TO ALL THOSE WHO ENJOY THINKING,

BEING CHALLENGED

AND WHO LIVE

IN NEW ENGLAND

OUGHT TO CONSIDER

http://www.labri.org/mass/lecture.html

FRIDAY NIGHTS IN

SOUTHBOROUGH, MA

CHECK OUT THE LINK HERE

OR ABOVE FOR TOPICS,

TIMES AND LOCATION.

I HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.

The Highland Games 2009

My maiden name is MacDonald, I am a second generation American and my paternal grandparents were from Nova Scotia and did not refer to themselves as Canadians but as Scots.  Oddly enough this was the first time I attended the Highland Games, I have never been to Canada but I did learn Scottish Country Dancing as a kid.  

Two of my nieces and my nephew participated in the games.  The girls danced (and placed) and the fine lad piped his way to a first place finish with his band.  I would say that I am a participant of life. It was a challenge and at the same time relaxing to take it in as a spectator.  I am already thinking about next year and wondering how I can join in.  

Our arrival in the early morning met us with a chilly mountain air.  The girls were up first dancing with the wind at their backs and a young lady on the pipes.  The Highland fling is just one of the dances that they competed in wearing matching kilts.  Two of the other dances are the Sword and the Scottish Lilt.  Pipe and drums compete in grades and perform in massed bands.  The sites and sounds are just a part of the culture of these clans from Scotland.  

At some point I ran off to get a progr'm.  Half way through the day I wrote the following that probably best describes my reflection on my day at the games:

"Never too old to dance, to pipe, to drum, to embrace your heritage, to know the history of your people."   CM

"In Essentials UNITY, 

           In Non-Essentials LIBERTY, 

                                   In All things CHARITY."

                                                                    

                                                                                           Rupertus Meldenius 1627

In other words "they will know we are Christians by our love" and if we fail to do so, the apostle Paul reminds us, that we will eat each other alive.  This past week with Katie and the rest of the Communicators for Christ 2009 traveling team I experienced all three and above all was the LOVE.  

Thank you David, Teresa, Wendell and Devin.

Lead and Lead the Escape

Attend Christian Educators Reception 

and/or

Lead the Escape Program

Tomorrow at 330pm and 7 Respectfully

1075 Washington St. Hanover, MA

at 

Living Hope Church

www.instituteforculturalcommunicators.org

Unsubscribed

My inbox has been filled with emails that can disappear with a simple click or two. So, in an attempt to clean out the inbox, I decided that I can minimize the cleaning if there is not as many emails addressed to me.

" Take me off the list, unsubscribe, I have received this email by mistake." Mostly, I am unsubscribing to magazines, department stores which of course also have online stores, and ministries. You can ad to the list ad infinitum. Most of which I never read but had at one time or another, I will read that later. Rarely was that happening. Then I just let my inbox fill up with unread emails.

My kids would look at my number of unread emails and laugh. Now, I just have to get rid of all those ones that I have unsubscribed to and I will be on my way to dealing with the emails that I really want to read, there are probably 3 subscriptions that I read regularly, the rest is pretty much correspondences and at the moment listings for homes in Central MA.

So for my fellow self-inflicted sufferers, I say before you hit the delete button, go ahead and unsubscribe. I know you can do it. If I can do it, anybody can.

The Bread of Life

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."

Galatians 5; 6, 13-26

English Standard Version

Up on a crisp September morning in New England

There is nothing quite like a late summer day in New England that starts out chilly or crisp (not yet cold and no where near freezing, we are 21 degrees above that) that increasingly warms up like the oven does over the course of the morning.  

Today I really need to decide on what Scripture to memorize.*  So I started to think about it and asking myself "what is it that I need in my spiritual life?" Do I need praise? gratitude? truth? the gospel? Yes to all of those things.  

There are some passages in the recent pass that I have read everyday for a matter of weeks or months but I have not committed any to memory.  And I am not too old.  Jesus said that man does not live on bread alone but on the very Word of God.  

Time to pick up my Bible, make a decision and stick with it.  

*I decided it has been way too long since I memorized any Scripture

I know you by your foot steps on the stairs

Have you ever paid attention to the sound of a person's gait?  Some sound confident, others purposeful, still others walk so softly that they are nearly right behind you before you hear them.  Then there are those with a spring in their step as if their feet are always dancing to a tune that only they can hear. I remember learning about what makes us individuals when my kids were very young and one of the things that is unique to us is our gait.  The way we walk is the signature of our feet.  [Being a little more observant these days in a place that is not my own.]  

