What Is God Doing In My Life?

7 years ago a very special person told me how much she was inspired by Joyce Meyer. And I began to listen, watch and be inspired. Thank you my friend!

Saturday is my favorite day to watch Joyce's program via her web site. Today the title of her program is What is God doing in My Life? Watch. Be Inspired.

Snow, snow...

More Snow. Make it stop. It's almost April. And yet...one last blast of winter beauty.

(This is very much like what I saw as I drove home at 1am...although I didn't take this picture)

Why I love Blogs

Last Canadian Thanksgiving this was a REAL conversation around the REAL water cooler at work:

MC: I'm going to Atlanta for the weekend.
Me: Have you ever heard of Buckhead Church?
MC: Yea it's not too far from where I'm staying!

Keep in mind WE WERE IN ONTARIO CANADA. I was amazed!

I told MC about this blog I've been reading of this worship pastor who moved from California to Atlanta. I had clicked on it from a blog because the word "ragamuffin" caught my eye. It was a word we occasionally used. And I was hooked. From the adoption videos in Korea to the worship confessional (I sang at church for years) to the "fat ragamuffin" inspiration (let's just say "I qualify"). I kid that I watch Ragamuffin TV.

MC said she would go to Buckhead and get a picture with him. And she did.

This week he posted a picture and story about being on stage for Easter and seeing this:

It was a moment that stands out above all else in my 11 years of leading worship.

His wife who has a blog too said she was changed forever by this scene.

Sometimes I wonder why I read blogs. Sometimes I'm annoyed. Sometimes I'm inspired. Sometimes I disagree. Sometimes I agree. I guess it's the inspiration. Seeing someone live in faith, sharing family times, traveling to Uganda with Compassion International...You gotta watch the "Throwing Rocks at my BooDaddy" mini series.

I think this Buckhead Church sounds like a very special place. And that's why I love blogs. They take me places I've never been before.

For more inspiring blogs go to Water Cooler Wednesday at Ethos.

Visit Water Cooler Wednesday next week, link with your own post (see Ethos for guidelines) and you will have a chance to win an iPod Shuffle!! Tell Randy I sent you!!

Gluten Free Challenge and Triumph

I've been gluten free almost 10 months. And it is still a journey of discovery. Up to Christmas it was steady improvement. Then after the New Year it all started to inexplicably unravel. Unexplained reactions, rashes, hives, illness. It's been rough. People asked me what I had eaten, told me to take better care of myself, go for extensive testing. I was frankly demoralized at feeling that I had done all that I could and yet was still sick. And then a discovery.

Every product I was applying externally had WHEAT OR OATS in it. Right there on the label of my lotion, shampoo, body gel, hair gel. It was the third ingredient on one. I have had the worst reactions from oats. I know some who are gluten intolerant can eat oats. Not me. That is what was in the lotion I was slathering on at work. Bath and Body Works...I'm gonna miss you. I would get to work and break out in hives. Then take meds for the hives while still applying the lotion. Antihistamine, cortisone cream and prednisone. Thank God for prednisone. At one point my buddy offered to make prednisone cookies for me!

It was because of a post I saw titled the 10 silly mistakes I made going gluten free.

So I feel so much better now! And Easter was a wonderful feast after months of suffering!! (I guess that is what Lent is for, right?)
Big thank you's to these special people:

• Nana's Bakery for the AMAZING GF BLUEBERRY PIE
• Irene for the STICK TO MY RIBS CHILI and asking how to make a meal gluten free
• Barb for the best feta cheese this side of the Aegean Sea and the whole grain gluten free crackers and taking me for GLUTEN FREE FISH AND CHIPS IN TORONTO at Broadview and Danforth
  
• El Mayor restaurant and the waitress who first asked if "gluten" was Arabic, then went out of her way to tell me everything I could and could not eat when she understood
• Frances for listening, for warming up the pie and ice cream, for coming to Easter Vigil, sharing Easter Sunday and for being so darn lovable

No Cross, No Crown

My friend reminded me that there is no Resurrection without the Crucifiction. It is easy to jump over Good Friday, The Passion of the Lord and want to go straight to Easter...but I can never forget the act of sacrifice that starts this blessed day.

Saturday night we attended the Easter Vigil mass which starts in darkness. With each reading the light increases until we have total light from total darkness. The symbolism is clear. Christ is the light.

I love this mass. It is the pinnacle of all that I believe. The new members are welcomed and confirmed as I was some 20 years ago. I was explaining to my young cousin on Thursday that I had wanted to be Baptist 20 years ago. I did the research. That was my plan. You know what they say. If you want to make God laugh just make a plan.

I was going to the R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation) for information purposes only. I told them I wasn't joining. I went because my daughter was going to be raised in this faith because it was the faith of her father. About half way we had a retreat night, a night of discernment: were we continuing? or had we obtained all the "information" we needed?

That was the first time I ever felt the voice of God. I say "felt" because it was not an audible voice. But the words "What are you afraid of? I am here" were distinct in my thoughts and I hadn't thought them on my own. And I knew immediately I was supposed to be here. And I have never regretted that decision. God has used my checkered faith journey from Eastern Orthodox to Protestant to Roman Catholic for the greatest good in my life. Along the way I have learned about Him in ways I never imagined. Often through the sacrifice of other believers who have given of themselves and touched my life. It has truly been a great adventure and blessing in my life. It was here that I met heroic people, here that I am touched with kindness, here that I am challenged to go deeper and learn from every moment.

It is truly a Happy Easter!! Wishing you many blessings on this blessed day and on your journey!!

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
~Romans 6:5

Artist...I thank you.

