Tag Archives: blessing

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A day of celebration………

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Things were pretty sparse in all our missions today. The weather had been poor, and many of the roads, the side-streets in particular, were very icy. It was too bad too, because yesterday we also celebrated our two year anniversary for the launch of our entire ministry. St. Anne’s in Anderson, our oldest mission, is now two!

We did have a nice pitch-in there and it included cake and all the goodies. It was a great time. I got to sit next to Ben, which can always be an adventure, and I marveled at how at 18 months he can suck the filling out of a creampuff without having to eat any of the puff. He is a talented boy.

But now as the day is over I am struck by how far we have come. We really never intended to start a Church, let alone four of them. We only wanted to gather for worship with a few people after I retired. It amazes me at how the Lord’s vision is always so much greater than our own….AND how when we follow it things happens that amaze us!

I will not worry about it and just concentrate on being faithful. The Lord has blessed me and this ministry. I am just glad to be along for the ride!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tom+

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The prodigal son, or at least the toddler son, returns……

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Oh finally!!! The night before the return of Ben and Amanda! On the phone tonight we all commented about how weird this has all been. We are not used to the house being so silent. No one has been hit in the head with a toy, the TV has had shows on other than Veggietales, and more than anything, we are just desperately lonely for their return.

But tomorrow will come and we will rejoice. Steph has to work shortly after school, but was excited to know that Ben would be here for the short time she will be home. Scott will be home later, but is anxious to wrestle with his brother. Ben on the other hand, probably doesn’t know a thing. Last we heard he was on his grandma’s lap being read a Dr. Suess book. I am sure he is miserable without us (at least that is what I tell the kids). But in reality, he will be so excited to be with us all.

I am looking forward to 12:35! Amanda, I know is as well. We have a pretty great family, but we are really at our best when we are all together. I know we will all rejoice tomorrow when the noise level will once again go up and the toys will be everywhere. It may seem chaotic, but it’s our life and we enjoy its many blessings. Thanks be to God that tomorrow we will finally all be under one roof again!

I am going to bed so it gets here more quickly!! Goodnight and God Bless!

Tom+

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Home Sweet Home, with qualifications…..

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I am SO HAPPY to finally be home. The sad part is that Amanda and Ben are not here, but are in Kansas visiting Amanda’s mother. It disappoints me greatly to not be able to lay down on the floor and have him run and jump on me like he loves to. But I am going to wait on that until Monday, because Steph and Scott would not only jump at the chance, but it would probably hurt!

So anyway, it’s going to be the three Musketeers until Monday, but we will do our best to get by. I was originally worried that without Amanda here that Scott and I might not know when we were wrong, but apparently Steph is working for the darkside and will not just remind us of the rules, but certainly will tattle. She is on Amanda’s team and deeply devoted to Ben, but one day she will see that Ben is really on our team, and drawn to the ever rule-avoiding world of guy-dom! Scotty and I can hardly wait.

Anyway, my trip home, though slow, was good. My dad’s family is from Brooklyn, New York, but my mom’s side is from Ohio. So, as I often do when traveling through, I stopped at the cemeteries to visit the graves of my Great-Grandparents. It was a difficult time, because though I had been to both cemeteries often, the need to think in a linear fashion and handle confusion made itself well-known. The cemetery office was open in Urbana, and they were helpful in getting me to my grandfather’s parents. (I had actually buried my great grandma during Holy Week in 1998 at 103!!) But the office in Springfield was closed, and despite my “remembering” I could not find the graves. I intend however, to call before I go back.

I know many people believe visiting the cemetery is unnecessary, but it is important to me. Though I didn’t grow up knowing my grandma’s dad, I did know everyone else. They were all important to me too, and the parents of the most influential people in my life, my grandparents. I owe them all a lot and going to their graves is an important way for me to remember. I am glad I did…I am just sorry I was just 50% successful.

They say that home is where the heart is. I believe that to be true. I also know that cemeteries are just places……but I don’t worry, because I still hold all of them in my heart. Who you are and what you become is often a reflection of the people in your life, particularly those who love you. I am truly blessed, and I am glad I went.

