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Showing posts with label Kairos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kairos. Show all posts
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Monday, May 9, 2011
Fwd: Winn Weekend
Greetings all! We have been asked by the Winn administration to post postpone Winn #34 originally scheduled to start this Thursday. Winn will be housing some of the Angola evacuees being moved due to the threat of flooding and the administration did not feel that they had the resources to accommodate these new residents and host a Kairos weekend. Needless to say, this is a blow to the leader, Bobby Taylor, who has invested a significant amount of time preparing the team for this work as well as the rest of the team and the residents that were scheduled to attend. Please be in prayer for these individuals as they deal with this loss. As of now, Angola's June weekend is still on the track, but that is certainly subject to change.
God is in control of this situation and His timing is always perfect. Unfortunately, in our mortal flesh, we sometime struggle with understanding His ways. As we surrender to His will, let us all seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and join together to support each other as we walk through this part of our journey.
I'm sure that Bobby would appreciate an email of encouragement (jr460@bellsouth.net).
God is in control of this situation and His timing is always perfect. Unfortunately, in our mortal flesh, we sometime struggle with understanding His ways. As we surrender to His will, let us all seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and join together to support each other as we walk through this part of our journey.
I'm sure that Bobby would appreciate an email of encouragement (jr460@bellsouth.net).
I will keep you posted and this situation unfolds.
Monday, February 21, 2011
You Know What This Is...(la deuxième partie)8:54AM 2/18
Down to 94! Lemme spell that out NINETY-FOUR!!!
Gotta go to another school now. But I will be checking in later today.
Visual Impairments Specialist
WE are down to 7 empty spots as of 2:15 PM 2/21
WE are down to 7 empty spots as of 2:15 PM 2/21
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Prayer Vigil Countdown Time!!! (or here she goes again!)
If you've already taken care of this--it's OK, I'm gonna bug  everybody anyway because you can either add some more yourself or ask others to but WE NEED MORE NAMES ADDED TO THE PRAYER CHAIN!!! The countdown is 462/276. That means 276 EMPTY spaces are left.  My life would be easier at the hotel if all the spaces are filled BEFORE Feb 24 rather than ON Feb 24 So if ya don't want me to bug ya with another countdown, you know what to do!GIT 'ER DONE! Lost the link? Click here, Boo. SDAL Kathy  http://www.kathyskids.org Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/ |
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
[Nick's Walk] Still Human! Devotional for Tuesday, November 16, 2010
http://www.kathyskids.org
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Nick Sigur
To: kairos-angola
Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 4:48:09 PM
Subject: [Nick's Walk] Still Human! Devotional for Tuesday, November 16, 2010
From: Nick Sigur
To: kairos-angola
Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 4:48:09 PM
Subject: [Nick's Walk] Still Human! Devotional for Tuesday, November 16, 2010
. . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31
Kairos #50 just finished at Angola and by all accounts it was wonderful, a true hilltop experience. I did not take part but I know what the participants are going through this week.
In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.
We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience. It's one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, "What a wonderful man of prayer he is!" or, "What a great woman of devotion she is!" If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.
The true test of a saint's life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life "hidden with Christ in God" in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.
To all my brothers and sisters, moving down from the hilltop, I pray for you now as I did during the weekend.
Continue to be blessed and to bless.
Nick
In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.
We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience. It's one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, "What a wonderful man of prayer he is!" or, "What a great woman of devotion she is!" If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.
The true test of a saint's life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life "hidden with Christ in God" in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.
To all my brothers and sisters, moving down from the hilltop, I pray for you now as I did during the weekend.
Continue to be blessed and to bless.
Nick
Kairos Kids' Agape--Too Cute
I took this picture of one of the cards a child made for Angola Kairos #50. We always need stuff like this for the ministry. It can be mailed to POB 74514 Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4514
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Hospice-Angola style www.onelastshotthemovie.org
From my friend Lou who used to volunteer here and this is how she knows Brother Checo.
http://www.kathyskids.org
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/
Forwarded Message ----
From: Lou
http://www.w.onelastshotthemovie.org
http://www.kathyskids.org
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/
Forwarded Message ----
From: Lou
HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY:
Watch this video. This is where I worked for years at Angola. Saw many of my inmates die and was holding their hand, but I know where they are and I will see them one day. What an experience that is embedded in my mind forever. Tears are flowing down my face as I watch this. Very touching to me and brought back such sad and such wonderful memories that I will never, ever forget. I know many of these inmates. Nelson Lane was working in Hospice when I was there. A funeral at Angola is something really heart breaking, but it was something to see when all their inmate friends got up to speak about their special loved friends, especially when they were ready to meet Jesus. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Of course, I gave 30 years of my life to inmates, so it may mean something totally different to me than it will to you, but watch it anyway, I think you will be thoroughly blessed. www.onelastshotthemovie.org
One of the inmates fears is being buried at Look Out Mountain at the prison, but many are buried there as their family have forsaken them or all their family have died and they are all alone, so Look Out Mountain at Angola Prison is the only place they can be buried. Be blessed as I was.In Christ love,
Lou Beyl
Subject: Hospice-Angola stlye
Lou, you've got to watch this. When I saw it, I instantly thought of you and the work you did for years and still doing in prisons.
Click on this link ….
http://www.w.onelastshotthemovie.org
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Angola Kairo #49 Part 3
I was finally able to take a little break after running to the dollar store for a request my husband made before he left for the prison that morning. I also picked up some snacks as it was too hot outside for me to eat heavy meals. I had a few letters to finish writing and since I'd gone in late the night before I wanted to take a nap but that was not possible. It felt better just to get off my feet for a bit, pray, rest and watch a little TV.
My table at Agape Central was a mess. It gets that way when things get really busy. I tried to straighten it out because when the guys came in from the prison, it was going to get hairy since the names would be arriving at the same time. I was not very comfortable with that because it is last-minute stuff. Cyndi had been up to the prison and back. It was too hot for her to stay up there with her legs bothering her and she needed to finish her letters, too.
