Incredible Season Of Harvest

Through my long years of Christian service I have learned that God generally speaking works seasonally in our lives. Ecclesiastes chapter 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season,    a time for every activity under heaven.”

This has been a season of great harvest and as I sit back this morning on the last day of my harvesting I can see that God has given me abundance through this time.

In September I was honored to lead worship and do personal care-giving at the Special Touch New England Getaway. I was honored with the privilege of baptizing six new converts into the faith!100_4726 Besides that incredible week we held our regular C.cada meeting and hosted the monthly communion meeting at the Gardner Visiting Nurses Center for a congregation of nearly forty people. The month culminated with the Winchendon Enhancement Committee’s Toy Town Fall Fest where almost two thousand people came to examine the site for a potential makerspace.

The pie-baking contest

The pie-baking contest

Four days after the Fall Fest my daughter Amanda and I departed for a two week stay in Ireland while our teams continued planning for the upcoming art show, Cloverton concert, Double service launch, oh yeah and Melanie’s wedding.

A Celtic Cross in the cemetery atop the Rock of Cashel

A Celtic Cross in the cemetery atop the Rock of Cashel

We touched down on American soil again on the 14th of  October and were back in office on the 15th catching up with all the plans. Cornerstone launched its double services on the 19th and as of this date it looks like the church has grown by about forty people!

C.cada’s fourth annual art show was the largest ever. We hung over 250 pieces and almost every artist sold at least one piece. To top it off connections were made with another area art association for a possible project collaboration.

Three concerts later I stood at an altar giving away my youngest daughter as a bride to my new son-in-law James Franklin II.

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Then last night just two days after my daughter’s wedding Cornerstone hosted Cloverton to a nearly packed house.

The band singing Patterns

The band singing Patterns

God has given me a season of much fruit! Now the harvest has been brought in. It is time for the land and this laborer to rest a bit and get back to a quieter schedule. Cornerstone isn’t stopping but the next big projects are not mine; They belong to other harvesters. Aside from a carolling event and Christmas Eve I have nothing to prepare for outside of my ordinary duties between now and Easter. While I am sure something is bound to pop up I think I am going to take a month or so and just try to be quiet(er).

Maybe now is a good time to hide myself away a bit and finish the new book!

Seven Word Weekend

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Normally these posts come out on Sunday but the weekend was so HUGE I didn’t have a moment to post.

My Youngest Is Now Mrs. James Franklin!

Share Your World 2014 Week 44

It’s time once again for…

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Check it all out at

Share Your World – 2014 Week 44

Here are this week’s questions from Cee and my answers:

What is your most vivid memory of the kitchen in your childhood?

The most vivid memory I have of our kitchen is the red and black indoor outdoor carpeting that covered the floor wall to wall when we first moved into the house. My mother decided to remove it herself and I remember it took us almost seven years to get  all the glue scraped off those floors.

As a child, who was your favorite relative?

Oh gosh that’s a hard one! I am assuming we are talking extended family, so I would have to say my father’s mother. She was probably the one I felt closest too. I remember being by her bedside the night she died and singing her the old hymns of the faith as she prepared to meet Jesus. She was the first person to quote John 3:16 to me.

What did you or did not like about the first apartment you ever rented?

Now that’s much easier than the last question. Our first apartment was rented sight unseen from the Bible College I was attending. The walls were bright blue and the carpet was orange. You could literally sit on the toilet and put your feet in the shower because the bathroom was so small and we could not control the heat so it stayed around 85 all winter long (which is better than the alternative I suppose).

What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.

TV commercial? Oh wait! I know! I know! It would be a commercial lauding the value of eating peanut butter and spaghetti sauce sandwiches!!!

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful last week is over….’nuff said. I am soooooooooo looking forward to my daughter’s wedding on Nov. 8th!

Share Your World- 2014 Week 43

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Week 43! Can you believe it? That means at this point we have all answered 215 questions about ourselves here on Cee’s forum!

Check out the sharing at:

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/10/27/share-your-world-2014-week-43/

Now here are this week’s questions…

What is your favorite time of day?

My favorite time of day is early morning. I think I shared  last week that it has been years since I have had the luxury of sleeping until noon. The truth is it has been years since I have slept much past dawn. I kind of like those dark quiet hours of the morning when the world is just waking up. It is so peaceful.

What’s your favorite charitable cause and why?

The church is my favorite charitable cause for a couple of reasons: 1. It is a charity that has stood the test of time and will stand through to the end of time. God will always have His church.

2. The church has done so much for me and my family. It is a part of my family.

How do you like to spend a rainy day?

Usually I work through the rainy days but if I should happen to have a rainy day free of work, then I love to sit and read or nap or maybe catch up on some  TV watching (which I haven’t had ANY time for at all lately).

