Marsha's Blog

 Well, This has been a week.    We're fine ....... but the news from the States is certainly enough to upset anyone.  On the same day as the September 11th Twin Tower attack way back in 2001, a hero of the faith, Charlie Kirk was martyred.    I don't remember much about my mother's funeral because I was only 14.  I do know she suffered immensely for many years, a victim of cancer and the inept therapies of the 60's.  I'm pretty sure there were very few deep theological insights gained as I prayed and prayed for her recovery. Looking back, I think those prayers were most likely selfish, having to do with my own happiness. But I do remember the words to a song they played at her service.  I hadn't heard it before and probably almost never since that day.    Here are the lyrics.  Maybe some of you will remember the tune.                        ...

 I had an interesting experience this morning.  I won’t say I’m getting senile but……. So I usually lay awake for a while before I actually get up, just to give my ageing bones a chance to get used to the idea. This morning, I couldn’t see the clock but knew it was ‘about that time’ and found myself wondering why Tony was so out of it, still so happily sound asleep. I began to feel panicky.  “He’s preaching today, so he’s usually up and at em before the chickens next door start trash braggin about their accomplishments. What’s gotten into him?  In fact I need to get cracking too, there’s so much to do. It’s even Father’s Day today (Australia); we ladies usually spruce up the snacks a bit, the kids are coming over after church ….. for LUNCH!   “GET UP!” I yelled in my mind.  And then………. something twigged.  “Wait a minute! This is SATURDAY!”  There’s a great Children’s poet by the name of Shel Silverstein, and in his book, “Where the Sidewalk E...

 Hello Again,   I usually don’t like to quote from Facebook, much less recommend it, but today I’m going to do both.   I posted the following on my own FB site and was surprised at the comments that came back. It seems the message here really hits the nail on the head. What do you think? "A Harvard Study of 724 couples Who Made It Past 30 Years Revealed Something Surprising: “It wasn’t love, s*x, or kids that kept them together. It was the ability to tolerate the same things in each other – over and over again. The couples who divorced thought, “This habit drives me crazy, but I can fix it.’ The ones who stayed? ‘This is who they are. They’re not changing.’ Long marriages rarely resolve every conflict. That’s a myth.  Couples who lasted 30+ years didn’t dig into every hurt feeling. They learned to let go. Not suppress – release. ‘You forgot again,’ ‘You said the wrong thing again’ – short-term couples turn that into a fight. Long-term couples let it slide. ...

 Conversation opened. 1 read message. I had an interesting experience this week, as are true of most of my weeks. In Bible study last night, we were shown a video about the insidious influence of Artificial intelligence.  (Or “AI” if you’re cluey). It was both interesting and frightening to learn how computers might just be taking over our thinking. Based on that, I decided to read my Bible from the actual BIBLE this morning instead of my phone……….I occasionally checked my phone as I read, and it seemed to be hanging in there with the Word correctly, so maybe my Bible program hasn’t been taken over…..yet. But something unexpected happened.  Reading my physical Bible gave me access to years and years of ‘notes’ I’d written in the margins.   And what should I happen across this morning was a little note, with a name, and the verse, 2 Corinthians 5:7.  Most of you will know it without even looking it up.  It says,  “We walk by faith, not by sight”. I...

 This morning I’d like to think with you about the story of the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well.  It’s in John, chapter 4:4-42.   We all know the story; Jesus is at the well resting while His disciples go into town to find food. It’s high noon and hot. When the woman approaches the well to draw water, He speaks to her and asks for a drink. Obviously, she’s avoiding others by coming at such an inconvenient time. She’s surprised that he’d even speak to her since she’s a Samaritan, but nevertheless they talk back and forth and he tells her about the 5 husbands she’s had and then goes on to mention that the one she has now that she’s not even married to.   Obviously, after all that, she pegs him as a prophet, and they continue talking……..  until she says in verse 25, “I know that Messiah, the Christ, is coming.  And when He comes, He will explain everything to us”.   And then Jesus says, (I like to think it was in a quiet convers...

 So some people collect stamps; I like to collect words. No one’s ever accused me of being ‘smart’ but sometimes I like to be a “smart aleck” and throw out a word in casual conversation that not many of my cohorts will immediately understand. It’s fun to watch their reactions, like, “Oh! You mean THAT fogdog!” or else, “I think I knew that …” Today’s word is “Chimera”. If you already know what that means, there went my fun for today. You can skip ahead to the application. “Chimera” is a noun that describes something wished for but is either illusory or impossible to achieve. Lately I’ve been painfully aware of two chimeras in my life. One comes to mind when I’m looking back; the other when I’m looking ahead.   Not that I’m counting, but I believe I’ve spent about 80% of my adult life on a diet, on that never-ending search for the perfect body. Now time is teaming up with my best intentions, bringing me one more step toward accepting this as the chimera it is. I’m bracing ...