Deus Misereatur

At Home: The Incredible Story of The Welcome Mission by Holly Rench My rating: 5 of 5 stars It's a memoir, a series of journal entries telling a very human set of stories in a very friendly, personable way. It's not fully polished, but it's real, sometimes raw, and always forthright and frank! Holly Rench, Executive Director and co-founder of The Welcome Mission, has penned a touching series of real-life exploits, escapades, agonies and adversities of the women she has been involved with for over twelve years in this 231 page softback "At Home: The Incredible Story of The Welcome Mission". Rench unravels the tangled lives of several of her and Marcus's "adopted" adult children describing their destructive pasts and how many of them, through love and hospitality, have moved further up and further on. But the tales are also filled with pitfalls and potholes that will jar the reader's suspension system's and rattle any self-righteous lug-n...

(This morning's congregational prayer is coddled in the arms of Psalm 131) “ O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. ” O Mighty God, high and exalted, you are the greatest good, you are the utmost in integrity, and you are supreme over life and death: we acknowledge that humility is a waning virtue; thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, we think ourselves mighty, magnificent and marvelous in our modern technologies, scientific advancements, social sensibilities, medical feats, and military competencies. All of this egoism surfaces in our national and international politics, foreign policies, and business ventures. Help us in our communities and in our country to remember that we are but human, and therefore “ surely all mankind is a mere breath ” (Psalm 39.5, 11)! That “ not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God w...