(Blogger and GMail connected directly yet if you go to the more in your drop down menu and click "blogs" it will not connect you to your blogger account.  You have to go to "even more."  That makes about as much sense as wearing a bathing suit in a N'orEaster in the middle of Massachusetts in January.  

Now that I got that off my chest.)

The Numbers

As a number of people know (not necessarily all my readers), I have been working at my brother-in-law's store since the middle of May.  We sell Lottery tickets LOTS of them.  Scratch tickets, Mega Millions (up to $170 million this week), the Daily Number, etc.  You get the picture or you never go into that kind of establishment or if you do, you totally ignore it and you have no idea what in the world I am talking about, regardless, just stay with me.  

On Tuesday, my daughter's birthday, I had the urge to play the numbers.  It was more about the numbers than the winning money.  For the first time I saw this angle from the customers point of view.  The month's numbers are all written up on the Lottery calendar made specifically for that purpose.  Two of the regulars were discussing the pattern of the month and suddenly it hit me.  For some it IS about trying to win money and for others, it is about actually playing the numbers.  Some of our brains are just wired to think about numbers and patterns.  Recently, my friend Carol has cracked up over my ability to remember people's birthdays, dates of where I have lived (17 moves in 6 years) and world and personal events that have happened.  (However, if you ask me about my 75 or so passwords for the Internet and accounts I have and I will have to go to my book)  I enjoy numbers and it is probably why I create so many passwords instead of using a small variation of one.  It is just the way my Creator wired me.  I didn't play any numbers and I never really have had the desire before this, but I started thinking about the numbers in Grace's birthday.  I don't remember my room number in the hospital (oops) but I know the exact time she was born, the day of the week, the fact that it was raining, how old I was.  Sometimes I have said or had the urge to say when a number arises, say a total on my grocery bill is 19.66, my thought is "maybe I should play that number," but I never do.

If you asked me what is the worse thing about working at the store: hands down, having to sell lottery tickets, but a lot of the regular customers are lottery customers.  It is important to be courteous, even when they come back to the counter for the 11th time to buy 2 more of the same scratch ticket that they bought 2 at a time from the same book of tickets the previous 10 times.  It requires patience.  And in my growing in patience with the people, I have in someway started to look at the game from there side of the counter.  It is hard to hate an activity and still serve the participants of it with love.  First hand, I see how the hatred can slip across the line to look like hating "those" customers.  They are high maintenance for sure, but they are people first, image bearers of God.  With each passing day, I see how much mercy I need and that same measure of mercy we need to extend to the people who come across our path.    Do any of us deserve that mercy?  No, but we all need it.

Doing my best to finish this blog before 10:17 on the 16 of August in this 95 degree heat in the summer of 2009. 

Written in the hand of one Grace Mullaney

(the following I found while finishing going through Grace's things to make sure she had everything she needs for the next 4 months or so)

Perhaps this was something that Grace was going to speak about at Masters 2009 since it has a lunch schedule for Masters on the same piece of paper.

"teacher - authority

leader - quiet strength

mentor - challenger

servant - see here . . .

friend - encourage me

my privilege . . . honor"

Grace was launched from the nest in 2007 and now Katie has followed this summer.   What a blessing to have children walking in the truth.

July 19th, 2009

Today I stopped by to visit my dad while I was in Boston.  We got onto the topic of my brother-in-law Billy's store Endicott Variety which is located in Dedham, MA.  It so happens that the Bank that Billy uses, Dedham Savings Bank use to be Norfolk Savings and Trust the very location that my dad worked at back in the early 60's.  

The story he told was one of his advancing from assistant manager to manager but the theme to this particular story was the delight my dad took in the work.  I will do my best  to recount it to you perhaps I can get him to read it and he could help me with anything I missed.  

Back in those days the bank was using an accounting system, IBM 403 (I believe).  My dad was given the opportunity to upgrade the entire system to the 407.  The program(software) had to work on the incoming system(hardware).  It is my understanding that my dad worked on the program and was able to go into the Boston IBM office to test out the program before the system arrived (My dad said he is pretty sure you can't do that anymore).  the conversion took about a 1/4 (3 months) to complete.

