Don't take me too seriously. I don't.
In all of the Internet, I could find only one more article on the Pilgrim United Church of Christ decision on whether or not to allow a convicted sex offender membership in their congregation previously featured in MMM.
The article appears in the San Diego Union-Tribune online site SignOnSandDiego and written by Logan Jenkins whose expressed opinion is entirely pragmatic as opposed to spiritual.
This is the product of a single Amyryllis bulb given to me by my good friends Bill and Pam Bache for Christmas 2003. It was their custom to give me an amyrillis bulb for my birthday in October. I would then force it to bloom for Christmas.Unfortunately, my myriad of amyrillis bulbs didn’t make it throught the winter of 2003 in Indianapolis. I won’t go through all the details, but since this particular amyrillis was a Christmas present, it was still in a pot, blooming when we moved in February.After it finished blooming, I planted it where it is now. I think it’s time to separate all the new bulbs that have grown.By the way, this is just the first round of blooms. There are 5 more bloom stalks ready to go.
Here are two red daylilies. Both I brought with me to Florida from Indiana.The Red Volunteer is doing very well. It was one of the very first daylilies I owned. It’s still one of my favorites. It grows to a height of about 24 inches and blooms for well over a month. It has reached it’s predicted height and is prolific.Baja, on the other hand, while fairly prolific, seems to be stunted in its growth. It should have reached the same height as Red Volunteer, but it’s only 12 inches tall. Also, it should bloom for a couple of months, but last year only made it to 20 days. 😥 It was one of my favorite performers in Indiana. Alas, I may have to replace it with something more native to Florida.
I was watching ABC News tonight, a rarity for me. They had an article about a tough decision that Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, California, is about to make. A registered sex offender has asked to be accepted for membership in the church.
In keeping with typical ABC viewpoint, in the linked video, except for the minister, Madison Shockley, ABC interviews those who have great reservations about accepting this man into the church. One man was a victim of sexual abuse as a child and a woman was expressing reservaitons about having her child in close proximity to a sex offender. Both viewpoints, from a modern human point of view, seem valid. And we can certainly empathize with these folks.
My wife Charlene is a servant. Not only has she served our family for over forty years, but also she helps others. She serves as a youth coach at our church, volunteers at a food pantry, and sews for Operation Shoebox.
Operation Shoebox is an organization started in central Florida by a woman who has five sons serving in the military. A few years ago (2003), she got the idea to fill shoe boxes with goodies and a personal letter to send them to military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They no longer send shoe boxes because the postage was prohibitive. Now they send bags. Charlene is one of the volunteers who manufacture the bags.
At Christmastime, instead of bags, they make Christmas stockings. The photo depicts the stack of stockings Charlene made for the 2006 Christmas shipment. As you can see, she didn’t just settle for slapping together a couple of pieces of material. Each one was made with the special care and love that only Charlene can give.
Operation Shoebox recently sent their 200,000th package to military folks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congratulations, Operation Shoebox!
