Saturday, December 27, 2008
Back home
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It's been a long and crazy Christmas week. Flying home from Guatemala on Monday included several adventures like running to catch our flight in Chicago, and then not having our luggage when we finally made it to Columbus after midnight. But our bags arrived Tuesday night, in time for us to do several loads of laundry, pack again and leave for family Christmas in Virginia. It was really good to see Kellye's grandparents who have had some health struggles in the past months, and it was a lot of fun opening presents and doing a "dirty santa" exchange with the cousins. But then on Thursday, I came down with a pretty nasty flu bug that kept me in bed almost all day, aching and congested. Sleeping all day led to little sleep and bad dreams all night, but I still felt well enough this morning to drive home with Kellye. So now, finally, Saturday night December 27th, we are home for Christmas break.
It's been a long and crazy Christmas week. Flying home from Guatemala on Monday included several adventures like running to catch our flight in Chicago, and then not having our luggage when we finally made it to Columbus after midnight. But our bags arrived Tuesday night, in time for us to do several loads of laundry, pack again and leave for family Christmas in Virginia. It was really good to see Kellye's grandparents who have had some health struggles in the past months, and it was a lot of fun opening presents and doing a "dirty santa" exchange with the cousins. But then on Thursday, I came down with a pretty nasty flu bug that kept me in bed almost all day, aching and congested. Sleeping all day led to little sleep and bad dreams all night, but I still felt well enough this morning to drive home with Kellye. So now, finally, Saturday night December 27th, we are home for Christmas break.
Since my computer died last week in Guatemala (which BTW the folks at Apple said was probably a logic board issue, hopefully to be fixed by mid-next week), I haven't been blogging very much, but of course I have lots to say :)
First, I want to share a prayer that I read in a book. The book is Presence-Centered Youth Ministry by Mike King and so far, it's a really good critique of common evangelical youth ministries. I'm hoping the second half of the book will offer an equally good suggestion for youth ministry focused on the ancient disciplines like meditation and fixed-hour prayer.
But early in the book, King included a prayer by Thomas Merton, and it is so powerful and appropriate, I think I want to focus on it for the first few weeks of the new year. Here it is:
"My Lord God I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that my desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."
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