One of the VPs kept a close eye on overtime paid each quarter.  My dad's department had $2600 of overtime during the quarter that he did the conversion.   He called my dad looking for an explanation.  "Well," my dad said, "$2400 of that was paid to me."  

"What for?" the boss asked.  

"Converting the accounting system from the 403 to the 407." 

 "Oh yes, how could I forget - a terrific job and someone else in the office said no one could have done a better job."

As a result my dad was promoted to manager with a pay raise.  

There was more to the story and perhaps I left out my dad's favorite part but the most important thing I got out of the story was that my dad loved what he was doing and the fact that I have been working in Dedham and frequenting Dedham Savings Bank which was one of my dad's old haunts, prompted a flood of memories for him.  I am grateful to have been there to listen and my dad enjoyed telling me the story.  

A link to the history of IBM Accounting Machine

http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/402.html

Writing with Pen and Paper

Today, I dropped Katie off at Logan Airport around 8 AM and spent the day in Boston.  I just didn't want to leave.  While I was there, I spent some time writing by hand.  Sometimes you have to do something before you realize how MUCH you miss it.  One of the things I wrote specifically for this blog.  I am not posting it tonight but I will in the next day or two.  The other is a hand-written letter to a love one that isn't finished yet.  

There is something so wonderful about sitting in the sunshine and letting part of your heart spill out onto the paper through the act and art of hand writing.  

Blessings to my Katie girl who set out on her own adventure today and her life will expand in change in new and glorious ways.  I am so happy for her!  I will miss her.

Storms will come
Back in the late summer of 2004 while living in Knoxville, TN, I pre-ordered the latest Switchfoot CD that was coming out, I believe it was Nothing is Sound for Grace. I have been on their email list ever since. Today I received an email about their upcoming release and opportunity to pre-order, Hello Hurricane. It is a great title, don't you agree?
Jon Forman, the front man says,
"Hello Hurricane acknowledges the storms that tear through our lives...this album is an attempt to respond to those storms with an element of hope, trying to understand what it means to be hopeful in a world that keeps on spinning."
Now good things are happening, my girls, really young woman getting ready to go and the winds of change are feeling kind of stormy.

A Box cutter in my pocket

No I am not a terrorist and I don't play one on TV. Today I came home from the store with a box cutter in my pocket. For the past month, Dan, Michael and I have been running my brother-in-law Billy's store, Endicott Variety. I think I have used the box cutter on maybe one or two boxes since working there but we usually use it to open a variety of things. Today it was for opening the bundles of newspapers and the 8 packs of bagged ice (5 lb bags) to fill the ice chest.
This past week Katie and Michael competed in the NCFCA's National Championship Tournament in Greenville, SC. This was the first Nationals that I have missed in the past 5 years. Even though I was sad about missing it, many things pointed to the fact that I was exactly where I was suppose to be this week, including the box cutter in my pocket.
I am amazed what Billy does. It takes 2 of us (usually Michael works with either Dan or me and Dan and I work a couple of days together) to do what Billy does in the morning. It is no wonder to me that he needed a hip replacement. It is a physically demanding work. The joint is jumping and week day mornings are especially hopping. We've learned to keep up with the coffee (today I thought I was in good shape and by 8 oclock I was running behind) and for the most part the customers have been patient with us. Coffee is a huge seller. There is not a Dunkies or Starbucks for a mile or two and the store is located right near the train station and right off the highway.
Before Dan was a nurse, Dan and Billy ran their dad's store in Wellesley together. So for Dan running the store was like jumping in the deep end and just remembering the stroke, for me it was jumping in the deep end and being expected to swim. I feel like Dori in Nemo, "just keep swimming, swimming swimming." So, I have been swimming. I am not as fast as Billy and "Danny" (as he is affectionally called by family members and customers alike) but my form is good and I am DOING it.
Dan is still nursing in the evening, while running the store overall. It would have been a great hardship on him for me to even consider asking him for me to have the week off. This is something we agreed to do together and it has also allowed for my sister-in-law, Kelly to stay at home take care of Billy and their kids. I am tired but grateful. I am encouraged.
Having been involved in helping run tournaments the last 5 years has been a lot of fun and hard work. Running the store is very similar with the one exception, the store never closes, no holidays or closing award ceremonies and those Monday thru Friday customers streaming in saying, "aren't you glad its Friday?" and I smile and tell them to have a nice weekend.
So, it is like an ongoing tournament with a cast of regular characters and lots of human interaction. Communication skills are coming in handy and walking with Jesus has too. The job requires an overall willingness to serve your customers with a smile.

