Thank God for Healing

Pictures of the Day:
File this under the category of "It's my diary, I'll be gross if I want to." I decided I wanted pictures of my unfortunate head injury, so I persuaded Evelyn to snap a couple. These are "before" and "after" shots. I got the staples out today, so I now can pass through a metal detector without incident! (Looks like four here, but there were five.)

In case you're wondering, it pinched only a little to have 'em removed, and that only for one or two of 'em. 

Two observations: The body's capacity to heal is marvelous. And readily available, competent medical help is a blessing.

Quote of the Day: 
This quote will appear in the editorial I'm writing now for the March issue of Christian Standard. We send it to the printer Wednesday morning.

"Accepting someone as a brother does not endorse everything he says or does. It's time we admit that grace had better cover errors in belief as well as practice, or we are all in trouble."
—Together Again, by Rick Atchley and Bob Russell.

Remembering Italy

Picture of the Day:
Oh my goodness, how can I pick just ONE? John Cornett who joined our summer cruise/tour to Italy, Greece, and Turkey (with his wife Sandra) is a wonderful photographer. And in our Christmas card he sent us a whole disc of pictures from our trip. And some of these are truly phenomenal shots.
I finally wrote him a thank-you last week and made him an offer.
I want to make a Shutterfly book of our trip, and I keep not getting to it. (It takes more sorting, planning, choosing than one might think to put one of those books together.) But I told him this is one time procrastination has paid off, because I certainly want to include some of his pictures in the book.
Then the offer: I told him if he'd send me more pictures of his wife and himself, I'd make a second edition of the book, swapping out some of our pictures of ourselves with pictures of the Cornetts.
He readily agreed, and the second disc arrived in the mail yesterday.
Below is just one of his pictures, a panorama view of canals in Venice.

Oh, heck, I'll post one more, this dramatic shot of the sun peeking over the top of the Colosseum in Rome.

I have my first head cold of the new year--I think it's the first cold of the season. My head is stuffed up. My face is flushed. My eyes hurt. My throat is dry. I decided it was a good evening to put my feet up beside the fire and start sorting these pictures in preparation for making the book. 

With these wonderful pictures, the biggest challenge will be what NOT to include!

From Writers for Writers

Quotes of the Day:

With a shout-out to some friends who have formed a new writers group at Christ's Church at Mason, I offer these quotes from the "Sunbeams" page in the latest issue (February 2014) of The Sun.
"Sunbeams" is a regular feature in this independent journal, and this month, all the quotes relate to writing.

(Dale Reeves formed our writers group to write/edit/compile projects for the church as well as to share and expolore our own writing. The first meeting was last night. I enjoyed it!)

I lived in the midst of an affectionate, charming family, and I am sure that there is no greater obstacle to a person who is just beginning to write.
—Katharine Butler Hathaway

The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people. I've gotten back at lawyers, prosecutors, judges, law professors, and politicians. I just line 'em up and shoot 'em.
—John Grisham

He asked, "What makes a man a writer?"
"Well, I said, it's simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge."
—Charles Bukowski

Writing allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time."
—Kurt Vonnegut

I am dissatisfied with everything I have ever written and regard it all only as a preparation for that one work which probably I don't have it in me to write but which I hope I can go on trying for.
—Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

He who has made a thousand things and he who has made none, both feel the same desire: to make something.
—Antonio Porchia

This is Our Story

Picture of the Day:
Our church is joining the large number of congregations across the country that have used Zondervan's The Story as the basis for worship and Bible study for a 32-week period. Today was the introductory sermon, and today I received my copy of the book, plus material to help me lead sessions for the men's "tribe" I meet with on Thursday mornings.
I'm looking forward to it. It will be good for me personally, providing a doable plan to add structure to my desire to connect with God. It will be good for our group, because it will lend insight into his Word and his will for all of us. It will be good for our church, just as it evidently has been good for so many others.
I'm eager to get started.

Quote of the Day:
"There are some things about Jesus that can't be negotiated. If you don't believe he rose again, your religion is not Christianity. . . . This is our story. God looked forward and he saw Abraham; Abraham looked forward and he saw Jesus; Jesus looked forward and he saw us!"
—Trevor DeVage in this morning's sermon, the first in this series.