Anyway, it is great to be home. Pray for my wife….I am sure she misses me terribly!!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

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More revealing than what most may want to Bear……..

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What a glorious day! Despite just four hours sleep, I started the day in Nashville, and then met up with 58 other excited people to launch the first worship service of St. Paul’s in Greenfield! It was such a blessing to be a part of such a powerful and moving event!!

By the time we left Greenfield however, I was in real need of sleep. Ben slept in the car, so of course that meant that he was wide awake when we got home. We tried to put him down, and even tried sleeping with him, but he sees me quite often as a jungle gym, and today it was a jungle gym he hadn’t played on in days since I had been out of town! So I am totally exhausted, especially since I had to stay awake to watch the game.

And for those of you checking in to see if I will gloat, think again. Though I have been teased mercilessly about the Indianapolis Colts beating my (and God’s) favorite team, the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, I will not take any revenge. No, I am not afraid of the three other Colts fans I live with (Ben likes the Bears), I just enjoyed watching the game. It reminded me of watching the Bears with my grandfather every week growing up. They played like the used to (which makes me yell at the TV a lot less) but the whole thing brought back some very special memories.

Of course now, nothing is in the way of my sleep but finishing up this, but I did want to share. Today has been a day of tremendous blessing, like a great big ice cream Sunday. And now to finally get to sleep at its end, is like the cherry right on the top!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tom+

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Reflections on friendships and call………

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WOW, this is about the earliest I have been ready for bed without being sick in years! It is just about 9pm, and though Puddy and I have sat down to write, everything else is done, and we are well on our way to calling it a day.

Before we go however I wanted to share a little about my day. We had two services today, one at St. Patrick’s Noblesville,and the other at St. Anne’s in Anderson. Deacon Tony Bender delivered the sermon in both places, and he did a fantastic job (you can listen to it online at http://www.indianaanglican.com/) But what made it even more special was my longtime friendship with Tony. Back in the early 1980’s we were both active lay people in our Church, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Speedway, Indiana. And though I have heard Tony talk on a variety of occasions, as he spoke today I thought about that time many years ago. I believe that both Tony and I would tell you that even though we knew I was going to seminary, neither of us would have ever imagined being in the place we are now, let alone together in it. God’s Vision for our lives and ministries is often different from our own, and for Tony and I that has certainly been the case.

But as is the responsibility of every person, we are called by the Lord to follow His Vision and not our own, and I am thankful we did. We have lots to do and it is always a blessing to be able to do it with your friends. Tony, Chuck, Sean, PT, and even Dan, are all pretty good guys (most of the time) and loyal and dedicated friends. But more importantly, they all have good hearts and those hearts are dedicated to following the Lord. We, as a Church, are all blessed to have them, but I truly feel the most blessed of all, because I also can call them my friends!

Okay……..here is a delay update! Amanda needed to use my computer and accidentally erased this once, so in truth, though is may be the earliest I have been READY for bed, it certainly will not be the earliest I have gone! But tonight I am not upset by that, I just have a thankful heart. The Lord has blessed me by allowing me to do something I love….but even more than that, He has allowed me to do it with my friends!

Goodnight and God bless!

Fr. Tom+

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The ramblings of a mind quite thankful for its own pillow…….

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Well we are finally back from Akron, and I have to tell you, it is great to be home! Sadly however, both Ben and Steph have colds, which is unusual I suppose for August, but they seem to be getting along okay. AND TONIGHT I am not sitting in some hotel room, but am back out on my back porch listening to K-Love and hanging with Puddy the cat!!!! The only not so peaceful part is that my neighbors stereo is up so loud that you can hear it from space, let alone from 100 feet, but after I put on these headphones…..well then, everything was and is quite peaceful!! I really don’t want to give the impression that my neighbors and my neighborhood is a bad one. I know the stereo is loud tonight, but it is never really that loud normally, and all the fireworks I have complained about seem to have stopped. The Bible tells us to “love our neighbor” and I intend to! They are as they say where I grew up, “good people.”

