So you were Twenty minutes late because....?

Happy, even though they ran out of gas; same as the couple who ran out last night!
photo by Greg Andrews, used under the creative commons license.
check out more photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregthemayor/

You might think that only catching half of Vespers is a good reason to stay home but I decided that I should go anyway. (Yes that means I count last night's visit as 102 times in my parish and not 101 1/2.)☺  This is my wife's Birthday weekend or, rather, the weekend before her birthday. In the past, when she had no job, we'd just go out on her birthday but now with her working it is a little more difficult. So my plan was to do something with Karen last night but she was tired and said "Go to Vespers." By the time all of that was decided, it would have put me ten minutes late.  Then it turns out, there is traffic on a main road due to a stalled car. I passed by that car just as a couple was pouring gas into the gas tank from a gas can. They were laughing and taking their predicament in stride. It's hard to be mad at people for making you even more late to Vespers when they are so joyful about their own trials.  In the old days, when I was a Pentacostal, I would have just blamed the devil.  Now, I don't know, it's just one of those things.

I am glad I went.  Worshiping is always a good thing to do. I stood in the back and located (finally) where the St. Mary of Egypt Icon was. I had read on the Church website that St. Mary of Egypt was one of the Saints that was recently added to the Nave but I hadn't been able to locate her. I love St. Mary of Egypt, only because she seems so American. I mean, she was a hedonist for the first half of her life.

I had with me a DVD on the life of St. John of San Francisco  He also is a favorite of mine.  The Russian Orthodox podcast sent it to me as a "prize" and I am so grateful to them for it. Check out their podcast here. What a holy man he was and it was so cool to see photographs of a real live Saint! God truly is glorified in His Saints and I can't understand how anyone would think that they detract from His Glory.  Everything about the life of St. John points to Christ and I was truly blessed by watching the DVD. So I brought the DVD with me to see if Tammy wanted to borrow it. It turns out she already owns it and said, next week, she would lend me a book about him.  After little chat, Tammy brought back into the Nave and pointed out St. John's Icon. She pointed out that it said, St.. John of Shanghai  which, of course, is accurate but she had wished the iconographer had put San Francisco instead.  "But, he was Russian," Tammy noted, "He probably didn't realize." Thank you Fiona and Terrance of the Russian Orthodox Podcast for your generosity! May God continue to use your ministry.

I did see Jim Martin along with Ben and Tiffany.  Recently, Karen and I ran into Ben and Tiffany at Surf Taco. It turns out that is a favorite haunt of theirs as well. Tiffany used to go to my protestant parish when she was a teen (her parents dragged her) and Karen hadn't seen her in about twenty years.  We all had a nice chat then.  When Tiffany introduced Ben, she joyfully commented, "He was just baptized " My wife replied that she had seen the pics on Facebook.  Gotta love social media!

So although I recommend everyone show up on time for services, I say, it's better to come twenty minutes late than to miss it altogether.