to be in church this morning. There wasn’t much I could do, my sinus infection is just now beginning to break, but being present with holy things is a good kind of medicine. At times in the history of the Church people would actually sleep on the grounds or in the buildings of a parish when they were ill, now people seem to get a sniffle or two and stay away. I guess my experience is different, to be anywhere Christ is, is always better than staying at home in bed.

why its  not so bad to live up here in the great white north where we have winter to take care of such things. 21 feet long and over a ton. Apparently it has a taste for water buffalo.

perhaps not the real season yet, but psychological, spiritual, emotional fall is descending on Minnesota. The State Fair has ended, yes up here in fly over country we still, thankfully, mark time by such things, and Labor Day is closing fast. Summer ends, at least in our hearts when school begins.

The air has cooled. The sun brightens. The nights grow noticeably longer but the air is fresh, free of summer’s humid grip. Everything that can grow, has, and now its just a matter of time and fortune to harvest. Soon the colors will come.

Everything in Minnesota is a balance. The winters are fierce and cold but the soil is fertile. Summers are humid and warm but everything is green. It takes time for spring to pry winter’s fingers off the world but then all of this place is full of its life-giving water. And fall, the time, they say, when all things begin to die, and yet it’s beginnings are the most pleasant time of year, a world cool to the touch and aflame with color. We take vacations now it’s that good.

In a moment or two I will be off, away from the computer and off to the store. We’ll pick up some food, my wife and I, and find a spot on the St. Croix River to have a picnic. The sun will be warm, the air will be cool, the river will flow south eventually to the Gulf of Mexico but I’m glad that I’m right where I am.

See you later…

It seems that I’ve come back home to be on the road again.

Priests need vacations. There are meetings to attend. Family calls. Time for rest from the battle. Then the phone rings and the road beckons. A service here, then down the road for another. Gaps in the coverage get filled. Meet new people and see the world, or at least the upper midwest.

Some day I may not be the sixth man but its good for now. The travel is fun, the people are kind, the challenges are interesting. Some times you plan for things and sometimes things plan for you. Either way it’s all in God’s hands. Next Sunday it’ll be home at St. George.  Then vacation.  Then one more Sunday home before serving at Family Camp in Wisconsin. Then Liturgy at the Skete followed by a trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and back home…

It’s just good to do what I can…

to spend this day in the pursuit of absolutely nothing. Ahhhhhhh.

do mean a lot and I have never experienced a parish with such an efficient and competent administrative staff as that at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox in Minneapolis. It’s like a dream world working with those folks.

this year’s Minnesota Renaissance Festival will be ruled by corrupt family dynasty, watched over by a compromised Papacy, and all in an atmosphere of a minimum amount of sanitary plumbing. Poor people with few teeth will get in free.

when I want to forget all the “Christian” stuff and just kick butts and take names. Yet I know that if I do I’ll just descend. Mercy granted is mercy received, and forgiveness as well. Truly the way that leads to Life is narrow.

Priest’s wife from a site dedicated to their sustenance.