I am up at at 'em! I have done my do in the "round the clock" prayer vigil for the marriage enrichment retreat in Floydada.

Rian sent a prayer list with specific requests and a listing of all the participants and sponsors and attendees. Twenty-five and a half couples participating, seventeen couples working, cooking, presenting! It appears eighty-five people are taking part in this first "Marriage Made in God's Image Retreat". I felt compelled to make the half couple a priority in my prayer vigil. If this retreat is anything close to the reports I have gotten from the "Higher Ground Retreat" it will be a very moving, fulfilling weekend for all! Many of those taking part in this retreat I have met, some I have not. On the prayer lists I see Elders and their wives from both Greenlawn and South Plains, I see pulpit ministers and their wives and I see an abundance of people giving their best effort to serve GOD and their fellow Christians. May GOD's richest blessings flow!

On the other front I feel abandoned. I haven't ventured out but I must be the only person left in Abilene. Apparently all the rest went to Nashville for LTH. I am not finding anyone who is blogging. I pray for LTH's success.

A lot of blog going on about trends and projections for churches. The demise of the megachurch, the onslaught of home churches. I can't really get comfortable with either concept. I probably think there is a happy medium that takes the strength of each and blesses the other. I have a bundle of questions but will refrain at this time.

Yesterday was a very blessed day in our home. I spent the morning on the phone. I talked with the jobsite and it was raining (of course). No speculation on when we might start. It is getting so close to Fall Festival that I am willing to bet on next week.

This weekend's St. Lawrence Fall Festival is the primary means that the community funds their church for the coming year. Preparations have been going on for days and weeks. Set up will really begin to take place today and in the morning the annual sausage making will commence. The men will meet at church and they will make about ten thousand pounds of authentic St. Lawrence sausage. Each Parish has their special blend of herb and spices for seasoning their sausage. The sausage making will begin about five in the morning and by noon clean-up will be complete. It is an interesting process to watch and over the years I have seen it come of age. From the old "crank" extruders filling the sausage casings to those propelled by air! Once the sausage is done it is hung in the sausage house and the men give way to the women and kids to transform the gymnasium into a bevy of booths selling games of chance or home baked goodies! Move through the complex and you will find quilts and rifles being raffled along with a rural carnival atmosphere. The center piece of this fund raiser is the Sunday afternoon auction, items are on display and a list of contributors cover the wall. After the Saturday morning sausage making, if you slip behind the Hall you will find the men gathered around giant barbecue pits and kegs of beer. They will reward themselves on a job well done by eating ribs and imbibing in spirits. These large pits will do double duty through the day, as then men will eat and then following Saturday Mass everyone will converge. Brisket is the mainstay of the Sunday meal and they will go on Saturday night. Sunday morning will find the air permeated with the aroma of meal preparations. Sunday afternoon after the auction, barbecue sandwiches will be sold and most years a dance will end the festivities late Sunday night. This year however, ther will be no dance. Then recuperation and preparations for the 2005 Festival will begin! FYI, the St. Lawrence community is located on FM2401 between Highway 137 and Highway 33 and can be accessed from State Highway 137 (going south from Highway 158) or from Highway 33 traveling south from Highway 87, 42 miles southwest of Big Spring, 43 miles southeast of Midland, 44 miles north of Big Lake.

FATHER, I ask YOUR blessing on the marriage retreat, on the LTH conference, and on the Fall Festival. I pray for their success. Bless the efforts being made in each endeavor. I pray for safe travel for those working and those patronizing these activities. I ask special blessings on those who are called to serve others. FATHER, I would ask that YOU keep us centered in YOU, help us to work toward a higher goal. Bless us, surround us, fill us with YOU and YOUR spirit. I pray for the healing of Rene', Carol, Michelle and Aimee. I continue to ask YOUR intervention for R2D2, work YOUR plan FATHER. I pray for the special needs of our spiritual family. I pray for Kathy and ask YOUR comfort for her in the loss of her husband. I pray for those suffering loss from the hurricane season. Bless the relief efforts, speed them. FATHER, help us to realize how frail and delicate this life is, help us to use each day to its maximum and help us to use this life as a stepping stone to pursue life everlasting with YOU. Thank YOU FATHER, for YOUR love, for YOUR mercy and YOUR grace! To YOU be the GLORY!