Thank you, thank you

Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all: the planners of the gathering, the leaders of the sessions and of worship (and of my opportunity to contribute) and all of you for just being there. Yes, I want to do it again. I'd like it to be the same but know it can never be repeated just as it was. We will be different: different in numbers, different attendees, different in person and experiences. (And, how can we put "Group Belly Laugh" on the agenda?) But the same Spirt gathering us in koinonia. I want to do it again, maybe as part of an extended driving trip which both LeeAnn and I enjoy. Yes, she will be with me, God willing.

I arrived home safely, Friday evening, WITH my luggage! As I boarded the plane at Tucson, I glimpsed the clear sky and felt the warm air--it was the most beautiful day, weather-wise, of my time there. I took a deep breath, suspecting I wouldn't be experiencing this for a while. And I haven't. The frigid air chilled the corridor from plane to terminal in Minneapolis but I was warmed when who should be waiting for me but Bob White! Before he had to go on his way, he wrangled a meal voucher from NorthWest. When I arrived in Winnipeg, it was no less cold but my luggage was in the carousel. The only glitch was that my intern failed to pick me up as he insisted he would and I took a taxi home. (To those of you who have been supervisors, advise me: is this grounds for a failing grade? No, grace will abound.)

The warmth of Arizona--most particularly of our gathering--remains as we carry on in the chill of a lingering Winnipeg winter.

Thanks be to God.

LANNY