Meals of the Day:
Lunch with Dave Lautzenheiser at First Watch. We treated, with a gift certificate Evelyn received for leading a D-group at CCU. Dave was batching it, because Mary went to Tennessee to see the grandson this weekend.
Dinner will be Evelyn's pasta bean soup. It's perfect weather for soup, and this is a wonderful recipe. I know the whole world will be watching the Grammy awards tonight, but we'll be in front of 60 Minutes and Downton Abbey.

Fresh Flowers and Good Friends on a Snowy, Cold Day

Pictures of the Day:
Isn't it nice what $3.99 at Kroger's will get you when you'd like a breath of fresh for your dining room table when you're having friends for supper?
Terry and Shirley Wuske came tonight and helped us eat some of the wonderful treats in the carton of Omaha Steaks goodies Ken and Susan sent us for Christmas (they've been in the freezer since then). (The steaks, I mean. Not Ken and Susan.)

Quote of the Day:
I couldn't stop till I got all the way to the bottom.
—Shirley Wuske, describing her attempt at skiing, with a remark that made us think of so many other situations in life!

People Like to See Suffering

Realization of the Day: People like to see suffering. Or at least vulnerability. Yesterday's blog post about my slip on the ice and trip to the emergency room has been seen so far 294 times. As in, almost THREE HUNDRED times. This is nothing for the celebrity bloggers, but for just me that may be a record. Maybe the way to really get my readership up would be to have a heart attack or amputation or something. But I'm not complaining. I'm just choosing to believe it's a sign of how much so many love me! :-)

Picture of the Day:
Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips. We never got to the theater to see it, but we were able to snag a copy from Redbox tonight. If you haven't seen it, we would highly recommend it. I continue to be amazed by the breadth of Tom Hanks's work.

And I have to admit, part of the reason we liked this movie is, we like to see suffering. :-)

Quote of the Day:
Everything's goin' to be all right.
(I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice the contrast between the two in the movie who said those words.)

5 Staples, No Concussion, and a Laugh in the ER

Pictures of the Day:
Here's the pic I snapped of our Thursday-morning men's group enjoying breakfast at IHOP this morning.

Here's the pic I snapped of my hospital bracelet at Bethesda North emergency room where I went for treatment after slipping on the ice after breakfast and cracking my head on the restaurant parking lot.

Here's the schedule they posted in my office when I returned to work late this morning.

The rest of the story: I don't remember falling. I just remember putting my hand on the back of my head where it hit  and coming away with a bloody palm. "Oh, I have to wash my hand," I think I said. So I went into the restaurant restroom, and a couple of the guys were still there talking.
"Mark, are you alright?" I had folded up some paper towel and was holding it over the cut.
Dave Kruger took my arm and led me back to my car, and Brad Comerford started quizzing me. "I think we should go to the Urgent Care," he said. I followed him in my car. But when we got there, it was closed. (Doesn't open till 10!)
"You know, Brad, I don't really remember what happened,"I said, which wasn't entirely accurate. But, driving to the Urgent Care, I was trying to remember details, like you try to remember details of a dream after you've awakened.
"Let me drive you to the ER," he said. (He told me later I had him really concerned.) So I locked my car and hopped into his. He called his wife who called Evelyn. She met us at the hospital, after I had been admitted. Bless him--his help was really a big help.
They put five staples in the wound at the top of my head and I got an X-ray which confirmed I don't have a concussion.
But I've been headachey all afternoon and evening, and I have a sore rear end (don't know if it hit first or second).
I'm very grateful it wasn't worse . . . and VERY grateful I didn't break a wrist or arm or anything else!

Quotes of the Day:
Conversation overheard from the adjacent examining room in the ER. This was about 8:00 a.m. today. The patient was a big guy, an older guy. He'd come in because he was short of breath and he needed a breathing treatment.

Doctor: Are you still smoking?
Patient: No, I quit.
Doctor: When did you quit?
Patient: Yesterday.
Doctor: When was your last cigarette?
Patient: 10 o'clock last night.

Yeah, and I had quit drinking coffee. My last cup was about 7:00 this morning.