blog recommendation

Follow the link to David Bard's blog for a very thoughtful piece on the war in Iraq and his reflection on an anti-war event. I found much to agree with. What do you think?

It's not the earthquake that controls the advent of a different life
But storms of generosity and visions of incandescent souls.
-Boris Pasternak
quoted in Prophets
Megan Mckenna
Orbis Books p. 1

What Helps You Pay Attention?

While making a quick trip through a Barnes and Noble store I picked up Thin Places: Where Faith Is Affirmed and Hope Dwells
by Mary Treacy O'Keefe
(Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press, Incorporated) on p. 133 she gave this quote from Rev John Ackerman .

“So what is it that helps you pay attention? Some people walk or read scripture or sing a hymn. Some do a simple review of noticing what they are grateful for. Pretty soon the gifts we notice become traceable to the Giver and prayer happens. I find that I am helped in sharing stories with others. People help affirm my observations that it is God I stumbled upon, or question my perception. I hear another’s story, and...I am able to recognize God in new ways.”

I read it to the lectionary study group and it also fits well with the material being used for The Spiritual Life class.
Thanks to Mary Treacy O’Keefe for permission to post the quote!

Day 1 Link

This is what used to be called The Protestant Hour and since I have referenced it a few times at church I will put it in as a link on the side.
http://www.day1.net

Notes, quotes for Spiritual Life Class

Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments and life itself is grace”
Frederick Buechner,
Now and Then

“Spiritual growth is learning to not be frightened by what we hear” Rob Campbell
http://www.explorefaith.org

Pay attention - to your tears, to your laughter,
to your fear, to your hope, to your loneliness,
to your connectedness
- pay attention to those key moments
when you sense yourself being more alive,
more challenged,
more centered,
more a part of something greater.
Spirituality, is listening to God,
as God is present in our daily lives,
the Guidance of the Holy Spirit,
the scriptures and traditions of the faith,
reason and experience.

Ask God to make you aware of divine nudges in your life. What had God said to you through recent incidents? What was God saying to you in that unexpected phone call? In that flat tire? In that moving television program? in that bout of anxiety, in that ‘coincidence?””
Tilda Norberg quoted in Habits of the Heart p, 22

Spiritual practices are tools for listening, seeing, awareness.
Christian Scripture speaks of people being blind, deaf and asleep.
This is primal spiritual language for our spiritual blindness,
deafness and lack of wakefulness.

Holy spirit,
giving life to all life,
moving all creatures,
root of all things,
washing them clean,
wiping out their mistakes,
healing their wounds,
you are our true life,
luminous, wonderful,
awakening the heart
from its ancient sleep.

Hildegard von Bingen

"It is the belief in a power larger
than myself,
and other
than myself ,
which allows me to venture into
the unknown
and even the unknowable”
...............Maya Angelou

Courage doesnt always roar.
Sometimes courage
is the little voice
at the end of the
day that says,
“I’ll try again tomorrow’”
P,. 38 Mary Anne Radmacher
In the Spiritual Life Companion Book
Habits of the Heart


When Jesus says:
“Do Not be Afraid”
What is your fear
that is being spoken to?

"The true purpose of all spiritual disciplines is
to clear away
whatever may block our awareness
of that which is God (working) in us.

The aim is to get rid of whatever may so distract
the mind and encumber the life that we function
without this awareness."

--Howard Thurman in "Disciplines of the Spirit"

Turning over leaves

My daughter Sara, at Hamline, has a class on parables and we talked about this classic .

Buddha told a parable in a sutra:
A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above.
Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine held him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

Yesterday on her blog she wrote of how she was treasuring the color of the autumn leaves. She has been finding leaves that are face down, and reaching to turn them over, so they could face color side up, for her and others to see.
I believe she is following the wisdom of the parable. Enjoy the strawberry. While she goes through the stress and "danglings" and changes of being away from home, starting college, and missing the quieter setting of tree filled Brainerd, she is also enjoying and being aware of the daily gifts, and the surprises and views that may be simply turned from our view at the moment.
Don't forget to turn over a fallen leaf, color side up. See it . Enjoy it.

