From: William Gibbons Jr
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2018
To: 'william's email list 2018'
Subject: New year - New List

Greetings to each of you,

Late in 2017, after the elimination of outgoing emails throughout 2017, I began letting people know I would be reinstating emails in 2018, but to a newly created list, not the one I had prior to my official retirement. You are receiving this because you personally indicated a desire to be on the new list, or were in a group of people whose prior interaction was deemed appropriate by me to add as a block. Two new such groups were added just prior to creating this email. One was those who sent us Christmas Cards in 2017. It has probably been close to a decade since Donna and I have made the time to sit down and send out Christmas Cards. Every year I have felt guilty, because I really do enjoy receiving them. Every year I have intended to write a note explaining this, even if it would be going out in June. Every year I have never gotten around to doing that either. So, I am going to stop pretending anymore it will happen. If I had an email address for you, I placed you on this email list because at least you will likely get a Merry Christmas e-card, as I have sent for several years prior to the 2017 break. The second group is all lifetime members of the Teaching & Sharing Centers. I think it is important for you to hear from us occasionally, since you are included in the word "us." Beyond my own lifetime membership, my volunteer roles in the organization are as Treasurer, and volunteer director of william's works. But we do not have anyone doing regular communications in the organization right now, so I will endeavor keep you abreast of things by adding a william's works section to my emails when it seems appropriate (which will likely be more often than not). OK, here is the thing. If you got added as a part of a group, but do not want to receive my emails, please let me know. Part of the reason for starting a new list was to make sure only those who desire it, were on it. 

Last but not least, I am returning to a previous practice of doing the content as a webpage first. Then I will copy and paste the introduction into an email with a link to the rest online. That saves me time by avoiding having to do two separate layouts, first as an email, then as a webpage. Plus, as mentioned in a 2016 email using this format, it will avoid lengthy big file emails in your inbox. If you want to see the whole thing, all you have to do is click . . .

https://wsharing.com/WS-NLE-180118-N.htm#NYNL2018

God's peace,

william

 

 

 

It is indeed a new year with a new list, and if you have not surmised it already by the fact this did not arrive in your email inbox on January 1, there is also a new perspective I am endeavoring to put into place. The challenge is to blend retirement, and personal communications, with a continuing commitment, as a volunteer, to the various mission statements which moved with my work into the Teaching & Sharing Centers non-profit organization throughout the last decade, especially those in the william's works branch established in 2015.

Early after the turn of the century, I was at a retreat center in Arkansas, connected with the Brothers and Sisters of Charity monastery set up by John Michael Talbot, and was praying about what to do regarding the Internet. I had no experience with it up to that point, but friends were recommending it was the next thing I needed to add to the array of activities which had become the puzzle pieces in my various missions and ministries. As I was praying, I noticed a spider in the corner of the window building its web. The more I watched it, the more I became convinced that was God’s way of telling me to become involved in my own web work. Of course, over the years, I was also constantly aware of a parable I had read about freedom comparing a fly and a spider. While the fly might ultimately become the trapped victim of the spider’s web, it travels freely throughout its life. The spider, however, is primarily confined to the territory of the web it built throughout its life. So, which is truly freer? Still, each piece I added over the years seemed inspired, and they also usually made sense upon rational analysis. 

I used to tell a parable to people seeking guidance. I compared life to a walk along the beach with a sack to collect things in. Items we put into the sack will vary. Beautiful, unique, practical, or on a whim might motivate us to pick something up. Small things, large items, even heavy rocks will end up in our sack. On occasion, someone will hand us one of their burdens to put into our sack. For burdens is what they become as the sack gets heavier. Soon it is a struggle to carry it, or maybe drag at some point. I would tell people that at some point you will run into a person coming toward you on that beach. His name is Jesus. He will look at you all bent over from the weight of your sack, and He will tell you the solution is simple. Just drop the sack, and come walk with Him for the rest of the journey along the beach. But simple is not the same as easy. And most of us will not drop the sack, leaving it behind. At best, we might take the opportunity to examine the items in our sack to see if there is anything we can take out of it. I have had three distinct opportunities in my life to drop the sack, and each time ended up not being able to leave much behind. Sometimes it was an outside influence, or circumstances, which precluded embracing a greater freedom, but usually I just made choices. Retirement stands before me as opportunity number four. An outing with our youngest grandson reminded me recently. 

