Lucid thought of the day

The Hand of God is written with the ink of men.

Andrea Bocelli - The Lord's Prayer.

                   The way we start the day.

Worth pondering

Community journalism at its best

Loudoun Times-Mirror purchased Leesburg Today one day
and stuck a fork in it the next.
But, as Aaron so aptly described, "Like a phoenix from the flames,"
Loudoun Now took flight without missing a single news cycle.
***
Community journalism at its best!

Killer pics

Danielle & Aaron visiting Aunt Stu and Cuz Dylan
in Philly

Be still, my soul
(this is coming to a wall at 1001 43rd St)

Sense of Thai St,
favorite new Leesburg restaurant

Crazy sock day for our kindergartener

All are invited, but dress for success

Everyone is invited!  Few are chosen.

Jesus taught this reality in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet. In the parable, the king invites the first wave of  guests, but they have every excuse under the sun for not attending. When the invitation is broadly extended, the invitees mock and mistreat the slaves who invited them to the king's celebration.

"Everything is ready!"

The enraged king then instructs his servants to invite everyone with a pulse; the good, the bad and the ugly. The wedding hall is filled with guests.

The king, upon entering the hall, notices a man who is not wearing a wedding robe. Apparently proper attire is required to attend the wedding banquet. The inappropriately dressed man is tossed "into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Jesus is teaching two things: All are invited into His Kingdom where the effective will of the Father is done.  But to enter the banquet, there are conditions. One's dress should reflect the sacredness of the occasion. We tend to love the promise, but are appalled by the conditions.

Case in point: "… a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

God's pattern of blessing with a corresponding condition is seen in Genesis 2:24. 

Shouldn't gratitude be our response for the blessing of marriage? Why must we chaff against the one condition?  "…male and female He created them."

Many are called, but few are chosen.

A variation on The hand that rocks the cradle
rules the world.
Dear LORD, revive our families.

Recent family photos

The MacMurchy family
out 'n about, summer 2015

Halloween 2015
Amelia won 1st place for the cutest clown on God's Green Globe.

Morgan Jo, Halloween 2015 

Cruella and VanGogh,
Halloween 2015

Danielley and I at Veloville Bicycles and Coffee shop,
October 2015

Morgan's big speech

Morgan reciting Patrick Henry's rousing speech on Veteran's Day, 2015.  

Henry's speech was first delivered in 1775 at the Second Virginia Convention,

St. John's Church in Richmond, VA.

I was stirred to my patriotic core with 2 things:  Morgan's rhetorical skill and the teaching and honoring of American history in the Belle Fourche, South Dakota School District.  The Veteran's Day celebration has been a Belle school tradition for 25 years. I am beyond thrilled that Morgan skillfully and passionately carried the torch at the Veteran's Day celebration. Well done!

Isaiah participated as well, signing God Bless America.  Dear LORD, hear our cry.

From one day to the next: Danielle's big adventure

Danielle standing in front of Leesburg Today
Around Nov 2.

Aaron's Facebook entry: Last week, on the busiest day of the year - election day, 11/3 - my wife's paper was told the issue they were working on would be the last for Leesburg Today, as it was purchased and gutted by the cross-town rival. After a few tears and bit of reminiscing, she and a few others from the community gritted their teeth and decided to not go silently into the night. In less than a week, the team has launched a new paper and website, like a phoenix from the flames. I am proud of the whole team that made it happen, especially Danielle. Well done Loudoun Now! 

The scrappy crew designing and creating
the content for the first issue of Loudoun Now

Delivered to mailboxes and inboxes, 11/12
***
Danielle Nadler, managing editor
Norm Styer, editor in chief
Susan Styer, advertising
Doug Graham, crack photographer
Stilson Greene, cartoonist
(Design team not pictured)

Thank you Lord for planting the idea.  LET THERE BE a community owned newspaper.

Thank you for the skill and strength to create something.

IT IS GOOD.

REST from your labor.

Be bitter not

Be bitter not.
The Father of the Chosen sees.
The Son upon the tree, 
His Father saw.

King David - the leader in lament,
taught God's people to pray,
"O God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
I call on Thee
in the day of my distress;
for you will answer me."

Even God upon the tree
was bitter not in His lament.
"Forsake Me not!"
The Father saw Thee,
 upon the tree.

Bitter not!
If Jesus cried in hope,
surely God's Chosen lament in hope.

He is risen! And so shall we.

Written for God's chosen,
11/15, Leesburg, VA

Best Version of Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Bach (With Lyrics)

The CHRIST follower marinates in joy on two levels simultaneously: The visible material realm and the Unseen Realm. Both the immanent and transcendent dance their interplay in the mind of the Christian. I hear the beauty of Bach, all the while I marvel at the Source of all the music.

