Well, I've stayed off the soabox for a good long while, but....

*Soapbox Alert*

This afternoon I was zooming along from one [ministry] event to the next in a busy day, in my van full of all the "tools of the trade." The country station (the station that comes in clearest out here) was blaring Martina McBride. It reminded me of a great sermon my husband preached once.

Keeping this soapbox STRICTLY SECULAR, here's the lyric:

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LOVE'S THE ONLY HOUSE
as sung by Martina McBride

1. I was standing in the grocery store line
The one they marked express
When this woman came though with about 25 things
And I said don't you know that more is less
She said this world is moving so fast
I just get more behind everyday
And every mornin' when I make my coffee
I can't believe my life's turned out this way
All I could say was...

Chorus:
Love's the only house big enough for all the pain in the world
Love's the only house big enough for all the pain

2. He was walking by the other day and I said
Hey baby...how you been?
Yeah, I got me a little girl now and she's 4 years old
And she's got her daddy's little grin
You only wanted what you can't have
And baby you can't have me now
I gave my heart to another
Yeah I'm a mother
And he's a father and we're a family and we got each other
And I found out the hard way that...

Repeat Chorus

3. You drive three miles from all this prosperity
Down across the river and you see a ghetto there
An' We got children walking around with guns
And they got knives and drugs and pain to spare
And here I am in my clean, white shirt,
With a little money in my pocket and a nice warm home
And we got teenagers walking around in a culture of darkness
Living together alone...all I could say is...

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
And I can't explain it, and I can't understand
But I'll come down and get my hands dirty and together we'll make a stand...

4. Somewhere 'cross the parking lot, some bands playin' out of tune
City streets are gonna burn if we don't do something soon
Senorita can't quit crying, baby's due now any day
Don Juan left, got sick of trying...no one there to show him the way
She came down to the grocery store and
She said I, I wanna buy a little carton of milk, but I don't have any money
I said Hey I'll cover you honey, cause the pain's gotta go somewhere
Yeah the pain's gotta go someplace...
So come on down to my house
Don't ya know that...

Repeat Chorus

SH
@country

======

"Yeah," I thought; "she's right." And on I went with my day. In all, I sorted out a chairbound lady's exercise program and neutralized her complaints about her "horrible" husbnad-- my good friend whose care of her she has "forgotten." I taught her homecare aide how to do them and how to easily motivate her. I worked with two other ladies on excercise (aquatics) and did some email-encouraging of the one whose meds got outta whack (and she couldn't make herself come to the pool lately). I absorbed about a ton of unscheduled, unexpected upset from a young lady whose journey toward ordination is hitting the inevitable bumps along the way, and provided smart background and creative options to her priest/sponsor for their Friday meeting with the Bish (who I also will see and "speak with" tomorrow). I briefed my husband on all THAT. I made nice to the new waitress at the town's fave restaurant, on it's millionth new owner and all the waitstaff scared they'll fail, and trying SO HARD to please us. I went to a viewing at the funeral home (for a stranger everyone else in town knew and loved), and found myself with an armful of weeping acquaintance-- the departed's adult daughter. I shepherded an elderly pair of parishioners through the event, caring for their grief at losing a peer, their fear of their own mortality, and their inability to hear the VFW solemnities or get safely to chairs when asked. I wept for the loveliness of this community the internet is changing faster than people here can adapt, and the invasion we're having now from the big cities. I had a few precious moments with Bud and spent a minute loving his departed Helen with him (she dies last year), and his soon-departing brother Don (lungs are falling apart, he won't die till he can't wheeze anymore), and sent him specialest smoochies that I know he and his wife will feel down to their toes. I gave the special smile of professional knowing to the funeral home men (just working stiffs themselves....) I got us out of all that on time to get to our next stop-- Vestry (that's the parish's lay leadership). I cheered on some church leaders as I did some printing at the church while the monthly Vestry meeting got underway. I asked for prayer and practical help from a colleague there (for the spot the wannabe priest is in), securing the political capital I will attempt to spend wisely on her behalf tomorrow. I zoomed home to pack so I can leave at 6AM to drive all day back and forth to a dicey meeting about the future of ANOTHER priest candidate. Such is sometimes usual for my day, Mudcatters, and I think I can count on one hand the number of you who know (or care shit) about it.

Then I bopped over to Court TV-- I was looking for Spector trial news I might have missed while jaunting about. Here are the headlines that greeted me:

Small Town Horror
Police find 6-year-old girl sexually assaulted, hanged in her family's garage

Beheaded Neighbor
Man pleads guilty to murdering, dismembering a retired schoolteacher

Voices of Terror
Judge OKs playing portions of Flight 93 voice recorder audio at trial

No Hate Crime?
Prosecutors seek stiffer penalties in alleged rape, torture of black woman in West Va.

Caught on Tape
Police officer suspended after threatening to arrest man on invented charges

Skeletal Remains
Fla. police hope science will yield clues to identities of eight decomposed bodies

Guilty of 'Plunder'
Deposed Philippines president convicted of corruption, sentenced to life in prison

Free for a Day
Less than 24 hours after being released, aging ex-con accused of stealing idling car

'Error in Judgment'
Former Va. sheriff sentenced to eight months in jail for lying about corruption

Focusing on Education
Rutgers University player drops defamation suit against radio host Don Imus, CBS

Out of Paper
FBI nabs bank robber who wrote demand note on one of his own checks

Inadmissible Evidence
Court overturns conviction of man found guilty of beheading three children

Escapee Returns
Admitted killer who walked away from psychiatric hospital goes back on his own

Polygamy Aside
Jurors in Jeffs trial asked to set aside views on sect leader's religion


And I say, LOVE'S THE ONLY HOUSE BIG ENOUGH, and the ugliness here is sometimes REALLY TIRESOME, and yes, I'M SHOUTING.

*Soapbox Over*

I feel better! :~)

But I'm sorry I don't always send Catters what I promise to send them as soon as I wish I'd sent it. I send it eventually though-- because I promised Rick.

~Susan