Fall is Here!!!

Did I mention that I love fall?? Perhaps every September I do. I love the colors (although here in S Texas the trees don't change color) but all of the stores have the browns, gold, yellow, brown and orange colors on display, Not to mention the candy corn! Pumpkins in every grocery store promise great jack o lantern carvings. As a kid growing up in Chicago, our "Firehouse Gang" loved the fall season. That was when the neighbors raked their leaves into little piles on the curb and burned. Oh, the wonderful smell. They would light them on fire, but most of the time they just smoldered. Then we would all run and jump over the piles, hollering "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,' as the neighbors swore at us and tried to grab one of us. But we were quick - jump over the leaves, scream at the top of your lungs, and on to the next pile. Sometimes there were only 3 or 4 of us, sometimes a lot more - a bunch of rag tag city kids who loved life. Dad would load us into the old ugly green car and we would drive to "the country" - just a veggie market in a nearby suburb, and we would pick out the biggest and best pumpkin, perhaps if we were good (and lucky) we could go through the spook house. Back home Mother would carve out the pumpkin, (she never came with us) , wash the seeds, cover them with salt, and then roast them in the oven. The leaves would crackle under our feet as we walked 10 city blocks to St. Angela Catholic School with the rest of the "catlick" kids and plan our Halloween get ups. Cutting out fall leaves from construction paper, making ghosts from white sheets ( if we did not get caught), and dreaming of the mountain of trick or treat candy we would receive. I do remember one year though that we did not have the fall leaves. That year we had a plague of caterpillars who hung from the trees on sliver webs all over the sidewalks. They ate all the leaves from the tree sand made my life miserable as I hated to have to walk under the trees and have them fall on me! I would silently scream and brush them off as quickly as possible. I certainly would not let the gang hear me scream out loud! Oh how I wanted to be a part of the "boy's gang" and persuaded them to let me join - only if I would crawl up on a roof of a garage and jump off. That was an easy dare, and so I climbed the fence, scooted up on the roof and jumped - not close to home though so that Mother could not see me. Little did I know that no one else had ever done so - guess I scared them more than myself. I did sprain my ankle, but never let on to Mother that it hurt. AND, those dumb boys never did let me be a part of their gang. I still love fall and all of the wonderful memories growing up as an Italian Catholic kid in Chicago. Thanks for listening.

Produce is very light for a few weeks as another growing season has just started here in S. Texas, but we were truly blessed this week as we received 6 bags of clothing lots of winter jackets sweaters, and coats. It is strange thinking of heavy clothing, but it does get cold here in the Valley - the colonias usually do not have heat or any means of warmth, so the coats, sweaters etc are wonderful to layer in order to keep warm. The wonderful quilts that our Helping Hands sewing group provides us with are a huge welcome to the folks who are struggling. Many people think we are just enabling these folks by providing for them - a lot of them work at of jobs to try to support their families. If we see them making attempts rather than just standing there with their hands out, we would probably not be so quick to help - although God asks us to help, no matter what circumstances.

A wonderful man here in our park has donated his time to wiring  the building in the colonias - just in time for the Baptist group of men men to come and dry wall it in order to finish it off.  It will be great for insulation, as well as having electricity to do Bible studies , store surplus commodities, and even use as a meeting area for sewing groups, etc. We are so very thankful for the generosity of everyone to help make this happen.

We have had several break-ins here in the park - all that was taken were TV's but there were broken windows, etc. At church we spoke to another couple in another park who have had this happen also. We do keep our doors locked always, even when we are home in the daytime. We pray for protection, but also that whoever is doing this comes to the realization that stealing and breaking into others' homes is really a sin, and they must be accountable for their actions. It could be kids looking for a few extra dollars (seems that the break ins happen around 11 PM) or others who take the stolen items and sell them at the flea market next door. Hopefully the thieves will be caught before a lot more damage is done.  I cannot understand taking something that does not belong to you! Even at Children's Haven Resale store, there is some theft. One day some one put on shoes from the store and left their old beat up ones behind. I do wish that these folks would come to us and say they needed clothes or whatever and had no money. We certainly could provide for them.

Jesus is the Architect, the plans are the Bible, but people are needed to follow the plan. Life is certainly not a do-it-yourself project. The church, meaning all of us, is Plan A for building disciples for Christ - there is no Pan B or C. What makes the church so special (not the building but the people)?  It all revolves around the Greek word Proskart, meaning continuing, perservering, devotion. The church is devoted to teaching but there are times when we become distracted. We want to teach what or whom we are, and not who Jesus is. Jesus died for all of us - not just you or me, but everyone The church should be devoted to being like Jesus, going into dangerous waters. I am reading a book by Beth Guckenburger titled "Reckless Faith". It challenges us to put our faith into action,  as she describes the many time she acted on reckless faith in Monterey, Mexico on behalf of orphans. This is how we should react. The church is also devoted to sharing like Jesus. Jesus gave everything, just as we are to give our all. Can you do that?  Our most precious commodity is our time. Once gone it is gone forever. We need to share that ime with others, letting them know about God. Do so in prayer - do  not be afrid to pray anywhere, anytime.