Goodbye, Grandsons

It was sad to say Goodbye to Justin and Laura yesterday morning, but they had a long way to go. Jeremy and Julianna stayed another day to give her time to get well before their long drive to Mississippi. They'll leave this morning, and Jeremy will fly to Michigan on Wednesday. He went with us to Sunday school and church yesterday--both were wonderful. The weather turned so warm that they spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, reading and talking. Then we went to the 24-7 Prayer house in uptown Charlotte for a couple of hours in the early evening. What a place! Lots of private spaces for meditation and intercession, with every sort of visual and auditory help (posters, art, CDs, videos, and lots of small lights). After that and supper, we sang our way through the same book of contemporary Christian songs that Jeremy and I had so enjoyed a year and a half ago when he was living with us and preparing to go to Niger, West Africa. (Now, as you know, he's a student at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.)

I copied a poem from 24-7 that I will pass along tomorrow; Blogger was so slow to open this morning that it's gotten late and I must go get ready for the day. So today I'll simply include a brief quotation I saw on the wall of one of the prayer carrels. It's by Rob Bell: "Why blame the dark for being dark? It's far more helpful to ask why the light isn't as bright as it should be." Well, yes. But these days, sadly, it seems that many Christians would rather rant about the darkness in today's culture than to let God's light and goodness shine light through them personally. Me too, sometimes.

I'm feeling well, though just a bit tired. The work I need to do today won't necessarily take a whole day, so I'll see how the afternoon goes.

Have a blessed day.

Carol