Why I'm glad to be a United Methodist

The United Methodist Church has come out with resources to support discussion following the disaster of Katrina/Rita as well as the disasters that existed before the storm hit.

General Board of Church & Society Link

There is also an advertisement encouraging local involvement in the redevelopment of the coast - "A voice for the voiceless."

UMC Advertisement

I'm pleased to see such things come out of the General Boards.

Also - I found a unique fundraising idea... www.nicklesforkatrina.org - they're selling pixels for $.05 each to raise money for the red cross. Fairly clever idea, I believe.

new life, old life - where's the line?

(strolling down the aisle in Target with Max, shopping trip #484 to furnish my new apartment)

Becky: "With all these new things (job, apt, town, furniture) I feel like I'm starting a new life."

Max: "well, that could be because you are."

Becky: "yeah, and i have to start all over again when i go back to the coast in a few months. BLEH."

thus went the 484th shopping trip since I got my keys to my apartment on Friday.

(Insert Address here:
110 Pine Knoll Drive
ask me for the apt number, city & zip - I don't want lazy strangers wandering up to my door)

I LOVE my new apartment.

I love having a place of my own, that I can feel comfortable in, that I can decorate and have my angel picture and my cat and my TV and DVD's and remote all to myself and where I can cook if I want to (usually not a strong desire, but has been increasing in intensity due to my lack of ability to even CHOOSE to cook) and where I can have my little patio where shadow can look outside (after figuring out how to paw open the screen door) and lounge in the sun.

I love my new apartment.

I was happy as a clam, unpacking boxes of things I threw into boxes not so very long ago, when my other life was fading away and my new life was being carved for me. I unpacked dishes, only losing a few to the rushed packing job. I unpacked toiletries I hadn't unpacked when i moved to Biloxi 14 months ago. I found clothes I forgot I had, threw some away that should've been thrown away pre-move, and hung my shoe rack with delight - now I don't HAVE to wear my sandals every day. (OF course, I haven't unpacked/washed my trouser socks yet. That's for another evening.)

And with each box, my old life came back to me, just as I hoped it would.

From the UMC prayer list

It began as an echo
a hint
whispering: “I might hurt – but then again, maybe not…”

Hour upon hour
hinting and flirting
until it emerged
as pain.

Fleeting pain
nagging pain
aching pain
a pain that gnawed and chewed
a pain that signaled and threatened
a pain that made me want to climb the walls
and claw at the windows.

And then, I heard the dreaded ‘snap.’
Snapped so hard that it
snapped my mind
snapped my will
snapping in every waking thought
snapping that refused to let me sleep – forget about dream!


Didn’t everybody hear the snap
that sounded like thunder on the inside?


Surely if they heard the thunderous sound that snapped inside of me, they would come and wake me from this eyes-open bad dream.


Perhaps no one will believe how awful it really is
until I crawl through the rubble
and locate the very straw
that broke my back.

[Safiyah Fosua, Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, Director of Invitational Preaching Ministries, GBOD. September 1, 2005]