Sunday, April 22, 2007

public prayer and garage sales

YAY, it's over! It wasn't all that bad, really. I decided to put out a few yard signs (and hang a few signs in the garage) regarding my mortgage biz (shameless, I know...) and don't ya know I ended up talking to one young couple who was househunting, a d another fella who needs to refi his house. They each took cards and said they'd give me a call. Who knows, right? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, or so says my dad! All in all, we still have a lot of stuff left so it's dontaion time! I think we snagged between$400-$500 bucks so that's kool! The weather has been perfect, sunny mid 70's lite breeze... So, all in all, not so bad.
An interesting side note. Three really pretty and very sweet young gals ventured into the garage yesterday. It turns out as we got to talking, they are from Pennsylvania, here to participate in a big church weekend. The are members of The Way International, a bible-based ministry who has its headquarters a few miles from here. The group was founded by a man in the 60's, they haev a huge tract of land, farms, homes for members, a manufacturing facility, several other buildings, including a huge auditorium. Well, this one particular girl did her very best to try and talk me into coming over for their service this afternoon, telling me all about how awesome it all is, etc. She had such a spirit of peace and enthusiasm about her, kinda made me want to go lol. It's just kinda wierd out here in the Catholic/Protestant Bible Belt Midwest to have such a strange setup among us. I think most people would view it from the outside as some sort of strange cult as they keep to themwelves, have armed patrols driving around their property, etc. But every member of The Way I have ever met has been really, really nice. I dunno, I guess it just took me by surprise, that she really was trying to get me to go totheir service. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. But, her message and her spirit were refreshing, not pushy or judgemental, just pleasant and enthusiastic as heck!

Men's prayer group was really kool yesterday morning. We ended up reading the Mass Scripture readings for today and discussing them. I love doing that. I get so much more out of reading them with someone than just by myself. We always close the meeting by praying our petitions to God out loud, going randomly around the group until everyone has had at least one chance to say a prayer. I find this to be difficult. I have always prayed alone when it comes to personal intimate prayer. Ya know, in AA, we don't dare make personal prayers out loud for fear of offending somone who might not hold the same belief in a higher power as we do. (at least that's been my experience) I mean, yea we say the Lord's Prayer and the Serenity Prayer together but those are easy and impersonal. I have a tough time praying on the important things specifially in my life, in the presence of others. But, it's really awesome to listen to the other men make their prayers. I finally said a couple, feeling like a goober, lol. I will get used to it, and probably come to crave the process. It's just different than AA because in AA, we let everyone have their own personal idea of HP, and I guess it's a little scary praying out loud in an AA setting. I dunno, this might make for an interesting discussion. Oddly enough, I dont have so much trouble doing it on here, but then again this is a bit detached and impersonal.

Prayer for today (yes, I see the irony... lol)

JC/HP/God, thank You for the awesome power of prayer in my life today. Thank You for the gift of sobriety. Thank You for my son and wife, and for her mom and cousin and for sending them to help us this week. I pray for Your Peace and Courage for my friends who have family members struggling with Cancer. I ask a special prayer for my friends in AA/NA/OA, here in bloggerville who might be struggling with their recovery. I hope that they find the beautiful peace of mind You've given me. I thank You for Your Chruch and Your Son Jesus, for helping me find my way there. Please, help me see if becoming a catechist (religion teacher) for the youth of our parish is the right thing for me, I really think I'd love to do it. Please give me the courage to speak with someone in the parish about it. And God, please help me be a good dad today for Ian, we've been so busy and he's not gotten my full attention. Please help me make this a more fun and "quality day" for me and Ian. Maybe we can sneek off and go hit golf balls, he's been after me to do that.

peace be with you all...

6 comments:

lushgurl said...

HEEEYYY, I'm not an IMperson, I'm a REAL person and I take it personally that you think I'm an IMperson!!! LOL You are a personable person though...love to you!

lash505 said...

scott you the man.. dude you rock.

Sober Steve said...

Have a great Day. Wish i would read that prayer yesterday.

peace
Steve

Shannon said...

HI scott.I loved your prayer too. :)
sounds like you had a good busy weekend
Hope you have a terrifice Monday

Anonymous said...

I don't think it was shameful for you to post your services during the sale. Heck sometimes we need a service, and we find it at the oddest moment. :)

Anyhow glad you are doing donations now. I donate stuff to my old recovery home, I remember being in the home and being so excited when it came to "DONO" time. In fact I have a cross I got from there, hmmmm, I think I may post it for the next HNT. Thanx!!!

Big Hugs 2U!

Mary Christine said...

Glad your garage sale went well.