Day One

I’ve arrived at my room in Amarillo. Tomorrow I will travel on to the Benedictine Community at Pecos and hope to enter silence tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Question: Are you allowed to Blog while you are in silence? If you can blog, what about email? Have the contemplatives entered the www? I don’t even know if I will have Internet access there. But while it will be interesting to ask them, I’ve decided that this blog, if it is like journaling, is permissible. Email and Internet Surfing are a violation of “silence” in my thinking. It would be the same as talking and watching TV. With that in mind, tonight I’m watching my last football until I depart the Community next Monday.

Beginning this Sabbatical was more emotional than I had anticipated. Saying goodbye to my Covenant family brought some near tears from me and I think I saw a few tears among Covenant friends. Many told me they will miss me. I know I am blest and thank God for ministry with this special church family. I felt both anxious and numb yesterday afternoon. Anxious like getting ready to go off to camp and numb from the reality that I was given permission to relax for an extended time. Though I appear calm and collected, my red cheeks tend to give away that relaxation is something I am still learning and it will be good for me.

And yes, saying goodbye to Linda for just this week was emotional for both of us. God has blest us so richly over the years and we do so much together. What a blessing the World Convention in Nashville was for us this summer. Maybe I should look at this as a field training exercise for spiritual health.

Before signing off I have three major prayer requests. First, please join me in continued prayer for Laura Cook. http://www.lauracook.info/What_s_New.html Today is day 20 for her at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. Laura is in a step-down from ICU unit. She is in strict isolation because her immune system is completely down and still suffers from swelling in her brain and needing oxygen for her lungs. Laura is the 23 year old daughter of Miles and Trela Cook, Miles is minister of Park Hill Christian Church in Little Rock.

Second, Noah Isaac Brown, born last Wednesday night (August 27). Though full-term his ability to breath is still developing. He was life-flighted to Oklahoma Children’s Hospital on Friday. His condition is stable and improving as of late Sunday afternoon.

Third, pray for all those affected by Hurricane Gustav. I served the church in Lafayette, La. From 1980 to 1985 and still have many friends there. The evening news said that Gustav was a category one when it crossed Lafayette. We remember a category one when we lived there. Power was out for the better part of a week and there were lots of areas flooded and extensive tree damage. In her work, my daughter Christina, a paramedic for EMSA in OKC, transported a patient from the evacuee shelter to a hospital today. OKC was preparing for 400 evacuees yesterday. By this morning there were 1,800 there, most from New Orleans. Pray for the residents of the Caribbean, all the residents of the Gulf Coast, the emergency personnel working throughout it all, and for those still in the storms path for possible widespread flooding.

Grace and peace from Amarillo, Texas.