Category Archives: Community

Purge Project

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Bathroom storage space

I love this feeling of freedom and anticipation as I rid myself of the stuff around me that serves no purpose for the present or future adventure I am anticipating.

One room at a time and I started in the bathroom.  It took, can you believe, THREE hours!  I sorted out stuff to throw, give away, store and take with me to Germany.

My past as a hair design artist meant I had lots of stuff related to that business.  Those were very good years when I worked in a lovely salon with a lot of creative colleagues.  Each day was devoted to making beautiful hair for the many clients I served and I loved it.  But now, most of the tools of that trade are no longer relevant to the present and in fact those tools might be well used by another.  The give away category took the majority of those items. Continue reading →

Retirement Ahead

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Retirement Ahead for Minnesota Marion

I will retire from my position as Resident Manager of Banfill Crossing in mid April of 2017.

I will retire from my position as Resident Manager of Banfill Crossing in mid April of 2017.  A search for my replacement is under way and I love thinking about handing off this terrific job to someone else knowing that I have developed order and structured organization into this setting.  Great Lakes Management Company has provided a fantastic working environment and I am so thankful for these last 6 years.

My job is “on the market” and everything I own is being stored or sold. I am lightening the load and the ground is shrinking as I move to a place of further dependence on the Lord of my life. Continue reading →

Seniors Sharing

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Sharing is for seniors who like living on Reality Street. The key ingredient for success is to share with someone you know and trust.

The key ingredient for success is to share with someone you actually know and trust.

Sharing is a “senior season” idea that needs to receive thoughtful consideration for seniors who like living on Reality Street.  The big picture is to create a lifestyle that allows for maximum independence for as long as possible.  The key ingredient for success is to share with someone you actually know and trust.

Transportation is an ongoing need for seniors, but lots of seniors find our lovely, low mileage well maintained cars in the garage 95% of the time.  Finding a way to share the car and all the expenses associated with driving is a great idea and one that is working for seniors living in close proximity to one another.

Take the example of Mary and June who are neighbors again in an independent senior living apartment home community in a Twin Cities suburb.  Continue reading →

Prayer Helped

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Prayer helped anointing him with oil

…let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

When I was 40, after 23 years of marriage I was served with divorce papers and left to care for 4 young children on my own.  Over half of the money I had from the sale of our house was immediately handed out for rental housing that would accommodate our needs.

I was working as a self-employed hair stylist.  With less than 1 year of history in that position my income possibilities were not great but I was willing and able to work hard and I was good with hair.

At the time my Church, in obedience to the direction of James 5 in the bible, invited those who needed special prayer to be anointed by the elders (appointed leaders of the church) and to receive prayer for their needs.   Continue reading →

Rejoice!

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the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him

Are you at peace with God and your word today? Are you in a time-frame where everything is going fine and troubles of the past are a memory? Will you enter into the rejoicing that can be your experience as you see what Jesus is doing in the lives of those people you know?

Luke 13: 10-17

17         And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

……. and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

The multitude were the people in attendance at the worship service where these events occurred and possibly would include others who may have been pressing in outside the building. Jesus had done something glorious among them by healing the woman who was bent over.

I am certain that there were many other people nearby that day that needed healing as well. Continue reading →

Humiliated

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Have you ever felt humiliated when the understanding of Gods truth comes to your heart and mind?

Have you ever felt humiliated when the understanding of Gods truth comes to your heart and mind? Have you ever realized that you and Jesus are not on the same side of the fence on some issue that has been part of your thinking? What is the response that God desires? What are the choices here?

Luke 13: 10-17

16    And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

While He said this…… Let me review here what He was saying.

15           But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?
16           “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Remember, Jesus was saying this to the synagogue official and all those who sat with him in the places of honor. These men were the ones who organized and led the worship of God in the place designed to exult the Lord of glory. Here these very same men are identified as the opponents (rival, adversary, competitor) of the one whom God sent from heaven to live among them. They had already aligned themselves in their hearts and minds against this Jesus as has did many other religious leaders in that day. Are there religious leaders today who actually speak against Jesus? Continue reading →

Glorify God

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And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

What exactly does it mean to glorify God. The Amplified Bible says that she recognized, thanked and praised God. Her connection to God went from participation in a ceremony to an experience that she could know, feel and understand. Her knowing of God became an undeniable, obvious experience to her and to everyone who knew her.

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 13     And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

…immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

She was made erect again.  Think of what transpired in just the few seconds that it took for Jesus to touch her and transfer the power that was in Him to her deformed body.  She had been viewing whatever was under foot, being unable to ‘straighten herself up or look upward’ (Amplified Bible)  Now in a moment of time she is made erect and is able to see everything around her as others did, free from the bond of sickness that had identified her life and existence for the last 18 years.

Surely, these moments became the centerpiece of her identity from that moment on.
Surely she would repeat each detail tirelessly from then on to everyone she met.
Surely, everyone who looked at her would wonder how she could be the same person. Continue reading →

Gender – Woman and Man

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words and attitudes can we convey to each other that delight in our own gender and respect and appreciate our opposites

How did Jesus say ‘woman?’ What attitude was in his tone of voice? In John 2:4 and again in John 19:36, Jesus calls his own mother ‘woman.’ I know that when Jesus spoke to a woman in public, he used the term woman with an attitude that was gender affirming. He referred to women in a way that affirmed His own creativity. The word of God makes it clear that in eternity past, the genders were created by this same Jesus!

Today, we hear Jesus speak to her……

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 12              And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

“Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

It is strange for us to hear her addressed simply as ‘woman.’  I have to tell a story here….

I was renting the downstairs apartment in my home to a young couple and on a particular day, I was in the basement doing the laundry. I over heard, through the thin apartment door, the young husband loudly yell to his wife, “Woman!  Get me a beer!”  She responded, “Why should I?”  His answer was, “Cuz you da woman and I da man, and da woman do what da man say!”  About that time I went upstairs knowing I had overheard way too much. Continue reading →

Jesus called her over…

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Jesus called her over

Jesus called her in some way that communicated to her that He was the greatest authority in that room.
Jesus called her in some way that communicated that He could take care of the leaders who would object.
Jesus called her in some way that communicated that close proximity to him was the safest location in the world.
Jesus called her in some way that communicated that if she obeyed, good things would happen.

There is so much more to the story……

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 12              And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

He called her over………

The synagogue arrangement was such that the woman who was bent over double because of an 18 year sickness caused by Satan, found herself with the other women at the worship service.  The women were required to be behind a lattice work wall, separate form the men who would have been in closer proximity to Jesus who was seated on the raised platform near the middle of the room.

The fact that He saw her at all is of great interest and it is clear that in seeing her Jesus also knew every thing about her and the illness that bound her making the ground her most familiar view. Continue reading →

When Jesus Saw Her…

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the arrangement placed the women in side galleries screened off by lattice work walls.

The audience was divided by gender. Sometimes, down the center of the room was a wall five or six feet high with the men on one side and the women on the other. In other cases, the arrangement placed the women in side galleries screened off by lattice work walls.

More about the un-named woman…….

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 12              And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

Jesus saw her……..

The synagogue was usually constructed on the highest ground in the town.  It was constructed so that when worshipers entered or prayed, they would be facing Jerusalem.  Inside the building, on the Jerusalem end of the structure, was a special place reserved for the ark which was an ornamented chest which housed the sacred scrolls of the law when they were not in use.  In front of the ark was the eight branched lamp which was lighted only on great festival days and beside that was another lamp which was kept burning perpetually.  Nearest this area were the seats of honor. Continue reading →