Love Frees

I am posting this just because I like it!

All day long a little burro labors,
sometimes
with heavy loads on her back
and sometimes just with worries
about things that bother only burros.

And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.

Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings
a pear, but more
than that,

he looks into the burro’s eyes and touches her ears
and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,

because love does
that.

Love frees.

(by Meister Eckhart, courtesy of the Joan Chittister Newsletter)

Confirmation and Matriculation

Confirmation is this Sunday. I know we always try to say that this is not anything like a graduation ceremony, as in "you are not done with your Christian education and so on."

But could it be like Matriculation? I was at Hamline for my daughter, Sara's, matriculation.
Maybe that's not a bad analogy: It's signing, enrolling, entering into a school. Maybe confirmation class was more like the application process. Some entrance requirements were met (with grace usually) and admission work has been completed; enough to now enroll in the the next level of education and learning. Matriculation does mark a beginning, leading into more,....into a community. ...to learn and grow and explore. Blessings as you go on in the discipleship school of Christ!
What do you think? Comments welcome.

Grand Old Opry

While looking for something in an older journal I found an entry about the Grand Old Opry . I was in Nashville as part of a Minnesota church youth trip and the bus driver took us over to see the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center with a mall for shopping and so on.

But then he said the Grand Old Opry performers still stand on the floor from the old Ryman Auditorium where it all began.

They cut out a section of the Ryman stage floor and moved it to the new modern location. Singers stand on the old stage...but in a setting that has changed to meet the production and audience needs of today.

Does the church need to do something like that? Isn't that what we do in some ways anyway? We stand on the old stage of our beginnings, in God's vision of community and justice and peace. We stand on the foundations of Good News and the Presence of God. We stand on the same foundation stage of God's love.

We sing from that same spiritual platform, but we do it in contemporary settings, trying to keep it accessible to all, willing to adapt what is adaptable, make room for more, take the opportunity to use new methods and locations and technologies. We stand on the stage that others have stood on before us. And we are eager to stand and perform as they did. The people are still coming to hear the music.


Rambling on

Sermon notes on side link

Just a quick note that if you are interested in some of the sermon notes, I have moved them to a separate site on Rory's Ramble sermon notes. See the link. Not that they deserve special attention. They just took up too much space! Thanks

Poetry of God

We had the memorial service for Alfreda Crandall on Saturday.
She was a wonderful and creative person with so many talents:
writing short stories, making dolls, knitting, acting, making paper flowers,
gardening, painting, doing puppet plays and children's time back at the
Evangelical UM (former EUB) church in Brainerd.
But most of all she was a poet. She could recite many of the classics.
She wrote poetry and was part of the poetry group at Bethany.
She was honored as Brainerd's Poet Laureate in 2005.
So we read poetry as we celebrated her life.
But she, herself, was a poem. We all are. We are God's poetry.

Poihma (poiema) in Ephesians 2:10,  according to several interpreters,
has a sense of art or artistic creation.
Not being a real Greek scholar I can give myself some
extra leeway and the dictionary does support me;
I simply see it as the word for poem.
We are God's poetry!
Gathering to worship and be people of faith, hope and love;
is a recitation of the divine poetry.
God is writing
as we become the rhymes and rhythms,
the metaphors of a Living Word!

Don't miss the poetry that God is creating for the world
through you.
Listen to the poetry of each other!

Pentecost idea

I may have gotten a start on my Pentecost sermon during the Trustees meeting last night at church. Pentecost Sunday is a few months off yet but the Trustees were hearing a proposal for the new fire alarm system that is required for us to be within the code according to the Fire Marshall. The representative for the alarm company making the bid said that no church in Minnesota has had a death from a fire. Well that's good news and I hope it stays that way.
But if I play that fire as a metaphor for the fire of the Holy Spirit-
now thats where the sermon possibilities could happen! Maybe we don't get too much of that fire in our Minnesota churches. Maybe we need to face this fear?


