I am grateful for squirrels, but very much beginning to feel like this guy:

Attack of the squirrels

or this couple:

War of the Squirrels

Mom and Nadine would love our back yard right now.

I am grateful for another new Bingo player, Helen. Last night was so much fun. Jim played the whole time, Avis made me laugh when she talked about someone being grumpy, Lucy couldn’t wait to tell me she has a new great grandson named Drew, Barb offered to do any mending that Sam and I might have, and Katherine let me borrow her bird book so I can figure out who is coming to visit when the squirrels are otherwise occupied, and then she took me to her apartment to show me pictures of her 90^th birthday last year, made by the son she wanted to introduce me to before she knew about Sam! And there was no dilly-dallying…the KU game was most important, so the room cleared pretty quickly. (I just wanted to use the word dilly-dally. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have mentioned that team.)

I am grateful for the sound of an owl in the darkness of the morning as we walk.

I am grateful for my training yesterday – all about poverty and cultural diversity. My eyes are being pried open to another world that is reality for so many in our city, and I haven’t even stepped into that world yet, but when I do, I want to be ready to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

I am grateful that I don’t have to eat ripe bananas but know how to use them in bread. I may not use curdled milk, okay, not CURDLED curdled, just bad-smelling milk, in pancakes like my Mom used to do, but she taught me to freeze those nasty bananas and they make excellent banana bread.

I am grateful for paved streets.

I am grateful for warmer weather and the anticipation of some rain tonight.

And I am grateful that our pastor posted this animated video and explanation of our new church sanctuary:

Attached is the animated video of our proposed new sanctuary and narthex. Our current sanctuary becomes our fellowship hall, the mezzanine of it becomes a 2 story adult education wing, and the “back of house” becomes our kitchen and dedicated Matthew’s Ministry space. 

What our church sanctuary will look like when completed.

Regarding the proposed sanctuary: The seven roof panels represent the seven days of creation and the seven days of Holy Week. The base of the building is native Kansas limestone, a reminder that God is our rock (Psalm 18:1-2) and we are living stones (I Peter 2:4-5). The stained glass window you see in the video is a placeholder – the window is yet to be designed. At its center will be the resurrected Christ. The room seats 3,500 but will feel 30% smaller than our current sanctuary. 5 windows, six feet wide and 35 feet high, located between the seven roof panels, allow natural daylight into the room. 

The garden is the motif of the room. The Bible begins in a garden (Eden) where Paradise is lost and ends in a garden (Revelation’s paradise) where Paradise has been restored. In between, in John’s gospel, we find Jesus crucified in a garden (John 19:41), buried and resurrected in a garden – John’s way of saying that Christ came to restore paradise through his redemptive work. These three gardens will be captured in the stained glass. Live trees will grow in the chancel. The interior of the roof panels may appear as tree branches. The aim is that as people enter the sanctuary they enter a garden, and in so doing, they enter and become a part of the biblical story. When worshipers leave they go as Christ’s instruments to continue his work of healing and restoring the world.