Today, I will tell you my thoughts about the Lord's Prayer.  The following is the way that I presented it, just as it is written (except where I have changed my thoughts or enhanced them.  But the format is the same.  You'll get the idea.  I gotta warn ya,  this is long. " Our Father ".....To me, these two words are very powerful. Father.   It's personal.  Not some abstract concept.  We have a father, one father, one father for all of us besides the one earthly father each of us has. We know the actions of a good father when we see it.  A father is kind, compassionate, generous, strict and gentle at the same time.  He forgives the broken lamp, the wrecked car, the bad grades.  He helps with decisions and discussions.  He is steady and sure of himself and reassuring to us.  Our ideas about what it takes to be a good father help make this prayer to Our Father very personal.  "Dad, listen and help me." The other half ...

I cleaned out a desk yesterday. We are getting rid of it so I needed to take everything out and decide what to keep and what to throw away. This is not always an easy task.  Some things I'll probably never use, need or even remember I have but parting with them seems, i don't know wasteful.  Like old Bible Study notes for leading some senior high students.  These studies are old, meaning that the reference materials (like names of "current" people and situations) are not longer current. But getting rid of it seems, like I said, wasteful.  I found a cabinet to store it in. :) I also found a couple of papers I'd written for a Wednesday night worship service that we used to have at out church where lay people presented a message.  One that I found is one that I'd often thought of and even looked for - in electronic version.  I thought I'd saved it and transferred to new computers along the way, but I guess I hadn't.  Anyway, I found it neatly typed ou...