It reminded me (don't ask me why my brain makes these connections) of the time we were going to put in an air conditioner in the Beech Creek church just outside of Manchester KY and part of the Red Bird Missionary conference where I served for three years. The air conditioning guy took some measurements, did some calculations, trying to decide if we needed a three ton sized unit or a 2 1/2 ton unit and so on..Then he wanted to know what kind of church this was. I didn't know what difference that would make? I told him United Methodist. He had heard of us. Then he said we could get by with a 2 1/2 ton unit because we don't make as much heat when we worship as the pentecostal and holiness churches do. If we were like them, he said, we would need a bigger air conditioning unit.
Ok, he had us pegged. We United Methodists don't exactly work up a sweat and make a lot of heat when we worship. And for the most part, we don't have to worry about a lot of spiritual fire problems. Enough said.
But maybe that will change...on Pentecost

Passing on Thoughts

So many things to "blog'. I was at an excellent seminar
on stewardship yesterday
with thoughts to pass on;
and I could do an update on the unemployed man
I mentioned in an earlier entry. He stopped in on
Wednesday. He has not asked me for money.
The additional facts are that he is 56 years old,
gets evening meals at the local soup kitchen,
is also living in his car.
How much longer can that continue here in
Minnesota? It's getting colder.
Park's turn to help host "the homeless" (IFHN)
will come around later in October but that program
does not help single men. He is keeping in touch
with some other agencies. I will try to let you know
what else develops.

Also let me pass  on some of the devotional readings
of the day and if I have time I will add
to this entry later.

From A Daily Spiritual seed
MESSAGE OF THE DAY

The truth of the matter is,
we all come to prayer with a tangled
mass of motives
altruistic and selfish,
merciful and hateful,
loving and bitter.
Frankly, this side of eternity
we will never unravel
the good from the bad,
the pure from the impure.
God is big enough
to receive us with all our mixture.
That is what grace
means, and not only are we saved by it,
we live by it as well. And
we pray by it.   - Richard J. Foster


....and this from inward/outward---

By John Squadra

If someone says, “To be enlightened you must
fast and pray all night,”
Have dinner and go to bed.
If you see a sign, “This way to salvation,”
run the other way.
If someone says, “This book is the truth,
you can buy it from me,”
Take your money and buy grapes and roses.
If someone says, “He’s talking tonight,
thousands will be saved.”

Go for a walk…listen to the birds
and watch the clouds, and leave
your backpack, your Bible and your Buddha
under a tree and hope
they will be gone when you return.
Where we are going you can’t carry anything,
not even your name.
If there is logic in the above,
be afraid, it’s a lie.

But if you feel something in your chest
as beautiful as the grass beneath your feet,
be grateful…open your arms
and forget everything
you ever thought you knew.

Source: This Ecstasy

More on Mother Teresa ,and all of us?

Jim Voog sent me over to Ron Rolhieser's site (www.ronrolheiser.com) for the article on Mother Teresa and her dark times and doubts. I recall that Rick A. pointed to that news as part of our church's weekly lectionary study group. It has gotten our attention. I've noticed that most of us in the faith community point to her experiences with appreciation and a sense of permission to share our own times in the dry or empty places in the journey. Some good blogs are out there about her experiences. Read Bishop Sally Dyck's blog , linked on this blog, also David Bard and Jeff Ozanne.

I also have a few rambles, loosely connected:
First, something from Carl Mahle, a retired United Methodist pastor in Alexandria I got to know, and admire, during my first year out of seminary. (I asked to wear his pulpit robe for my deacon's ordination.) Carl, made a comment that sometimes we just aren't able to believe or have faith; then we only need to just be there and let the faith community do the believing for us, just let it carry you along. He was talking about something from his own experience. I filed that in my mental notes for a later date. And a few years later, I needed to remember it. It was true.
Or...maybe thats something like Peter Bohler's words to a struggling John Wesley about "preach faith until you have faith".

