Glock, I admire you for posting about such a personal experience. Unfortunately, it is all foolishness to those who do not believe. You were lucky enough to have it, you know what it means to you, and that is what really matters.
After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box - Author unknown
“Unfortunately, the truth is now whatever the media say it is”
-Abbey
After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box - Author unknown
“Unfortunately, the truth is now whatever the media say it is”
-Abbey
What an unusual pairing.
"The government is a child that has found their parents credit card, and spends knowing that they never have to reconcile the bill with their own money"-Shannon Churchill
We went to church last Sunday in this little town in western Virginia. It was probably about a 150 year old building in an old neighborhood with on street parking. I expected it to take 30 minutes to get there and we weren't sure where it was so we left 45 minutes early, parked the car close but in a snowbank blocking a mail box and got there just before the processional. There was probably 200 seats and 250 people in there. Folks were in the balcony, in this little side area and about two dozen standing in the back.
The usher near the front and gets my attention then signals "four" so I send the family towards him and he sits us right behind the organist and I'm actually behind a stone column in a seat without a kneeler. Then the processional hymn ends and the mass begins.
The priest was from central America I think and had a great booming voice. He was very inspiring especially the homily.
There was a woman behind me about my age or younger and having throat problems right after the first hymn. She was trying to clear her throat and obviously having a difficult time for several minutes. I thought about an annual ritual that The Church does called Blessing of the Throat, so I simply sat with my knees against the column, felt my own throat an made a sign of the cross over it with my thumb, and she quieted right down. She was fine for about 45 minutes then started up again, so I said another prayer for her the same way and she quieted down again.
The power of prayer is really amazing.
Last Saturday I skied awful. I fell twice in my first warm-up run in heavy crusted power, it was freezing rain, windy and fog and the slalom course was all that mess over a chopped up base of ice balls- creating huge ruts down to bare ground in two spots. My feet hurt and I developed two pinch spots in my boots. I came in next to last of all the men.
I was pretty depressed and wasn't looking forward to Sunday's giant slalom runs on a very steep and intimidating course. I was almost looking for an excuse not to show up. After dinner I went down to see my boot fitter and oddly my wife asked to go with me. My usual guy was not there so I hung out in the apparel shop waiting for her to shop. My friend Drew said "hey" behind the counter and I told him I needed to see Andy about my boots. He said that he could help me and he spent about 45 minutes working on them to get rid of the problem.
When we got back I was tired but loaded the car with skis for the next day. I even messed that up because I forgot my daughter's skis and poles. It wasn't until we were in the parking lot the next morning that my error was discovered, and I had to race back to the house with her to get the gear.
After that though Sunday was a completely different world than the day before. It was 12 degrees when we got out with a bright blue sky and warm sun. My first and only warm-up run was some of the best skiing that I have ever done. The snow was incredible. The race course had incredible grip but very firm and would hold up well under race conditions. I felt great, even stripped of my bulky jacket and went "All Out", running the best time of my life: 0.2 seconds slower than the usual top guy in my division. In his second run he wiped out and didn't place.
After my second run I met up with my wife on the lower part of the course watching the rest of the races. She asked me how I did, and I told her that it had been an incredible morning for me. They even screwed up the race order, and seeded me second instead of 12th or so, so my first run was on a clean course.
She then told me that she had prayed the night before for me to have a better day.
Last edited by glockmail; 02-02-2010 at 09:00 PM.
No He doesn't.
I know because He loves everyone, even bad folks, and you're a good folk.
You have a conscience, that's His presence.
You know i'm gonna start praying to my box of cookies, and when something good happens to me i'm gonna post it here,
Do you think the CoC (Church of Cookie) will hit the big time? After all, the rewards are plentiful, all the cookies you can ever eat, forever! and the hell is exactly the same, except they force you to eat the cookies down there, and they don't give you anything to drink Dx
If you also agree that an animals suffering should be avoided rather than encouraged, consider what steps you can take.