Monday, November 17, 2008

Praise, Pounds, Phil and Rainbows......

It was an extroidinary weekend! I learned so many things about our brother, Jeff Dalling! It was inspiring to hear how many people connected with the selfless service of Jeff and how everyone knew that he was the way he was because he loved (loves) God. I was inspired by how many people attended his funeral, provided food and ministered to the Dalling family. I admire the courage and faith of Wanda, Lizzy and Ben. They were here and serving all weekend. I admire that they let us share in their sorrow and yet were willing to humbly serve and be served by the family at Fairfax. That is the way families are supposed to operate, and I am so grateful to have witnessed such faith in action. I am also grateful to be a part of the family at Fairfax.

Also, I was proud to be part of our church family last night as we welcomed the McKinney family. Pound parties were new to us when we moved to this area. We moved to the DC area on a prayer (we didn't even have a wing). We became members at University Park church of Christ, and some really dear friends gave us a pound party.
We felt part of a family, and we really needed to find family in this big cavernous world up here. I was happy to hear Phil say that they felt they were "home" here. That's the way everyone should feel--that our church family is home,to our old and new members, even people who are not yet part of our church family. I miss my family at University Park, too...the way it was then, and I miss the sister who gave us the pound party.

It was great to see the faces of everyone in the congregation from the vantage point of the praise team. It was like Phil said, we weren't singing to each other....we were singing to God.

Oh, and I forgot to mention....Saturday after the funeral and after my art class, I looked out the window right on the Potomac River--from the Torpedo Factory. There was the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen....a brilliant double rainbow with 8 different colors...I always thought rainbows only had 7 colors! I looked around the elevator and beckoned a young family to go outside and look at the rainbow with me--I just wanted to share it with someone. We were just staring at the rainbow, and I was trying to think of something to say to the family, when the young woman said, "Wow! This is just PERFECT for the gay pride event downtown!" Um...not exactly what I was planning to talk about, so, as my mind drew a blank, I decided to call and share the rainbow with Don...over my cell phone! He had already seen it from his Centreville vantage point and had called me during art class. I had whispered, "....still in class!" Anyway, I guess wherever you were, you probably saw it, too. (I'd like to think Jeff asked God to display it for his family.)

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