The thing about the darkness of doubt or disbelief and disconnection to it all.... is that it is so frightening. I remember the first time, maybe in grade school, of even thinking deeply that maybe there was really no God. ...it was not real....did not feel real. I was afraid of even the thought, as if I had some dirty shameful idea that must never be told to anyone. Or was I afraid of what it might mean; some kind of existential aloneness? Maybe that is what being afraid of the dark is about?
Barbara Brown Taylor has a book called When God is Silent, as in "no word from the Lord," or the "hiddenness" of God.... A great comment on Job also. On pg 78 she presents a story from the Sufi tradition about a man who cried 'Allah! Allah' until his lips became sweet with the sound. A skeptic who heard him said, "Well! I have heard you calling out, but where is the answer to your prayer? Have you gotten a response?" The man had no answer to that. Sadly, he abandoned his prayers and went to sleep. In his dreams he saw Khazir, the soul guide. walking toward him through a garden.

"Why did you stop praising?" the saint asked him.
"Because I never heard anything back,' the man said.

"This longing you voice is the return message,"Khazir told him.

(Taylor then quotes Rumi)

The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union
Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog
for its master.
That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs
no one knows the name of .

give your life
to be one of them.
.....
Finally, in my journal I have something from Henri Nouwen , that his prayer time was not a time "of deep prayer, nor a time in which I experience a special closeness to God; it is not a period of serious attentiveness to the divine mysteries. I wish it were! On the contrary, it is full of distractions, inner restlessness, sleepiness, confusion and boredom. It seldom, if ever,pleases my senses."

My journal entry (Jan 31, 2006) has this also on that same page, (from something I was reading)
--- "Mother Teresa of Calcutta, not long before her death was asked "How does it feel to be so close to God?'" She answered, 'Its been so long since I felt close to God that I don't remember what it feels like."

There is a reason I remember these things, or keep them in my journal. I need them. Some how this takes away some of the fear of darkness. We are not alone.

PS. Go see the entry also on the subject at http://33namesofgrace.blogspot.com

This past Sunday evening at Park Church, Abigail Ozanne, shared some pictures and stories of her time in Palestine with a Christian Peacemakers team. She focused on the Hebron area and told about how hard it is to do even basic daily travel and the tensions created in common life with the Israeli presence of soldiers or settlers. I loved what she described as the "Grandmother effect." Sometimes knowing that someone is there watching you can change the situation. I heard again that it is the extremism that forces the issues that others are trying to resolve. She added another layer of images into the stories I hear from one of our Brainerd residents who has relatives in the Bethlehem area. When I was in"the Holy Land" back in March of 2001 (compliments of a great Knights Templar program) we were very limited in the formal conversations about Palestinians. Something was being hidden from us. But it could not be hidden. Being in a land I had always wanted to see, even with all the richness of that experience, I came back with a heaviness that there was something deeply unholy happening in the Holy land.
Check out the Christian peacemakers web site at www.cpt.org and click on the project sites for Hebron/West Bank

Virus Scan

Its an old analogy but I thought of it this morning as part of my "day off' time to think. While I am thinking of next Sunday's sermon, who is in the hospital, who I want to write notes to and reflecting on conversations I had with people at church yesterday, and whether I should stop in to say "hi" to the UMW group at church... I am also telling myself to ignore all that and do what I probably should really do; stop running all programs and do a virus scan and maybe a de-frag.
Except its not about the computer (even though I am doing that as I type)...its time for an internal, spiritual virus scan.
Check the inner Security Center? De frag? My computer gives me alerts about questionable programs or access attempts. I suppose my soul sends a few alerts to my body and mind also but I don't pay attention very well. I wonder how much inner psyche "spyware" I have picked up during the week? How many malicious ideas and thoughts have I taken in, waiting to damage some future program function. I wonder how much spiritual infecting I am sending to others without knowing it! (I hope my preaching doesn't across like Spam!) What kind of firewall setting do I have? ... the analogies go on. Do I even recognize the dangerous viruses in me and do I know how to remove them?
Maybe that is where soul searching, listening, contemplative prayer, lectio divina, Holy "conferencing" with others in spiritual care group, or even a good prayerful walk come in. The computer told me how many days behind I was on this check up. I could set it up for automatic scan schedule. I have that setting option too. Maybe that's what liturgical rhythms, and spiritual disciplines really are. Virus scans. Oh if it were that easy!
Another ramble.

