Fun Abundance!

Exploring some of the areas around the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel has been such fun.

We walked to Jackson Square and saw the Barkus Parade last Sunday. This parade consisted of dogs and their owners all dressed up. The dogs were all so cute and seemed to know that they were being admired. There was a poodle wearing pink sunglasses, a St Bernard wearing a balerina skirt (with a lace petticoat) and a pink bra, and other doggies dressed in girl scout uniforms and one Scottish Terrier wore his CIA vest.

Last night, we stood outside the front of the Sheraton and watched the Muse Parade - what a hoot. The muse parade is all about women. We heard that they threw hand decorated shoes from the floats. Only one float had shoes thrown (one soft shoe wrapped in plastic) and the rest of the floats threw plastic cups, lighted toy rings, and balls, along with the ever present beads!

Such fun! Watching the floats from a distance it looked like it was raining goodies from the very tall floats and reminded me of the abundance that rains on us all the time, if we only pay attention, look up and open ourselves to receive!

What are you open to receive today?

Winding it all up!

Yesterday all of your church representatives slept in and had a late breakfast, not by design ... it just happened. Several attended some of the morning workshops but I asked that all of us attend an afternoon workshop on the Meta Model. It was so very informative that we have signed our church up for attendance at the three-day seminar on growing our church. This seminar is designed for our leaders.

Last night was our closing banquet and many of us were brought to tears by the fact that these two marvelous organizations are now one giant and magnificent organization, and the love expressed last night was very touching and inspirational.

This morning, Dee, Donna, and Bill attended the Laity Meeting while I attended the Minister's Meeting. What a fabulous way to bring this conference to a close. We each feel empowered, inspired, and so grateful for all that has been, all that is now, and all that is yet to be.

Tomorrow afternoon we touch down in Ontario, and invite you to join us in church on Sunday to hear all about our Convention Connection!

Wednesday Wanderings

Wednesday during the week of our conferences are usually designated as 'free afternoon' and yesterday was no different. Dee and I attended a morning workshop on Social Media and getting on the radio ... interesting but not what we expected. We gleaned a couple of informational jewels from it and then met Bill, Donna and Rebekah for lunch.

We went to "the restaurant with the statues out front." It is actually the Beignet Cafe on Burbon Street and had a delicious sandwich and, of course, a Beignet (Ben-Yaa). When we were leaving, a woman from our conference approached me and asked me to put her name into the Ministry of Prayer at the the hotel because she thought she was having a heart attack. I did an affirmative prayer for her on the spot and when we returned to the hotel, I did put a prayer request in for her. The paramedics arrived a minute later. (Prayer works ...I saw her at breakfast this morning.)

Dee, Rebekah and I spent the afternoon riding the trolly to the French Market where we found a few treasures and admired the amazing masks for sale! Beautiful! After we finished shopping there, we went to the Gabazo Cafe for a cup of tea and rest, and then back to the trolly stop for a ride back to the hotel. We caught the last trolly back ... angels are looking out for us!

The evening keynote speaker was Iylana Vanzant who has written many books, appeared on Oprah and even had her own TV program some years ago. She was amazing, wonderful, insightful, and really funny! She begins filming in Tennessee today for a show produced by Harpo (Oprah's company). Her story is truly an inspiration.

It is truly a blessing to be at this conference.

We Are the Face of God

There are a couple of "hot topics" at this Annual Convention and diversity is one of them. We talked at length about this at dinner tonight due to three of our folks attending a workshop on the subject. One of them explained that some of what was presented in the workshop is what we have already put into practice at our Center. We also talked about how several of us are blind to skin color or ethnic differences because we are sensing and seeing the Divine in everyone. As we talked, we realized just how diverse we are and how blessed we are because of it. We are a deep blessing to the world and to our church! It is so beautiful that we love each other no matter who we are or what we look like! As the song says, "You are the face of God, I hold you in my heart. You are a part of me, you are the face of God." And so it is!

Business is done...time to play

Our business meetings concluded yesterday so today is a good day to participate in some workshops!

