Joy Indestractible

People like to make pans. Many plan their lives, including their career path.  We don’t know the future, our God does.Quite often our lives turn out not the way we expect. Quite often we experience changes that can cause much distress. Some changes are good: many aren't.  

Today I live far away from my family, on the other side of the world.It hasn’t been easy. But we know that this arrangement is the best. 

Head Covering Reflection/Update

It has been over five years since I started to cover my head during worship. At first I covered only during the church services: Breaking of Bread, the main service, and the evening service. It lasted for about three years.
Approximately three years ago I started to cover my head during Bible Study, choir practice, choir worship leading, and Prayer Breakfast. During church cleanup I wear a head wrap.  Since 2014 I adopted a habit of having a head scarf at hand, one in my purse and backpack. Throughout the day I may throw a covering on my head whenever I need to pray. I don’t mind if people watch, although I try to find the least crowded place possible.

Tragedies, Negativity, and Losing compassion

Someone tells us a life story. We love stories, especially from people whom we don't encounter regularly.
I love to hear stories from a lady, about her escape from Eastern Germany. Honestly, I can listen her talking for hours. She is a great testimony. Her stories, however, contain a lot of pain and trials. At some points her life was in danger.
How about books and movies? We love dangerous plots, where hurt involved. Most people will say that the plot is boring when no tragedies happen. We remember turning plot points better than the rest of the plot.
How about tragedies? We focus on tragedies a lot. We pay a lot of attention to the details. We remember bad things more than we remember good things. We may not remember how much good the person had done, or not remember the details of all the good deeds, but, one mishap, and we tend to remember it for the rest of our lives. We forgive, but not forget.
It seems like we never dwell much on good. Small things have power to spoil our days.
We love to hear about pain and trials as long as we are not part of it. As long as those stories are on pages or on movie screens, we love reading them. We cringe when those stories become part of our lives.