Choosing a chair

I wrote my Clergyview article in time for next Tuesday's dead line. Our local newspaper, the Brainerd Dispatch, has a religion section with the opportunity for local clergy to submit articles. Those of you, (the four of you?) who read this blog, can read it again next Friday in the paper. You will find it in back of the sports section but that's another story!

Clergyview for Sept 14th 2007
I saw some coverage in the news about the death of the great Italian opera tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, on September 6th. What I know about opera wouldn’t even fill out a decent sized paragraph. I don’t say that with pride, just a confession of my ignorance that I might correct someday. But I have run across this story (from a source I have misplaced.)

He says that when he was a boy, his father, a baker, introduced him to the wonders of song, and urged him to work hard to develop his voice. Pavarotti took his father's advice But he also enrolled in a teachers' college, and upon graduation he asked his father, "Shall I be a teacher or a singer?" "Luciano," his father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them.
For life, you must choose one chair."
Pavarotti said, "I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it."

Part of me responds to the story by saying that sometimes we can find or create new “chairs” that combine our multiple talents and callings. But the point of that little story has to do with commitment, discipline or giving ourselves to something. Wholeheartedly, or at least in a direction over time!

Pavarotti, like many others who excelled in some way, picked a chair, choose a path, made a commitment and then studied , practiced, worked and honed the skills, developed the talents and pursued the vision. I don’t see any quick results in his story. Seven years before he made his first professional appearance! Fourteen before the Met! He mentions frustration. If we read between the lines, I’m guessing he had some times of failure, discouragement, impatience, doubts and weariness.

Could that also be true for our spiritual life, faith development and callings of ministry and discipleship? We have some “chairs to fill” in being people of prayer and spiritual formation. Do we stick with it? We have chairs to fill in overcoming poverty. Are we giving ourselves to it in a determined and studied effort? This will take more than seven years! We have chairs to occupy in terms of providing health care and education for all people. We have “chairs to” fill according to Matthew 25 :31- about people who are hungry, thirsty, sick, or needing the “clothes” of dignity. We need to “chair” the ministries of outreach , community and compassion in Christ. Giving ourselves to Jesus is about giving our life to a New Life of love, peace, forgiveness, personal and social transformation. It is about following Jesus. Are you giving yourself to it? Jesus talked about the cost of discipleship as a way of being “real” with us. This will not be the easy chair.“Take up your cross; deny yourself”
You might think about what you are deciding to “sit with” in your life when you take that seat in a worship service. Is this your chair? Have a chair. May I offer you a chair? Don’t leave too soon!.

Social "problems" and "news"

Yesterday a person came in to my office asking for suggestions on who to talk to about something. It seems he is currently un-employed but for the past few weeks has been working through one of the local "temp work" agencies. That job is now done. He usually does light labor or custodial work. But he has a physical health condition that needs attention and it often keeps him out of the job market. He has no health insurance coverage. The local hospital gave him an application form for an assistance program they provide and then referred him to an out of town clinic that is associated with their assistance program . He didn't know how to fill out all the questions on the form and out of town transportation proved to be an obstacle. I asked about MinnesotaCare and and if he had checked with other social service resources etc.... He said "they didn't have any help" He spoke of how last year he just went over some of the income guidelines for some programs and that they want his last years income statements. Now this year he has far less income and there is nothing left from last year's income. It's a scene that gets played out many times and I am not naive enough to think I am getting the whole story on this person's situation. But bottom line. Here is a person who needs a surgery and until he get it he is unemployed. He can't get into the health care system or at least its too hard for him to figure it out. I think of that when health care issues are bounced around the political playing field. It's people. Not just issues or social problems. And more than once the people have found their way to my office and into our churches. As he left he said something else. He said "Thank you for listening. That's what I don't get." We need something better. (We came up with another plan for trying to navigate "the system" and I also offered to help him visit with our local state senator and representative.) Maybe I will keep you up on the story.

And then I was talking the other night to a person who told about a family member who lost their house. The mortgage rate had shot up beyond their ability. Its the story we see again and and again in the mortgage crisis news. But it gets down to people we know or at least we can see the faces.