Each team member writes forty-five letters to the resident candidates for the workshop. We're supposed to start writing about six weeks in advance and bring the same pen we started with. That way when we have the names of the candidates we can fill in their names with the same pen. We usually have forty-two participants but in case something happens we write forty-five as a cushion. One leader for an earlier team allowed forty-six inmates to participate. He didn't realize what that does when preparing food and agape. I asked that that not be allowed again. Besides that, it throws off the sponsor/sponsoree system and they table families. There's suposed to be seven table families made of about two or three of our volunteers and six inmate residents. I don't know how any extra will sit comfortably at a table meant for nine. I bring forty-three paper bags with handles for the agape bags and those who get Sunday school classes of kids to make sets of 42--well, it throws that off too. The local Fred's and Dollar General don't have the same kind of bags so I had to buy a shiny party bag that didn't match the rest. Since there were not enough volunteers, chairs and two tables were eliminated from this workshop rather than added.
There were going to be only five tables instead of seven. That is easier to deal with, however, it is nice to be prepared for that at least a week before the weekend. The head cook orders the food in advance and she had too much food. She said if she'd known she would have called to restaurant supplies and asked them to cut back on some of her order. I was happy to see my mother and daughter come up to help fill the bags.
The ladies from the kitchen came in to set up the food while the leader and observing leader came in with a list of inmates names. It was a scratch list because they had to cut the participants. Then some alternates took the place of others. The names were not in alphabetical order. This was going to be a mess. To emphasize the mess, one of the men who had finished addressing his letters, came over to agape central to ask, "So can you tell me when you will have the names on the agape bags?" I wanted to kick someone or something really hard.
It was not easy using a label maker to print out the thirty-two names for the name cards on each bag. It was a painfully slow process. The list was a scratch list so it was marked up and not in alphabetical order. There is a lot to be said for delegating jobs beforehand! My temp was rising. I had to get into prayer mode when I could rest and think about things past my headache and aching legs and feet. I'm certain I'd already said some things and had the facial expression I would not have had if I'd not been so tired.
But they got done and all the guys had their letters in the bags, including the one who asked me if I had his paper for him to write his letters that very evening AND if I had some envelopes for him. Ok, Kathy, breathe and do not explode. Jesus, stay with me and Satan get behind me!
I had one more set of bookmarks that the printer recognized but they would have to wait until morning. So the next morning, my husband was not waking me too early. He wanted me to get more sleep. Although he was not aware of everything I had to do, he was not enjoying the organizational style. His PTSD is not comfortable with change nor what he perceives as disorganization.
I was happy to be able to sleep a bit later and had told Cyndi that I wasn't coming into the conference room until 9:00am. She was happy about that, too. With two or three of us (we had been expecting Carolyn to come and help) it wouldn't take more than an forty minutes to organize the bags by table families, seal them and put them in garbage bags by table families.
BUT at 8:30 the next morning Cyndi called and said Carol had gone up to the prison to go to the kitchen with the other ladies and she'd left her driver's license at the hotel. She'd called Cyndi to bring it to her. One cannot enter the prison without ID. It wouldn't make sense for Cyndi to take a twenty-mile trip just to turn around and come back to help me. It made more sense for her to go on into the kitchen early. That threw off my schedule for bagging up the agape bags if they were to be in the prison for 10:00am with just one person getting them together rather than three.
My head was pounding as I left the hotel for the prison with the bags in my car. I was about thirty minutes behind my usual schedule. By the time I got to the gate their was everyone and their mama at the check in station. Visitors were piled up in their. I waited in one line for a security officer to tell me that I didn't have to wait in the visitor's line since I was not riding the bus and going to join the Kairos ladies at the culinary school. That put me back about thirty more minutes. I got to the culinary school at the main prison complex by 11:00. I breathed a sigh when I saw that the runners' truck had not left. Matt, one of the runners put the bags on the back of the truck for me.
I all but collapsed into a chair in the eating area.
After I rested a bit, I stayed to have lunch with the ladies and the two inmates that serve in the culinary school kitchen. Then we played a couple of games of spoons. One of the ladies gave me a couple of Tylenol to help me make it back to the hotel where I could rest.
My table at Agape Central was a mess. It gets that way when things get really busy. I tried to straighten it out because when the guys came in from the prison, it was going to get hairy since the names would be arriving at the same time. I was not very comfortable with that because it is last-minute stuff. Cyndi had been up to the prison and back. It was too hot for her to stay up there with her legs bothering her and she needed to finish her letters, too.
Each team member writes forty-five letters to the resident candidates for the workshop. We're supposed to start writing about six weeks in advance and bring the same pen we started with. That way when we have the names of the candidates we can fill in their names with the same pen. We usually have forty-two participants but in case something happens we write forty-five as a cushion. One leader for an earlier team allowed forty-six inmates to participate. He didn't realize what that does when preparing food and agape. I asked that that not be allowed again. Besides that, it throws off the sponsor/sponsoree system and they table families. There's suposed to be seven table families made of about two or three of our volunteers and six inmate residents. I don't know how any extra will sit comfortably at a table meant for nine. I bring forty-three paper bags with handles for the agape bags and those who get Sunday school classes of kids to make sets of 42--well, it throws that off too. The local Fred's and Dollar General don't have the same kind of bags so I had to buy a shiny party bag that didn't match the rest. Since there were not enough volunteers, chairs and two tables were eliminated from this workshop rather than added.
There were going to be only five tables instead of seven. That is easier to deal with, however, it is nice to be prepared for that at least a week before the weekend. The head cook orders the food in advance and she had too much food. She said if she'd known she would have called to restaurant supplies and asked them to cut back on some of her order. I was happy to see my mother and daughter come up to help fill the bags.
The ladies from the kitchen came in to set up the food while the leader and observing leader came in with a list of inmates names. It was a scratch list because they had to cut the participants. Then some alternates took the place of others. The names were not in alphabetical order. This was going to be a mess. To emphasize the mess, one of the men who had finished addressing his letters, came over to agape central to ask, "So can you tell me when you will have the names on the agape bags?" I wanted to kick someone or something really hard.
It was not easy using a label maker to print out the thirty-two names for the name cards on each bag. It was a painfully slow process. The list was a scratch list so it was marked up and not in alphabetical order. There is a lot to be said for delegating jobs beforehand! My temp was rising. I had to get into prayer mode when I could rest and think about things past my headache and aching legs and feet. I'm certain I'd already said some things and had the facial expression I would not have had if I'd not been so tired.
But they got done and all the guys had their letters in the bags, including the one who asked me if I had his paper for him to write his letters that very evening AND if I had some envelopes for him. Ok, Kathy, breathe and do not explode. Jesus, stay with me and Satan get behind me!
