Story : Get To Know
Posted by Dave Clayton on 08/30/2010
At Ethos, we believe one of the most effective ways to reach new people with the gospel of Jesus Christ is through planting churches that plant churches. Over the last two years we have helped dozens of church plants financially, through prayer, and with man power. Over the next two weeks, we would like to introduce you to a couple of our church planters from the Vine in Vancouver, British Columbia.
ABOUT US : Greetings to all of our brothers and sisters in Christ at Ethos! David (or Dave as I think you all call him) is always sharing with me about the wonderful things that God is doing among you there in Nashville. Amy and I are thrilled to know that you are thinking of us and partnering with us in prayer in our church planting work here in Vancouver, British Columbia. So let me share with you some about who we are, and what we’re up to in Canada.
Amy grew up in the opposite corner of North America in Port Charlotte, a town on the gulf coast of southern Florida. I was a Navy brat, and my family moved wherever the Navy sent my dad. My last two years of high school landed me in Summerville, South Carolina (where I met this nerdy little 9th grader named David Clayton). Amy and I met at Harding University where Amy was working towards a degree in education and I a Bible degree. We started dating while I was working on a Master’s degree in Marriage & Family Therapy, and we got married the day after I graduated in 2005. Amy also earned a Master’s in Education from Harding.
Our relationship began as each of us was meeting with a group that had a dream of planting a church in the Pacific Northwest. Before we knew it, we fell in love, and we’ve been on an adventure together ever since. After we married we lived in Searcy, Arkansas for a couple of years where Amy worked as a teacher and I worked as a therapist, and our walk with God was nurtured in our life with the Downtown Church of Christ.
In July of 2007 we quit our jobs, packed up our lives and moved to Eugene, Oregon. Our plan was to live there for around 6 months while we waded through the process of getting our visas for Canada. We ended up being in Eugene for 18 months! While living there we worked in campus ministry at the University of Oregon and with a homeless drop in shelter for youth. These experiences were not only life changing but were also good training grounds for our work here in Canada. During this phase of our marriage our faith was continually strengthened as we watched God provide for us month after month.
Finally, on December 15, 2008 we made the move across the border and started our new lives in Vancouver. Since then we have been working with our partnering couple, Paul & Julie McMullen, at planting a new church; Amy obtained a degree from Vancouver Community College for teaching ESL; I’ve been working at starting a part time therapy private practice; and we had our first son, Elijah Hawk Etheridge.
About The Vine : The vision for The Vine, a church of Christ, started over 6 years ago amongst of group of Harding University students and graduates. That group of students was whittled down eventually to two couples (us [the Etheridges] and Paul & Julie McMullen) with a vision for planting a multiplication based network of simple and organic churches in Vancouver, British Columbia. We envision a large network of weekly intimate house church gatherings that all come together once per month for a time of celebration. In February, 2009, the four of us gathered together and asked God for that to be the last time that it was just us four. To this date, He has granted that request.
For the first half of 2009 we met together with another new church plant with a similar vision, LifeHouse Christian Church. In August of 2009 we experienced our first multiplication and LifeHouse and The Vine began meeting separately. We still gather with LifeHouse once per month for our celebration services.
Currently, The Vine consists corporately of one house church usually consisting of 8-12 people. We gather weekly on Sunday evenings at Paul and Julie’s apartment. Since one of our core values is multiplication we try to keep things simple so as to promote reproducibility. Our gatherings are simple and casual. From Sunday to Sunday the flow and order of our time together can look very different. However, every Sunday includes a meal, time spent together in the Bible, singing praise to God, prayer, and communion. Midweek, we gather in small groups of 2-4 which we call Life Groups. Life Groups provide a safe place to explore God’s word together, confess sin, and pray for one another and for friends who do not yet know Jesus.
From a corporate standpoint (meaning if you look at our times together on Sundays and mid-week) The Vine is still very much a small baby church. However, we are still in the gathering phase as a young church, and it becomes very difficult to measure The Vine when you start looking at neighborhood connections. Much of our work here in the first year and a half has been simply adjusting to a new country, city, and culture, and trying to network in our neighborhood. If you were to measure community at The Vine by counting all the people in our neighborhood who have visited, served in service projects, or engaged in vision type discussions about The Vine the number would probably reach upwards of 100. So we view ourselves as missionaries in our neighborhood whose job is to network, connect, volunteer, and vision cast in each pocket of people that we come in contact with. In everything we do we are asking for God’s favor and looking for opportunities to plant seeds for His Kingdom. At the same time we are trying to disciple the group of people that has committed to The Vine already. This group consists of some mature Christians, some brand new Christians, and some who have not yet made faith commitments to Christ.
