I Love Bagpipes

Okay...I'm gonna try to type! :)

Rummy, special hello to you from Chris Duffy....Cleveland...198?? something!!! :)

And she (as Chrispy) says "hi" to everyone else!!

No cheesecake yet.....but the Makers Mark is fine and the stuffed jalepenos are delicious.

and what fine 3 men would we be talking about?? Anyone we know!!!!!!

Happy Birthday from across the water!!

I never found that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.....

Hmmm....maybe chocalate or vanilla flavoring. :)

I was thinking a couple days ago regarding choices I have made. Some of my choices have been wrong (of course) and I missed some paths God had cleared. And there have been consequences. Yet, though I sinned (and still do), God has continued to provide and my life is truly rich. He has continued to provide in spite of myself.

So I penned this prose this past week.

Gosh dmiller....I chuckled as I read your story. What a ride that was!!!

We could start a thread about horse stories. I'm sure Rascal could fill that thread!!!!

Ex, Daughter still has her boots! So I can ride "professional". (hee)

Can that "sissy" huntseat handle western riding boots?

Hope it works so that we can ride and view that TX countryside!!

I can smell the horse sweat and leather now...........

Good gawd Ex? You serious?

ABSOLUTELY!!

Will that horsey take a western saddle or do I have do huntseat?

Giddy up!!!!

I'm game Ex!!

I can even bring jerky.

But alas....you was a kiddin'.

Happy, happy birthday to you from all at the Pipes' home.

Thank you for your deep friendship, kindness, empathy, insight, and strength.

Love and blessings all around!!

(with a special ABC song...:) )

Happy Belated Birthday to a true gem!

I've been blessed time and again by your presence here and in my life.

One day we will get to sit and talk for HOURS!!

We will talk God and string theory (uh, yeah...right :blink: ) and Candace Pert and ......MEN!!! :)

Happy Belated Birthday CW!!!

Hope your day was filled with colour.

Thank you very much for your kind words. :) Glad someone got something out of it.

Rereading it, I found a typo. (There shouldn't be "let" before "allow" in that 6th verse.) Lordy me!! There may be a few more typos in there. At least ya'll were able to get around it!

Lae that's a beautiful thought! Even though we may not see it, God is at work in what may look to us chaotic...and if there is true disorder, He can work even in spite of the disorder.

Judy Collins....you are showing our ages WS. Hee. Haven't though of her in awhile. Though I have listened to Joni Mitchell some the last couple years. :)

Vegan, my journaling was my "hiding place" working through so many thoughts my last 5 years in TWI. I could at least have a voice in my journals, until I got the courage for the next step.

Thanks again.

Perusing one of my journals I found this. I wrote it December, '04. I was still in TWI at that time and never shared the poem because I thought it was so off the Word. :(

So..I'll share it here. The leaves they are a changing color!!!

I had to establish a universal rule in our house when the kids were younger: "Keep you body to yourself except to bless."

One day I hear from another room:

Daughter: "STOP IT!!!"

Daughther: "I said STOP IT!!"

I enter the said room. Daughter accuses got-to-irritate-my-sister son of bothering her. I make a few inquiries.

Son: "I didn't touch her."

Me: "She said you did."

Son: "Well, I didn't......this stick did."

I had to change the rule: "Keep you body, and all extensions thereof, to yourself except to bless."

Happiest of birthdays...for this year anyway!!!!!

That's beautiful Oenophile. Please continue to share with us this journey. Your writing is pituresque.

I can see Eddie eating blueberries petting his poodle. Wonder what color Stuart is?

Gosh, Vegan, thanks for sharing that incident. Sure helps keep my life in perspective.

I guess I'll chime in too. Mr. Pipes, Dooj, OFM, and Excath state my sentiments/perception pretty well. Igotout, yes..thank you for the clarification.

I don't "agree" with all the CFF doctrine... I'm unlearning/relearning so much now. I do know that God put CFF right in front of me when I was looking for a place to turn when I was exiting TWI. I do know that W*yn* has ministered personally deeply to my soul and helped me tremendously. CFF has asked nothing for itself in return.

Like some have said, we are to be "cautious" all the while trusting God/Christ to lead us where it is we need to be at a particular time in order to let Him do His work within us. For me that has been CFF, CES, GSC, and a hosts of other individuals and a few other groups. LIke OFM (and I think most of us), I am thankful for all the people He has put in my path.

IMO, this thread is a healthy discussion and example of not allowing elephants to hide in rooms. Like Tiny Tim said, "God bless us, each and every one." (Wasn't it Tiny Tim who said that?)