I had one more set of bookmarks that the printer recognized but they would have to wait until morning. So the next morning, my husband was not waking me too early. He wanted me to get more sleep. Although he was not aware of everything I had to do, he was not enjoying the organizational style. His PTSD is not comfortable with change nor what he perceives as disorganization.
I was happy to be able to sleep a bit later and had told Cyndi that I wasn't coming into the conference room until 9:00am. She was happy about that, too. With two or three of us (we had been expecting Carolyn to come and help) it wouldn't take more than an forty minutes to organize the bags by table families, seal them and put them in garbage bags by table families.
BUT at 8:30 the next morning Cyndi called and said Carol had gone up to the prison to go to the kitchen with the other ladies and she'd left her driver's license at the hotel. She'd called Cyndi to bring it to her. One cannot enter the prison without ID. It wouldn't make sense for Cyndi to take a twenty-mile trip just to turn around and come back to help me. It made more sense for her to go on into the kitchen early. That threw off my schedule for bagging up the agape bags if they were to be in the prison for 10:00am with just one person getting them together rather than three.
My head was pounding as I left the hotel for the prison with the bags in my car. I was about thirty minutes behind my usual schedule. By the time I got to the gate their was everyone and their mama at the check in station. Visitors were piled up in their. I waited in one line for a security officer to tell me that I didn't have to wait in the visitor's line since I was not riding the bus and going to join the Kairos ladies at the culinary school. That put me back about thirty more minutes. I got to the culinary school at the main prison complex by 11:00. I breathed a sigh when I saw that the runners' truck had not left. Matt, one of the runners put the bags on the back of the truck for me.
I all but collapsed into a chair in the eating area.
After I rested a bit, I stayed to have lunch with the ladies and the two inmates that serve in the culinary school kitchen. Then we played a couple of games of spoons. One of the ladies gave me a couple of Tylenol to help me make it back to the hotel where I could rest.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Angola Kairos #49 Part 2
My sister called and told me she had joined our prayer vigil. I saw that 70-something slots were open before I left for school that morning. One of the brothers from new Orleans called and asked me if I'd noticed that some of the times--mostly on Thursday--had been doubled. I thought there were more than usual! I had another short list of people to write in after I got to the hotel so I was hoping that would fill it. By the time I got to print it--and the printer froze a few times--the count was down to about 20 which was perfect for the write-ins. So all blank speace were taken care of. YAY!! It always works!
There were several things going wrong, like with the printer. But also, the Internet connection at the hotel was lousy. I never expect it to work in the conference room and my Kairos sister, Cyndi told me she was having trouble connecting in her hotel room. I disconnected my netbook (AKA "Baby Laptop, as my things have names) from the printer and took it to the breakfast area, where there the WiFi usually is. The operative word here being "usually."
Eventually, I was able to get on line in my room and download the prayer vigil chain, right before the Internet connection shut off again. I pasted it into a Word document so that I could number the pages. It came out to sixty-one pages. I finally got the printer gods to smile on my teeny printer. Everything that didn't print the day before printed first after turning it off and rebooting Baby LapTop. All of this took a number of hours so that by the time the guys returned from the prison, Cyndi and I were still working on cutting apart the prayer chain links and making a paper chain of them.
My mantra by this time was, "I will not be up past midnight. I will not be up past midnight." Just then, one of the first guys to return from the prison came to Agape Central gingerly hold a Kairos name tag. "Um, they said to come to you with name tag changes," he said.
OoooooooK. The problem with that was that while we were having Saturday formation meetings, I'd asked the leader if he'd need help with name tags. They'd all been made for team members for the meeting so he said he had it covered. Well, having it covered came to mean that if there were any changes to be made at the hotel, it would be on me. Not cool. I was hot. There were about eight changes to make, including three team members who'd taken theirs home and forgotten them. We never let the team members take their name tags home if we wanted to have all of them during Kairos Weekend.
So...I left Cyndi cutting and stapling the prayer chain while I tried to get a name tag template. I had some card stock. The leader's wife also had a laptop and tried to log on in her room. The Internet was out again. She asked the desk employees about it and they stretched an ethernet cable across their check-in desk to her laptop while I looked for a rainbow Kairos logo to put at the top of the name tags so they'd looked like those that were previously printed.
Although the Internet still didn't come up, she located the template already installed in her laptop. We both had the same version of Windows, so she showed my where it was on hers so I could find it on Baby. I only had a blue and black logo on Baby so we were just going to make blue logos. "They'll just have to be different," we both agreed.
Then she remembered that her husband had snet her a PDF with the logo and it was on her laptop. "Can you copy a logo from a PDF to a Word document?"
"YAHOO! Why sure you can!" I laughed. We were making it possible.
We got the print the same size and the logo cut and pasted. And since the cardstock was not perforated like the paper that comes with the name tags, I held an old name tag up to the light, matched the print, so I could draw he lines for the edges of the new name tags and cut them out.
The guy's meeting was long over and they had slipped off to bed. The ladies who'd worked in the kitchen were hot and tired as they dropped off an evening meal and gone to their rooms. The mantra had been useless. The three of us were up past midnight.
I was still rather hot. It's much asier to be so when you've been up since 4:30 AM, gone to work, picked up a car, packed--in other words when you're exhausted. I'm far from the most organized person and I'm most disorganized when I'm overwhelm with many things on my plate. However, this was a result of not thinking things through and being organized. That comes for from trying to think and do too much on your own and not delegating the small stuff. My husband was still half awake and I vented that before he went to sleep. I was too tired to unpack my clothes, so I just took out my contact lens juice, washed up and went to sleep.
The next morning, my husband was up and dressed when I awoke. He'd made coffee and set aside a cup for me. "Ugh! Pink, stuff!" was all there was for sweetening my coffee from the world of artificial sweeteners. I liked the blue stuff better.
"Hunnee, I'm gonna slip on some clothes and get me some blue stuff and couple of muffins, " I said.
"I think you should wait a while. I wouldn't go there right now if I were you," he warned.
I thought I'd just get my sweetener and come back to the room, have coffee and muffins and get in the hot shower.
I was ambushed at the lobby entrance with "Did you bring my name tag? I need my name tag." "I need you make me a name tag this morning before we leave for the prison." "I have two more inmate name tags."
