Wildflowers

A rather quiet week for a change – I did find some time to make strawberry and blackberry jams- enough for us for awhile and some to give away. I love to cook but seldom have time to really do any serious creations. I had received 2 ham bones a few weeks ago – froze them and decided to use one this week for split pea soup as the oven went out in my stove and I use the slow cooker until the part comes in (and that is another story entirely). The ham bone had tons of meat left on it – I left it on in the slow cooker all day and it turned out so good especially since we had a few cooler days this week. Back to the stove story – we looked all over for a new stove (spent a whole day almost looking all over) – ours is 24” deep, the new ones are 28”. Since ours is in a corner setting, 28” will not work. So, we wound up calling a repair man and getting it fixed. Just waiting for the part to come in. Ok by me as I love my current stove and did not want to change (a sign of getting older?).  As you see, we do live a somewhat normal life at times.

A group of 90 folks came from Dallas this past week to do service in the colonias – from repairing and painting homes, to hosting a huge event where food and clothing was distributed, to holding fun spiritual classes for the kids and adults as well. All of this while enforcing that God loves each and every one of them, and teaching them all about salvation. Thanks so much for the kids who gave up their spring break to do God’s work.

Now that the season has almost ended here at the park, all activities have ceased – some folks are still here and continue to play cards, do some shuffleboard, and just fellowship together as they all prepare to head back to their Northern homes. We will miss them, but love the peace and quiet of the summer days. This is the time of year when the bluebonnets are blooming – they are so very beautiful. Miss Opal has a whole side yard full of them, waving in the soft breezes. As the folks travel North, they will see them all along the roadsides of the highway. Miss Opal is going to sneak some seeds over to me to spread around our yard and hope Fred does not mow them down!! The Easter lilies in the park are getting ready to bloom – hope they show all of their glory by Easter.

                                                            beautiful Texas bluebonne

Lots of changes in our church – the new sanctuary is to open next Sunday with a huge celebration and dinner. The downside is that our 9 AM contemporary service is being changed to 10:45 to accommodate the younger parents. It is just a trial period to see if it will attract more folks to that service. We really do not like that lateness of it. I remember when our girls were younger, we got them fed and dressed and ready for church in plenty of time for an early service – but then again, I did not have to work out of the home. We shall see what transpires – again change comes with some difficulty for me.

Today’s sermon reflected on how worship worked in Jesus’ life. Today’s life style describes active Christian worshippers as those who attend services at least twice a month. Hm – times have really changed as we were never allowed to miss a Sunday in church unless we were dead! Worship today is not all about numbers but worship does play a big part in our Christian life. Do we know how Jesus felt about worship? He saw worship as a place of regular participation? We as Christians worship on Sunday, because that is the day Jesus rose from the grave. Worship is best done together with other believers – in a place where we can all come together and give God the glory for all things. Worship is a place of listening and questioning, just as Jesus did in the temple when He was 12 years old. Worship is many things – it is a place of participation, a place of encountering God’s will, a place to encourage other Christians.  We don’t always understand God’s will (why did my spouse die, why does my child have cancer, why am I having financial difficulties, why is the world in such chaos, etc. If we want to live like Jesus, we have to spend time in regular worship. We are called to see what Jesus is doing in our lives.