Hummingbird don't fly away, fly away...

So a really cool thing happened just now. I got back to my room and opened some windows to let in the fresh air. Just as I threw open the second window, a hummingbird zoomed up to the other side of the screen, hovered for a second, then flew away again. It was like he was checking me out for that second.

There and gone again, just like that. Of course too quick for me to even think of pulling out my camera, but he looked like this guy, a ruby-throated hummingbird. Just long enough for the two of us to look at each other for a second. Little blessings for the day...

Welcome to the DARK side!

There's nothing that can make you feel okay about your addition as when a friend of yours shares that addiction!!

Yesterday I helped my friend Deb set up a deadly FACEBOOK account... she has nowhere near the obsessive personality that I do, but I can only cackle with glee, thinking of the hours and hours she will waste online. (avoiding writing her dissertation... muahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I even helped take her picture, "handy" friend that I am. Here's her profile picture - recognize her?

(heeheehee)

New kid on the block

Chris and Trish are two dog walker friends who live down the block from me. I met them and Max, an adult husky, and their (then) new black lab Dave when I first moved in, and introduced them to my Emily. They sympathized and grieved with me when I lost Emily, then rejoiced when I got Lucy. Last fall, I sympathized and grieved with them when their beloved Max crossed Rainbow Bridge (it's a pet owner thing - don't ask).

A couple of days ago, Chris and Trish introduced me to the newest member of their family - Tank. What a cutie! He's an 11 week old Basset Hound, silkier than satin, and just darn funny. You simply can't keep a straight face when you look at him. They've told me that total strangers look at him and start giggling.

Here he is with big brother Dave and Trish's legs! I understand Dave and Tank (Tanky to his friends) begin wrestling at about 6:00 am daily.

Tank has this funny little waddley way of walking, plus his stretched-out shape that together are so endearing, it's hard not to love him at first sight. Everything he does looks cute. And Lucy actually was getting along with him. I can't wait to hear him bay, although his mommies say they're trying to discourage that by not letting him know how funny he is when he howls.

So here he is. The new kid on the block. Tank. (heeheehee)

A sign of blessing

Last week we were in Plymouth Covenant Church, outside Minneapolis, for an assessment center. Not for church planters - well, there actually was one for them going on in the other rooms - but ours was for revitalization pastors.

It was an exciting time, partly because of what this will mean for lots of our churches, but also because it marked the culmination of a dream that has been several years in the making. While our processes and tools still need plenty of work, the fact is that we held an assessment, put two candidates through the paces, and were able to come up with an end result. In November, we'll be ready to try it with five candidates.

Now lately there's been a lot of talk about what the ECC is going to look like in the year 2020. And for a number of years, we've been bringing out the charts that show how the ECC has grown since 1993, mainly due to church planting - that's when the big CP initiative started.

So I can't wait till 2020 to be able to say, "look where the ECC is, look at these charts, and see how we've grown and become stronger and healthier because of revitalization!" And we were there at the very beginning!

On Friday evening during break, someone happened to look outside and exclaimed, "Wow! Look at this rainbow!"

It was a complete arc, from one edge of the horizon to the other, and impossible for me to capture entirely in one photograph. We still had hours of work ahead of us, but everyone stayed outside for long minutes gaping at the beauty of this sign in the sky.

Now, I know that a rainbow occurs when there is the right amount of moisture in the atmosphere at the same time that the sun is shining.

But this seemed more than that. This seemed like a sign of blessing for us that in this whole business of revitalization, there would be rain, but it would be followed by the rainbow.