Family & Friends . . .

It was good to have some hustle and bustle back in the house again this past weekend. I miss that. Jamie and Evee came to visit along with dear family friends, Regina and Michelle. It was our first time to have Evee over a Sunday, so showing her off at church was fun. Regina is back from a year of mission work in Bosnia, moving on to new adventures in life. Michelle is home to raise support as a career missionary, returning to the Asian country where she has been serving. Below are pictures of our time together.

Speed scrabble, chats in the living room, coffee at Starbucks, early breakfast at Morning Star, walks on the pier, keeping up with the World Series, and just hanging out made up the weekend fun.

Up bright and early for breakfast
at our favorite place in town.

Keeping warm in the Michigan fall weather.

Michelle and Regina

Evee got in on all the girl stuff.

Papa and Evee watching the Red Sox
make a clean sweep over the Rockies.

Sadly, the house is too quiet again, but Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Love your neighbor . . .

Today I learned about the oppression in the country of Burma through World Hope's website. For those of you who may not be familiar with the country of Burma, presently known as Myanmar, it is bordered by India, China and Thailand.

In a nutshell, this is what is happening: Burma is ruled by one of the worst military dictatorships in the world. Last month Buddhist monks and nuns began marching and chanting prayers to call for democracy. The protests spread and hundreds of thousands of Burmese people joined in -- but they've been brutally attacked by the military regime.

World Hope encourages us to be a part of bringing peace, justice and freedom to these oppressed people with the following: "Burma's powerful sponsor China can halt the crackdown if it believes that its international reputation and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing depend on it. To convince the Chinese government and other key countries to intervene, Avaaz (The World in Action) is launching a major global and Asian ad campaign including full page ads in the Financial Times and other newspapers to deliver its message. Avaaz needs 1 million voices to be the global roar that will get China's attention."

I was number 789,508 on the way to a million. Click here to sign the petition to help alleviate suffering in Burma. The petition will be advertised in a massive ad campaign all this week, delivered by a Nobel Prize winner to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and broadcast into Burma over the radio. Let's not let something like Rwanda happen again.

It's a small act for a world dilemma, but wouldn't you want someone to do it for you?

Love your neighbor . . . as yourself.

Great Deeds or Great Love?

One of the things I said to Dennis while we were on his summer sabbatical was this: I'm going to stop saying I'm going to do great things for God. As we were enjoying the cool waters of the Adriatic Sea one hot afternoon, we were talking about the "what's next" for our lives. He knew what his hopes were for the sabbatical - personal renewal and ministry refocus - but now he was asking about me. We had a laugh about my statement, but seriously . . . I've used this line since I was a teenager and now in my 50's I'm well aware of the fact that I haven't done anything that might be considered "great for God."

This past Saturday our church held a D.R.A.F.T. (Developing Real Action for the Tri-cities) conference where I heard this Mother Theresa quote: There are no great deeds, only small deeds done in great love.

I like this thought - it resonates with my heart. While the first (my line) is a noble cause, the second is simple, yet profound. One's about me, the other about God. This will be my heartbeat for the latter half of life. Not great deeds, but great love. I have much to learn about this great love.

Oh God, may my faith be transmitted to

others out of a heart of love.