Story : Palestine Update
Posted by Dave Clayton on 08/23/2010
This blog is written by Jonathon Valentin, who spent time in Palestine this summer.
Well, I’ve been spending a lot of days lately working at Al-Basma with my new mentally handicapped friends. I’ve especially been helping make the recycled paper from which they make notebooks and Christmas cards. I also helped put up some curtains in their guest house over the last week. Sharing in the joy and the smiles has been incredible. I wish I knew how to adequately put into words what it is like to see music speak to them in such a powerful way, or to explain how intensely the presence and grace of Jesus is revealed here through these people.
I have also been working at the Paidia climbing wall on the weekends. Many nights we go to the park and watch the World Cup game that they project onto a big screen each evening. It seems weird to think that something that is such a big deal here is hardly cared about in the US. It is a beautiful thing that this place, which was once a Jordanian military base and then an Israeli military base, is now such a nice park and a place where the community gathers to celebrate the excitement and participate in the atmosphere of the World Cup.
Last night I walked halfway down the valley that sits behind our apartment. Even after 4 weeks here, the view still takes my breath away. I haven’t yet gotten used to it or begun taking it for granted. The night before that, Paul and I walked down into the valley. We saw a shepherd leading his sheep in front of us. I told Paul I wondered how different this place looked in the time of Jesus. It is easy to imagine that it looked then quite similar to how it looks now. Perhaps the shepherds were here in this valley when they heard the announcement that Jesus had been born. It seems likely that 1000 years before that David may have brought his flock here, right outside of his hometown of Bethlehem. Maybe he sat on this very rock and wrote a psalm here, long before he ever became king.
I walk back there today. I enjoy the stillness and the quiet. Everything seems so peaceful. I look around and I can see so much of this great world. I see the houses up on the hilltops, the fields down in the valley. There are some children at the bottom, playing under some olive trees. I see a shepherd with his flock over on the side of the mountain. I close my eyes. And I simply listen.
What strikes me first is what I do not hear. I hear no cars, no traffic. Back home, when I try this exercise, even out in the midst of cornfields, it seems I can almost always here traffic in the distance. But here, it is different. I hear children laughing. I can’t even see them, but their voices carry from the hilltop on the other side. I hear a soccer ball being kicked. I listen to the sound of sheep and a dog is barking somewhere in the distance. Now I hear a bee buzzing around my head and music, coming from somewhere far off, reaches my ears. The sun sets. The moon is almost full. I see the Big Dipper and the North Star. The same moon and the same stars and constellations that I look at back home. I look toward Bethlehem and I see a particularly bright planet or star that seems to be resting right above it.
A few minutes later I stop at the store to buy some water. Right as I leave a shepherd brings his flock across the street and steps into the store to buy some things. As I make the short walk back to my apartment from the store, the shepherd’s dog walks beside me and about 60 sheep and goats follow us. The shepherd catches up in a few minutes, but apparently the sheep dog knows where to guide the animals entrusted to his care. I walk down the dusty road, carrying my groceries, I hear the evening call to prayer in the distance, the fifth and final call of the day, I exchange glances with the dog walking at my side, and look back at our unusual entourage. And we walk on together, under the bright moonlight, down the streets of Palestine.
Story : Haiti Update
Posted by Dave Clayton on 08/16/2010
Back in June I spent a two week period in Cap-Haitien, a city on the northern coast of Haiti. After the earthquake many of the victims were sent to hospitals in Cap- Haitien to receive wound treatment as the Port-Au- Prince area was basically reduced to rubble. While in Cap, I worked in a Catholic Hospital and another small clinic in the area. Dave asked me to do a small write up on what I saw God doing in Haiti. The truth is it was very difficult for me to decide what to write about. I saw desperate people everywhere I looked, but finding God in that place was not easy. The people of Haiti are outwardly desperate for food, jobs, and clean water, but most of them don’t even realize what they are truly desperate for. They are desperate for Jesus Christ. While there are many Haitians they do know Jesus, the majority are engaged in the Voodoo culture, and this group includes the 80 % of Haitians that are professing Catholics. It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around, but while they attend mass almost every morning and proclaim Jesus, their ultimate authority is almost always a Voodoo priest or priestess.