I walked in late to church. My head was down. I found a seat, bowed my head in prayer. So many things were heavy on my heart. Today, especially, I had come for solace and comfort. When I put my head up I immediately saw it, leaning humbly, unattached to any wall or structure. It was a painting of Jesus holding a lamb on his shoulders. It seemed to have all the light shining around it. And I began to weep. This work of art immediately brought the words of the Gospel directly to my heart. I was that lamb in need of a Saviour. And it was my Saviour who would wrap me around His loving shoulders in that moment that I needed Him the most.
I still think of that painting and that moment of seeing the visual depiction of the words I love so much. It still gives me comfort and I want to say to the artist...thank you.

For more Biblical Art and Biblical Art of the Day go here.

Take a moment to visit Randy Elrod at Ethos...a cultural watercooler. It's Watercooler Wednesday. Read other posts about art and culture.

Remembering Vasi on Palm Sunday

I think it is appropriate to post this picture again for Palm Sunday and to remember cousin Vasi who passed away February 28, 2008.


It is amazing how our perspective of someone's life changes when they leave this world. The last chapter is written, the book is finished and we finally see the completed story as a whole.

Vasi had just turned 72, celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary in December and enjoyed 7 years of retirement. He died quickly of a heart attack. On the surface he seemed gruff and tough, but he worked hard and took care of his family well.

On one visit, a few years ago, we sat under the grape vine arbor behind his house, surveying a garden filled with wonderful vegetables and fruit trees and he shared the wisdom of a man with simple tastes: "All I need to be happy is a barbecued pork chop!"

During the funeral at the local Greek Orthodox Church, I cried during the gospel reading:

...When I was hungry you gave me food...Whatever you did to the least of these brothers you did to me...

I remembered how Vasi brought groceries to my mother when she struggled after my father died. He put a new roof on her house, gave her his car and found my brother a job. He did these things quietly. And we were very grateful.

I believe my father is finally able to thank him. I really believe it.

The girl in this picture is his daughter Jenny. Her and I were born on separate continents within 5 weeks of each other. Shortly after this picture was taken in Greece she came to Canada and from then on we were inseparable as children. Today we hold the same job titles at different non profit organizations. Funny how that worked out.

So today on Palm Sunday as I think of Jesus riding through the streets on a lowly donkey I will also remember Vasi; a humble and hard working man who cared.

“With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Your servant where there is no pain, nor sorrow, nor suffering, but life everlasting.”

Aionia I Mnimi
May Your Memory Be Eternal

Finding My Inner Greek

This is my first Water Cooler Wednesday: A blog event hosted by Randy Elrod at Ethos. Subjects include Art and Culture. My post is about the culture of my heritage: Greece.

My father staunchly said he came to Canada to be Canadian. I am proud of what my family has contributed and achieved in this, their chosen country. But in one generation we have essentially lost most of the culture of our heritage. I don't speak the language, practice the faith, celebrate the holidays or know the customs of those who came before me.

Last week we lost another of the men who came to Canada with little and achieved much. And I was reminded of what I am missing, this rich connection to those I love. Vasilios, or Vasi as we called him was my father's first cousin but was more like a brother. As the family gathered to mourn we reminisced about the life they left and how different it was from the village. It makes what they did seem even more remarkable in my eyes.

It must have been the very definition of culture shock to land in North America in the fifties and sixties when you came from a place with no indoor plumbing and an agricultural way of life. My father learned the electronics business in this new land, translating words in the margins of the books he purchased to study. Someone told me that my father brought them the first TV he had ever seen

I understand why my father loved all the latest technology. Cameras, movie projectors, stereos; we even had a remote control TV when it first came out around 1970. I think it had 3 buttons!

I know he would be amazed by the internet. It is this part of our current culture that is helping me connect with the life they left behind. I found a wonderful Greek blog that is mainly about food and hospitality but includes references to feasts, customs, modern life and life as it was in the villages of various regions.

One day I will experience Greece for myself and take the return trip my father always wanted but never got to make. And I will go as a first generation Canadian.

It's ok to laugh

...during Lent.

This blog made me laugh.

And he makes really nice furniture too.

SippicanCottage

I lost my job making glass eyes for merry-go-round horses back in my youth. I decided to become a mercenary commando soldier, you know, hired gun, but unwisely chose the Salvation Army as my outfit. I never got to kill anybody, and I've got tinnitus in my right ear from the bell now.

Hakiza

I watched the bloggers as they traveled with Compassion International. I read their words about the poverty and conditions of people. People that were not that different than me. Except for where they were born. I read their words of hope for what can be done when we help. And I couldn't ignore it any longer.

I went to the site with the names and faces of children. How to choose?? I looked through the list. Some choose a familiar name or birthday. I decided to ask for a child who had waited the longest for a sponsor.

It was Hakiza. He is from Uganda, born January 17, 1996. 1996. The year that John died. I feel connected to Hakiza already.

Sponsoring a child is the least I can do. But am I called to do only the least? I wonder.

Randy Elrod is someone who is doing more than sponsor. He was one of the bloggers who went to Uganda. He is offering a print of the watercolor shown above to those who sponsor. Check out his blog here. His pictures, posts and poems are unique and moving.

This is what I love about blogs.

Here he is...at the risk of over explaining, I decided to abstract the painting somewhat. I wanted his face to represent Uganda's children as a whole, so I hid his total personality and included blotches to represent children with health issues. The rest of the meaning I will leave to you.

A great quote: "Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love."
-Claude Monet

If you will join me and sponsor a child from Uganda for only $32. per month, I will send you free a signed print of this picture, or if you have already sponsored a child and would like either of the prints I have offered, put a comment HERE and let me know which one you would like.