Sabbath Road

Horsing Around After Supper I received a medal from my youngest son yesterday.  We had just finished supper and were bantering back and forth as to who would do the dishes.  The conversation went something like this: Me:  Who is on for dishes tonight? Justin and Zack:  You! Me: I made supper! Zack:  Want a medal? Me:  Yes, I do.  You ate it and didn't complain - except for the peas!!   Zack bolted from the table and returned with a Post-It note on which he had written "I made supper.  This is my medal." and promptly posted it on my chest. Justin encouraged me to wear it to town that night!! I didn't wear it to town and the dishes didn't get done.  Before I had left Justin had agreed to do the dishes but his friend arrived to study with him just as I was leaving and that took  precedent .   The dishes were still there this morning when I got up... and I left them there, thinking I would do them later.  I ...

Precarious Life in Abundance The most significant gift of this sabbath time thus far is the gift of time to wonder.  Each morning I am presented with a blank slate: no fixed agenda, no list of needs, no worries about what challenges will await me at the prison and I have time to wonder... and I did a lot of wondering yesterday: I wondered at the curious mix of ingredients and chemical reactions as I ate that guilt ridden piece of banana bread,  I wondered how I could be so stupid as I waited for gas to be delivered after running out on the way to Amherst,  I wondered at the complexity of the automobile and my past ambition to be an auto mechanic as I waited for the car to be repaired,  I wondered about what I would see and who I would meet as I looked at maps and route suggestions on the GPS, and, I wondered about the mysterious change that occurs within as I sat on the back step and watched the sun peek through the clouds for the first time in fiv...

Yesterday was the first official day of my sabbatical.  The morning was one of contrasts.  For me there was no rushing out the door to the prison.  However, Anna was stressed and rushing to get away to be with her mom to offer support as she waited for a procedure, the boys were writing their first exams of the week, Barb and Jerry Wittstock’s (friends of ours visiting from Alberta) were packing to return home and I had no plans... well... I had lots of plans but they were washed away with the rain! Anna got away.  The boys got off to school.  Barn and Jerry were gone.  And I was alone.  I read.  I did some mapping.  I read some more... and I spent some time reflecting on the pictures above the Justin shot over the weekend (the sun did shine for two days). “The grass withers... and the dandelions are scattered...”  My paraphrase of Isaiah 40.   A wise person once said to me about ministry, “Put your hand in a bucket of wat...