I want to share some good news with all of you.  After 4 years of seminary and several months of searching, I have been called to be sole Pastor of a small neighborhood church.  It has about 100 members which means I will soon know everyone and their families by name! 

Perfect!! 

My writing energy will now be focused on creating a weekly sermon!!  (I am sore afraid!!!)  I want to thank all of you here at OS for your encouragement, your insightful and heartfelt comments, and the inspiration of your tremendous writing talents!  I have felt honored to have been embraced here as a writer!   

I will probably not be able to post much anymore (perhaps famous last words!!), but I will always enjoy coming to read and be moved, challenged, amused, and deeply inspired by all of you. 

As a gift of thanks, I give all you writers this poem by Ralph Fletcher from his book "A Writing Kind of Day."   

A Writing Kind of Day

It is raining today,

a writing kind of day. 

Each word hits the page

like a drop in a puddle,

creating a tiny circle 

of trembling feeling 

that ripples out

and gathers strength

ringing toward the stars.  

And this poem seems to me to be for Scanner and all you other night owls: 

A Writing Kind of Night

It is clear tonight,

a writing kind of night.

There's a moon stirring up

mysterious metaphors

in my imagination. 

The heavens are jam-packed

with planets and black holes

that are still undiscovered, 

and magnificent poems

that are still unwritten. 

Shalom, OS,  

Shalom!