A picture is worth a THOUSAND words ...

After cleaning up the dining room, I've crafted a place to do some writing ... Pictured above is the shelf that lies to my right when I'm "working" ... on it sits a variety of important items to me ... From the left:

- a green Oscar the Grouch puppet given to me when I was about 6 - it was one of my favourite toys when I was little ... it started my love of puppets ... right now Oscar is standing guard over my stack of library books I'm working my way through ...

- one of the infamous Bobble-headed Jesus doll from the Wonder Cafe adverts sitting atop a very cool, very tiny Play-mobile set of Noah's Ark ...

- behind Jesus and the Noah's Ark set, sit two of my Bibles ... the bottom one is my large print NRSV and atop it is my dad's Bible and tucked on top of that is one of the Al-Anon daily reading books I've found invaluable in recent months ...

- standing guard over the books, both literally and figuratively is Sponge Bob Square Pants ... I just love Sponge Bob ...

- beside the Bibles is my 64 box of crayolas ... a purchase this past year regular readers may recall ...

- in front of the crayolas stands my sand cast picture of a dancing Ganesh ... Ganesh dancing is a sign of good luck and joy ...

- in front of Ganesh is a lit Votivo candle ... it's fragrance and light buoy both body and soul ...

- and to the right of Ganesh is a basket given to me when I was a student at Elginburg/Odessa Pastoral Charge back in the early 90's ... it was given to me as I started out in ministry filled with the love, care and best wishes of the folks in Odessa ... It has been an important part of my life and ministry since ... I've used it for countless services, and since the fire, it has been the carry-all for my worship wares between the office and the Church ... I had thought I lost it in the fire ... but was relieved to find it later on the floor of the dining room safe and sound ...

These items are some of the touchstones I need near by ... and right now they are ...