IN A TOWN CALLED GROOM, TEXAS

 These photos and comments came via the internet.  What an amazing work .

IN A TOWN CALLED GROOM, TEXAS

This is about 70 miles from Amarillo outside of town
called Groom, TX.

(There is always someone stopped here to visit, pray, or meditate.

Trucks, buses, or single vehicles. Groom is a tiny town on I-40, but gets lots of visitors because of this.)

These are the pictures of the crucifixion of Christ, Sculptured from metal by a man near Amarillo, TX. The crosses are made of metal also. The man did this out of the kindness of his heart. Someone donated the land on which to erect them.

IN CHEMISTRY, HE TURNED WATER TO WINE.

IN BIOLOGY, HE WAS BORN WITHOUT THE NORMAL

CONCEPTION.

IN PHYSICS, HE DISPROVED THE LAW OF GRAVITY

WHEN HE WALKED ON WATER AND THEN LATER,

ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN.

IN ECONOMICS, HE DISPROVED THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN BY FEEDING 5000 MEN WITH 2 FISHES & 5 LOAVES OF BREAD.

IN MEDICINE, HE CURED THE SICK AND THE BLIND

WITHOUT ADMINISTERING A SINGLE DOSE OF DRUGS.

IN HISTORY, HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END.

IN GOVERNMENT, HE SAID THAT HE SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, PRINCE OF PEACE.

IN RELIGION, HE SAID NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH HIM; 

 SO, WHO IS HE?

 HE IS JESUS!

 LET'S CELEBRATE HIM; HE IS WORTHY.

THE EYES BEHOLDING THIS MESSAGE SHALL NOT

BEHOLD EVIL.

THE HAND THAT WILL SEND THIS MESSAGE TO

EVERYBODY SHALL NOT LABOR IN VAIN.

AND THE MOUTH SAYING AMEN TO THIS PRAYER

SHALL SMILE FOREVER

 REMAIN IN GOD AND SEEK HIS FACE ALWAYS. AMEN.

IN GOD, I'VE FOUND EVERYTHING!

The Greatest Man in History, Jesus, had no servants,

yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

 Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer.

 He had no army, yet kings feared Him..

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

What an incredible display.This could be one of the last

surviving Christian symbols in the country!

Messy Church 3

I've been so busy I missed posting the last 2 weeks of Messy Church.  Tuesday of Holy Week saw a predictable absence of folk.  I don't understand why folk think that Church Services stop for the school holidays.  Messy Church/Family Service is NOT a playgroup or club.  It's a Church Service and so runs every week, just as Sunday Services run every week.  We'll just have to educate them I suppose!

Holy Week.....weather too cold for the Easter Egg Hunt and we only had 2 folk so we made cards and ate pizza and had a lovely time.

Easter Week... I sent round a text so folk realised we were 'on' and we had much better attendance.  Once everyone had arrived and was busy with stencils and pictures I went round the Church garden gaily dropping Easter Eggs and then realised that anyone passing could come in and take them all so I dashed back in, gathered the children, showed them my empty basket and they were off.  Soon my basket was full again and much fun was had by all. They fell on the pizza and garlic bread with relish! and then went back to finish off their art work whilst I bagged up the little chocolate eggs and chicks.

Our service:  we had lots of little ones so we did the 'where is ...., there she is...' song (See and Know) adapting it to 'come to messy church' rather than 'see and know'.  Then we had the Easter story whilst sitting round the Easter Garden, a percussion accompanied song and quiet prayers.  D blessed the eggs and we all went home clutching works of art and bags of goodies.

Wednesday I spent the whole day preparing the next 2 months Messy Church activities.  It took the whole day but by teatime I had a shopping list and 9 week's activities planned.  This is especially important because we are away for 4 of those weeks and our helpers need plenty of notice of what they will be doing.

A True Judgement!

This has just come via email from a friend.  I love it and I do so hope it's true.

FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY DAY

In Florida , an atheist created a case against Easter and Passover Holy

days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against

Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was

that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days. The case was

brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by

the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed!"  The

lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor, How

can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter

and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client

and all other atheists have no such holidays..." The judge leaned forward

in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully

ignorant."  The lawyer said, " Your Honor, we are unaware of any special

observance or holiday for atheists."  The judge said, "The calendar says

April 1st is April Fool's day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his

heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if

your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st

is his day.  Court is adjourned..."

You gotta love a Judge that knows his scripture!

