STORY OF THE DAY - TODAY'S MENTAL CHECKLIST

1. Things I know for sure - quite a few
2. Things I don't know for sure - quite a few more
3. Things I'll discover I don't know as I go along (only a rough estimate) - about as much as things I currently don't know
4. Things I tell my children that I don't believe myself - lots, but now they're older I tell them I'm making it up & they can believe it at their own risk
5. things that make sense if you stop to think about it
a. in daylight - lot unless there's media or government involved
b. late at night - almost nothing, so it's better to just go back to sleep
6. Things I believe that people a thousand years ago believed, too - quite a few but I lived in L.A. when I was younger, so I have a good excuse

From StoryPeople.

THE DILLENKOFFER ENDOWMENT

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

The picture on the upper right is my sister, Gayle. Today, May 5, is her birthday. Four years ago, it was also the date of her memorial service. A friend of Gayle's established the Dillenkoffer Endowment in her honor. I usually write about the Endowment, but this year, I let the Endowment speak for itself. Gayle is, I'm sure, quite proud that she is honored through this scholarship program for GLBT young people. The first year that the scholarship was given, I had the pleasure of meeting the four outstanding winners and hearing their stories.

If you'd like to make an online donation, click here. Don't let the big numbers frighten you. Donations in lesser amounts are gratefully accepted. :-)

Checks may be sent to the address below.

The Dillenkoffer Endowment
10109 North Lane Drive
Kansas City MO 74157

AND MORE PRAYERS

From Petty Witter:

Hi Grandmere, It feels too strange to be typing 'hi June' so please excuse me for using the name we always use when talking of you.

Just to let you know that Neal ,THEMETHATISME, is in hospital. A flare up of his Crohns, his small bowel has become inflamed. On steroids for the next few days, they will then decide if surgery is needed.

Anyway if you could let people know about Neal we would both be grateful. I'll keep in touch and let you know how he's doing and there will be regular updates on my blog. Best wishes, Tracy.

From David@Montreal:

Beloved Giants of Prayer & Practice

I would ask your prayer for healing for dear Rose-Marie. Not only is Rose-Marie fighting metastatic breast cancer since 2007, she is currently dealing with a rather serious bout of pneumonia. Rose-Marie is married to Dave and thet have two sons Nicholas and Adrian, and one of her care team is my baby sister Jennifer.

Ongoing healing prayers also asked for Mark (Mapko) and my cousin Frank and Dorian.

love always - always Love

David@Montreal

PRAYERS PLEASE

For Katherine, a member of my church who died suddenly last Sunday. Katherine was the matriarch and heart of her family. Her husband, John, to whom she was married for many years, will miss her terribly, as will their three children, Mary Katharine, Grace, and Carolyn, her 7 grandchildren, and her great-grandchild.

Katherine was also a matriarch in the community of St. John's Episcopal Church. She was baptized as an infant at St. John and served for many years in various roles in the church, including being available and present to help whenever and wherever she was needed. She was well-known for welcoming newcomers to the church into her home, and those who did not have family in the area, she made part of her family.

May Katherine rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to her family and to all who love Katherine.

UPDATE: Katherine's funeral was lovely. The service was just as it should be to honor and celebrate the life of a wonderful lady. I'm certain that God received Katherine with open and loving arms. Fr Ed, our rector, spoke beautifully about her. He noted that the overarching theme of her life was service to others in the name of Christ. I think many who knew Katherine, including me, agree with the words someone once said about her, "I want to be like Katherine when I grow up." Another of her favorite sayings was, "NIS - Nothing is simple".

Don't picture Katherine with hands together, head bowed, always in prayer. She was about doing the works of the Lord. Katherine loved to laugh; she had a fine gift for and appreciation of irony; and she wasn't above the occasional cuss word. She was human in the very best sense of the word, all that God would want her to be.

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant Katherine. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

"GRANDMÈRE MIMI GOES TO ENGLAND"

The video is nothing less than a masterwork by the sweetest, kindest clergyman in all England, Fr Jonathan Hagger, also known as MadPriest. Obviously, the photos are not all mine. Anyone who wishes to claim ownership, please speak up, because I've forgotten whose they are.

