in the world. So, I shall take what time I can get with her and cherish every moment of her summers, and the rest of the seasons. When the first grand came around I was in shock for about three days. I wondered, "Do I get a cane, or cut my hair? What does a grandparent do?" Now I know. One of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard comes from my flesh and blood grands, "Papa, I love you." What else can I say? In Christ's Love, Preacher.

This Is My Grand Daoughter Kyra  

Spring, The Nesting Season!

Nesting season is how I refer to this time of year at our house. My honey goes through weeks(sometimes months)of preparation for this event. I believe my mother and grand mother referred to this as "spring cleaning." That hormone driven, biological clock that beats beneath the breast of persons of the female persuasion has once again announced the arrival of that annual period of time. I feel in my innermost self that even state and local governments are contributors to the arrival of this event. City wide cleanings are scheduled so that old 'stuff' can be thrown out to make room for new 'stuff' soon to be found at garage, rummage and yard sales. One must listen carefully to discern the first feint rumblings of this approaching storm. The warning comes often as little comments missed by the male of the species. Such as, "I can't believe how dirty these drapes(blinds, window converings, shades)have gotten!" We hear it, but we really don't want to. And, as if it might work this year, we try to miss or dismiss the hints of impending upheaval. God has built into the feminine psyche this eternal time keeper that is more accurate that any atomic clock created by human endeavor. Closets that were once comfortably filled with things we could find, have regurgitated their entire contents into hallways only to be reassembled elsewhere to "save space." Shelves are examined by the female eye, which measures more accurately, I have discovered, than any device we have yet invented. Without the assistance of a micrometer, yard stick or tape, these measurements are taken and decisions are made based on that scale the feminine mind is equipped with at birth. If anyone knows how dust gets on the shelves under the boxes please let me know. I have been suffering ignorance in respect to this phenomenon for at least five decades. At present I would say that we are about halfway through this year's experience of "nesting." But this is only the first of the spring crazed, half aware, hormonally driven mind of my personal female counterpart. Next there will be another symptom of spring that will rear it's ugly head from the nether world of winter. Have you heard it as yet? Here it is(you're on the way home from picking up groceries together and you pass a parking lot with construction under way) "Oh, look honey! They're getting the garden center ready. Do you have the tiller and the lawnmower running yet?" Yes, it is time to build the nest outdoors, too. Native Americans had an out many years ago, they would mount their horses and ride off in search of the migrating buffalo herd. Cowboys have got it made, they have fences to ride and cattle to move. For the urban dweller(ie-me)there is no safe haven. Even within the confines of our workshops and personal sanctuaries that wonderful sound of nesting can be discerned, "Honey, can you help me? This will only take a minute." Which inevitably rouses me from the confines of my cave where I keep my Harley's and an assortment of tools for accomplishing the tasks associated with every season. A wise man once told me, "Never pass up a chance to be the hero!" So, off I go to be my honey's hero again. I love that part. God bless, Preacher.

Do Girls Like These, Too? 

April & Getting Married

Pictures do not always come out the way we expect them to. This one below falls into that category of unexpected surprises we find in our envelopes from the developer. Digital photography has eliminated some of our wait, but the results can still be filled with those
photos that quite literally shout, "How did I get this?" I enjoyed this one a lot. While fiddling with it in the program I am presently using I could add enough light to see the people, but chose to leave it this way for another purpose. The wedding was sweet, about 25 people and my wife and I.
This was not a "formal" wedding, but it was a good one! Two weeks ago we attended the 50th anniversary of two very special friends. I had heard the story before of how they got married(I had heard it before maybe ten years ago at their 40th but listened intently)as June described the circumstances. She was 15 and with child, Bearnie was 20 and entering the airforce. I shared my thoughts with June concerning how things have changed the past 50 years. She might have been urged to get an abortion, he may have been charged with a horendous crime and gone to jail for years in our world of today. She agreed and we went about celebrating with 60 or so friends and family. There were some at yesterday's event that chose not to attend the reception because they did not agree with the couple getting married, as if they could predict the bleak, black future that would unfold if they were wed. Marriage doesn't always work, fact. But there is no way of being certain that it won't until it has been given an opportunity. Perhaps June and Bearnie are the total exceptions to all of the standards we set today. I would like to think not. Some would say I am not realistic. I'll admit that part, but I really do believe that if
our changing, evolving world is going to be "better" in the years to come that we must do something to actively promote the "good" in it now. Fifty years and weddings have changed. Somewhere in our country yesterday a person named Bob married a person by the name of Larry. A Janet married a Denise and some people were upset about these kids I did the service for(actually, in my mind, I did the service because that is what I believe God would have me do)getting hitched so young. In all good conscience I cannot do the joining together in Holy Matrimony two persons of the same sex, but 15, female and with child and 20, wanting to do the "right" thing. No problem! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

April in the Sanctuary