During our business meeting, we approved 13 bylaw amendments as well as the election of our new Centers for Spiritual Living Board President, Rev Dr John Waterhouse. We also elected our new Spiritual Leader, Rev. Dr. Kenn Gordon. Today the online voting is available so that the voting delegates can place their votes for the many positions being filled on the various teams that will assist with the governance of our new organization. Donna McNeese-Smith and I had our meeting to discuss the best candidates for each position and she has already cast her ballot. I am on my way to the voting area to take care of that task and then I am off to a workshop about building a successful spiritual business! Sounds like something every minister could gain from.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This morning began the business meetings for United Centers of Spiritual Living and International Centers for Spiritual Living. These two organizations have been teaching the exact same philosophy as two separate organizations for the past 58 years. The idea of coming back together has been in 'collective thought' for a long time, and this morning the final business meeting of United Centers for Spiritual Living (to which our church belongs) took us through a "State of the Organization" presentation by our Community Spiritual Leader, Rev. Dr. Kathy Hearn. There are 600 people attending this convention and 100 of those (at least!) are voting delegates. Donna McNeese-Smith and I are the voting delegates from our Center. After a wonderful presentation by Dr. Kathy, we heard from our Financial person, Steve Burton, and as an organization, we are in great shape financially. International's Financial person, (Another Steve) showed us their financial reports and they are moving toward great financial shape after some severe losses in 2008 and 2009. Their organization has an established "Teen Fund" that assists the teens (an already-combined organization) in their projects of assisting others globally - like building schools in Africa, etc.. The teens gifted the International CSL organization with $123,000 to assist in the costs of integration. They also loaned the organization an additional $123,000 to be paid back at 5% interest, which will happen with great ease. The wisdom of our youth is a wonderful example of great things to come. As I write this, we are 'in recess' and will begin the business meeting again at 1 p.m. where we will elect the President of the new Organization's board of trustees, as well as elect our new Community Spiritual Leader. We are all very happy to have excellent candidates running for every position, so the voting will become easier as we hear from each candidate and vote for the one who most resonates with us. There are also bylaw amendments to vote on which will be done through on-line voting. Candidate voting is via paper ballots. So, about yesterday! I didn't write because ... well ... we had too much fun and I was too ready for sleep by the time we got back to the room. Dee and I decided that we had one of the BEST times yesterday as we walked with John and Rebekah to the French Quarter - literally down the street - and found a GREAT place for breakfast. Then we went looking in shops. Rebekah found a really pretty rattle decorated for Mardi Gras ... so surprise ... everything is decorated here right now since Mardi Gras is next week. Then Dee and i found a yarn shop and bought a skein of yarn each to make a scarf with as a memory of our time in Nawlins. We made our way to Decatur Street and found Cafe Du Mon where they only serve Benguet (Ben-Yaa) and coffee, coke or hot chocolate. OMG! There is an addictive treat! Then we came back to the room to rest up for the opening Mardi Gras party which included New Orleans Style Food Stations, drinks, music and dancing. We stayed long enough to have a tiny bite to eat and then went to the Sheraton Restaurant/Bar and shared a club sandwich. Morning came early today! Our afternoon business session will take us to dinner. This morning, Dee enjoyed a workshop, Rebekah joined us in the business meeting, and Donna and Bill were probably there too but I didn't spot them. John is doing his massage work in the Body Works room. Now it is time to go find the rest of the gang and have some lunch! More later, ya'll!