Watching the video brought tears to my eyes and made me long to visit England again. When Grandpère watched the chef-d'œuvre, he said, "Did you spend all your time in churches and abbeys?" Not all, but quite a lot. Seeing the pictures of the lovely people whom I met over there, made me quite nostalgic. Truly, I had a wonderful visit, and I will surely never forget the beautiful people and places.

And what about the music in the video? Roger Miller's "England Swings", "The Village Green Appreciation Society" by the wonderful Kate Rusby, and the nice surprise of "Rule Britannia!" by the Leeds Philharmonic Society, of which Doorman-Priest is a member. I attended the outstanding performance pictured in the video of Delius' "A Mass For Life". I'm guessing the music was chosen so that, as I grow even older, I won't forget that it was England I visited.

If you're a new reader of this blog, you can find links to my accounts of my time in England to the right, on my sidebar, under the heading (Surprise!) "England".

Jonathan, thank you for your time and effort in putting the wonderful video together. I won't forget your kindness.

"JOLLITY FARM"

I don't know about you, but I needed a smile break.

Thanks to Lapin.

SENDING THE OPPOSITE MESSAGE

Jim Naughton at The Lead links to an article in the New York Times about one of our own from the religious far-right, Lou Engel, who is in Uganda stirring up trouble against gays, as if the attitudes in the country are not already hostile enough to gay persons. The article is worth a read, surely.

However, I want to call attention to Jim Naughton's commentary in the post.

It is worth remembering that the suffering in the religious right's campaign to punish Western churches for their liberal attitudes on homosexuality has been borne almost exclusively by Africans. It is not gay Americans, or the leaders of mainline Protestant churches who suffer when prejudice against LGBT people is inflamed in Uganda, Nigeria or Rwanda. It is not American donors who suffer when leaders like Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda force priests and bishops to refuse donations that would have provided food, clean water, medicine in education to needy people. Comfortable African prelates and American donors are putting other people's lives at risk to make it clear how strenuously they oppose the West's growing acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships. The tactic is meant to communicate how throroughly they have rejected worldly wisdom and how intensely they cling to the Gospel. Unfortunately, it sends the opposite message.

"They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them."

(Matthew 23:4)

OIL SLICK SIZE TRIPLES IN 3 DAYS

From the The Huffington Post:

BP is preparing a system never tried nearly a mile under water to siphon away the geyser of crude from a blown-out well a mile under Gulf of Mexico waters. However, the plan to lower 74-ton, concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface will need at least another six to eight days to get it in place.

Crews continued to lay boom in what increasingly feels like a futile effort to slow down the spill, with all ideas to contain the flow failing so far.
....

Fishermen from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle got the news that more than 6,800 square miles of federal fishing areas were closed, fracturing their livelihood for at least 10 days and likely more just as the prime spring season was kicking in. The slick also was precariously close to a key shipping lane that feeds goods and materials to the interior of the U.S. by the Mississippi River.

Even if the well is shut off in a week, fishermen and wildlife officials wonder how long it will take for the Gulf to recover. Some compare it to Hurricane Katrina, which Louisiana is still recovering from after nearly five years.

"My kids will be talking about the effect of this when they're my age," said 41-year-old Venice charter boat captain Bob Kenney.
....

Besides the immediate impact on Gulf industries, shipping along the Mississippi River could soon be limited. Ships carrying food, oil, rubber and much more come through the Southwest Pass to enter the vital waterway.

Shipment delays - either because oil-splattered ships need to be cleaned off at sea before docking or because water lanes are shut down for a time - would raise the cost of transporting those goods.

Posted without commentary, because I don't know what to say.

STORY OF THE DAY - SLEEPING MAN

What I'm mostly good at is sleeping, he
once told me in confidence, but he
added, I don't see much future in it.


From StoryPeople.

LOANS WILL BE REPAID

From the The Borowitz Report:

In what many are hailing as a breakthrough solution to Greece’s crippling debt crisis, Greece today offered to repay loans from the European Union nations by giving them a gigantic horse.

Read the rest of the story and see the picture for your morning laugh.

PS: It's still morning here.