summum bonum

An Easter Greeting: (click here)

What is it about the 50 yards between the driving range and the first tee that wreaks such havoc on a golfer's swing?

I pruned the third citrus tree this morning, the biggest of the three. I don't enjoy that job at all; it involves being at the top of the ladder and reaching as far as I can. But it's done for another year.
After finishing that I rode the bike in for the standard Saturday lunch at Chick-Fil-A. It was a perfect day for riding. At the noon hour it was high 70's and sunny. Just enough air through my mesh rider's jacket to keep me comfortably cool, and light traffic. Gave serious thought to taking the long way home but decided to get some other chores done instead. I don't have work for Monday, so maybe then.

If you could change one thing about your physical self - appearance, gaining a particular motor skill, the removal of some physical limitation, etc. - what would it be?
If you could change one thing about your non-physical self, what would it be?

Tomorrow is in his hands. We don't know how many will be there; the Pathway families have been great about inviting friends and relatives but you don't know if they'll come until they show up. We've never had a service anywhere but J & A's home, so lots of variables there. Will we have enough chairs? Bulletins? Will the borrowed sound system work OK?
One of the reasons I left Celebration is that I had allowed myself to sweat everything. I certainly didn't do everything; a great group of workers there! But while I didn't do much of the planning or the work, I allowed myself to sweat the outcomes. The burn-out was entirely predictable.
I don't want to repeat that mistake, so I'm trying to let go. In this case it means that I have had no involvement in what the kids are going to do while we're having the service and during the play time afterward. On the one hand I feel a bit irresponsible for not exercising oversight. But I also know that it's best for the long run - both for me and for them - to let it go entirely.
Perhaps the problem at this point is that we don't have an infrastructure to deal with these kinds of situations, no one assigned to oversight. As a result we may have some miscues tomorrow. But that's OK. As long as people have good attitudes, and this group certainly seems to!, we'll be fine. And it sets a pattern that I think will save me from that burn-out I experienced in MI.

___________________

Because they didn't have time to properly prepare his body for burial before the beginning of the Sabbath at sundown Friday, the women left Bethany before the sun was up, carrying the oils, spices and other materials necessary to do that task. They walked in the pre-dawn light down the east side of the Kidron Valley and up the other side to the tomb where Christ had been put late Friday afternoon. They knew the tomb had been sealed and was under Roman guard. They didn't have a plan for gaining access to his body but they had to at least try.
The disciples were all back at the house in Bethany, waiting for full light to begin their trip back to Galilee and the homes they left to follow him.
When the women arrived it was just after sunrise. To their total shock, the stone had been rolled back and two angels stood at the entrance to the tomb. The Roman soldiers assigned to guard the tomb were laying on the ground in a stupor.
One of the angels asked the women why they were looking for Jesus. "He is not here; he is risen just as he said." He instructed them to head back to Bethany and tell the disciples the news.

Imagine what went on between those women as they made the one-mile walk back to the house!

When the disciples heard the news, two of them - Peter and John - rushed out of the house and ran to the tomb. Because John was considerably younger than Peter he got there first. But because he was also hesitant he stopped at the entrance to the tomb. Impetuous Peter, when he arrived huffing and puffing, ran directly inside the tomb and saw the shroud and head wrap laying there neatly folded. Now it was their turn to hurry back to the house and tell the rest what they'd seen.
Meanwhile, the soldiers recovered and went into the city to report to their authorities that a blinding light had literally knocked them out, the stone had been rolled back and that the tomb was now empty. They were told to tell anyone who asked that someone had come and stolen his body. This was preposterous on the face of it - that Galileans could overcome armed Roman soldiers - but it was better than the only other alternative, that Christ had in fact risen from the dead.
Later that afternoon Christ suddenly appeared in the room where the disciples, minus Thomas, were gathered.
What was that like for them? What was their response to the day's event?

What is your response?