Some time ago I wrote about Faigle and their gift of hanging straps for the Healing Haiti vehicles in Port au-Prince. I got the pictures yesterday and wanted to share my favorite one with all of you.
Straps donated by Faigle of Austria.
Becky, my team leader, is the lady at the left. She’s small of stature, large of heart. She’s the one who inspired me to pursue the straps for the vehicles because she had a hard time comfortably reaching the bars everyone else used. The good people at Faigle donated enough straps to equip both vehicles in Haiti. These straps are also essentially germicidal and that’s a big deal when the teams are out in the city doing mission work. Your hands get pretty dirty and you don’t always have a chance to get them clean before the vehicle moves along.
I want to thank the folks at Faigle again and ask that God bless them in all they do for the donation. And a double heaping of blessings for Becky for being an inspirational leader in so many ways.
Who are you hanging around with today? (Couldn’t resist.) Can you think of small things you could do that are large blessings?
**this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 68 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**
I was honored to attend the baptism of a little girl last fall. Her father is a friend of mine and I was asked to attend this intense family event. Yes, intense.
The little girl was being baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church. And unlike a baptism for adults, or a baptism for newborns in most churches, the Greek Orthodox Church performs what amounts to an exorcism before the child is baptized.
And that makes good sense from a logical point of view. After all, the child has been in the world for some time and the opportunity for possession and evil to work into their souls is not something that is easily dismissed by some members of the Christian world.
Perhaps that’s something we all need to incorporate into our daily lives – a little exorcism. Would it not be a good start to the day to cast out Satan? Start our days, our lives, fresh and clean – ready for The Holy Spirit each and every day?
I’m going to give it a bit of a whirl this month. Will you cast Satan out? Will you recommit each day to God?
**this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 67 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**
There is a phenenom in some churches – I call them “notchers.” The people who put a notch in their Bible with every tithe paid, every Bible study class, every time they bring cookies to bingo night, every midnight mass, every Sunday they warm a pew, and every time they work God into their conversation.
These people are not evil, nor do they have bad intentions. They are simply looking at their spiritual life from the aspect of “counting coup.” The process reminds me of when I was a little kid and the Priest would hand out penance from the other side of the grill during confession. The little boys would see how fast they could blast through “6 Our Fathers and 4 Hail Marys.” The prayers themselves held no meaning whatsoever – they were just syllables spit out as rapidly as one could move their lips and tongues. Empty. Hollowed out vowels and consonants taking up oxygen in their production.
And I’m relatively sure that God noted them but didn’t “count” them as we’d intended. I can only speak for myself, but it was a quantity versus quality issue and quantity won every time.
Today I want to think that it’s a changed situation in my life. I had to ponder it a few weeks ago when I attended a different church on a Sunday. I couldn’t spare the time to go to my usual church and still get any sleep before taking my wife out to a Chris Tomlin concert that night. I sat in the pew of that other church, one I’ve attended only for funerals in the past, and questioned my own proclivity to “notch.” I truly wanted to worship The Lord that morning, wanted to follow that Biblical imperative to join with others in worship, but felt foiled. I was frustrated because the quiet reflection I’d come in anticipation of finding was shattered by the congregation being led in rapid fire rounds of “Hail Mary…” by a lay leader. It was notching. But was I just making sure I got the notch for Sunday worship?
I get it. I was raised in the Catholic Church and find 96% of the things there comfortable and warm. And I mean no disrespect to my Catholic brethern. But that morning I realized how my own spiritual life had changed and grown. I had good intentions and tried to keep true to my need to worship. I don’t think I was “notching” but then again I’m prejudiced.
I will think hard about “substituting” churches again. I picked my church after careful study and love it even more when I can’t (or won’t) attend due to time constraints. I’m not going to apologize, working nights forces you to make some choices in life. I’m thrilled to be in the house of The Lord anytime I get a chance.
But I have to guard against notching. It no longer completes this little boy.
Do you “notch?” Are “notching” other things in your life – time with your parents, time with your dogs, time with your wife? What will you do to change that today?
**this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 67 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**
Not so long ago I’d heard a glowing report on this restaurant for the fourth or fifth time from a friend of mine who’s a foodie. So it was road trip time to Mama Maria’s in Hudson, Wisconsin.
I hate reviews that dance around. So let’s start with the pictures:
Calamari
What was left of the crabcakes after 4 minutes.
I’ve eaten my weight in calamari over the last 28 years. First in California, and then a huge amount in Spain. We used to go down to the port and buy it just as it came off the fishing boats. This wasn’t quite that fresh, but it was as good as any that you’ll get in this part of the country. The breading was nice, light, just a hint of seasoning. I don’t do the sauce, just a bit of lemon. I was happy with what I had. My wife also gave it two thumbs up. 9 out of 10 points (I like bigger rings, but you take what you get!)