On December 28, 2017
I loaned a camera to our
eleven year-old grandson
and took him to Oak Park
here in Grand Ledge for
a picture taking hike.

He shot the image to
the right of this text.

 

The ice formation in the center of his photo stands in front of an entrance to a small cave in the ledges. I have walked past, and photographed, the cave opening many times on my visits to Oak Park, but I have never gone into the cave. It is usually dark, and I am not a big fan of spiders. On this day though, the ice was reflecting the light of the sun, and I could take pictures of the inside of the cave without concern about shutter speeds (I do not like using flashes). I decided to go into the cave for a better shot. It was quite magical inside. After taking several photos, I turned toward the entrance for a picture looking out, and that is when it dawned on me. Everywhere I glance there are things waiting for my attention. Many are just as beautiful as what I see inside here. Still, they box me in. There is no blame to be placed. I created this web in which I sometimes feel trapped, but mostly just feel overwhelmed. Unable to discern what the priority should be, and what I could let go, that is the cave I look out from. I have tried to never pressure people to be involved in the Teaching & Sharing Centers, precisely because I understand most of your lives are also spent inside caves of overwhelming demands, choices, and busyness. But there is way more to do now than one person can handle alone. What would Jesus do in my place? I still do not know for sure. 

 

In the bulkiness of our clothing, we invariably bumped into an icicle, or two, but we were as careful as possible not to destroy the beauty that was there. Both to show respect because it was not ours to begin with, and to leave the beauty intact for others to enjoy. I was glad for the decision to enter the cave, however.  Seeing the outside from inside the cave provided a new perspective. I was later reminded of a saying in a photo album I have of some high school and college friends. I do not remember the culture and language of the saying, but the translation follows it. 

"Pamutunhu ukaite jee, pano sara
pachi mere nhungu mira."

"If you do not climb while the way
is still open to you,
weeds will spring up in front of you,
and you will never make it."

In this case, it was the opening of the entrance which had disappeared when I revisited Oak Park on January 6, 2018. I shot the below photograph then. The rest of that story continues below the image. This photo was quickly selected as my picture of the week this morning, after I discovered I had already used the one I had previously determined to upload on Thursday, January 18, 2018. 

On January 6, since the sun was shining without the interference of clouds, I decided to go out to Fitzgerald Park to see what types of ice formation and snow pictures I might take. I had mentioned to Donna that is where I would be going, but I was getting a later start than expected. After spending an hour or so at Fitzgerald Park in bitterly cold temperatures, I decided I might try and catch a shot of the ice formation at Oak Park where Hunter and I had gone into the cave. The question was whether or not the sun would be too low in the sky at this late hour, and the ice would be in the shadows. As I approached the street I was going to turn on, I noticed a big tow truck had a car loaded on it, and was angled in such a fashion that it blocked the road. There was an easy plan B, but as I passed that intersection, I thought out loud it was probably God’s way of saying I should go home rather than to Oak Park. And since, when I am alone, I often speak with God is if He were sitting right next to me, I also remarked we both knew it was not the decision I would make. Even if there was only a slim chance that the sun might be peeking through the trees and buildings on the other side of the river, and hitting the ice formation just right, I needed to check out the possibility. By the time I got parked, and walked across the snow to get to the path that takes you down to the river, everything was pretty much in the shadows. I went ahead and walked the trail to the place of the ice formation. And since I was there, I started taking pictures even without the sparkle of the sun. As I turned to make my way off from the ice below my feet, the slipperiness sent me reeling. I landed flat on my back, cracking my head on the thick solid ice. As I lay there pretty dazed, I was not much impressed with the choice I had made. I was at Oak Park, not Fitzgerald where I told Donna I was going. Plus, I did not have my cell phone with me. However, since I was at least conscious, hope and faith were present. After a few moments, I managed to slide off the ice, and get back upright. Things still seemed a little hazy. I had recently read the book Ridin’ Shotgun by Marli Brown, in which, at one point, she made a reference to Esther’s difficult choice of faith with the words, “if I die, I die.” Those words popped into my head, and actually brought surprising comfort at the moment. I wobbled a bit in my first steps, but I resumed a very slow careful walk along the trail that would take me back up to the main park area, and sluggishly through the snow back to my vehicle. The drive home was an interesting mix of thoughts. It occurred to me sometime later, it would not have been much of a growing experience for me, or anyone else, if I actually had died on the spot without anyone knowing the details. Of course, now that I have related the story, I will be making a point of avoiding all ice at Oak Park. The Browns are domestic missionaries with a musical ministry. Hers is a very honest book about the struggles of finding your way even after you feel a particular calling from God. I could relate even before this experience. For instance, when is an obstacle a challenge you are being given to help you grow by learning to overcome it, and when is it a warning that this is not the best path or choice, find another? In this case, it felt like a lesson about my stubbornness (or my obsessive just one more nature when it relates to photography), and yet it also reminded me God is always there and, even at age 67, my body is wonderfully made by God, and amazingly resilient. 

