Bike Excursion

Wow! I'm still feeling the good effects of a twenty-six mile bike ride we took yesterday. (Minus a few sore spots.) We joined Matt and Helen on the Mohican Valley Trail, riding from Danville to Mt. Vernon on a paved path, which used to be a train track. Mile after mile, easy-going, beautiful country and woods, imagining the train rides of years gone by, crossing the bridges, watching the river flow, throwing pretzels into the currents to see whose would win, drinking Cokes and peeling clementines for break, talking and laughing,... I loved it... I felt so ALIVE. The last five miles proved to be some of the best for me...not necessarily the most enjoyable... but rather a lesson in sheer determination... having my mind on a goal that seemed impossible but making up my mind to pedal those last miles.

Hey, Happy Birthday, Monica! It's so unique that you and James have the same birthday! Probably sort of a bummer in the sense of not having the special days spread out. For us, we even think ours is plenty close... three birthdays and our anniversary all within 2 1/2 months.

Discoveries

I made two neat discoveries this week...

First, I was reading John and Kendra's site, and found the radio stations they like. Nice praise and worship to listen to through the day. Meet The Mullets... our great friends from church. http://web.mac.com/jnkmullett/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
Click on "About Us" to find their favorite music.

Second, it works great to do my ironing outdoors! Gerald put up a retractable clothesline around my porch, where I always hang our shirts and dresses to dry. So about 3:00 the other day, I went out and ironed the clothes before I brought them in. I felt accomplished.. laundry and ironing finished in one day.

The Early Christians

Gerald and I have been reading the book, "Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up" by David W. Bercot. It's a fascinating book, comparing the beliefs of the first generation Christians to ours today. They had the advantage of talking directly to the apostles, living in the culture of the day, and not having Scripture tainted with assumptions passed from generation to generation.

Here's a few quotes to give you a peek into their way of thinking. They knew that to choose Christ meant to carry His cross.
"He who chooses to live well for eternity, will live in discomfort for the present. He will be subjected to all types of troubles and burdens as long as he is on the earth, so that in the end he will have divine and heavenly consolation." --Lactanius
"The prison does the same service for the Christian that the desert did for the prophet. Our Lord himself spent much time in seclusion so he would have greater freedom to pray and so he would be away from the world. ... The leg does not feel the chains when the mind is in heaven." --Tertullian
""Bring on the fire and the cross. Bring on the packs of wild beasts. Let there be the breaking and dislocating of my bones and the severings of my limbs. Bring on the mutilation of my whole body. In fact, bring on all the diabolical tortures of Satan. Only let me attain to Jesus Christ! ... I would rather die for Jesus Christ than to reign over the ends of the entire earth. " -- Ignatius (In a short time, he was torn to pieces by wild animals in a Roman Colosseum)

Let's see, how does that compare with my outlook on life? How often do I try to pray away pain? Do I expect God to give me a comfortable life if I love Him... the American dream? Is my mind in heaven or is it consumed with the things around me?

Lovers in Mansfield Gardens

Thought you might enjoy a picture of Jamon and Rhonda, who are getting married in September. We went with them to Mansfield Gardens to take their engagement pictures. Brought back many memories for us... five years ago, we were the happy couple taking our engagement pictures among the tulips. Maybe I'll post then and now pictures of us... we don't really look five years older, do we?

Impatiens are Planted

I don't know if anyone was praying for me this week in relation to what I wrote Monday... but I had an awesome peace of mind all weak. It really helped to be aware of what was behind my frantic thinking ... to ask God who He wanted me to be. Like today, I ENJOYED cleaning my house, which is not the norm.

Earlier this week, the weather was calling for severe storms and thunderstorms, so I gave up on planting my impatiens. The storms turned into some sunshine. I was thrilled on Wednesday to plant my flowers and have them mulched by Gerald the same day. Makes for extra beauty today as the lazy spring showers accents all the green. Sometimes I like living in the woods... like today. (Just wanted to post a flower picture... what kind are they? We don't have a digital camera, so picture options are limited. =-))

We're going tonight to Zion's school program... haven't attended for several years... but this year is what my class will call their graduation, which is from eighth grade. We look forward to it... except for the question we will get asked over and over... "So, do you miss teaching?'

Carolyn's Sorrow

I write about a old friend of mine who lost her baby this week. For weeks, Carolyn and Linford knew their baby's body was not growing big enough to give room for his organs to function. She carried her little one, knowing he would not live long at all. Marcus Neil was born on Wednesday, which was her thirtieth birthday. They held him through the night ... he lived about twelve hours. I can only imagine the sorrow of saying "Good bye" so soon. Pray for Carolyn and family.

The Service is Saturday morning... Krista and I just made plans for the two of us to go be with Carolyn sometime in May, when we can have more time with her.

In the picure, Carolyn is sitting in the front beside me. The picture is probably eight years old... I don't have any of her with Linford and their daughter.

Monday's Ramblings

I'm at Helen's house today... notice, I said her house... not with her. I think it's a real bummer that she has to work today. Gerald's working close to Columbus, so we came last evening and plan to stay another night. I went with him last fall to check out the job... the house had been torn apart for months, about half of it being refinished. The doctor and his wife agreed to have Gerald go ahead with the trim. Well, everytime, he scheduled them in, the lady would call and say she just didn't get the painting done. Could they put it off? We were thinking she is quite queer not to get on the ball... why live in your torn up house for at least two years if you could do something about it. We concluded she was trying to manipulate her husband into hiring someone to paint. He had told her that since she chose to remodel so much, they would save money by her doing the painting. Whatever... I'm going to be shocked if the painting was even finished for today. Guess she'll get the hard job of painting around the trim then. Hope her husband doesn't give in. =-)

Changing the subject....I've been pondering... Am I trying to be a superwoman with all the best qualities of each of my friends combined into one person? I scold myself throughout the days... "Grace, you should be more orgnaized. You should always have whoopie pies for Gerald's lunch and, help, at last make sure there's snacks for unsuspected company so you don't embarrass Gerald. You should keep your windows cleaner. You should have the car washed for Sunday. You should send out more cards and stay in better contact with your old friends. Pity, Nicholas hardly has shirts to wear.. you can't even keep your child in clothes. And if you could sew faster, you'd have a new dress by now." I picture so and so baking up a storm that day... another friend perfectly cleaning her house... someone else speedily sewing... the list goes on... always trying to live up to each person's good points. Because I can never measure up to being the perfect organized, accomplished homemaker, I often feel in a frenzy around my house.

Saturday night, Gerald and I were going to have a date and I about screwed it because I was in this frame of mind. I had been gone all day Friday, cleaning Gerald's last basement job and I knew I would be gone all day today. I was feeling like a failure!

This morning, I started to link some of these thoughts with a sermon from church last Sunday.... "We need to find our identity in God. Instead, we often try to live up their people's expectations of us, wanting their affirmation. We live out of pain in our past and make up our set of ideals to try to avoid the same pain again. We need to ask God to give us new names... like he did for Abram, Sarai, and Jacob. Allow God to show us His purpose for us and live out of that calling. "
Is there a connection?