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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Favorite day of the week

More than once I have claimed that Thursdays are my favorite day of the week due to this being my Bible study day at Victory. Having recently completed our lengthy study of Isaiah, every time an excellent opportunity to compare our times today with those of Isaiah's, seeing the similarities, we are now in Timothy. 

This subject matter came up sort of left-handedly when our group was asked to suggest topics or books of the Bible to move to next. One of the guys remarked, half-jokingly, that the women couldn't vote, but Pastor cut him off quickly. I mentioned I Timothy and ta da!, now we are studying it! And this gentleman had to leave class early because of a medical appointment so Pastor wanted to make sure we got through chapter 2 in order for him to learn from it. For us all to learn and remember from it, better said.

Some of the discussion was centered upon the lack of involvement of father's in today's society and how women are either forced to or willingly fill in where men leave off in regard to the family. Rita noted a report she heard where white middle-aged men's (45-55) #1 cause of death is now alcohol, drugs, or suicide, not heart problems or cancer. The report indicated the men are basically dying of despair. This was stunning. Only last night I heard about a nice young man who I knew from The Club and was now at Metro Diner found dead in his bed, due to drugs. I am dismayed about this. By all of this.

Not only is this true in families, but in the church, too, where men are expected to be the spiritual leaders. We talked about how it's hard to get competent men to serve on the Councils or as Elders. Just because someone is male does not mean they are the best person to serve. In a few weeks we will have elections at my church and I know some of the guys are done serving. I am hoping there are willing men to step up and serve. 

This photo shows Kristi with Lucy (2nd from left) Sunday night at Reformation Festival meal. She always likes to do the clean up, even at GS, where she was formerly a member. Center is Jean wearing the table decorations, as Brad is talking with David in the background.

At class a few weeks ago I paid attention to the fact that of the ten of us there, 6 were married couples. I would guess this is rare, and I loved it. Our group size varies week to week but that particular day we had three couples. Today Lucy brought the doughnuts and had a box placed right where I sit when I arrived. She knew which type of doughnut I liked! Only ate one of the two she had earmarked for me, and passed the remaining one to Stephanie when she arrived. One time I brought doughnuts and Lucy took me to the side to tell me to mark on my calendar to not bring them on the first Thursday of the month---that was HER day! Okay, sweetie, I won't. She is so darn cute! 

Today after class, Stephanie told me she is going to bring me some of the scarves she makes to be a donation to the PACE girls. I love it, absolutely love the generosity of people. I wish the girls knew how much support there was for them in the communities. Perhaps they do!