LTSP Blogs

I grew up in the Texas Panhandle. The county I lived in had a chain link fence around and an historical marker by the first tree planted in the county – and no I am not kidding. There were no massively tall trees from centuries of growth. I grew up in a flat, hot, dry place that had its own kind of beauty – but fall was not a time for beauty.

I have not posted in a bit and there is a legitimate reason … I promise.  I could not find words to express the past 10+ days of my life. Sometimes we are so full from the buffet of blessings and smorgasbord of experiences that we cannot find words to speak. That is what I experienced the past few weeks.  It was something I will not soon forget. My cup runneth over …

I am admitting something on this blog. It is something that I often don’t admit publicly but most people who know me will not be surprised by the news. I inherited it from my parents and I have even passed it on to my son in some small ways (though maybe not as much as I wish I had). It is hard to hide and even harder to explain sometimes but I will tell you anyway. I have OCD (or CDO with the letters in alphabetical order as they should be).

July 3-August 4, 2012: Visitng supply pastor, St. John the Baptist Anglican Church, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt.

June 25-29, 2012 - Graduate Course:  "Children of Abraham: Perpsectives in Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations."  The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

May 6, 20, 2012 -- "Images of Islam and Muslims in the Media" and "Background and Demographics of Muslim Communities in the United States."  Pleasantville United Church of Christ, Chalfont, PA.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was at home in Kansas City, Kansas awaiting the time to leave the house for a doctor’s appointment.

In our world, people who talk about hearing voices and seeing visions are liable to be thought to be eccentric, odd or perhaps seriously mentally ill.

School starts next week in Philadelphia and my family has made the usually trek to buy school supplies. We got 14 (yes, 14) composition books, glue sticks, crayons, markers, protractor, pencil box, book covers, folders, and pens/pencils. We send our son to a school that requires school uniforms so we also bought the required shirts, shorts and gym uniforms.

Please see the following links for two opportunities to participate in inter-faith activities commemorating and reflecting on September 11, 2001 in the greater Philadelphia Area.

Hands Across the Square

Interfaith Center of Philadelphia

The Wissahickon Faith Community Association, Community Symposium (Upper Dublin Lutheran Church 3-5 pm)

I remember seeing the Chiffon margarine commercial growing up where Mother Nature gets angry that this new invention is not real butter and causes a storm. She exclaims, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" She actually kinda scared me some. This week the East Coast has experienced the biggest earthquake in history and as I sit here typing we are waiting for Hurricane Irene to get to us in Philadelphia. Many wonder ...

I am on my 4th Kindle since Christmas 2010. Some have crashed on their own and one because I dropped it. And so I sat waiting as each one was shipped out by Amazon to me one by one. My smartphone has been replaced at least once. And it always required some sort of wait until the new one arrived. My Plasma TV went out last month and since it was barely out of warranty, Samsung replaced it for a small exchange fee.