The Living Room


Thought I’d give you all an update on what we’re now calling, The Living Room.
Our Saturday night fellowship/gathering has put together a vision and plan to begin things with.
We’ve got a new myspace page up (in the works) and we hope to have a blog or website up soon as well.
Here’s our vision: A safe harbor for fellow travellers joined in prayer and fellowship.
Here’s our plan: We will pursue the heart of God through prayer and worship. We will intentionally engage the world around us. And we will be a place to discover who God is and who we are in Him.
So that’s the basics. Come join us Saturday’s at 7 p.m. in Waxahachie. Bring some chips or drinks or snacks and come for a good time.
We’re going to start a study of Ecclesiastes the Saturday after Easter – April 22. So read chapter 1 and come for some great discussion. (I say “we” but I actually have a show that night).

Early runoff results

Here are the latest results for early voting in Ellis County.
This is “unofficial” and early voting results only.

Republican
District Clerk
Melanie Price Reed 692 – 66%
Cathy Beer 360 – 34%

Commissioners, Pct 2
Bill Dodson 336 – 60%
Larry Jones (I) 224 – 40%

Criminal Appeals Judge Place 8
Charles Holcomb 492 – 63%
Terry Keel 284 – 37%

Democrat
United States Senator
Gene Kelly 12 – 24%
Barbara Ann Radofsky 37 – 76%

Lietenant Gov
Maria Luisa Alvarado 15 – 31%
Benjamin Z. Grant 34 – 69%

APME awards

My publisher forwarded the info on the APME Awards today.
Here’s the list of awards the WDL took home over the weekend:

Texas APME Awards, held in Houston:
Class A
Star Breaking News Report of the Year – Waxahachie Daily Light/JoAnn Livingston and Sandra McIntosh
Freedom of Information – (3rd) Waxahachie Daily Light/Jonathan Blundell
Deadline Writing – (2nd) Waxahachie Daily Light/JoAnn Livingston
Short Features – (3rd) Waxahachie Daily Light/Sandra McIntosh
Comment and Criticism – (2nd) Waxahachie Daily Light/Neal White
Business Reporting – (3rd) Waxahachie Daily Light/Jonathan Blundell
Team Page Design – (3rd) Waxahachie Daily Light/Neal White, John Hicks, Shirley Wiese and G.R. Mendoza

Update on Phil’s sister

I believe Blogger is down, or my Internet connection is not working well this evening. I’ve been out all day workig at the Special Olympics, but Phil gave me an update on his sister earlier today.
For those of you who don’t know, Phil’s sister was involved in a car accident Sunday and was unconscious for a while.
She checked out OK at the hospital Sunday, but went into massive seizures yesterday afternoon.
They feared brain hemorrhaging, but they’ve ruled that out now.
Here’s the update from Phil:

First let me say that I am overwlemed at the number of people praying for Dayna….Words can not express what that means to me and what it is doing for my sister! So thanks SO much to each of you for your love and prayers!
Alright, so the GOOD news is….and I do mean GOOD!!! There is no internal bleeding in her brain and there is no brain hemraging, which is unbelievable since the original speculation was almost certain that is what it was happening! She has been in the hospital since 12 noon yesterday and has not yet awoken from her sleep/dream state…The doctors have not been able to say for sure what is going on, and they are waiting to perform some more extensive tests on her brain! All of her vitals appear to be normal and she is breathing on her own, so she is not in a coma!
However, last night she developed a fever and the doctors have been running tests as think she might possibly have some form of meningitis….
I guess at this point there are just a lot of unanswered questions, and nobody seems to know for sure what is wrong with her! I would ask that you pray for the medical staff as we have had some difficulties getting them to give her the proper treatment and care that she needs!
Things are definetly looking better at this point, but we must never stop praying! Thanks again for your love and support, I am truly amazed and blessed by each of you!

MUCH LOVE

PHIL

I will continue to send more updates as I find out more!

—
Please join everyone in praying for Dayna and her quick recovery.

End Genocide in Darfur

From Sojourners:

The inspiration for this subject line didn’t come from Pollyanna. It came from the late Senator Paul Simon. After reflecting on the genocide in Rwanda, he said: “If every member of the House and Senate had received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then I think the response would have been different.”

That’s a powerful statement. It means that we had the power to stop the genocide in Rwanda, but that too many of us chose not to act. It also means that we have the power now to stop the genocide in Darfur if we do choose to act.

Sojourners is teaming up with our good friends at the Save Darfur Coalition and nearly 100 organizations to gather 1 million signatures on postcards. These postcards and their messages will be sent to President Bush, urging him to take action. After you’re done signing, you will have the opportunity to spread the word to your friends. Gathering 1 million signatures is as simple as you passing the alert to 10 people, who each send to 10 people, and so on.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Darfur, an estimated 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people have been displaced. The world has watched silently. Paul Rusesabagina, whose life and experience with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda, put it this way: “A detachment of well-equipped peacekeepers, made up of less than one-twentieth of the American troops now stationed in Iraq, could have easily stopped the killings without risk” (emphasis added).

In short, we are asking President Bush to give real meaning to the words, “Never Again.”

In addition to joining the Million Voices for Darfur campaign, we invite you to come to Washington, D.C., for a rally on April 30 to demand that we use our resources to end the genocide in Darfur. In addition to the rally, the Save Darfur Coalition is sponsoring lobby days on April 28 and May 1, so we encourage you to come early or stay late!

Thank you for using your voice. We believe that with God’s grace working in and through us, we can end this genocide.

Peace,
The Sojourners Organizing Team
Adam, Matt, Christa, and Nadia