Adventures in Traveling

Air travel appeals to my resistance to sitting in the seat of a car for long periods of time. Our early flight out of Ontario was just fine and we landed in our layover stop, Denver, 30 minutes early due to a nice tail wind. The outside temperature in Denver was 7 degrees! Seven! The skyway from the plane to the terminal was rrreeeaaallllyyyy cold and we were very happy to be inside the terminal looking out at all that snow on the ground! We boarded our flight to New Orleans on time, and just as everyone was seated and the pilot was preparing to push off from the gate, he was informed that our aircraft had a dent in it. (An astroid perhaps?) He was sure it was not significant, but procedure called for the maintenance people to come and measure and inspect the dent. Then the necessary paperwork had to be completed and about 40 minutes later, we began our departure from Denver. The flight was smoothe and it was fun to fly over the Mississippi River and see the Gulf Coast from the air. After a safe landing in New Orleans, it felt magnificent to stand up after that two hour flight. Dee's brilliant decision to make reservations with an airport shuttle service allowed us to be transported to the Sheraton New Orleans and our bags handled with a great deal of ease. The ride to the hotel became an adventure because there was a parade on Canal Street which prevented our shuttle driver from bringing us to the door of the Sheraton. The traffic was bumper to bumper in the downtown area due to the street closures for the parade. Because of all the traffic and the seeming disregard for traffic signals, our shuttle driver had to stop in traffic and let us off. We grabbed our luggage, tipped our driver and ran across the street to the safety of the sidewalk. Dee's luggage handle became stuck while it rode in the aircraft so she couldn't bring up the handle to comfortably roll it down the street, so she rolled it while bent over holding the suitcase handle. She and the rest of us had a little rest, however, when we had to stop at a corner and watch part of the parade cross in front of us. Wow! Lots of fun, loud music, and beads everywhere! The temperature was about 56 degress with 15 mile an hour winds. Shivering, we made our way the four city blocks to the hotel and it was all we could do to open the doors due to the wind! But once inside, we were able to check in with ease and with the help of a friendly employee, we learned how to operate the elevators! One presses number keys on the keypad on the wall by the elevator to indicate the floor they need and the LED readout tells one which elevator car will take them to their floor. No buttons to push in the elevator. We live on the 35th floor. We can see to the horizon from our hotel window, and looking down, we could see the parade passing down the street! Now that the sun is down (and we are waiting for room service), the lights of the city are beautiful. It was comforting to notice this evening that there is a CVS Pharmacy and a Funnel Cake truck just across the street! We have already seen John Cerda and Rebekah McKovich, and many friends we haven't seen in a long while. It is such fun to touch in with those we don't get a regular opportunity to visit with. The person sitting in our airplane row from Denver to New Orleans was Practitioner, Eugene Holden. Eugene has been working at the Denver Home Office for some years and is now the Project Manager for the World Ministry of Prayer. He is quite excited about the new programs unfolding with the integration of the two organizations. So this evening, we are relaxing in our lovely room, awating our salad and soup and enjoying the ability to move aout our 'cabin' as we please.

Today was a busy day of packing, making sure the animals were picked up by their ‘pet sitters’ and having some fun conversations with a few friends.  As I write this, we are missing our animals and the house feels really quite.  Our luggage is packed except for our last minute items we will place in them in the morning, and our transportation to the airport will arrive “dark and early” – before the sun comes up.  Dee and I fly out from Ontario Airport around 6:15 in the morning.  We are both looking forward to a wonderful week filled with new experiences, inspiring speakers, and the joy of the historical event we will witness.  'Nawlins', here we come!

Found it!

So now all the confirmations numbers are found and I'm beginning to pile 'necessities' on top of the new luggage I found at Costco. Necessities include power cords for my cell phone, my iPad and it's bluetooth keyboard as well as all the necessary papers I will be taking with me as a delegate to the convention in New Orleans.

However, the very best part of this particular trip is that I am in a much better place because I have also found my 'grove' where taking good care of my finances is concerned. At the beginning of each week, I bring together all checks to be deposited, tithe on this income, pay bills and keep abreast of the financial details of my life. This has allowed me to find the liberation that comes with knowing that each fact of my life is in Divine Order.

Divine Order is one of my favorite spiritual principles. I love to affirm, "Everything is in Divine Order" and then go about my business. However, I have also found that in order for everything to be in Divine Order, it is up to me to take care of a few details.

So I have found "It". I have found that the Order I seek is already within me. I just need to be conscious and aware!

Getting Ready

In just a few days, my roomie Dee and I will be traveling to the Centers for Spiritual Living Integration Conference in New Orleans. We are excited to be traveling, excited about the conference, and thrilled to be seeing the jazz capitol of the world. But we have a few things to do before we can make this trip...like packing, cleaning house, confirming reservations and arranging for transportation to and from the airport.

This is a bit like preparing for any step we take in life. Often times the preparations can become a little hectic. When we focus on the end result, however, all the preparations seem to fall into place and anything that has been forgotten will be easily handled by the Universe as we relax into the traveling and BE-ing process.

Now if I can just remember where I put that airline confirmation number!