I wanted to give you a great picture of the crab cakes. Not possible. They were gone before I realized it. Truly amazing. These little delights were as good as you will ever have in your life. I cannot lavish enough praise on the flavor and consistency of the crab cakes. A must. 10 out of 10 points.
Corn Chowder
While it was listed on the menu as a chowder, the dish was more accurately a corn puree. And that was the only thing wrong with it – the consistency was too smooth to be a chowder. The dish was perfectly seasoned, just a little bite and a wonderful rich flavor that had a presence of corn but wasn’t like sticking a cob in your mouth. I was only sorry that I didn’t have a large, crusty heel of good French bread to sop up an even bigger bowl of the concoction. 9 out of 10 points.
Veal Parmigiana
Seafood Canneloni
The main courses were both rather dissapointing. My wife ordered the Veal Parmigiana. I sampled it – largely because she didn’t eat very much of it. The sauce was nothing special and the veal was bland, just a bit chewey, and truly about what I’d expect if I were to order veal parmiagiana in a fast food Italian place. Totally forgettable. 3 of 10.
The seafood canneloni had promise. The amount of shrimp and scallop meat in the shell was impressive. Sadly it was overshadowed by the lackluster white sauce and the tough/overcooked pasta. I’m fine with Al Dente pasta but this was bordering on the unpleasant. A soft, smooth shell would have rescued the dish from the unimpressive sauce. As it was, it was again not worth the wait. 4 of 10.
The service was wonderful. Our waiter was top-notch, prompt, and staged the courses as I’d requested. I hate few things in life than the main course and the soup landing on the table just as you get an idea of what the appetizer is up to in your mouth. Our server brought things in a timely manner, wasn’t a “helicopter” and seemed to have his act together. He’s a 9 with attitude. He might have caught the canneloni before I got it but at first glance it didn’t look to be “bad” just a bit crisped.
Would I go again? Absolutely. I’m going to give Mama Maria’s a break on this and write it off to our coming in toward the ragged end of the dinner hour. It was obvious that they did superior job with the appetizers and soup, but the main course item may have been held a bit too long in the kitchen. It’s hard to time those items especially when the bearded guy at the table is specifically asking that they not come out too fast. And, frankly, at the end of the night it’s entirely within the realm that the cooks had passed the “I care” level with the entrees. Not forgiven but understood. If we’d stopped with the appetizers we would have walked out glowing.
Also, my friend has been there a number of times and if he continues to rave about it, I’m going to just take one for the team and presume they had a bad night. But next time I won’t be ordering either of those entrees again. I will report back once I return.
What kind of food is your favorite? Do you like the local dives or the big, fancy ones? And what’s the best/worst meal you’ve ever had in a restaurant?
**this will be included in all posts until further notice. Please subscribe now to Commotion in the Pews and then “like” the Facebook author page. I will be giving away a $100 prize from Walker Farms Honey in May if, and only if, I get 100 new subscribers and 100 new likes to the author page. It stands at 67 today, needs to hit 166 before the prize can be awarded. This helps me when I approach agents and publishers trying to get my books published. Thank you!**
As some of you know I went on a mission trip to Haiti this past winter. My wife and I were so impressed with Healing Haiti and their operation at Grace Village that we decided to sponsor a child until they reached the age of 18.
Some of the finest people you’ll ever meet. The hands and feet of Christ.
In my original blog post I stated that we were sponsoring the girl until God could move someone to adopt her permanently. And He is moving a family to do just that right now.
Consequently we made the decision a few weeks back to sponsor not just one child, but two children in Haiti. And that happened as of about ten minutes ago. We are truly blessed to be able to take care of these beautiful children and their financial needs.
But that leaves a whole bunch of really neat children at Grace Village who all need a sponsor. Because for every child that is sponsored another child can be cared for in Haiti. I trust the people at Healing Haiti with my donation. Completely.
Which means that I’m launching Sponsorship Sunday effective May 5th, 2013. Each Sunday I will provide a profile, a picture, and a link to the sponsorship page of one of these amazing children. I am not a representative of Healing Haiti nor am I connected in any official way with them. But I know that their hearts are good and they work on behalf of those kids. I am delighted to be able to use this platform to bring these children to potential sponsors.
I ask that you take some time in prayer to consider sponsoring a child at Grace Village. I won’t bend your ears or twist your arm about doing a sponsorship. I will mention that you can sponsor a child and meet all of their basic, medical, and educational needs for less than what you pay for a fru-fru coffee at a major chain that rhymes with “car clucks.” I’m using my ill-gotten loot from a couple of really great voice over gigs to cover the sponsorship. If you look at it another way, it’s a little less per day than a #1 Value Meal at McDonalds. You can totally change a life for the price of a burger and fries.
Please stop back Sunday to do a bit of The Lord’s work here on Earth.
