Greetings from Wichita Falls, Texas!

Happy Friday! Fridays are usually great and today was no exception. The Chili cook-Off and “Are You Smarter than a First Grader …Texas Edition” was enjoyed by one and all and won once again by the first graders, although I must say the parents gave us a run for our money. We beat them by only one point. These wonderful parents had to say those dreaded words “I am not smarter than a first grader!” at the end of the game.

I left school early to come to Wichita Falls to participate in the Kairos Prison Ministry weekend event at the Allred Unit. Upon my arrival the chaplain said, “I am so glad you are here because you are on!” I led the evening devotional. I spoke on the outcast people and how God came for the outcast.

Exodus 14: 21 “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.”

In this scripture lesson the nation of Israel is leaving the land of their enslavement and heading toward the Promised Land. God through Moses caused the waters to part and the Israelites to walk safely to the other side. The Hebrew nation went down into the sea as an enslaved people and came out on the other side as a free nation.

This past week I began work on the final project for my class on the Book of Common Prayer. The project was to plan worship for the Great Vigil of Easter. In the Lutheran church the Great Vigil is celebrated on Saturday night before Easter Sunday when there are people who want or need to be baptized. Baptism drives the worship. If we think about baptism using the wonderful Randy Travis song “Down with the old man, up with the new…” we find the song sums up baptism pretty well.

Well, God baptized the Hebrews and set them on a journey to the mountain where they were to worship and serve the God of Abraham and Isaac. Later, God called Jesus to be baptized in the Jordon river and then sent Him on a journey of obedience that would lead to the cross and then to resurrection. Yesterday, 42 men began a journey. They started out as individuals who did not trust each other or the strangers they were about to meet. These men are beginning to walk on dry land as they open up and accept more of Jesus through each talk that is given, as each song is sung, as each meal is served and as each cookie is offered. And by the time this community gets to Sunday, most, if not all of them will have lost their chains of sins and shame and will have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb of God.

In each letter I wrote signed off with “peace be the journey.” When this weekend is over and they return to their lives as incarcerated men, the world in which they live will not have changed, but they will have changed. My God continuously bless them with His presence and His peace.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all so much and pray for Geni and Travis as they are holding down the fort at home! Bruce and Gaylene.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.