Sunday Sunrise

Another gorgeous Sunday morning sunrise!  Anyone who is following this blog must be growing a little tired of these photographs, but actually seeing the sunrise for a valley-dweller like me, as I have said before, is thrilling.  Morning in the mountains seems to happen so gradually this time of year, the sky becoming just a little brighter and brighter every hour, until it finally peeks anticlimactically over Queen Mountain sometime mid-morning.  But here it is more like the Big Bang of Creation!  "In the beginning, God said Let There Be Light!!  And there was light!!"

And even the western horizon is transformed into rosy lavender hues, windows here and there throwing back a bright golden reflection.  A person wants to linger for a long time in this magical first light of creation, "trailing clouds of glory,", as it were.

This was Women's Sunday at the Methodist Church; the offering collection was taken up by women, the men in the choir were sitting a little uncomfortably out in the congregation, and the message was delivered by Cindy Tripp, a Development Officer for the Methodist Home for Children.  She shared with us two heart-wrenching stories of children who had been abused and neglected, but then had been rescued by women like her who are serving on the front lines, as the women in most churches do - the foot soldiers in the trenches of this troubled world.

Pastor Powell told us about his upcoming series of sermons (now that we have completed the Ten Commandments, "Staying Between the Lines") beginning next Sunday called "Epic Fails."  I am sure he will be talking about the Golden Calf, David and Bathsheba, Peter's Denial; I couldn't help thinking about my upcoming half marathon.  It is easy to succumb to a little doubt before a big race.  As the legendary Alberto Salazar has said, "Running a marathon [or, at this stage in my life, a half-marathon] is in many ways an imponderable enterprise.  No matter how thoroughly you prepare, there is always an element of discovery and surprise, sometimes gratifying; more often, unfortunately, otherwise."