I quickly realized that Satan’s stronghold over Haiti is greed and a lust for money. The few Haitians that truly know Jesus are free of this greed, but most Haitians are consumed by it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet but a few Haitians that aren’t driven by greed, and for this reason I had a lot of difficulty trying to see God’s work. But the more I think about it, the more God reveals to me that He is at work in that place just as He is anywhere else in this world, though it may be a little more tainted in Haiti. I felt God pushing me to write about Shada, the other clinic that I worked at while in Cap-Haitien, so here it is.
On the first Wednesday that I was in Haiti, we gathered some supplies from the Hospital and made our way to Shada. Right in the heart of the city, Shada is more or less a picture perfect description of the meaning of the word “slum.” We stopped on the side of the road, grabbed our bags, and a young boy met us and walked us through a maze of cramped alleys back to the clinic. Many of the alleys were smaller than shoulder width, and we had to turn sideways in order to get through. We also had to be mindful not to step in the water that was flowing through every alley. This water, in which children with swollen bellies and reddened hair due to malnutrition walk barefoot through every day, is actually the sewage system for the community. The backside of the community runs into an inlet from the sea, and the shore is darkened muck literally covered in trash. The water directly off of the shore is black, and it’s not uncommon to see people bathing in it.
Madam Bwa, the overseer of the community, runs the clinic. Madam Bwa is a midwife who has delivered probably every baby in that community. She’s pretty much in charge of that area, and I heard from many people that we would not have been welcome in Shada without her permission. Currently, this clinic is funded by a group in Florida. They provide enough money to the clinic for one Doctor to come to the clinic one day each week. If someone is sick on a day other than when the doctor is in, they’ll have to wait another week for her to come back. It’s really a terrible situation, especially considering some of the patients that we saw. Tuberculosis is rampant in this area, and due to the close living quarters, more and more people are getting it all the time. Though we could write prescriptions for TB medication, we couldn’t actually give it to them and knew that they would never be able to afford it. That was a tough situation to get past considering we saw at least 3 children under the age of 2 that probably had TB. Since being back, I’ve gotten word that a few children that we saw have died because they couldn’t afford to go anywhere else and because it wasn’t the day that the doctor was in. Again, it’s a truly awful situation. I know this all seems very much like a downer, but like I said before I am now seeing how God is working in this area.
I went to Haiti with Randy Moore, an RN from Atlanta. He’s been back and forth ever since the earthquake, working mostly out of the Catholic Hospital. Randy felt God’s call to go to Haiti, quit his job, and went with it, and I can see now that God is using people like him to bring the message of Hope to the Haitians. The greatest thing that God has revealed to Randy about why he should be in Haiti is not to just help people, but rather to teach them how to help each other. Most importantly, Randy is loving these people. He is kind and generous to them and actually tries to invest himself in their lives. That is something that shocks most Haitians, and it really only causes them to ask questions about why Randy is the way he is. The only answer Randy can give, the only answer any of us can give when good comes from us, is that it is from Jesus and not ourselves. And that is what God is doing in Haiti.
I do not believe that God caused an earthquake in Haiti. I do not believe that God was punishing the Haitians for their enslavement to Voodoo. I do believe that God allowed the earthquake to happen and is now using it to awaken His people to a part of the world that we have seemingly forgotten. He is using people like Randy. He is using people from all over the world to lift up these broken people. However, we can send food, clothes, water, and anything, but like I said before, the Haitians are desperate for Jesus Christ. They are desperate for His Spirit to flow through them and give them the peace, hope, and love that is Jesus. I have read articles talking about the “Hope of Haiti” being their resilient nature and drive to get back on the feet. In reality the Hope of Haiti is the Hope of all people and all nations. Their Hope is Jesus Christ. God is using His people in that place, and He is moving in ways that I couldn’t see until He opened my eyes to it. He is using ordinary people like you and me, just like He always has, to bring the Glory of Jesus to the Haitians and all peoples of the world. It’s really a beautiful thing. I am thankful to be a part of it.