Baby Laptop said, "Sorry, I'm sending the message to the printer but Li'l HP is saying he ain't hearin' that!"
I had a labeler and printed he names with that. Then we stuck them over the names that needed correcting. "Here's a temporary solution. Use these and when you come back this evening Li'L HP will have heard the print message and printed your name tags."
The muffins were hard by the time I got to them. Fortunately, Ms. Linda, the breakfast lady was looking out for me and went to the back to get me some soft blueberry muffins.
I finally got back to my room for that shower when my sister called from Denver. We talked for about 30 minutes. I had not talked with her for a few weeks so I called Cyndi to let her know I wasn't lost. Cyndi sounded like she hadn't had a good sleep. He legs were bothering her the day before so she was talking to me in one of those twilight stupors that say, I'm talking to you but my eyes are closed. Poor thing. She needed to rest and I was not going to call her back to wake her.
I checked on Baby Laptop and Li'l HP to see if they were talking to each other. They were friends once again. On the empty name slots I typed names I made up like "Downenda Treme" and "Fidnta Blow." I could put those in my own name tag and change out every few hours. Linda came to check on me from her breakfast bar and we talked for a while. I went to the dollar store and started on the agape bags.
By that time, Cyndi was up and ready to work. She was apologizing for not coming down from her room earlier. Her legs had hurt her all night long. I told her there was no need for an apology and that when I'd called her I could tell in her voice that she wasn't actually awake.
We had no resident list or table family list, so I couldn't put names on the cards on the bags. I had that "it's gonna be another late night when the guys get back from the prison" feeling. I used the name tag template and some photos from the team formation meetings. I lightened the photos about 50% so they'd make a nice background for the names which would be printed with the label maker.
We had no children's agape brought in by the guys. I couldn't believe that! That has never happened before. Later my mother and my daughter came up to help. My mother brought some craft material and some leftover items from Bible School. My daughter and Cyndi helped make some book marks. Then I found a plastic envelope full of agape leftover from the previous Kairos weekend. There was enough for each of the thirty-two bags to receive about three letters from children.
There were several things going wrong, like with the printer. But also, the Internet connection at the hotel was lousy. I never expect it to work in the conference room and my Kairos sister, Cyndi told me she was having trouble connecting in her hotel room. I disconnected my netbook (AKA "Baby Laptop, as my things have names) from the printer and took it to the breakfast area, where there the WiFi usually is. The operative word here being "usually."
Eventually, I was able to get on line in my room and download the prayer vigil chain, right before the Internet connection shut off again. I pasted it into a Word document so that I could number the pages. It came out to sixty-one pages. I finally got the printer gods to smile on my teeny printer. Everything that didn't print the day before printed first after turning it off and rebooting Baby LapTop. All of this took a number of hours so that by the time the guys returned from the prison, Cyndi and I were still working on cutting apart the prayer chain links and making a paper chain of them.
My mantra by this time was, "I will not be up past midnight. I will not be up past midnight." Just then, one of the first guys to return from the prison came to Agape Central gingerly hold a Kairos name tag. "Um, they said to come to you with name tag changes," he said.
OoooooooK. The problem with that was that while we were having Saturday formation meetings, I'd asked the leader if he'd need help with name tags. They'd all been made for team members for the meeting so he said he had it covered. Well, having it covered came to mean that if there were any changes to be made at the hotel, it would be on me. Not cool. I was hot. There were about eight changes to make, including three team members who'd taken theirs home and forgotten them. We never let the team members take their name tags home if we wanted to have all of them during Kairos Weekend.
So...I left Cyndi cutting and stapling the prayer chain while I tried to get a name tag template. I had some card stock. The leader's wife also had a laptop and tried to log on in her room. The Internet was out again. She asked the desk employees about it and they stretched an ethernet cable across their check-in desk to her laptop while I looked for a rainbow Kairos logo to put at the top of the name tags so they'd looked like those that were previously printed.
Although the Internet still didn't come up, she located the template already installed in her laptop. We both had the same version of Windows, so she showed my where it was on hers so I could find it on Baby. I only had a blue and black logo on Baby so we were just going to make blue logos. "They'll just have to be different," we both agreed.
Then she remembered that her husband had snet her a PDF with the logo and it was on her laptop. "Can you copy a logo from a PDF to a Word document?"
"YAHOO! Why sure you can!" I laughed. We were making it possible.
We got the print the same size and the logo cut and pasted. And since the cardstock was not perforated like the paper that comes with the name tags, I held an old name tag up to the light, matched the print, so I could draw he lines for the edges of the new name tags and cut them out.
The guy's meeting was long over and they had slipped off to bed. The ladies who'd worked in the kitchen were hot and tired as they dropped off an evening meal and gone to their rooms. The mantra had been useless. The three of us were up past midnight.
I was still rather hot. It's much asier to be so when you've been up since 4:30 AM, gone to work, picked up a car, packed--in other words when you're exhausted. I'm far from the most organized person and I'm most disorganized when I'm overwhelm with many things on my plate. However, this was a result of not thinking things through and being organized. That comes for from trying to think and do too much on your own and not delegating the small stuff. My husband was still half awake and I vented that before he went to sleep. I was too tired to unpack my clothes, so I just took out my contact lens juice, washed up and went to sleep.
The next morning, my husband was up and dressed when I awoke. He'd made coffee and set aside a cup for me. "Ugh! Pink, stuff!" was all there was for sweetening my coffee from the world of artificial sweeteners. I liked the blue stuff better.
"Hunnee, I'm gonna slip on some clothes and get me some blue stuff and couple of muffins, " I said.
"I think you should wait a while. I wouldn't go there right now if I were you," he warned.
I thought I'd just get my sweetener and come back to the room, have coffee and muffins and get in the hot shower.
I was ambushed at the lobby entrance with "Did you bring my name tag? I need my name tag." "I need you make me a name tag this morning before we leave for the prison." "I have two more inmate name tags."
Baby Laptop said, "Sorry, I'm sending the message to the printer but Li'l HP is saying he ain't hearin' that!"
I had a labeler and printed he names with that. Then we stuck them over the names that needed correcting. "Here's a temporary solution. Use these and when you come back this evening Li'L HP will have heard the print message and printed your name tags."
The muffins were hard by the time I got to them. Fortunately, Ms. Linda, the breakfast lady was looking out for me and went to the back to get me some soft blueberry muffins.