Mostly Prove Me Wrong Fiction Family by Fiction Family Listen:

Lyrics: This is the darkest day I've seen I can't find an opening I've never felt this rage in me I've never known this anger I'm feeling like a curse I feel like I'm getting worse I'm bored with war in songs I've been bitter far too long Come on, prove me wrong And tell me I'm no loner And tell me I'm not crazy Or maybe just a little bit Maybe just a little bit crazy But mostly prove me wrong They're up to something in my head I can hear them taunting me Thanks for nothing imagined friends I can hear you laughing I'm feeling like a hearse Like I'm carrying dead hurt I'm tired of being right I'm retired from that fight Hey come on, prove me wrong I'm feeling like a bomb Like I'm screwing up my song It's like I don't belong With no point in going on

To Be Known....some initial thoughts


Yes, my face and profile are on Facebook. As a general rule I don't "friend" people that I am not actually acquainted with, however, recently I invited everyone in my email address book and that was not intentional. So, if you got an invite to Facebook and thought "what is this?" hopefully you just deleted it.

There are different philosophies concerning Facebook and different people use it for different things. There are all these quizes that people create and take and share. Today I failed at one of the "How well do you know _____?" It was someone I thought I knew pretty well, so that was a bummer. Thinking over how well we know people, I believe there are people who we think we know but we really don't and vice versa. After having a conversation recently, I thought, this person really doesn't know me.

I don't think that Facebook is the place to get to really know people. It can be a fun place to look at people pics, check out their favorite books, movies and quotes and read people's notes, but to really know someone there has to be a type of sharing that can not really happen without a considerable amount of face time. There is something that transpires when you get together. Even the folks who meet online eventually want to meet face to face if they want the relationship to grow.

There are people that we want to know and be known by and there are not.......

There is no writer's block here or a cat getting my tongue, just a really strange time in the life of this pilgrim and her family. Today I called a friend just to check in and say hi. She said, "Where are you living?" I said "Marlborough" and she said, "You haven't been letting us know where you are on your blog." I apologized.

Unless you have been in direct contact with me, you have probably wondered where it is that we have gone. As I have said to more than a few people, I quit moving two moves ago. Now I find myself back in Marlborough. I must say that I do like the city where I watched our three children grow, change and become accustom to things and then in 2003 set off on a journey that has brought us back to where we started from. (if you want my new street address email me)

Not sure where we are going, but I am certainly looking forward to all that is to come. Grace going off to college, Katie touring with CFC (ICC) and Michael presently working with Dan and me as we help out at Endicott (Dan's brother Billy's store).....we will see what the fall brings for the 3 of us. There are things that I do want to plan for but without landing, those decisions have to be put on hold.

Here is to living life on the fly. Now writing from Marlborough, MA.

A trip to the Library yielded the following titles:

Do what you are : discover the perfect career for you through the secrets of personality type / Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger.

What do I do now? : Dr. Foster's 30 laws of great decision making / Charles Foster.

Reading people : how to understand people and predict their behavior-- anytime, anyplace / Jo-Ellan Dimitrius and Mark Mazzarella.

Questions and Comments welcome.

^{From the 5th chapter of the book of Galatians
out of The New Testament}

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵But if you^AC)"> bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
¹⁶But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For^AF)"> the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other,to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹Now^AJ)"> the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is^AN)"> love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness,^AQ)"> self-control;^AR)"> against such things there is no law. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus^AS)"> have crucified the flesh with its^AT)"> passions and desires.

²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Lately, I have been meditating on this part of the chapter and the italicized is mine. These are the key phrases I have been highlighting in my mind during meditation. The Word of God never grows old.

Wanting to post and looking forward to some more writing as we have a little breather before going to the National Championship Tournament and also enjoying some time attending to the boxes.

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

Stuart Townend

How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory Behold the Man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocing voice, Call out among the scoffers It was my sin that helf Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I knoww that it is finished I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast inJesus Christ His death and resurrection Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom Christ is Risen!!!