I mentioned the Scripture quote from the book of Esther. If you have never read Esther's story, you should make the time to do so. It is one of the more fascinating events involving a female heroine in the Old Testament. 

Since Valentine's Day is not very far away, and you are not likely to hear from me again that soon, you got a little rose flourish here, as I prepare to move into the william's works section of this email, newsletter, journal, blog, whatever it is. Others might call it preaching. But, whether my poetry, or this, I mostly write for me. I am happy to share it with you. Yet, I still write for me. It helps me to find my way through the challenges of life, and examine the "planks in my own eyes" as cautioned in Matthew 7:3-4 and Luke 6:41-42. 

There were a number of reasons I did not incorporate when I formally began my missions and ministry late in 1994. a touch of william, and some of the other aspects of today's Teaching & Sharing Centers, had been in place for a while by then. I had previously set up two corporations in my life, and knew the amount of extra work their existence generates. Plus, I realized by that age, I did not work well under worldly authorities (bosses, committees, councils, boards). I already had twenty years in business as an owner of my own State Farm office (sole-proprietorship). While I would seek counsel for some decisions, big and small, I needed to be able to make the final choices unencumbered. I was embarking on a dance with God which was also intended to be an available help for others seeking more than surface living (as Peace Pilgrim called it). Organizations tend to take on a life of their own, and can end up more focused on self-preservation than whatever serving mission brought them into existence. That has often been one of my concerns during the first decade of the existence of the T&SC 501c3 non-profit. It is an interesting balance to find. The organization exists not to be served, but to serve. It is supposed to be an available help for you. Yet, to continue to exist at all, it also needs help from you. Too complicated, for my mind to successfully wrap around how that should all play out. That is why I am glad I truly believe this to be of God, not of me. I do not have to work it all out. I will go to my grave believing that the Teaching & Sharing Centers organization was designed by God to make a difference in people’s lives. And, while I am here, I will do my best to make sure it has every opportunity to do so. The details of our lives will not change much until our perspective changes. It is that simple. It is that difficult. With a plethora of options available to us, it can be daunting to decide what is really helpful. I made a decision a while back not to routinely forward things. But, I will copy and paste into the william's works area a few items I set aside because I felt they were worthy of sharing. And, of course, I might add a word or two *smile* of my own along the way. 

 

 

I initially only had three items in my notes for this space, but then I went exploring several folders with items for newsletters I started, but never completed as things changed. You might not want to read it all in one sitting. There was quite a bit added, including this first item . . .  

 

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
True Self/False Self: Week 2
Love Is Who You Are
Thursday, August 11, 2016

Love is not really an action that you do. Love is what and who you are, in your deepest essence. Love is a place that already exists inside of you, but is also greater than you. That’s the paradox. It’s within you and yet beyond you. This creates a sense of abundance and more-than-enoughness, which is precisely the satisfaction and deep peace of the True Self. You know you’ve found a well that will never go dry, as Jesus says (see John 4:13-14). Your True Self, God’s Love in you, cannot be exhausted.

Material gifts decrease when you give them away. Spiritual gifts, by contrast, increase the more you use them. Yes! You get more love by letting it flow through you, just as modeled by the Trinity. If you love, you will become more loving. If you practice patience, you will become more patient. If you stop the Divine Flow, you will be stopped up (“sin”).

