about two hours passed, i was scrubbing the floors (the song from cinderella popped in my head) and i noticed the same older woman outside the café area in the lobby of the mall.  i asked hilary what the story was with her.  all she remember from earlier was that she was waiting for a ride.  i cohereced hilary to go check on her.  a few minutes later, hilary comes back and had found out that she was waiting for her daughter to come pick her up, from sussex.  her daughter didn’t have a cell phone, neither did this woman.  as the store was about to be locked down for the night, we got a snack and a tea for her.  i went out to chat with her while the store was being locked up.

she was one of these people that for whatever reason i couldn’t ignore.  between hilary and i, we only 75¢ (sad, i know), we left it with her and my cell number.  i told her to call no matter what time and we’d do what we could to help out.  she said ‘thank you’.  we left, i felt bad leaving, but knew that we couldn’t do much more at that point, as far as she knew her ride was coming but didn’t have any way to contact them.

within about an hour, my cell phone rang, hilary ran to answer it and i started getting ready.  the security guards let her use their cell to phone sussex to see if anything happened.  turned out that they had turned back a few hours earlier.  hilary and i said that we’d get her home, and sent off a few texts asking for prayer.  we went back to pick her up, i realized i didn’t even know her name and yet was preparing to drive to sussex in the midst of a storm.  the snow had stopped and it actually looked fairly decent out.  we hit the highway and i felt confident that we’d be good to go, so long as we took our time.  we had some random chit-chat to get to know each other and then the freezing rain started, almost as if a bucket was being poured onto the road.  we were approaching my boss’ house who had offered to put her up for the night and i knew we couldn’t drive much further.

we arrived, had tea together and i said that i’d be back by 9am to finish the journey.  i laid in bed most of the night, not fully understanding the situation.  all evening i kept hearing in the back of my head “i was naked and you clothed me, hungry and fed me, in need and you helped me” and “what ever you did to the least of these you did unto  me”.  i didn’t sleep much, and was up and out in plenty of time.  we finished the journey to sussex on clean highways.  she directed me to her door.  when i pulled in the driveway, we both said ‘thank you’ to each other and she got out.

that was the end of my journey with bernice.  a very gentle older woman.  i sat in a parking lot for a few minutes, pondering what had just happened. a call a friend on the way back and shared the story.  she suggested it was one of those situations that God puts in our paths.

i have no idea if we’ll ever meet again…

h/t joe walker

the perfect piece of furniture for the burger lover.  the website suggests that its relatively simple to make, perhaps this is a great project for march/spring break.

1 circular bed and “box” frame
2 tones of light brown fabric
dark brown king fitted sheet
memory foam
king sized yellow and green sheets
30 pillows
a couple of zippers
pantyhose (for the sesame seeds)

check out the website for more details or become an fb fan.

does shawn c. branch incapsulate who i am?  would madonna be as popular if she went with ‘blanche’ instead?  or laurence instead of sting?  or bob smith instead of george stromboulopolous?

or what about those who create a name and give it meaning and identity – like starbucks or apple?  what if howard shultz went with a different name that morning in 1971.  would we be flocking for coffee status on a regular basis?  or would we spend a fair chunk of change on the best computer systems if they were called ‘mape’?

does your name suit you?  or would a name like “max power” be more effective?

any answers/thoughts?

i caught myself preparing to open a small package of screws and was prepared to put the two i needed in my pocket and walk-out.  after all, i only needed the two and there were no containers of lose nails to purchase from.  how much would two screws put them out?

in the end, i pulled myself from the brink of crossing the shoplifting line and bought a small package for $3.00 – which has way more screws that i need!

another day of walking that thin line between upstanding citizen and amature shoplifter.

i found one link on their origin, here.

do you give them?  why?

on the other side of the lounge were a number of mothers and their babies.  i think parents create a lot of bad behaviours at a young age.  one child was crawling across the floor pushing a toy and the put it in his mouth, mom was watching.  not long later, another child had a very loud burb…which the mothers applauded.

isn’t this confusing?  if i was crawling around on the floor and putting things in my mouth and burbing loudly, is anyone going to applaud me?  aren’t we just adding confusion to these poor children?

An 8-foot statue of Jesus that was stolen from the cross at the Church of the Messiah on Detroit’s east side was found in an alley near the church.

The Rev. Barry Randolph said Patricia Bower, a woman who lives in the neighborhood, decided to take a shortcut home and found Jesus “in a bush, between two trees” Wednesday night.

Randolph and a church member went to pick up Jesus and found the green-hued, weather-beaten statue with only a hand missing.

“We are truly grateful,” Randolph said Thursday.

But in a twist, someone advertised the statue for sale on the classified ad Web site Craigslist on Wednesday. Then, presumably the same person called the church to try to sell it to back to the congregation for $1,000. Randolph said he declined. The statue had been found by then.

read the rest

i wonder if the bush was burning…