With every glass of wine comes the memory of Jesus' water to wedding wine miracle.  The close-at-hand senses are alive with sight, smell, texture and taste. The background wedding music all the while washes over the whole experience with joyous revelry. The transcendent Presence of the Winemaker conducts the whole glad orchestra.

Feasting on the five fish, we raise our glass. To the Invisible Father, Son and Holy Ghost whose fingerprints are everywhere.  Taste and see. The LORD, He is good.

And one more added delight: Johanne Sebastian Bach is still creating His masterful music. I wonder if he also conducts the glorious chords for all to savor. For all eternity.

Virginia visit with Danielle and Aaron

Middleburg Film Festival

Washington and Old Dominion Bike Trail

Martin Luther King memorial

Dinner with childhood friend,

California Rep Janice Hahn

Stacy smitten over Aaron's pumpkin stew

Bach Concert,

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring

Stone Tower Vineyard

6-5 Big Bash Birthday Surprise

Every creative act starts with an idea:  LET THERE BE.
It ends with: IT IS GOOD.
Then REST from all labors.

This was, of course, the pattern of GOD's creative act In The Beginning. And the Creator's children display the same creative will.

It started in the mind of Elissa: Gabe, your mother will not have an anniversary celebration with Robert like my grandparents' 60th. We should do something special for her milestone 65th birthday.

And together they said to the family, LET THERE BE a surprise party for Gramma Care.

S.U.R.P.R.I.S.E! Happy Birthday, Gramma Care!
Is that Isaiah Robert on my front porch?

After their surprise arrival, the kitchen dialogue between Elissa and I was priceless:
Me: It will be good to have just the family and a few close friends for a party. I'm not much for surprise parties.
Elissa: We're doing that.
Me:  Perfect!  I'll jump out of a cake.

Later in the kitchen.
Me: I suppose we'll just all meet at Charley's for a nice surprise birthday dinner together. Easy Schmezee.
Elissa: It's here.
Me:  Oh mercy. I better get the place ready.

Never mind, Saturday Gabriel, Nathaniel, the kiddos and I spent a fun-filled day at the zoo while Elissa and JoyFul transformed my home into a Big Bash Birthday Surprise venue ready for 100 of our closest friends.

Elissa, thank you for having the Idea.  Let there be…
Thank you also for preparing pulled pork, cheesy potatoes and cookies, hauling knick-knacks, tables and everything but the kitchen sink to decorate. Thank you for the 65 picture collage which told the tale of 65 years. Every detail was covered.

Gabriel, thank you for graciously implementing your wife's splendid creative ideas.
Thank you for pulling your bedroom across the state.
Thank you for blessing our time together in prayer.

MacMurchy family, thank you for the Porch Surprise.
Morgan, Isaiah, Amelia and Samuel ~ Thank you for rendering Gramma Care speechless!  

Elissa and Joy, thank you for transforming my home from ordinary to extraordinary.

Nathaniel, thank you for snapping 1000 zoo photos.

Danielle and Aaron, thank you for contributing to food and fanfare.
Thank you also for my flight to Virginia.  

Scottish Friends one and all, thank you for celebrating 65 years of joy and delight. That I am greatly blessed is no surprise. 

It is good

40 days in the Wild: Lessons learned

Aslan flag on our Lake Superior
sailboat

40 days at Wilderness North was exhilarating, challenging, tiring and restrictive.  The cycle moved back and forth through delight, joy, fear, annoyance, goodwill, frustration and back to joy. The cycle was a bit like the swelling up and down waves of Lake Superior. Joy kept us afloat.

Except for the night of the storm. Rest was no where to be found in my swirling thoughts. Why did my bunkmate, Hannah, sleep like JESUS on the swirling Sea of Galilee? Why was she oblivious to the crashing waves and fearsome wind? What did Hannah know that I did not?

JESUS knew that in His Father's full world, All Is Well.

Hannah knew that too. It allowed her to rest in the Everlasting Arms.

DEAR LORD, please save me. May I fear not and rest.

There have been times when I think that we do not desire heaven; but more often I have found myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else. CS Lewis

Lewis is right: I have never desired anything else. My father's early passage from here to There was the first whisper that there was more. Much more. But how do I prepare? For this life and the next? How do I become the kind of person that can stand the pure goodness of God in Heaven?  Someone who does not hide from Truth? How does one prepare? What to pack?

To know and enjoy GOD forever, character transformation is required. Love of GOD and neighbor must be honed. The 40 days at Wilderness North required planning, focus and goodwill. It turned out that Northern Minnesota is closer to the Other Shore than I imagined. Thanks for the honing, dear brothers and 
sisters.