Love is not something you can bargain for, nor is it something you can attain or work up to—because love is your very structural and essential identity—created in the image of the Trinity. When you are living in conscious connection with this Loving Inner Presence, you are in your True Self. God is forever united to this love within you; it is your soul, the part of you that always says yes to God. God always sees God in you—and “cannot disown God’s own self” (2 Timothy 2:13).

Many Christians live with a terrible sense of being rejected, because their religion is basically a worthiness game where no one really wins. That’s precisely not the Good News. It’s bad news. The Gospel will always be misinterpreted by the false self in terms of some kind of climbing or achieving. Since the false self can’t even understand the command to love one’s enemies, it has to disregard the message as naive, which is exactly what most of Christian history has done. Jesus’ rather clear teaching on love of enemies has been consistently ignored by all the mainline churches. Christians have been fighting one war after another, and excluding, torturing, and killing enemies right and left because the false self can never understand the Gospel. Yet we have been baptizing, confirming, giving communion to, and even ordaining false selves throughout our history. It is probably unavoidable, and God surely must be patient.

Once, after I gave an anti-war sermon, a businessman came up to me and said, “Well, Father, maybe in an ideal world. . . .” I know he meant well, but that’s what we’ve done with most of the teaching of Jesus. We interpret his meaning for some ideal world. Of course, the ideal world is never going to come so we can just ignore 99% of the actual teaching of Jesus, as the institutional church (and I too!) have usually done. We concentrate instead on things that Jesus never once talked about, like birth control, homosexuality, and abortion—bodily “sins” because the body can most easily carry shame. We shouldn’t disregard bodily shame or addictions, but they are not the core problem. Jesus focused on issues of power, prestige, and possession—which all of us have largely ignored. I don’t think the church has had intentional bad will. It has simply tried to get the false self to live the Gospel, and that will never work. In other words, we’ve tried to have a church without fundamental transformation. Thus we whittle down the whole Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus’ direct teaching that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword” (Matthew 26:52); and we look for absolutes in ever new secular places—like the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution which allows us to carry weapons. And this is done by a vast majority of Bible-quoting Christians.

Gateway to Silence: God in me loves God in everything.

 

 

Singing Bowl
November 26, 2011

Artist and scientist Michael Flynn designed a singing bowl for display in ArtPrize, an international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The bowl requires no electricity but it does require something that is in short supply: cooperation.

As I observed people trying to make the bowl sing, I was surprised that none of them bothered to read the directions about rocking it gently. Instead, impatient to make music, they kept trying their own ideas. After a few minutes they walked away frustrated and disappointed, as if the bowl was defective.

How many times, I wonder, do we become frustrated that life is not working the way we think it should? We keep trying ways that seem right, but things keep turning out wrong. Instead of following God's Word, we continue trying to find our own way.

The singing bowl reminds us that we cannot expect life to go well if we ignore the instructions of the Designer (Deut. 4:40). Failing to obey divides us from one another and separates us from God. To fulfill His plan for the world and make the way of salvation known (Ps. 67:2), we need to follow His instructions about living and working peacefully together. When life does not go well, it may be that we have stopped following God's plan.

- Julie Ackerman Link

  Sure it takes a lot of courage to put things in God's hands,
To give ourselves completely, our lives, our hopes, our plans;
To follow where He leads us and make His will our own;
But all it takes is foolishness to go the way alone!

- Kline

 

Life is a beautiful song that God is teaching us to play.

From “Our Daily Bread” courtesy of RBC Ministries

 

 

_____________
 

The next two items were things I intended to share here. The first is an excerpt from a more recent Richard Rohr email. The second is a piece I wrote which seemed to relate to the first. The T&SC Board of Trustees approved putting it on our homepage of the organization's website. 

 

Richard Rohr Meditation
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
How Can Everything Be Sacred?

The three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) teach that one Creator formed all things. There is thus a radical unity at the heart of the universe’s pluriformity, resolving any conflict between diversity and the shared “divine DNA” found in creation. This theo-logic allows us to see “the hidden wholeness” in all things and to confidently assert that “everything belongs.” The distinction between natural and supernatural, sacred and profane, exists only as a mental construct.