I finally got back to my room for that shower when my sister called from Denver. We talked for about 30 minutes. I had not talked with her for a few weeks so I called Cyndi to let her know I wasn't lost. Cyndi sounded like she hadn't had a good sleep. He legs were bothering her the day before so she was talking to me in one of those twilight stupors that say, I'm talking to you but my eyes are closed. Poor thing. She needed to rest and I was not going to call her back to wake her.
I checked on Baby Laptop and Li'l HP to see if they were talking to each other. They were friends once again. On the empty name slots I typed names I made up like "Downenda Treme" and "Fidnta Blow." I could put those in my own name tag and change out every few hours. Linda came to check on me from her breakfast bar and we talked for a while. I went to the dollar store and started on the agape bags.
By that time, Cyndi was up and ready to work. She was apologizing for not coming down from her room earlier. Her legs had hurt her all night long. I told her there was no need for an apology and that when I'd called her I could tell in her voice that she wasn't actually awake.
We had no resident list or table family list, so I couldn't put names on the cards on the bags. I had that "it's gonna be another late night when the guys get back from the prison" feeling. I used the name tag template and some photos from the team formation meetings. I lightened the photos about 50% so they'd make a nice background for the names which would be printed with the label maker.
We had no children's agape brought in by the guys. I couldn't believe that! That has never happened before. Later my mother and my daughter came up to help. My mother brought some craft material and some leftover items from Bible School. My daughter and Cyndi helped make some book marks. Then I found a plastic envelope full of agape leftover from the previous Kairos weekend. There was enough for each of the thirty-two bags to receive about three letters from children.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Angola Kairos #49 Part 1
I started writing this entry on last Thursday. The hotel we use in St. Francisville for Kairos has undergone some changes. The Internet connection is one of the changes. It has been intermittent, thus the late post. No, I do not have an iPhone.
I need to get sum'n to eat. I made it here to St. Francisville in one slightly damp piece. Thank God. I really do.
Mr. Bob Buttons woke me up at 4:30AM. His internal clock has been thirty minutes off lately. Still pretty good for a 14-year-old cat. I'd packed the night before so I could leave for the Kairos Prison Ministry weekend right after work. Unfortunately, I couldn't pack my car. I had to bring out the dusty Corolla I'd given to my daughter for work. It's fine for getting to work but not for going out of town.
My air conditioning went out on the Intrigue. After work on yesterday I took it to the Texaco where everyone and his mama happened to be bringing a car in for repair or inspection. I'd just had the air fixed a couple of weeks ago so there was no reason for it to run hot again unless the mechanic didn't repair the leak. The guy behind the cash register wanted a receipt and had be run back to the car to find it. Rivers of sweat were pouring from my neck when he decided, "Oh, yeah! I can look it up on he computer!"
So after work I asked my mother to take me to get my car from the Texaco. Then I had to bring it home and pack it with luggage and Kairos stuff.
When I finally got on the road, it seemed everybody and their mama was trying to travel through St. Francisville on Highway 61. Then a I turned into the hotel's driveway, I saw the sign had been changed once again. It is now, The Magnamous! Wow! That's the third name in about as many years. When I started it was a part of the Bestwestern chain. After that, a couple of years ago, it became a Quality Inn.
Inside the guys were ready to start their meeting and a couple of them set up a table for me which would become "Agape Central." That's where I put together the prayer chain, the agape bags and do my other agapeladytype stuff.
I met my husband just outside. He'd already arrived and asked for a room on the ground floor near the lobby. He knows I have to go back and forth to the conference room so this will make life easier.
Well, gotta do my agape stuff and get something to eat.
I need to get sum'n to eat. I made it here to St. Francisville in one slightly damp piece. Thank God. I really do.
Mr. Bob Buttons woke me up at 4:30AM. His internal clock has been thirty minutes off lately. Still pretty good for a 14-year-old cat. I'd packed the night before so I could leave for the Kairos Prison Ministry weekend right after work. Unfortunately, I couldn't pack my car. I had to bring out the dusty Corolla I'd given to my daughter for work. It's fine for getting to work but not for going out of town.
My air conditioning went out on the Intrigue. After work on yesterday I took it to the Texaco where everyone and his mama happened to be bringing a car in for repair or inspection. I'd just had the air fixed a couple of weeks ago so there was no reason for it to run hot again unless the mechanic didn't repair the leak. The guy behind the cash register wanted a receipt and had be run back to the car to find it. Rivers of sweat were pouring from my neck when he decided, "Oh, yeah! I can look it up on he computer!"
So after work I asked my mother to take me to get my car from the Texaco. Then I had to bring it home and pack it with luggage and Kairos stuff.
When I finally got on the road, it seemed everybody and their mama was trying to travel through St. Francisville on Highway 61. Then a I turned into the hotel's driveway, I saw the sign had been changed once again. It is now, The Magnamous! Wow! That's the third name in about as many years. When I started it was a part of the Bestwestern chain. After that, a couple of years ago, it became a Quality Inn.
Inside the guys were ready to start their meeting and a couple of them set up a table for me which would become "Agape Central." That's where I put together the prayer chain, the agape bags and do my other agapeladytype stuff.
I met my husband just outside. He'd already arrived and asked for a room on the ground floor near the lobby. He knows I have to go back and forth to the conference room so this will make life easier.
Well, gotta do my agape stuff and get something to eat.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Prayer Chain Count Down for 1/13/10
| For Men's Kairos, Angola LSP #48 Feb 18-21: Of 462 prayer slots, 285 need to be filled!  CLICK HERE to get to go THERE! Better, still, pass this notice on to your prayer warrior friends! YSIC, YKW [YAAAAAAHOOOOOO!!!!] 
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/ |
Monday, November 16, 2009
Kairos Weekend Part 2 (or the birth of Francine)
The weekend was a blast although it can wear ya down. I was thinking as I tried to get out of bed this morning that perhaps I should have taken an extra day off from work just to rest and recuperate. I am so thankful that two of the ladies stayed behind at the hotel with me to help with some of the agape duties before they went to help at the prison's culinary school kitchen.