I pondered T & O's response today, wondering about the break down of Jesus' name into an-almost feeling of blasphamy for me. (Apparently others have felt this way too?) I pondered when/how this idolatrous association was slowly forged in my head and heart.

I'm sure (for me) it happened with LCM's reign. The breakdown was like this: TWI is the true household of God. If anyone is a true believer, they will eventually end up in this true household. Most Christians outside the true household worship Jesus as God. To worship Jesus as God is to worship the creation more than the creator (Romans 1) and is akin to homosexuality, which is the dregs of sin itself. Thus the name Jesus(without the Christ) carried with it filth, dirt, sexual vice....and was associated with all the "cathouses on every street corner in America that whore every Sunday" (or something like that).

So...I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone else. :blink: But it sort of helps me understand how my Lord's name became distasteful to me. :(

Glad to meet you T & O. I remember those years..and for us the worst year was 1998. Don't know if that was the case for other folks. And we weren't even hfc's that year, only assistants. We almost left that year...but alas.....we stuck around.

We moved late that year and leadership in the new area wasn't as heavy handed, even though we were hfcs. Seems much depended(s) on local leadership. Then we got new local leadership, still not as heavy handed as the lcm days....but there was more an air of control.

Belle...the tried to step down...tell me about it. I decided I wasn't coordinating anymore in the fall of 2002. Hubby said that was fine, that I didn't have to. I called the BC and was told I couldn't do that. For once I stood up for myself, ended up in tears, and raising my voice (not my standard mo...raising my voice). The BC shut up at that point. Hubby gave his notice a month or so later.....but kept at it for another dang 6 months because no one was "qualified" (out of debt, ac grad, willing). That 6 months really took a toll on our marriage. I was the good wife and played the role, but never attended another leadership meeting. My doctor had told me to quit going to the leadership meetings. Every time I went to one it took me 4 days to recoup; I'd be beating myself up for not being able to live up to the standard.

Potato, glad to meet you too. I don't recall the specifics of the oversight in the V & D. I remember a stapled hand out with all the info...and that we were to spend time with each grad. It seems we were to be helping them with witnessing, time management, and maybe finances? T & O may have a better recollection of that than me. I can check with my hubby later to see what he remembers.

Anyway,this letter reminded me that the lighter demands after lcm were still not light. I don't know/recall how long the V & D oversight persisted.

I'm cleaning out some files....YAY!! I have all sorts of twi paperwork, sitting in these drawers taking up space and emotional energy. Anyway I ran across a letter from mid October, 2001, written by my hubby to the Limb Coordinator. The letter was written with great respect and I imagine the LC responded with great respect. I think we resigned from hfc within 1-1/2 years of this letter. If my memory serves me correctly, latitude was granted, but not enough; our marriage took a great toll and continued to come in second to "keeping God (twi) first."

I post it as an example of the demands put on hfc's at that time, even after lcm left. I was just talking the other day how the demands lightened toward the end of Craig's reign and after he left. And the following are the lighter demands.

Letter excerpts:

"After reading and reviewing the Vision and Direction for HFC's, I was overwhelmed. ....... I was overwhelmed by the work involved in the oversight and expansion parts of the Direction. I cannot fulfill those requirements and lead a balanced life: I can pretend those requirements do no exist and go along as best I can for awhile, but it will become evident at some point I'm not fulfilling those standareds.

The time requirements are huge. ......... There are at least eight regular meetings, an HFC meeting, a STS hookup, and an outreach event in a month. That would mean 30 hours per month spent in meetings (including set-up, travel, tear down, etc.) plus all the communication, oversight and planning associated with those meetings. In addition to spend time one on one with each disciple in witnessing, teaching, and development goes beyond my ability. ....... (In fairness, the additional meeting to the STS and the increased size of our HHF are the straws that are breaking my back. .....) I can do the work as the job descripition sets forth, but at the expense of my wife, children, and health.

.....I cannot oversee 16 grads who are outside my family on the detailed basis set forth in the Vision and Dirction. I can follow up with them after meetings and call some between times, but I'm physically absent from home 55 hours or more per week for work and cannot have any meaningful time with my wife and children and provide those oversight guidelines.

...if this means I need to give up coordinating a HHF, I understand. If there is latitude.......then I would be blessed to continue.....

If this letter opens the door for some honest discussion of the cost versus the benefit of actually having nine regular meetings in a calendar month plus a STS hookup, a HFC meeting, and an outreach event...that would be good also....

...thank you for your labor of love; I know this letter just made it harder."

End letter excerpts

I know this goes on in other religious organizations as well. As a dear ex-Way minister once told me, "You can plan so well that you plan God right out of it." Folks can gather 9 times plus a month and be very happy....but in twi, each time was such a production!!