9/12/2010

Prayers of God's People

Lord God, you come and seek us out, you call us and empower us to live to your glory, you are our Shepherd and guide, you are our God.  We pray for all who have  strayed from the faith, all who have gotten lost in various ways, especially any who lives are in danger.

God our protector, we remember before you all who work or live in dangerous places or a hostile environment, all who are suffering at this time from storms and disasters, all who are caught up in stife and warfare.  We pray for all who are seeking peace and well being for the world:  we remember the United Nations and peace-keepings forces.

Lord we give thanks for all who have sought us out in times of troubles, who have been a strength and a joy to us.  We pray that you will guide all who teach and influence others.  Let us know your presence in our homes and with our loved ones.  Guide us in our friendships.

We ask you to be with all who walk in darkness; may your love and light protect the depressed and despairing; may your strength and hope be known to the discouraged.  We ask your blessing upon all who are ill at home or in the hospital.

We pray for all who are entering the shadow of death and for their loved ones in their time of anxiety.  Bless all who are in hospice and all who have the care of the terminally ill.  We pray for all who have passed through death and entered life eternal.

Good and faithful Shepherd,
guide us into the ways of life and peace.

9/04/2010

An I-95 Perspective



For the first part of the summer I tended to travel to work in Wilmington along I-95. It is usually fast since the roads are not filled with school buses, teachers in cars, kids and parents in cars resulting in making the interstate as clogged as some people's arteries.  In Delaware, to hasten integration between the races within the schools, busing was instituted.  Being from New York, this was a situation that I did not understand. So for me it is a matter of perspective based not on busing. 

We are a long way from the 1970's and I tend to focus more on the environmental affects of these policies.

Of course, this was at a time when gasoline was around 50 cents a gallon and there were fewer Delaware residents.  Given the resulting cost of gas now, and the fact that "rush" hour isn't, might these be two good reasons to stop busing and focus on greater better schools?  Or, better yet, make school three months of the year and summer the remaining nine.  

However, this discussion can wait, since I am merely venting and this topic never reaches a conclusion in Delaware.

Each day, I pass two bill boards with messages from two local banking institutions, Wilmington Trust and Wilmington Savings Fund Society (WSFS), and their messages could not be more different.


Wilmington Trust:  It really is all about you..... OWN YOUR WORLD.


WSFS:  Fans of Small Business.

It was while reading Jim Wallis book Rediscovering Values that these two advertising signs appeared alongside the road.  Since Wallis's writings challenge us to remember that our decisions should take into account seven generations into the future, the slogan "It really is all about you" was offensive.

And, Own Your World?

Please aren't we temporarily renting space?

To counteract my negativity about the WilmingtonTrust Co. sign, I brought up this topic with the book group.

By the end of the night amid our discussions about personal responsibility, another perspective was offered about the sign's language.

It really is all about you ...and the choices you make. Your responsibility for your choices.

You do not need to make choices that are counter intuitive toward the greater good.

You can use your personal wealth to benefit you and others for generations to come.
Own Your World and make better choices. It is your own world that you are responsible for, only you can change what you do in it.



Perspective.



With others mine changes all the time.