God bless you all,
Burton Wood
Randy is heading back to Haiti in September, and he’s going to be working more closely with the clinic in Shada. He’s raising money so that they can expand their clinic and have doctors for several days each week rather than just on Wednesday. If you have any interest in helping out financially or even going down to be a loving presence to these people you can contact Randy at ramoo76@gmail.com. And if you have any questions about anything else feel free to contact me at woodcb@mail.lipscomb.edu or come find me at the 5:00 pm service!
Flood Relief | Help Needed this Wed
Posted by Dave Clayton on 05/24/2010
On Sunday Night, a friend and former professor of mine visited Ethos. After the 7 PM Worship Gathering he asked if 5 or 6 people would be willing to help them on Wednesday Morning from approximately 9 am – 11 am. Their house was damaged by the flood waters, and although they have finished the majority of the work, they still need some able bodied folks to help them tear the carpet out of their basement. This is a great opportunity to serve a great man and his family.
Can you help? If so, please shoot an email to ethoschurch@gmail.com. Thanks!
Immediate Service Need: Help People Get Out of the Cold
Posted by Luke Flener on 01/29/2010
We are currently in need of 24 people to help over the weekend to get people that are on the streets out of the cold. This would involve driving through the snow to give rides or staying overnight at designated churches and shelters. Please contact Matt Preston at 270-303-3800 or m.preston22@gmail.com if you can be a part of this effort.
This Samaritan Life
Posted by Dave Clayton on 03/10/2009
I read a really intriguing article by Tim Stafford. I am going to post a few excerpts of it on this blog. Hopefully it will help us think through what it looks like to be followers of Jesus in a city where “being Christian” is more often a category on your facebook page than a way of life. Denis Haack, who critiques films, books, and music says that Christians often act like they live in Jerusalem. Not so argues Haack–Christians live in Babylon. If this is the case, then why are we surprised when we see a movie that offends are values? Babylonian movies reflect Babylonian values, not Christian ones.
The problem is, as Christians, we don’t live in Babylon. We live in Samaria.
Babylon is far from Jerusalem and it doesn’t know much about its religion. What you believe or how you worship is of little significance to Babylon, so long as you keep the peace and contribute to civic life. This was the case with Daniel and the other Jewish exiles. They only got in trouble when the undermined the government or got caught up in petty politics. Babylon could have cared less about their religion.
But Samaria is different. The people in Samaria know plenty about Jerusalem’s religion (though some of the information may be distorted). And unlike Babylon where the people are indifferent to Jerusalem’s religion, Samaria holds a grudge against it.
If you read the story of Jesus sitting around the well with a Samaritan woman (John 4), you will remember that Jews and Samaritans had a long history of not getting along. They were like estranged relatives. They had a partly shared worldview (both studied the first 5 books of the Bible), they had a shared point of origin (both came from the line of Jacob), and they had well defined points of contention (where do we go to worship and be forgiven?).
They knew each other…or at least they thought they did, so therefore they didn’t associate with one another. Their familiarity with one another led to suspicion and hostility.
This often rings true for life in America. The problem is not that my religion is strange. The problem is that my religion in familiar. Like Samaritans and Jews, Christians and Non-Christians have a partly shared world view (Our Western Traditions, Our Southern Values, even the Bible and Prayer), we have a shared point of origin (after all America was born out of Christendom), and well defined points of contention (the exclusivity of Jesus).
We are familiar with what one another believes. Or at least we think we are. This often leads to hostility, and at the very least…deep seeded grudges.
For us to move past this, we must respond the way Jesus did. Jesus sidestepped all of the classic arguments, using creative language (i.e. “living water”) to provoke curiosity. He pointed ahead to times when Samaritans and Jews would drown their differences in a newer, and deeper reality.
It is more than refining our conversation though, living in Samaria requires patience and love for the long haul. No one can change a grudge by direct assault. Instead we have to outlive it, and look for fresh opportunities to begin anew. We have to love the people on the other side of our grudges and presuppositions.
After all, Jesus clearly did. He honored Samaria when he chose a Samaritan for his parable of being a good neighbor (who do we choose for our illustrations of virtue?). He sent his disciples to Samaria to announce his resurrection (Acts 1:8). If you remember the rest of the story, Phillip took Jesus seriously and amazing things happened.