The prayer chain on Thursday night was most involved. In the past I have had to get a physical chain ready with blanks for names and times written in. Each team member was given a two-hour block of prayers to collect from church members, friends, etc. I would have to go on line or email my friends in South Africa and Ireland whom I have met via this ministry and ask them to take our wee hours of the morning slots that are the middle of the day for them. Ultimately, the guys on the team would forget their chains, have them partly filled or just not do them. This time, I had the chain on line at 3dayol.org. It made for the most complete chain we had ever had. I took my net book and a little printer and I was able to download the prayer chain from the web site and print it on colored paper at the hotel. Two other sisters helped cut them out and we stapled together 468 links n the prayer chain. If it had not been for them I would have been up half the night trying to cut and staple the chain.
The other way, the men cut and staple their own assigned parts of the chain but I don't always get all the parts. This way every prayer is accounted for.
The purpose of the chain is for it to be a visible representation to the inmate participants of the prayers that are being lifted up in their behalf during the 3 1/2-day weekend. With an orderly chain they can walk up to the chain and see who is praying at that particular hour. They are overwhelmed by this to be sure.
On Fridays I get the agape bags ready. We have collected items from all over for those bags. I will not say what except to say that when you are asked, it's a cool thing to do. i don't want to spoil the surprise in case there is someone who may receive such a bag at a similar spiritual walk. When the guys leave the prison on Friday night they load the bags with their letters. Some of them are up half the night. I give them until Saturday morning before they leave for the prison to get their items in the bags. Saturday morning I have to get them taped up, grouped into table families and bagged by table family in jumbo trash bags. Then I get to take them up to the prison by 10AM.
This time, as I came to the prison gates on Saturday morning, my name was not on the gate pass. One of the security ladies remembered me from the last time I was on a team so she had her partner take my license and call to the back where they were holding the workshop. By the time the message got back there, through telephone wires and radios,my first name had become garbled into "Francine." My husband was asked if he knew anyone with that name and of course he said, "Never heard of 'em."
The ladies in the culinary school kitchen were called and my good friend the head cook said, "Well, that is Kathy's last name but maybe that is her middle name. But, yes we are expecting a lady with that last name."
At any rate I was allowed to drive back of Main Prison Complex to the culinary school with my garbage bags. "Franceeeeeeen is in the house!" I said when I arrived. Among by kitchen friends I am now Francine with extra emphasis on the "eeeeen." One cannot say a simple Francine. It has to be said in just that way---or I do not answer. Perhaps I will start another blog for that alter ego and include just the right amount of Es in the title which is at least 3.
Saturday evening is the most relaxed day. I was able to stay at the culinary school with the ladies and the two residents who man the culinary school kitchen for a couple of hours. The two culinary school residents are lovely, soft spoken guys who love it when the Kairos ladies come. We had lunch after the workshop lunch was taken over to the guys and then a few minutes to play the spoon game. Then it was back to work at the hotel for Franceeen!
Saturday night is the best! That's when we get to hear the reflections of the new people on the team. I took plenty of pictures which I intend to share with the team on either flicker or Kodak. I have a special surprise for Morris, our team leader. At any rate, the leader is given a plaque and we all share the wonderment of the Holy Spirit as we witness it over the weekend.
Then we get ready for Sunday!
Well, I have used two breaks to write this much. Part 3 at a later time.
The prayer chain on Thursday night was most involved. In the past I have had to get a physical chain ready with blanks for names and times written in. Each team member was given a two-hour block of prayers to collect from church members, friends, etc. I would have to go on line or email my friends in South Africa and Ireland whom I have met via this ministry and ask them to take our wee hours of the morning slots that are the middle of the day for them. Ultimately, the guys on the team would forget their chains, have them partly filled or just not do them. This time, I had the chain on line at 3dayol.org. It made for the most complete chain we had ever had. I took my net book and a little printer and I was able to download the prayer chain from the web site and print it on colored paper at the hotel. Two other sisters helped cut them out and we stapled together 468 links n the prayer chain. If it had not been for them I would have been up half the night trying to cut and staple the chain.
The other way, the men cut and staple their own assigned parts of the chain but I don't always get all the parts. This way every prayer is accounted for.
The purpose of the chain is for it to be a visible representation to the inmate participants of the prayers that are being lifted up in their behalf during the 3 1/2-day weekend. With an orderly chain they can walk up to the chain and see who is praying at that particular hour. They are overwhelmed by this to be sure.
On Fridays I get the agape bags ready. We have collected items from all over for those bags. I will not say what except to say that when you are asked, it's a cool thing to do. i don't want to spoil the surprise in case there is someone who may receive such a bag at a similar spiritual walk. When the guys leave the prison on Friday night they load the bags with their letters. Some of them are up half the night. I give them until Saturday morning before they leave for the prison to get their items in the bags. Saturday morning I have to get them taped up, grouped into table families and bagged by table family in jumbo trash bags. Then I get to take them up to the prison by 10AM.
This time, as I came to the prison gates on Saturday morning, my name was not on the gate pass. One of the security ladies remembered me from the last time I was on a team so she had her partner take my license and call to the back where they were holding the workshop. By the time the message got back there, through telephone wires and radios,my first name had become garbled into "Francine." My husband was asked if he knew anyone with that name and of course he said, "Never heard of 'em."
The ladies in the culinary school kitchen were called and my good friend the head cook said, "Well, that is Kathy's last name but maybe that is her middle name. But, yes we are expecting a lady with that last name."
At any rate I was allowed to drive back of Main Prison Complex to the culinary school with my garbage bags. "Franceeeeeeen is in the house!" I said when I arrived. Among by kitchen friends I am now Francine with extra emphasis on the "eeeeen." One cannot say a simple Francine. It has to be said in just that way---or I do not answer. Perhaps I will start another blog for that alter ego and include just the right amount of Es in the title which is at least 3.
Saturday evening is the most relaxed day. I was able to stay at the culinary school with the ladies and the two residents who man the culinary school kitchen for a couple of hours. The two culinary school residents are lovely, soft spoken guys who love it when the Kairos ladies come. We had lunch after the workshop lunch was taken over to the guys and then a few minutes to play the spoon game. Then it was back to work at the hotel for Franceeen!
Saturday night is the best! That's when we get to hear the reflections of the new people on the team. I took plenty of pictures which I intend to share with the team on either flicker or Kodak. I have a special surprise for Morris, our team leader. At any rate, the leader is given a plaque and we all share the wonderment of the Holy Spirit as we witness it over the weekend.
Then we get ready for Sunday!
Well, I have used two breaks to write this much. Part 3 at a later time.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Kairos Weekend (part one)
It works!
