Prayer Service

Thursday night's prayer service was awesome, very spiritual and heartfelt. In addition to Michelle's family (mom, dad, and 2 sisters), my brother Tim and 12 of our close friends joined us. Many brought small tokens or readings to share, including religious icons, a photo of the sunrise taken on Easter morning from Horsetooth reservoir (just west of Fort Collins in the foothills), and several readings.

Here are some of those readings:

So do not fear, for I am with you,
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you:
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isiah 41:10

An Excerpt from Henri Nouwen by Robert A. Jonas
Robert A. Jonas is the editor of this collection of writings from the Christian writer Henri Nouwen. Here is an excerpt on faith.

"The Flying Rodleighs are trapeze artists who perform in the German circus Simoneit-Barum. When the circus came to Freiburg two years ago, my friends Franz and Reny invited me and my father to see the show. I will never forget how enraptured I became when I first saw the Rodleighs move through the air, flying and catching as elegant dancers. The next day, I returned to the circus to see them again and introduced myself to them as one of their great fans. They invited me to attend their practice sessions, gave me free tickets, asked me to dinner, and suggested I travel with them for a week in the near future. I did, and we became good friends.

"One day, I was sitting with Rodleigh, the leader of the troupe, in his caravan, talking about flying. He said, 'As a flyer, I must have complete trust in my catcher. The public might think that I am the great star of the trapeze, but the real star is Joe, my catcher. He has to be there for me with split-second precision and grab me out of the air as I come to him in the long jump.' 'How does it work?' I asked. 'The secret,' Rodleigh said, 'is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to Joe, I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron behind the catchbar.'

" 'You do nothing!' I said, surprised. 'Nothing,' Rodleigh repeated. 'The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. I am not supposed to catch Joe. It's Joe's task to catch me. If I grabbed Joe's wrists, I might break them, or he might break mine, and that would be the end for both of us. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.'

"When Rodleigh said this with so much conviction, the words of Jesus flashed through my mind: 'Father into your hands I commend my Spirit.' For us it means trusting in the catcher…'Don't be afraid. Remember that you are the beloved child of God. He will be there when you make your long jump. Don't try to grab him; he will grab you. Just stretch out your arms and hands and trust, trust, trust.' "

We also enjoyed and sang along with a moving rendition of one of Michelle's favorite hymns, "Lord of the Dance".

We closed with a Navajo prayer:

Navajo Blessing Way Prayer
In beauty may I walk.
All day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk.
With dew about my feet may I walk.
With beauty before me, may I walk.
With beauty behind me, may I walk.
With beauty above me, may I walk.
With beauty below me, may I walk.
With beauty all around me, may I walk.
In old age wondering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all the wonderful messages of support and prayer that continue to pour in. I apologize that I haven't the time to respond to each message individually, but please know that we appreciate every one.