What does it look like for you and I to follow Jesus in a place like Samaria? Do we have the patience and the love to outlive our country’s presuppositions about our faith in Christ? Do we have the ability to view Samaria the way Jesus did…not as our enemy, but as our neighbor?
Labor of Love
Posted by Dave Clayton on 02/11/2009
Hello. Happy Wednesday. I wanted to make all of you aware of a wonderful way you can help make a difference on a global scale this Friday Night. On Friday Night, Feb. 13th, a non profit called Exile International will be hosting a benefit at the Cannery Ballroom. In short, the folks from Exile International provide a variety of services to help children that have been captured and forced into guerilla warfare. This is an amazing ministry, and if you don’t have plans for the weekend I highly encourage you to make plans to attend. There will be live music, salsa dancing, and a silent auction. All proceeds go directly towards making a difference in the lives of these children soldiers.
Also, if you would be interested in helping volunteer for this event please email Bethany Haley (bethanyphaley@gmail.com). They especially need people to help the bands load in. Have a great day!
Jesus in the Streets
Posted by Dave Clayton on 02/05/2009
Once a month, all of our house churches push pause on our weekly meetings and instead of meeting in a home we spend time just being the church. It is really inspiring to see all of the creative ways our house churches choose to serve the people of our city. Last night hundreds of you rolled up your sleeves and shared the love of Christ with people you have never met in most cases.
I thought it would be good to share a few of the things you guys did. After all, if you are involved in a house church, you are probably only aware of the way your house church served. Here are just a few of the ways you guys served:
* Made a meal and ate dinner with the men in a Half Way House
* Set up and played cards with the shut ins at Carestone Retirement Home
* Wrote encouragement cards to your friends and family members that don’t know Jesus
* Passed out blankets, hand warmers, and coffee to the Homeless Community
* Gave manicures and pedicures to the women living at Mending Hearts
* Made soup and visited elderly shut-ins
* Spent a week helping serve the needs of one of our Ethos Family Members who has been down on his luck
* and much more…
Proud of you guys. Keep being the church.
A Story from Katie
Posted by Dave Clayton on 02/04/2009
If you have been around Ethos for any time at all then you have probably met Katie Stevens, Lindsay Preston, and Matt Preston (note they are brother and sister not married). If you don’t know them, you can usually find them somewhere around the welcome table greeting visitors as people arrive, or during worship standing towards the back, playing with kids that aren’t theirs. If you haven’t gotten the picture, they are amazing people. This week, they really taught me a lot about what it means to just be the visible presence of Jesus right here in Nashville. I asked Katie to send me an email describing their day on Wednesday and asked her if I could post it here. I have changed some of the names involved, but I still think you will be challenged to live out the gospel after reading this:
——— (Katie’s Email)————————-
Today was an incredibly overwhelming day for Carol and her family. Lindsay, Matt, and I went with Carol and her two sisters to court to possibly testify to the fact that Carol is a fit mother and is making every effort to provide a safe home for her children. I completely underestimated the importance of our presence.
We were immediately introduced to her lawyer, a case worker, and the director of DCS (child services). They talked to us privately about what we thought about Carol and what we felt like the best situation was for the boys. The Director of DCS said that he believed we were good people and that he could trust us. It was really neat. Carol’s court date got postponed until May, but we were all asked to meet in a conference room with Carol’s family, her lawyer, the folks from child services, DCS, and the children’s lawyer.
God was so apparent in that room. We were such a large part of the discussion, as was Ethos. The Director of DCS kept asking us questions about why we were supporting Carol and her children — giving us a great opportunity to explain that we love her and we help her because of our faith.
Everyone seemed shocked. (It was so unusual that the children’s lawyer said that she was suspicious of good people and that they usually want to kidnap the children that they get close to!!) The Director of DCS said that it was very rare for a church do something like that and that as long as he’s worked for DCS he’s seen very little support for stuggling mothers and families. He told us that he wanted to call us and to give us more people to support — an absolute unexpected blessing.
We were given an opportunity to share God’s love today in a completely unforseen way. I am so encouraged by his great power and hopeful that through all of this, God will show Ethos many more people to support and to love.