Guardian Angels

The Pink Dress

There was this little girl sitting by herself in the park. Everyone passed by her and never stopped to see why she looked so sad. Dressed in a worn pink dress, barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat and watched the people go by. She never tried to speak. She never said a word.

Many people passed by her, but no one would stop.

The next day I decided to go back to the park in curiosity to see if the little girl would still be there. Yes, she was there, right in the very spot where she was yesterday, and still with the same sad look in her eyes

Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl.

For as we all know, a park full of strange people is not a place for young children to play alone.

As I got closer I could see the back of the little girl's dress. It was grotesquely shaped. I figured that was the reason people just passed by and made no effort to speak to her.

Deformities are a low blow to our society and, heaven forbid if you make a step toward assisting someone who is different.

As I got closer, the little girl lowered her eyes slightly to avoid my intent stare. As I approached her, I could see the shape of her back more clearly. She was grotesquely shaped in a humped over form.

I smiled to let her know it was OK; I was there to help, to talk.

I sat down beside her and opened with a simple, 'Hello'.

The little girl acted shocked, and stammered a 'Hi '; after a long stare into my eyes. 

I smiled and she shyly smiled back.

We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty.

I asked the girl why she was so sad. The little girl looked at me with a sad face said, 'Because, I'm different...'

I immediately said, 'That you are!' and smiled.

The little girl acted even sadder and said, 'I know.'

'Little girl,' I said, 'you remind me of an angel, sweet and innocent.'

She looked at me and smiled, then slowly she got to her feet and said, 'Really?'

'Yes, you're like a little Guardian Angel sent to watch over all the people walking by.'

She nodded her head yes, and smiled. With that she opened the back of her pink dress and allowed her wings to spread, then she said 'I am.'

'I'm your Guardian Angel,' with a twinkle in her eye.

I was speechless -- sure I was seeing things.

She said, 'For once you thought of someone other than yourself.  My job here is done'.

I got to my feet and said, 'Wait, why did no one stop to help an Angel?'

She looked at me, smiled, and said, 'You're the only one that could see me,' and then she was gone.

And with that, my life was changed dramatically.

So, when you think you're all you have, remember, your angel is always watching over you.

Like the story says, we all need someone...

And, every one of your friends is an Angel in their own way.

The value of a friend is measured in the heart.

I hope your Guardian Angel watches over you always.

Don't you love this story?  It's one of many going the rounds on the internet.  Image from Faith Clipart

FOOD BAGS

I have just given a bag of food to a lady calling at the Vicarage.  It's a few weeks since we had a similar call, though in the weeks leading up to Christmas we had many such callers.

In the last 15 years it has become quite a frequent occurrence.  People call and ask for food for many reasons, though it's not my place to ask for those reasons.  Some say they are waiting for their benefit to arrive.  This may be a fact or a con but unless individuals come too often we always give them something.  Some say they have just moved.  Some are very apologetic. And some are alcoholics, but they still need to eat.  Almost all who come are embarrassed to be asking for something as basic as food.

It's a sad fact of modern life that we get callers like this.  But I have personal experience of living on the breadline and family experience of staggering financially from one day to the next on benefits, and I know how it can be just too much to make the money stretch to buy everything you need. 

I have only ever turned two people away and both times it was because the individuals had come too frequently.  Once a week and we will help.  More often and they're taking advantage.  

Of course, we never give money.  If we did, the news would soon reach the ears of every con artist in town so we give food which we know cannot be turned into drugs or alcohol but only a meal.

WHAT'S IN EACH BAG?

Bearing in mind that callers may only have a kettle and no oven (we have had one caller who lived in a derelict building with no facilities at all) we put a bag of basics together.  

bread

margarine

teabags                                                         

milk

instant soups

pot noodles (in case they only have a kettle)

canned food such as beans, soup, ravioli etc

jam

At a pinch the canned stuff can be eaten cold.

It's a difficult balancing act to give enough for a couple of days whilst not making folk dependent on handouts.  In rare cases we know the people well and so can tailor what's in the bag to their family needs.

In one parish we had a family of failed asylum seekers.  Although we felt that the family should return to their homeland because there didn't seem to be a good reason not to, nevertheless we couldn't let them go hungry.  As failed asylum seekers they were not entitled to benefits and so had no income at all.  How many more are there in that position?  

We read in the press how food banks are becoming increasingly needed.  How sad in this day and age.

We live in an affluent country but in times of austerity and ever more stringent cuts in central and local government budgets how many more folk will arrive on our doorstep asking for food?