When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen?

Pen definitely! I am always afraid pencil is going to eventually fade to nothing and my words will cease to exist.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for a successful art show this last weekend. Crowds were a little down but sales were up for our artists so that was good. This week I am looking forward to buying the new suit for my daughter’s wedding. It’s coming up fast!!!!

Share Your World 2014 Week 42

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I am so glad to be getting back into the swing of things now that I am home from vacation! It is once again time to do one of my favorite things which is to share my world with Cee! Each week Cee asks her reader’s four questions and a bonus. Our answers go out into the blogosphere and tell the world out there a little bit more about who we are (or aren’t in some cases).

Do me a favor and when you have finished here head on over to Cee’s blog and see what her other contributors have written. I’ll meet you there!

Share Your World – 2014 Week 42

Here are this week’s questions and my answers:

What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?

It has been something like thirty years since I have slept until noon. I am pretty sure I couldn’t do it  anymore even if I wanted to, at least not with this forty-seven year old bladder; So I would say awake before dawn and throw in an afternoon nap! 🙂

If you could choose between Wisdom and Luck, which one would you pick?

Wisdom is more precious than rubies according to the Bible and in obtaining it there is life that lasts. Meanwhile luck… well it doesn’t last forever even when it comes in good long strings. I’ll take the everlasting quality in healthy doses.Wisdom if you please!

If you were given the opportunity for free skydiving lessons would you take them? Why or why not?

I think I would probably not for the same reason I don’t ride horses. I have a little too much weight on the frame and I am afraid the horse or in this case the parachute would not support me. If I am afraid to fall off a horse and hurt myself because I am too heavy for the horse why on earth would I not be afraid to fall out of a plane held aloft by what amount to an oversized diaper?

Is the glass half empty or half full? What is in the glass?

The glass is half full. It has ambrosia in it (the nectar of the gods). Sometimes that nectar is sweet, sometimes it’s sour but it all works out tasty in the end according to Romans 8:28. I have drunk almost half the glass by this point in life but the good news is that when I finish with this glass I get another full one according to John 3:16

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 

I am grateful to have been involved in performing a wedding service with my lead pastor Barry Risto in Swampscott MA last weekend. The groom was a young man I have worked with as a minister since he was 11 years old. What a privilege! This weekend I am excited to be hosting, along with the other C.cada artists, our fourth annual art show. This year we will display close to two hundred pieces.

Share Your World 2014 Week 41

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Share Your World – 2014 Week 41

We are almost through another year of sharing. If you have fallen behind in learning and sharing you can catch up by following the link above. Come on give it a try! It’s a whole lot of fun!

Here are this week’s sharing questions from Cee….

Would you rather take pictures or be in pictures?

Since I just got back from a two-week trip to Ireland and took 850 pictures of which I am in exactly two I would have to say I like taking pictures (although I did have my daughter take pictures of me with her camera to prove I was really there).

Us on the way to Ireland.

Us on the way to Ireland.

What did you most enjoy doing this past week?

I think finishing up our tour of the Emerald Isle and flying back to resume working life.

What is your greatest extravagance?

I would have to say my greatest extravagance is books. I love to buy and read books.

Which letter of the alphabet describes you best?

M for “ME”

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am really grateful that I got to go to Ireland with my daughter Amanda. This week  I am so looking forward to beginning two services at our church and the C.cada art show this next week being held at our church. Come and visit us if you have the notion.

Share Your World 2014 Week 39

share-your-world2  Check out the question s of the week and a whole world full of answers at

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/09/29/share-your-world-2014-week-39/

Here are my answers:

Did you ever get lost?

I don’t get lost often but when I do it is usually a doozy. Once when the kids were little we took a week at a local campground. I think Joe was probably three and a half which would put Amanda about 2 and a half. I decided to take them on a nature walk around the pond on grounds. Somehow I got off the trail and ended up in apple orchard some three miles from the campsite. I think we would still be walking the road back today if some kind passers-by had not stopped to give us a lift back to the camp.

Who was your best friend in elementary school?

My best friend in elementary school was Eddie Murdock. We lost touch after middle school as he went to a different high school than I did.

Since the news television season has started in the US, list three favorite TV shows.

I am really enjoying the new show Scorpion, Agents of Shield is a favorite from last season and of course the new Dr. Who.

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?

You would probably see us watching the new television season or maybe playing with the dogs.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am so grateful for the wonderful turn out for the Toy Town Fall Fest and the groundswell of support that was shown for the Ingleside Makerspace Project. About 2000 people came out to see the property we are hoping the town will buy and turn into makerspace.

I am grateful the festival is done and now I can get ready to leave for Ireland. Thursday here we come!