I'm in the middle of my duties as the agape chief for Kairos Prison Ministry at Louisiana State Penitentiary for men at Angola. The men on the team go inside the prison and give a 3 1/2-day workshop to 42 residents on the love of Christ.
Inmates are used to people coming into the prison, thumping the Bible at them, telling them they are such sinners and then leaving. Kairos is a different type of ministry where the volunteers become the Bible and they demonstrate the Bible by becoming its hands and feet.
We have a special cook team who remain outside of the workshop. My friend Juanita has a gift for cooking large amounts of home cookin'-style food. We had a lady who cooked fancy gourmet stuff but the best for the ministry is to cook food that reminds them of home. Since this is south Louisiana, that may include fried chicken, barbecue, jambalaya and white beans, banana pudding and the like. There may also be men on the outside team who help with cooking or running the food from the outside kitchen to the workshop. Women's teams are just the opposite.The men stay outside and cook while the women go inside and do the workshop hands-on.
My job during these weekends is to handle agape. These are physical items that remind the prison residents that people are thinking about them and praying for them and that God loves them. I start a few weeks before we start having team meetings, which are six to eight weeks before the team goes to the prison. I go to the national web site and let other Kairos groups know that we need prayer and wall agape. Wall agape are posters from Kairos groups that are posted as greetings on the walls during the special workshop. I also make a kit for each team member so that they can collect prayers, cookies and money for the special weekend workshop.
In the past, local churches allow us to use their facilities. The Ladies have even used the kitchen of a nearby school and the hotel's old abandoned kitchen. Now the warden allows us to use the culinary school kitchen at main prison. They love this. It leaves me behind to coordinate agape at the hotel but when I'm done I get to go to the culinary school, too. I also stay behind on Sunday to greet guests and coordinate our convoy of vehicles up to the prison for the closing ceremony.
My husband, whom I met in this ministry, is usually the music leader. He has been so tired when he comes in that he goes right to the hotel room and conks out like a brick. He has not been sleeping well, lately because his daughter is sick and that has been on his mind. He has slept better and far more here each night than he has at home.
Speaking of sleep, I'd better get my nap in while I can. I will post more on what's happening here later tonight or tomorrow.
I'm in the middle of my duties as the agape chief for Kairos Prison Ministry at Louisiana State Penitentiary for men at Angola. The men on the team go inside the prison and give a 3 1/2-day workshop to 42 residents on the love of Christ.
Inmates are used to people coming into the prison, thumping the Bible at them, telling them they are such sinners and then leaving. Kairos is a different type of ministry where the volunteers become the Bible and they demonstrate the Bible by becoming its hands and feet.
We have a special cook team who remain outside of the workshop. My friend Juanita has a gift for cooking large amounts of home cookin'-style food. We had a lady who cooked fancy gourmet stuff but the best for the ministry is to cook food that reminds them of home. Since this is south Louisiana, that may include fried chicken, barbecue, jambalaya and white beans, banana pudding and the like. There may also be men on the outside team who help with cooking or running the food from the outside kitchen to the workshop. Women's teams are just the opposite.The men stay outside and cook while the women go inside and do the workshop hands-on.
My job during these weekends is to handle agape. These are physical items that remind the prison residents that people are thinking about them and praying for them and that God loves them. I start a few weeks before we start having team meetings, which are six to eight weeks before the team goes to the prison. I go to the national web site and let other Kairos groups know that we need prayer and wall agape. Wall agape are posters from Kairos groups that are posted as greetings on the walls during the special workshop. I also make a kit for each team member so that they can collect prayers, cookies and money for the special weekend workshop.
In the past, local churches allow us to use their facilities. The Ladies have even used the kitchen of a nearby school and the hotel's old abandoned kitchen. Now the warden allows us to use the culinary school kitchen at main prison. They love this. It leaves me behind to coordinate agape at the hotel but when I'm done I get to go to the culinary school, too. I also stay behind on Sunday to greet guests and coordinate our convoy of vehicles up to the prison for the closing ceremony.
My husband, whom I met in this ministry, is usually the music leader. He has been so tired when he comes in that he goes right to the hotel room and conks out like a brick. He has not been sleeping well, lately because his daughter is sick and that has been on his mind. He has slept better and far more here each night than he has at home.
Speaking of sleep, I'd better get my nap in while I can. I will post more on what's happening here later tonight or tomorrow.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Prayers Needed for Kairos!
| We need more names added to our prayer vigil chain at this link: http://www.3dayol.org/Vigil/GetVigil.phtml?pvid=3859&commid=1462 Pray that our Kairos Prison Ministry weekend workshop goes well. Pray for traveling grace up to the hotel and back and forth to/from the prison and for the 42 resident guests to have a God-breathed experience. Thanks! |
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Fw: Kairos
Below is an email from Brother Ryan who will lead the next men's Kairos in June. His team unity meetings start next Saturday May, 9.
Ms. Kathy's Kids Blog: http://mskathyskids.blogspot.com/ --- On Fri, 5/1/09, Ryan B wrote From: Ryan B |
Saturday, April 25, 2009
My Beautiful Necklace
You see, this necklace is very special. It is made of plastic shopping bags, a lollipop stick and the silver in the center of the cross is from a gum wrapper. I wish I knew how it was made from those things but I've never seen the craftsman make them All I know is that he does and that it takes him a lot of time to create each one of them. One could say that he has the time on his hands to make them, because, you see, this craftsman is incarcerated in one of Louisiana's prisons.
One of our Kairos brothers brought bag full of these necklaces to a Kairos team unity meeting. He told us that each donation for them would go to Kairos Prison Ministry because the young man, the craftsman who had made them was a Kairos graduate and know the value of the ministry. The young man's father was also a Kairos volunteer on the outside and brings quart size zip lock bag fulls of these necklaces from his son after each visit. Donations to Kairos are his only request.
Each person who tool one last winter donated $5 each. I bought about 3 of them. Each person who bought them, we have found, has had a story about their necklace after leaving the room. Last week three of us were together and each one of us, in acquiring another necklace, had something that had happened to us involving our necklaces. Each of us met people who needed encouragement and prayer and each of us had given our necklaces away--sometimes to perfect strangers.
