I just posted the following notice on BaptistLife.com, and I repeat it here so that those of you who respond to prayer requests with prayer, meditation, healing thoughts, chants or songs, etc., can turn your attentions hither.

A couple of weeks ago I reported [on BaptistLife.com] the passing of longtime Fremont Baptist Church member and displaced Polish WWII refugee Olga Janowicz, and asked prayers for her survivors.

This past Monday or Tuesday, another member of our church, Betty Malone, died of side effects of cancer chemotherapy. Last night, Helen Smith, also of Fremont Baptist Church died following successful bypass (I think) surgery.

All three women had been very active and respected members of our church (and Olga and Helen, of our choir) for at least as long as I've been alive (which is 48 years if anyone's keeping track), so they were all getting up there in years, but as of a month ago they all appeared to be in reasonably good health and likely to be around for years to come. Of course, this is a serious blow to our church family as well as to their respective families; for a church of perhaps 100 the loss of three mainstays in three weeks is a shock; indeed, I suspect we all are in shock. Please pray for the surviving relatives (Betty was a widow, but has at least one son and two grandchildren that I know of; Helen is survived by her husband Gordon and who knows how many members of further generations), for the Fremont Baptist Church, for our pastor Jay Zaremba, and all others affected by these deaths.

On top of this, this afternoon (a couple hours before I heard about Helen's passing) I received the news that my Aunt Margie, my father's older sister, had died last week. We were not close, and now I regret not having made more of an effort to develop some relationship with her, at least an adult acquaintance. I don't think I've seen her since the early '80s.

Also, day before yesterday my employer announced that the bulk of the office I work in will be closed at the end of this month. This will probably not greatly affect me in terms of employment; I appear to be one of the 15 people (out of what had been about 60 at the beginning of May) that are being kept. Still, it makes for "stress in the workplace", loss of many longtime coworkers, etc. This was not unforeseen; indeed, last August the company had announced these plans and set "after Thanksgiving" as the target, so it's about 6 months overdue. So anyway, pray for me, and for my coworkers (including supervisors) who will be looking for work, etc.

And if I absent myself for a bit from the board, or snap unlilandishly at people, cut me a couple inches of extra slack...

Liland

PS: If you don't respond to such requests, I invite you not to. ;-)