Greetings friends, it’s the Sunday Night Check-In for which you’ve been anxiously awaiting. Welcome to new subscribers! We now sit at 405 subscribers and I’m always grateful for your interest in Hope Remains. It appears in North Louisiana that the weather is not waiting on Spring, we are just going to jump right in there. As a lover of winter, I object, but no one upstairs is heeding my personal preferences.
Maggy and I went to a local garden center and looked at their offerings at the moment. They do not have a wide variety of plants, but they will before too long, I’m sure. I gave away ten packets of Purple Bean Hyacinth seeds today at church and will prepare some more. I have a ton of them. Last year despite the drought and 100+ temps for such a long time, these hyacinths were unstoppable!
I picked up the seeds for this plant in LaGrange, Texas a couple of years ago. Scott Elliott and the church there invited me to come and talk about grief recovery. It is a delightful small town. One of our church members grew up there. We bought these seeds in an antique store. We also learned that the Czech influence there was strong. In Weikel’s Bakery (and convenience store and gas station) we learned that a kolache was not a hot dog in a roll (such as it is called here in Louisiana), but it is a pastry with filling. They are so good that on my birthday two years in a row we have ordered a dozen and Billy Matejowski pays half the shipping and buys a dozen as well. Billy and I are happy campers when those kolaches come in. If you click on the link, you’ll see! That was a great visit to LaGrange, we got to know a sweet church, bought some seeds that brought us delight, and had some sweet treats. But there was no ZZ Top presence there to our knowledge.
FORSYTHE CHURCH. This Sunday at Forsythe I continued preaching through Mark’s Gospel. This month we will look at five powerful words from the last week of Jesus’ life. This week was Rejection, taken from the very dark and violent Parable of the Tenants. Wednesday nights in March I plan to continue a study of the Lord’s Supper. This week we appointed three new deacons, which to me indicates an increased ability to pursue the work of the church. Forsythe is a kind place to visit and to be a member. I am so grateful to be a part of such a loving group of people. No church is perfect, including Forsythe. But if they were, they wouldn’t let me preach there!
Today we didn’t have any of our GriefShare participants to show up (some are sick, out of town, etc.). So I took advantage of a few hours and went out to Black Bayou. I’m sure I’ll be sharing those photos here in a post soon, so stay tuned. Oh, well I can share a few now.
I did run into Burg Ransom and he pointed out an alligator to me (thanks Burg!). I’ve enjoyed the acquaintances I’ve made in the local community of photographers. They have been a big help and encouragement to me.
READING. My reading list hasn’t changed much. I am about to finish Louise Penny’s The Cruelest Month (the third of 19 in the series featuring Inspector Gamache). I’m not sure how far I am into the final McMurtry and Drake series by Robert Bailey called The Final Reckoning. And I’m 106 pages into The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge (about 500 pages to go). It is fascinating. I listened to a very interesting presentation on YouTube by her at a conference on the subject of The Raising of the Crucified One.
The Symphony League has a book sale about three times a year where they sell donated books for very little. I usually come away with an armload of books for a few bucks. The sale happens over two weekends and this weekend was the first. I did not find a treasure, but I did find some books I look forward to reading and sharing with you in time. The book sale continues this coming weekend and I may return. Who knows but that I overlooked an orchid while searching for a rose (old country song alert!).
WATCHING. I haven’t been watching anything of great interest. I have seen a new Ghostbusters movie advertised. Honestly, I think it will be a bust - but we could be surprised. I have four rules for going to the movies (which I seldom do), and I’m sure you would like to hear them.
I go to be entertained. I do not go to be scared, beaten emotionally into tears, exhausted by drama, nor ‘educated’ by the Hollywood perspective of ‘true’ stories. I do like to laugh. This eliminates a lot of movies.
I must go early because I want popcorn. I want it in a tub, not in a bag. First, because more fits in the tub. Second, because the fake butter doesn’t leak from the bottom of the tub like it does in the bag when an overabundance is poured on top of the popcorn. Third, I may be put into the position of sharing, and I want the remaining consumable to meet the standard of amount desired. I’ve put a lot of thought into this.
I must go early because I want to sit in a particular spot. Front row (not the orchestra section), to one side or the other (not the middle, in case I need to get up and leave), so I can put my feet up on the rail that runs across there.
I must arrive in time to see the previews. This allows me to see what wretched offerings are coming our way and feel assured that my rare attendance at movies is justified.
Now I know that’s a sour disposition toward movies and one should just go for the entertainment and not examine so much of it to that degree. It’s really hard to be me sometimes. Maybe soon I will list my all-time favorite movies because I have seen some movies I consider to be amazing. Oh, and my movie pet peeve is when strangers sit close to me when the rest of the theater is practically empty. What other atrocities will these people commit?
Ah, the bird calms me down a bit. I hope you have checked out The Holy Lens daily passage, prayer, and photo. I’m enjoying posting those - and I hope they are encouraging some time in prayer. This week we will be praying through some of the names of God from the Old Testament. We will return to Psalms after that for a bit.
This dove in the backyard… is she flirting with a wink, or squinting with a sneer?
Thanks for joining me in this Sunday Night Check-In. I hope the week ahead will be a great one for you. It’s the last week of Standard Time until this Fall. By the time the next Sunday Night Check-In arrives, we will be in Daylight Savings Time - a testimony to two things. (1) Your government doesn’t care what you think. (2) Humans are potentially unable to adjust their sleeping habits to take advantage of the solar cycles. As for this week, work hard, rest well, and stay connected. The world needs you.
I don’t go to the movies anymore. It’s too expensive and seldom has anything that interests me. I do eat popcorn though.
Your humor brightened my Monday morning.