The news is happening here. We get struck by the news when it hits us tragically close to home in such things as floods or a bridge collapse; when the national news is in our own backyards. But it alway is!

Health care and Housing. Mix that in with Matthew 25:31 ff and our Wesleyan traditions and see what you come with! Let's get GOOD NEWS for people in the news.

.... just another ramble?

Wesley picture

I have this picture of John Wesley as the background on my computer. At least for now. I have not looked up the history of this portrait so I am more than a little free with my interpretation. It would be another good reason to heed the sage advice...don't let the facts get in the way of an excuse to make up a story. Is this John Wesley saying "hello" to me when I sit down at my computer? That's not a bad way to keep a Wesleyan view on the morning devotions. Maybe.... maybe Mr Wesley's hand is in a gesture of blessing? Or is this just a gesture in his preaching.Or is he waiving goodbye? In my cynical or satirical moments I might think its Mr Wesley's comment on much of today's church behavior: "Good riddance. ..lots a luck." I would like to think he is clutching the Bible close to himself in silent prayer. Maybe his handed is lifted in prayer too. Or maybe his hand is lifted in a send off : "Remember what we are about! Have a good day! God be with you! "
Thanks John.

Almost blogs

I haven't "blogged" in a week or so. For that matter I have not been doing much in my journal writing either. When I started this I wondered if, and how it would affect my journaling. Although they are very different, with a blog having some audience or reader theoretically out there. When I lead classes on journaling I ask the" journalers" if they have some audience in mind when they write, such as God, or some future reader, or themselves etc?

Oh where was I...I almost blogged.
I have thought about it. I could write about Hals death a week ago Monday, and the memorial service last Thursday. Or I could Blog about Sara leaving for Hamline, and setting up the dorm. She and Hamline are off to a good start. Or I could blog about Nick starting back to school also. He has an early bird 7 Am class all year. Uff da. (Why isn't uff da in the spell check?)

Or I could comment about all the things gearing up at church. Wilma Roberts, will lead a small group study; Living Fully and Dying Well. I will lead "Beginnings The Spiritual Life" class on Sunday evenings starting on Sept 16, and then it will be offered again on Tues evenings as the Women's Bible study. Another new thing will be the Early Music Worship that will use contemporary Christian praise and worship music cds from 9-9:20. We have wondered how to create that venue and offer that music and worship experience so maybe this is an option. Our music resources are pretty traditional otherwise but the interest for this is among us. Maybe we will get the new sanctuary video projection up and running soon!


Another blog idea was to talk about the books I am reading, have recently read or plan to read. Some of those in these stages are:
Krista Tippett - Speaking of Faith
Richard Rohr;-Simplicity
Donald Miller- Searching for God Knows What
Timothy Jones The Art of Prayer
Philip Gully - Porch Talk
Justo Gonzalez - The Apostles' Creed for Today
(also Habits of the Heart; a companion book for the Spiritual Life study I cited above.)
My spiritual connection group that doesn't have a name is supposed to finish up Borg's, Heart of Christianity next week so I better skim it again

Then finally,
I was going to blog about how I spent Labor day...end of summer and all that....I pondered getting the canoe out but I endeded up spreading a new black layer of asphalt seal-coat on the parsonage driveway. It doesn't seem like a real recreational thrill but since I saw a few other people at Home Depot that morning I guess we werent all out at the lake! But it was nice to see something accomplished. It will help the ice and snow melt off faster this winter and I will be grateful for my practical side. ..at least thats what I told my canoe. Of course I cooked something on the grill! Other than a few other household chores I went to tell the neighbor about the tall jack pine that is broken off in the stand of trees between our houses. My chain saw skills aren't up to the job and neither is my chain saw. I could tell you about the time I almost dropped a tall pine tree on the church at Beech Creek in Kentucky but some stories are best untold. No one else knows about it! The city "Park and Rec" dept owns the land between us as part of cul de sac street plan that never developed so it's their problem. The tree is hanging up on another tree for now but its leaning his way, and will fall close to his house. We hope the "City" shows up soon. Labor day fun!

I was going to blog about all these things. But I didn't. Probably won't get it into my journal either.
Just rambling on