My most memorable necklace story was from going to the hospital before work for an early morning blood test. There I met three people in Waiting Room A. There was a friendly lady who arrived about the same time I did who didn't appear to meet a stranger. She started talking to me and pulled the shy man with one leg into the conversation. The third lady came into Waiting Room A and sat beside me. She also felt encouraged to talk and share by the first lady who was called to the back by a nurse. But she began to talk to me.
She told me how her sister had just passed and the funeral was that very day. But she'd volunteered to allow everyone else to go to the services while she waited for her niece to come out of surgery. Then she would take her niece home to take care of her.
Just then the vampire nurse called me to the back to extract a blood sample. When I came back through Waiting Room A the lady was still there. She told me that her sister had died from the complications of lupus and her niece's surgery was also due to lupus. I assured her that from what I'd read and from people I know with the disease that lupus was controllable under doctor's care and of course, staying in prayer. She seemed happy and comforted to discover she was talking to another Christian. She told me her niece's name after I told her of the wonderful prayer warriors I knew in my church, prison ministry and on line.
As if on cue, a young man came down the hall pushing a gurney with a tiny young lady on it. "There she is! There's my niece!" said the woman. She'd told me how cute and tiny her niece was. She was in her early twenties but looked like she was in middle school.
"Hi, Niece!" I chirped."Well, you are a cutie, just as your aunt described you!"
She blushed as her aunt scampered to her side and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I will have you both in my prayers," I added as I excused myself to go to work.
As I got down the hall, my hand touched my necklace and I had to turn back. i took off the necklace and I approached the gurney. When I told them what it was made of, Niece said, Wow! That's amazing!"
Then I told them who made it and why. I told her that I wanted her to have it to remind her that someone was praying for her. All I asked was that she remember that and do it for someone else.
When a few of us had our prayer vigil for Brother Hermann Schluter while he was in the hospital, I believe one of the reasons God had him awake and cheerful was so Richard could give him his necklace. Richard said the same thing in the hospital room: "There's something about them that makes you have to give them away.
Later I saw Brother Checo give one away to one of the young ladies who works with changing the laws for incarcerated youth. He said it was his third necklace also!
There's something about that necklace that one wants to have it and one has to give it away. Something joyful. It's like the gospel: It's not to be kept to oneself but spread around as any other good deed. I love my necklace, but I don't intend to keep this one for very long either. It's a beautiful necklace indeed!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Brother Hermann
Another good thing about Kairos Prison Ministry is how we are all there for each other. I wrote earlier (3/20/09) about how we had a prayer vigil for Brother Hermann at his hospital room a few weeks back. I just received an email this afternoon reporting that he passed this past Friday, April 10--Good Friday.
I went to the visitation this evening. (Hunnee couldn't go because of pastor's meeting. He missed the last one because he was getting his teeth fixed and last week he was soooo sick.) He has such a lovely family. There was a photo album of his and Mrs. Zoey's wedding. He used to happily say how they y were married over fifty years. He talked about his wife all the time so that even if you'd never met her you felt you knew her.
If you ever sat by Brother Hermann in a Kairos meeting, you'd be well-entertained. He was hilarious and very smart. He'd retired from Exxon as an engineer. We went to Kairos Advanced Training together. You could see his face all aglow when it was time to start a new Kairos team He was always happy to be there. He told us a couple of times over that when he started getting grouchy at home, his wife Zoey would say, "Isn't it time for you to do another Kairos?"
He had the best hugs and the best stories. When he found out I worked with children with disabilities, he told me about his daughter who was in Heaven. He said she couldn't walk or talk and that doctors advised he and Mrs. Zoey put her away in a home. They kept her with the rest of the family and took her with them on family vacations. He knew she was already covered by the blood of Jesus and that they'd be together again.
In thinking of Brother Hermann and what joy he had the thought kept coming that he knew where he was going, so we know where he is.
I went to the visitation this evening. (Hunnee couldn't go because of pastor's meeting. He missed the last one because he was getting his teeth fixed and last week he was soooo sick.) He has such a lovely family. There was a photo album of his and Mrs. Zoey's wedding. He used to happily say how they y were married over fifty years. He talked about his wife all the time so that even if you'd never met her you felt you knew her.
If you ever sat by Brother Hermann in a Kairos meeting, you'd be well-entertained. He was hilarious and very smart. He'd retired from Exxon as an engineer. We went to Kairos Advanced Training together. You could see his face all aglow when it was time to start a new Kairos team He was always happy to be there. He told us a couple of times over that when he started getting grouchy at home, his wife Zoey would say, "Isn't it time for you to do another Kairos?"
He had the best hugs and the best stories. When he found out I worked with children with disabilities, he told me about his daughter who was in Heaven. He said she couldn't walk or talk and that doctors advised he and Mrs. Zoey put her away in a home. They kept her with the rest of the family and took her with them on family vacations. He knew she was already covered by the blood of Jesus and that they'd be together again.
In thinking of Brother Hermann and what joy he had the thought kept coming that he knew where he was going, so we know where he is.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Brother Neville
This is my Brother Neville. This picture was taken by another brother, Jim Lambert, as they made their way home to Lafayette from a Kairos meeting in Baton Rouge.
Brother Neville is very active in Kairos Prison Ministry and he is an inspiration. You can see that he has a sense of humor, but what you cannot see is that when Brother Neville was in college, he was in a horrible car crash which put him in a coma for a time and left him with traumatic brain injury, or TBI. Sometimes he is on a walker or a cane and sometimes on long stretches he is in a wheelchair. When the guys go into the prison they have to walk a distance so they make sure they take a wheelchair for him.
Because of the TBI, sometimes Brother Neville may not remember that he's already asked a question of you. Sometimes he can't remember if he telephoned or a word he was thinking of or how he was going to end the sentence he started.
What he doesn't remember is not as important as what he does remember. He knows God loves him so much that he saved him on more than one level. He knows what a blessing the Kairos Ministry is for the prison residents and for those of us who serve. He knows we love him and he loves us very much. He has claimed my husband and myself and we claim him.
When I asked for prayer after discovering I had lymphoma, Brother Neville went into action. He let his church family know to be in prayer and he contacted a sister who had been through the same thing and had her contact me. He would call every other week from Lafayette to keep up with my treatments and he'd keep me in the forefront of the minds and prayers of others. I truly appreciated that.
Now when you are ready to complain when someone asks how your life is going, remember my brother, whose favorite saying is: "It's all good!" Then he points up.
I
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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