Tomorrow we only have two services….one in Noblesville and the other in Anderson. It will be good to be there. It’s not that I don’t enjoy gathering with other Christians in our denomination, particularly at national events, it’s just that I am always more comfortable at home…..I suppose we all are. Dorothy was right, there’s no place like home, and I am quite thankful to be back at mine!

Amanda and her mom are talking in the living room, and I am certain they will outlast me. Amanda is a great co-pilot for long trips if you like a co-pilot who sleeps all the way. So she is well rested and they are catching up, and particularly talking about the genetic superiority of “Ben the Wonderful” I’d bet. I will join Ben in sleeping through that conversation, because I too am going to bed! I do have a bit I want to share, but am far to cloudy to write about it tonight. Please however keep Deacon Dan, his wife Merry Ann, and Father Sean in your prayers as they will be returning home from Akron tomorrow.

Once again, it is great to be home!! Keep the faith….it’s the most important thing you can do!! And may your day be filled with the most wonderful blessings! Nite!

Fr. Tom+

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Of weddings, cloudy days, and blessings……

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Today was a full, but unusual day. I had the service in Nashville of course, but I went there after having the opportunity to celebrate at the blessing of a marriage in Carmel at 1:00pm. Barbara Hansen and Tom Barrick became Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Barrick today in a ceremony outside at the Carmel Civic Center. It was a small but beautiful wedding and it was a real blessing for me to be a part! Thanks for that!
But Amanda and the kids left for the Edinburgh Outlet Mall at the same time I left for the wedding, so I had to meet them there on the way to Nashville. It really didn’t seem like too much for me to do, but after I stopped at Edinburgh to pick up my chauffeur (Scotty) and got to Nashville, about a third of the way into the service, I suddenly felt like I was in a deep fog!!! My sermon, which everybody said was great, was so difficult for me, and even Amanda came up to the front where I was sitting in the middle of the service to ask me if I was okay! I apparently looked like an animal hit with a tranquilizer dart (and I felt like one too) but after checking myself I found no dart….so I think it was just me! These episodes however are for me are frequent, but bothersome. I just keep plugging away however, through them all!
Fortunately for me, my chauffeur (still Scotty) was mine for the rest of the night, which made the 2 hour drive home a lot nicer! And the day, though partially cloudy (in my head), actually turned out very well! I love what I do, and I really love weddings! It is such a joy and a privilege to be a part of such a blessed event!
And now, even though the day is coming to a close, I am hearing one of my blessings suddenly crying from his crib! Life today continues to be full of blessings! And this last one probably needs his diaper changed!
So goodnight my friends and God bless!
Tom+
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Of fireworks, my porch, and God’s many blessings…….

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Well my back porch is getting more spectacular with each passing night, because now as I look off to the southeast, in the distance, I am seeing the fireworks being set off at Conner Prairie’s “Symphony on the Prairie.” I have been to it many times, but unfortunately not this year. And despite my attempts, I cannot remember any year watching it from my porch. But it is a great site from any direction I am sure.

It is suppose to rain tonight, so I am glad the fireworks went off before the storm. I love both fireworks and storms, but I cannot help but think of those hundreds of people on blankets out there in the field listening to the symphony and watching the fireworks, and what a mud pit it would be if it started to pour! It’s such a wonderful place and such a wonderful event. I am glad the rain will arrive post-show, and not ruin the night for anyone.

As for me, I have enjoyed tonight’s unexpected gift. It was a nice addition to a great day, and the perfect way to end the night. Tomorrow Father Chuck, Deacon PT and Deacon Dan and I are meeting in Nashville. We may have a big announcement about that meeting very soon! But even more than that, I am looking forward to getting together with them. We get together weekly, and I love it so much because they are among the finest people I know. (and no, I haven’t been drinking!) It is just a blessing to work with friends, and to love to do what you do! It is no wonder we are seeing such marvelous things happen in our ministry as a Church!

Say a prayer for us tomorrow for safe travel, and please enjoy your day. No, there is not much substance to this tonight, but quite frankly I believe the fireworks were a gift from God for my over-reeling mind. Sometimes you just need to sit back and relax. I am thankful for that opportunity tonight!

Say your prayers and enjoy a good night’s sleep! May tomorrow be a blessed day for us all!

Tom+