Hmmm…
Posted by Dave Clayton on 01/08/2009
By now, many of you have probably seen this video. I stumbled across it a couple of weeks ago, and in the last week or so, I have found myself recommending this video to a dozen or so people so I thought I would post it here. For those of you familiar with Penn of Penn and Teller (he is the big guy with long hair), he is a well spoken, well educated, and talented entertainer and atheist. In fact, if you go online and type in the phrase “Penn and Teller Bible” you will find a plethora of videos called “The Bible is Bulls@#t” produced by Penn and Teller for the sole purpose of disproving God and the Bible. Read the rest of this entry »
40 years of Mission
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/21/2008
One of my favorite things about the holidays is getting to worship at the church where I grew up. It is so much fun to see old friends — reconnect with people that have shaped my life greatly. There is just something so special about Christmas. Read the rest of this entry »
Mission Challenge # 4
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/16/2008
The challenge for today is really simple. In fact, it is so simple that I won’t spend any time trying to set the stage or unpack the theological implications. Just try it.
First, get out your cell phone and scroll through the names in your contact list.
Second, who is a person in your contact list that is struggling with loneliness.
Third, call that person right now. Don’t wait until later. Just call them. Let them know you were thinking about them. Maybe you will go out for coffee one day this week. Read the rest of this entry »
Todd Smells Like Pee
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/10/2008
This morning I was having a conversation with my friend Todd Garrett. If you know Todd, he has been a huge part of Ethos since this summer. He is one of those guys that is just a lot of fun to be around. He has probably invited more people to church than anyone I know. I have learned a lot from him. This morning he came into my office and said….”Do you wanna know what I think evangelism is like?” Read the rest of this entry »
Beer Commercial Gospel
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/08/2008
I love Beer Commercials. As far as I’m concerned, beer commercials are always the best. In recent years, ESPN and Sonic have gained some serious credibility in the funny commercial department, but I would still argue that they are playing for second place. Beer commercials are always the best. Read the rest of this entry »
Mission Challenge # 3
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/07/2008
Don’t go to church today.
Be the church. Don’t show up to critique the sermon, or consume the worship. Show up to share fellowship with people that Love God. Don’t just talk to your friends, but look for opportunities to welcome in newcomers. Don’t ask shallow questions to simply pass time, but talk with people like they matter. Take a moment to invite a friend that has never been to church. Read the rest of this entry »
Missional Challenge # 2
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/06/2008
Happy Saturday morning. Whatever is on your agenda today I hope it involves rest, being with people you love, and spending time with God. Make sure you spend your day doing things that matter. Today is the second day of our Missional Challenge. I probably won’t provide a challenge for you everyday, but hopefully these will get us all moving in the right direction together. Read the rest of this entry »
Missional Challenge #1
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/05/2008
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about just how difficult it is to live a life that is missional. For those of you reading that don’t read a lot of books about church (trust me you shouldn’t feel guilty if that is the case),
This Samaritan Life
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/02/2008
I read a really intriguing article by Tim Stafford. I am going to post a few excerpts of it on this blog. Hopefully it will help us think through what it looks like to be followers of Jesus in a city where “being Christian” is more often a category on your facebook page than a way of life. Read the rest of this entry »
Turkey Hangover
Posted by Dave Clayton on 12/01/2008
Welcome back. I hope you feel refreshed and well rested after a few days of vacation. Sydney and I really enjoyed spending time with family, eating turkey, watching football, and just being mindless. It was really nice to actually relax for a few days. It sure is hard to get going again after the holidays though. Anywho 
…
I will keep it short and simple today. I read a powerful verse this morning that really got the gears turning. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Timothy 1:15-16
Posted by Dave Clayton on 11/21/2008
A handful of my friends and I will be reading through 1 Timothy together over the course of the next week. Feel free to join us. I would imagine that most of the things I will write about on here will come from that.
Yesterday as I was reading through 1 Timothy, a verse really jumped out and grabbed my heart. Read the rest of this entry »
Monday Morning
Posted by Dave Clayton on 11/17/2008
It is 6:44 am right now. Yeah I know that is early. I have been lying awake for the last three hours due to an unforgiving cold I have been fighting. It is amazing the things you think about when you are lying there wide awake all night. Read the rest of this entry »