We started the day knowing that this was it, our final full day of work. We arrived on site ready to go on our remaining punch list items. We have reluctantly accepted the fact that we are not going to be able to finish everything. Our most patient and skilled workers busied themselves with kitchen countertop cutting and installing; kitchen sink and faucet installing; and more trim […]

Today was a great day for us! First, we got a whole lot accomplished at the worksite. Saws were buzzing as long lengths of baseboard trim were being cut after much meticulous measuring; paint brushes were swishing as doors were painted and walls touched up; caulk guns were firing on all cylinders as the seemingly […]

Most of us stretched out our newly sore muscles last night and started out in pretty good shape today. But…after working really hard, our muscles are sore all over again! No pain, no gain, right?     And we did really gain in making a dent in our punch list today…from the gals with guns […]

Some of us got up easily this morning, but for some of us it took a little extra effort. It was great though to wake up to daylight instead of darkness. Everyone enjoyed breakfast followed by being brought up to speed by our Craven County Disaster Recovery Alliance leaders on what types of work we […]

It was almost too easy to get to New Bern…if you left at 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. However, if you left as late as 10:30 a.m. like Fletcher Tukes, it was a longer tripcaused by a couple of different construction work delays. But for everyone, the early light rain in Gaithersburg let up as we […]

I was walking along thinking about how to tie Traci Smith’s beautiful Gratitude calendar to Forgiveness. It made me think about all the jokes about the tension around an increasing number of Thanksgiving tables. That, in turn, made me think about the reason people gather at Thanksgiving. Those thoughts brought me back to – it’s […]

Grateful Calendar by Traci Smith from her Treasure Box Tuesday.     Simple things done with great love,  Carolyn Hayes Director of Children and Young Families

In many ways this series that we have been studying, Practicing Generosity, is a complete repudiation of nearly everything modern society holds dear.    “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Nope, we are supposed to not just share from our excess but redistribute so everyone has enough.    “Love the Lord your God […]

Elizabeth Caldwell is a professor emerita at McCormick Theological Seminary and visiting professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School as well as the author of many wonderful books including Growing in God’s Love and Wondering about the Bible with Children. Parents, Caldwell points out, are the biggest influence in their children’s religious life, “…parents have the most […]

Sharing justice is an odd phrase isn’t it? Though as I have thought about it over the last couple of weeks the more sense it has made. Sharing justice is a practical exercising of the idea of stewardship or generosity. At it’s most basic… going back to Genesis 2… God created the world and lovingly […]