You may be asking, as so many have over the years, “Richard, how can you make such naïve blanket statements like ‘Everything is sacred. Everything belongs?’ What about Hitler, nuclear bombings, ISIS, Westboro Baptists, and the United States’ epidemic of mass shooters?” I agree that we can and should name evil as evil. But unless we first name the underlying goodness and coherence of reality, along with our own imperfection, we will attack evil with methods and self-righteousness that will only deepen the problem. This is Nonviolence 101. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that the importance of nonviolence became widely acknowledged.

Further, Christianity has far too easily called individual, private behaviors sins while usually ignoring or even supporting structural and systemic evils such as war, colonization, corporate greed, slavery, and abuse of the Earth. All of the seven capital sins were admired at the corporate level and shamed at the individual level. This left us utterly split in our morality, dealing with symptoms instead of causes, shaming people while glorifying systems that were themselves selfish, greedy, lustful, ambitious, lazy, prideful, and deceitful. We can’t have it both ways. Evil lurks powerfully in the shadows, in our unconscious complicity with systems that serve us at others’ expense . . .

_____________

A Message from One of Our Founders

The most basic human instinct is personal survival. Jesus turned that upside down when he said, “If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.” (Matthew 10:39 CEV) Only teaching and sharing can move us beyond that basic instinct to the level of love. 

As a matter of our routines and missions, we do not rescue cute little puppies or kittens. We do not save emaciated children from starving. We do not fight to keep a natural area from being turned into a shopping center, or provide food, or clothing, or shelter. We have nothing tangible to market. But what we do at the Teaching & Sharing Centers will affect all of those things. The “compete and compare” model embraced by our culture creates divisions at every level of our society. While there is a healthy side to competition, and even comparing, unchecked they cause problems in marriages, in families, in neighborhoods, between churches, in communities, and at every level of prejudice where there is some difference that can be focused upon. 

Our mission is to change that. Beyond the basic Good News of salvation, Jesus showed and admonished us to teach and share. It stands at the core of the solutions to most of the problems and challenges we face in our families, in our communities, in our countries, and our world. We often hear people complaining about how bad things are, but most do not want to change the primeval compete and compare format which made them that way. We do. If this makes sense to you, and you can see the basic need for a core shift to a teaching and sharing way of behavior across the board, we invite you to join with us at whatever level of participation, big or small, you can fit into your life. Together is the key word here. As we teach and share together, from puppies to pulpits, to basic human needs, to a balance between nature and business, all will be positively affected. I pray God will guide our hands and our hearts, encouraging us by Jesus’ model of teaching and sharing, to fix the intangible philosophies which create our very tangible troubles. 

10/28/17
8:09 a.m.

 

NIV Verse of the Day © HarperCollins Christian Publishing 2014. All Rights Reserved.

 

I had some random notes I had written and set aside in a temporary work folder just the other day. One relates to our concepts of exclusive power in ownership. The other was intended to show the danger in seeing things as separate from the whole, and relates somewhat to the above. I am not sure where they were supposed to fit in though, so I am going to simply share them now. 

_____________

Everything we have is on loan to us from the Truth that creates it all, even our very own bodies. If you think our "white" concept of ownership gives us some sort of ultimate say, or dominion, try telling the the hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, floods, or wildfires, you cannot touch that, I own it. It is mine. I say what happens to it. 

_____________ 

Conservatives teach violence as a legitimate choice every time they want to retaliate by bombing someone or sending in our troops. Liberals teach violence is a legitimate choice every time they tout a woman’s right to choose trumps all other considerations. Both those choices are clothed in very lofty sounding ideals. Who does not feel a tinge of patriotism when we triumph over someone who has harmed us or one of our friends? Who does not believe in freedom of choice for the individual? Personal free will is the most basic and important gift God has given to us (next to Jesus). Such an endorsement by God should give a faithful person pause anytime they would restrict someone’s freedom. But, if we teach violence is simply a choice, and a valid option in some areas, then it should come as no surprise when somebody just makes a choice to take lives because they can. Respect for life is just one example of how our core societal “pick and choose” way of looking at things fails us. Now lest you think I am preaching a particular dogma, I do not know the specific answers to our many issues. Only God knows. But I know by moving toward a culture of teaching and sharing together, and really listening to one another, we have a better chance of finding solutions. And those of us who believe in God need to involve Him in the conversation, without insisting that others believe in Him, or see things our way. 

 

 

It was a less than certain last minute decision to include this email received recently, but I like it.
It is both cute and full of wisdom. 

From: Ned Gottleber (Thank you to Gary)
Sent: Monday, January 1, 2018 12:50 PM
Subject: Some Good Stuff

I have learned that . . .

. . . I like my teacher because she cries when we sing "Silent Night." (Age 5)

. . . our dog does not want to eat my broccoli either. (Age 7)

. . . when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back. (Age 9)

. . . just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up again. (Age 12)

. . . if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up. (Age 14)

. . . although it's hard to admit it, I am secretly glad my parents are strict with me. (Age 15)

. . . silent company is often more healing than words of advice. (Age 24)

. . . brushing my child's hair is one of life's great pleasures. (Age 26)

. . . wherever I go, the world's worst drivers have followed me there. (Age 29)

. . . if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it. (Age 30)

. . . there are people who love you dearly but just do not know how to show it. (Age 42)

. . . you can make someone's day by simply sending them a little note. (Age 44)

. . . the greater a person's sense of guilt, the greater their need to cast blame on others. (Age 46)

. . . children and grandparents are natural allies. (Age 47)

. . . no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on
and it will be better tomorrow. (Age 48)

. . . singing "Amazing Grace" can lift my spirits for hours. (Age 49)

. . . motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone. (Age 50)

. . . you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things:
a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. (Age 51)

. . . keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills. (Age 52)

. . . regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die. (Age 53)

. . . making a living is not the same thing as making a life. (Age 58)

. . . life sometimes gives you a second chance. Age 62

. . . you should not go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands.
You need to be able to throw something back. (Age 64)

. . . if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others,
your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you. (Age 65)

. . . whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision. (Age 66)

. . . everyone can use a prayer. (Age 72)

. . . even when I have pains, I do not have to be one. (Age 74)

. . . every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch
 - holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. (Age 76)

. . . I still have a lot to learn. (Age 78)

_____________

There is a DVD in our lending library at the Center telling the story of Esther. The book Ridin’ Shotgun by Marli Brown has been placed into the library there also, as have several new Billy Graham selection of the month books. We now have the majority of the books John Michael Talbot has written,  along with almost all of his CDs, plus a couple of DVDs. I recently purchased a number of Sleeping Bear Press children's books through Cherokee Bill's Trade Center both for the gift shop and for the library. The Teaching & Sharing Center of Grand Ledge continues to have available items with answers, and practical steps, for anyone seeking real spiritual growth. The book about Peace Pilgrim, and the booklet Steps to Inner Peace are still given out for free, as is a paperback version of Sheldon's In His Steps book. We also have free Bibles for anyone who might not have one. Even though spring is still a ways off, I have been trying to find time to clear out some clutter. After 22 years things tend to accumulate, not all of which continue to serve a purpose. Electronically speaking, that is how this endeavor turned out so long. There are many possibilities for sharing sitting in temporary work folders in each of our computers. It is indeed a new year, with a new list, and what feels like somewhat of a new beginning as a result of some new perspectives. 

If you feel called, or just have an idea of something you want to do which will benefit others, need guidance on getting started, or a home base to be connected with, the Teaching & Sharing Centers organization continues to offer such help. And if you want to help keep things going, there is a new list online indicating the many areas of opportunities to do so. 

I cannot say how often I might send out communications this year. As I mentioned back toward the beginning, there is a backlog of things awaiting attention in every direction I look. Thank you for being a part of this new list. If you have made it this far, here is one more happy new year graphic I found online when I went looking. Since it has 2018 in the text, it would be of little future use. Plus, it also has somewhat of a Valentine feel to it, so it seemed appropriate to share it, along with one last item I ran across, that I had set aside years ago in one of those temporary work folders. 

 

 

You already know . . .

. . .  we should not be trashing the environment (God’s Creation).

. . . there is something not right about us having so much
 while others in the world have practically nothing.

Let’s just start living what we already know.

 

God's peace,

 

Newsletters, Letters & Emails Index