RGP lenses

• the multiple ghost images are gone. 
• i can wear my cool shades again!

hi def vision is almost worth the discomfort of not being able to rub me eyes.

i wish

there ought to be a way to indicate your preference when you step into the hairdresser's or the taxi or the airplane or the salon. i like conversation or i don't want to chat. as it is every one's presumed default is TALK. it makes life dashed difficult for those of us who want utter silence.

heb 10:19-25/calvary's love

having a boldness

having a High Priest

let us draw near 

let us hold fast 

let us consider one another

and this priceless gift Christ makes us worthy of

thank God for the immeasurable horror of the crucifixion, which i cannot even begin to grasp. thank God for the glorious triumph of the resurrection, which covers over the horror. thank God for the path i am given to walk, step by unknowing step. Christ makes me worthy in a way i will never deserve.

good friday

and where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

heb 10:18

the holy for the profane.

perfection for that which is worthless.

i will never understand the exchange.

but i rejoice in it.

there is a fountain

e'er since by faith i saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply

redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till i die.

- william cowper

strange how the new songs leave me somewhat disoriented and one verse of the old song makes me weep. tonight i attend my first maundy thursday service in decades, and am richly spent.

john 17

Christ's final prayer:

show them divine glory

make them united

keep them faithful

show us who you are, as you remind us who we are

bind us in one heart, one love, one joy, one peace

and help us walk together in grateful surrender and service

holy week

another year. another time to quieten and bow down in shame and utter gratitude.

my Lord and my God. 

i believe. help my unbelief.

reflections

keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. otherwise, i may have too much and disown you and say, who is the LORD? or i may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

- proverbs 30:8-9

in time to come, in case people wonder, did she have much? yes, beyond all she ever asked.

did she do much? yes, more than she planned to see and do and taste and live.

did she go places? yes, places farther than she read and dreamed of.

was she happy? unutterably, ineffably so. not because of fullness of aspect but because of the perfection of an imperfect life. not in unalloyed laughter but in her merciful God.

now that you mention it

we're easy, HOM and i tell each other. all we need on vacation are nice walks and good food, and not even in that order. we should totally get another dog.

sunday service

liturgy, i say, quietens the spirit and tames the rebel. when you take your place in the pews a stillness descends upon your soul, and when you say the familiar words of the creed you declare who you are before your God, and always in relief.

not here the rock band accompaniment or the friendly frenzy of a modern congregation, yet here a peace of communion and rest.

on a related note, unlike the mass we attended in notre dame de paris all those years ago, the high church stuff does not put me to sleep today. perhaps i have grown more inclined to fossil. that the service is in english helps too.

old time treat

my favorite aussie sweet, discovered on our first foray into a perth supermarket twenty years ago.

we remember those days, HOM and i, when we had more energy than finances and more bodies to feed on vacation. the empty nest has its advantages, but we miss j and j.

cocktail hour

wine cheese nuts chocolate and wheat crackers.

that's the dash diet for you.

melbourne 2

this place is full of bookstores and food stores. i can relate.

melbourne

HOM and i, doing the weekend getaway thing. a quarter of the new year's up and gone whilst we were busy with life, that's what appears to have happened.