I'm home

I am home and on the road to recovery. I do not feel great, but it's nice to be in my own apartment.

In case you haven't heard

I've been in the hospital since Thursday the 15th. No idea when I'll be returning home, but have wireless in my room, so feel free to message. I don't spend much time on the computer, but do check my e-mail from time to time. No reading, no blogging, not much conversation... just laying in bed.

I'll update you when something changes.

I have pneumonia, don't expect to hear from me for awhile.

Story from the Grist

Grist, which is one of my favorite website published a story this week that originally appeared on the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors website. It discusses issues on the Gulf Coast two years after Katrina, long forgotten by the media. Take a look.

Stories from the Forgotten Coast
With the Katrina-anniversary media gone, the hard work continues

The Prayer of Bishop Romero

The following is a prayer that is contributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero who was assassinated during a mass in San Salvador in 1980. While, in fact these words were written by someone else, and never spoken by Romero, they are said to encompass his spirit. They certainly have been helpful to me over the last few months and I wanted to share them here. I hope you enjoy.

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.