Sunday's Summary

We woke early and the first glance outside revealed a breath-taking view. At that moment the lights of the city were still glowing. Quickly, though, the sun's illumination arrived and one-by-one the lights disappeared. Soon the hills across the way had sunshine lighting their peaks.

For many folks Sundays are sleep-in moments or slow motion mornings. We usually find ourselves up early, Mr. Fun especially. He loves mornings. He always brings me a cup of coffee to get my motor running. Once we're up, we're preparing to leave the house to meet friends at church. Today we were doing the usual.

This is Palm Sunday. I can hardly believe that next week is Easter. Mr. Fun grew-up attending Catholic church and I grew-up attending Lutheran. Our marriage presented a conflict for our parents. Which one would we attend. For the first ten years of our marriage we basically didn't. Actually, we spent the first ten years doing as much partying as we possibly could. Our weekends were wasted. I'm not proud of those days, but so thankful we survived them.

Since that time we have mostly worshipped at a non-denominational church. So the emphasis hasn't been on particular traditions or special ceremonies. I do love high church, though. The emphasis has been to read and know the Bible--God's word. Years ago I heard the Westminister Shorter Catechism: "Man's (and woman's) chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever." I like the "enjoy" part. When I was a little girl, I didn't understand a relationship with God, but I especially didn't understand "enjoying" God. I thought church was all about keeping rules.

Rules are probably necessary, but I don't know that they are always enjoyable. As I've read the Bible some, I've come to believe that Jesus didn't like rules much either. I think he loved to tell stories, parables. I think he loved people. This morning I heard a 30 or 40 minute sermon, but more important than hearing is that now I get to be the sermon. I'd like to be a decent, quality, inspirational, enjoyable sermon--message--this week. Hopefully I'll remember that all week long, even when I'm grumpy.

Our older friend who was admitted to the hospital last Thursday is back home now. I'm not sure what the test results revealed. They were thinking she had a mini-stroke. Thank you to everyone who has expressed concern and asked about our hospitalized friend.

One of the friends that we went to high school with, Larry, died today. He lived in Grants Pass, Oregon. Mr. Fun used to hang-out with Larry. As youngsters, they all surfed, rode mini-bikes, got their first cars about the same time, and went to sports car races together. We all married and had babies about the same time. We hadn't seen Larry in years. He had had three wives and wasn't currently married. He has five adult children. He died of liver disease from too much alcohol. While Larry was in the hospital the past few weeks dying, a bunch of the guys that used to hang-out as kids have been back in touch by phone. We are the only ones who still live in the city where we all grew-up. Greg is in Scappose, Or, Jack is in Roseburg, OR, Barry owns a surf shop in Crescent City, CA, Surfer Dave lives near China Lake here in California. For each one of these guys, dealing with Larry's death has been a somber experience.

Today I am thankful for a beautiful landscape, for a little church that helps me enjoy God, and for Larry's life and friendship, and that all the guys are communicating again.

Good night from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol