Boston

On way to Boston for Spirituality and Healing conference. The plane is
late to Charlotte. I hope it does not cause me to miss Boston
connection. But I enjoy watching people in an airport. Everyone is
always in a hurry, rearranging their luggage, or glancing at their
watch, plus a late call to their family. There are suppose to be snow
showers in Boston on Sunday. I may have brought to many coats, but I am
cold natured.

"MY GEOGRAPHICAL PILGRIMAGE IS SYMBOLIC OF AN INWARD JOURNEY."

Neat pictures of the Abbey of Gethsemani

http://www.peterjordanphoto.com/cooltravelsites/gethsemani/

THANKSGIVING 2007

THANKSGIVING 2007

Things to be thankful for this thanksgiving:

For baby Jack, our first grandchild, and his Mother Melinda and Father
Mike.

For a  lawnmower that worked all summer in spite of the fact the
lawnmower shop said it wasn't worth keeping.

For a bathtub. Our bathrooms are being remodeled. What a joy to be able
to take a hot bath.

For a Sidekick 3 that always keeps me informed.

For the trip to London and worshipping at Westminister Abbey and St.
Paul's Cathedral.

For the Pizza Hut in downtown London.

For castles, and dreams, and pubs where it is cheap to eat, and history
made real. For umbrellas (it rained everyday we were there but one) and
sleep.

For animals that wag their tale when they see me coming, or rub against
my leg to let me know they are there.

For newspapers-perhaps my favorite reading.

For a Sunday School class that always challenges my thoughts and my
co-teacher DS who helps keep it together.

For healing, and hope, and people who stand by with me during the
storm.

For Zepps and windoms and dipoles and super loops and stars and heavens
and for His Majesty.

For words that comfort.

For a smile in passing.

For a friendly voice on a dark night.

For Psalm 84 and Psalm 63, both of which are always beginnings of
worship.

For Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other places books are sold.

For remembering to forget.

For JJ, Aiden, and Cuddles.

And for special friends who have passed through my life and are now
gone. How Blessed I was to have Known You and You blessed my life.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO BE THANKFUL FOR?

Bro. Dan

Wayne Dehoney Dies at 89.

Rev. Wayne Dehoney was my pastor when I was in seminary. He was always
an inspiration to me with his particular interest in seminary students.
On Sunday night he would teach us how to preach. For years I kept
notecards with illustrations on them. I will always remember his Back To
Bethel Sermon and the Christmas Story of the soldier returning home and
seeing white flags over the large tree in his yard to let him know that
his family loved him.

Dr. Dehoney participated in my ordination service and sent me a new
Bible as a reminder. He blessed my life. Only 4 weeks ago I returned to
Walnut Street Baptist church for the first time since I graduated. A lot
of good memories and a reminder of people who helped me along the way.
Blessing on thee my brother in Christ and thanks.

Obituary:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071117/NEWS01/711170421/1008/NEWS01

Musher

One of my friends, Rodney Whaley, is training to be in the Idetarod. To
keep up with him check out:

http://tndogmusher.com

http://danphillips.blogspot.com

On These Steps

On these steps several years ago I sat with a woman who was crying.
There had been a terrible fire and her Mother had died in the fire. I
was trying to comfort her. It was 4:30 am. I will never forget what she
said, "Today is my Mom's Birthday."

Thomas Merton - The Gardener

This comes from the weekly reflection from The Merton Institute at

http://mertoninstitute.org

Father Stephen

There was an old Father at Gethsemani-one of those people you get in
every large community, who was regarded as sort of a funny fellow.
Really he was a saint. He died a beautiful death and, after he died,
everyone realized how much they loved him and admired him, even though
he had consistently done all the wrong things throughout his life. He
was absolutely obsessed with gardening, but he had an abbot for a long
time who insisted he should do anything but gardening, on principle; it
was self-will to do what you liked to do. Father Stephen, however, could
not keep from gardening. He was forbidden to garden, but you would see
him surreptitiously planting things. Finally, when the old abbot died
and the new abbot came in, it was tacitly understood that Father Stephen
was never going to do anything except gardening, and so they put him on
the list of appointments as gardener, and he just gardened from morning
to night. He never came to Office, never came to anything, he just dug
in his garden. He put his whole life into this and everybody sort of
laughed at it. But he would do very good things-for instance, your
parents might come down to see you, and you would hear a rustle in the
bushes as though a moose were coming down, and Father Stephen would come
rushing up with a big bouquet of flowers.
On the feast of St. Francis three years go, he was coming in from his
garden about dinner time and he went into another little garden and lay
down on the ground under a tree, near a statue of Our Lady, and someone
walked by and thought, "Whatever is he doing now?" and Father Stephen
looked up at him and waved and lay down and died. The next day was his
funeral and the birds were singing and the sun was bright and it was as
though the whole of nature was right in there with Father Stephen. He
didn't have to be unusual in that way: that was the way it panned out.
This was a development that was frustrated, diverted into a funny little
channel, but the real meaning of our life is to develop people who
really love God and who radiate love, not in a sense that they feel a
great deal of love, but that they simply are people full of love who
keep the fire of love burning in the world. For that they have to be
fully unified and fully themselves-real people.

Thomas Merton. "The Life that Unifies" in Thomas Merton in Alaska. New
York: New Directions Publishing Corp., 1988:148-149.

Thought to Remember:

The purpose of monastic life is to create an atmosphere in which people
should feel free to express their joy in reasonable ways. The final
integration and unification of man in love is what we are really looking
for.

Echoing Silence

I bought Echoing Silence by Merton in Louisville recently. It is edited
by Robert Inchausti and is about Merton's Vocation of Writing. Not bad.

Sunday Afternoon Walk

Another beautiful day. Jack was dedicated to the Lord this morning at
church. We walked on a new walking trail today. This is an interesting
tree along the way.

Messy Life?

Is a messy life reflected by a messy room? Similarities? For some reason
I can't get things done anymore. Everything is a big effort. A short nap
punctuates the desire for straightening things out. Energy wanes. Did
walk a mile at a park today. A beautiful day outside. 69 degrees. Are
you ever messy? Enclosed is a picture of my study. I once went to Carl
Sandburg's house in North Carolina. He had 12 rooms full of books.

Friday

Eaking out a Friday. Week almost finished. Weather is beautiful. 50s.
Lots of sunshine. Hope to eat a good steak tonight. Saw the movie Lost
City last night, about last days before Castro took over. Music
terrific. Too long. Overall I really enjoyed it.

The latest on Jim and Nancy Forest

http://ataleof2kidneys.blogspot.com/2007/11/kidneys-in-motion.html