Turn From Your Sin and Be Faithful to the Gospel

Lee and I got a new bed. We have been using the mattress that Mommi and Daddy gave us when we got married. Two babies and six years later, the thing is LITERALLY falling apart. My side of the mattress was almost touching the floor because the boxspring was broken on my side. Nice. So we found a very good deal at Big Lots, and had it delivered (via my Father in Law) yesterday.

Needless to say, I slept like a baby after being at a 45 degree angle for the last six months.

So of course, when the alarm went off at 5:30am, I was not ready to get up. How is it that after you press snooze to give yourself the traditional 9 more minutes, those are the most comfortable nine minutes of your life? Who wants to get up then? But then...

Elijah and I got up while it was still dark to go to church. I missed it on Sunday because I thought the sidewalks might be too icy for the stroller. I'm glad now that I didn't go Sunday. Even today, it was quite dangerous. Half of the time, I had to get the Boo out of the stroller and carry him and the stroller over the snow. The other half of the time we were walking in puddles. I almost turned around, but it was our first time to ever go to an Ash Wednesday service and I didn't want to miss it. We were late and sat way in the back.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, which is a time of reflection and self-discipline leading up to Easter. To mark the beginning of the season, Christians of many different denominations (not just Catholics as you might think) have a service where they mark their foreheads with ashes in the shape of the cross. At our service, Boo and I went up to have the sign put on our head, along with the admonition, "Turn from your sin, and be faithful to the gospel". Sometimes it is also said, "Remember man, you are from dust and to dust you shall return." I'm paraphrasing, because I don't want to look it up right now. It was really cool, although Lee made me wipe my forehead off as soon as we got home.

Yesterday of course was Fastnachts day. Fastnacht means the eve of the fast. So I brought donuts to work and used Fastnacht to teach all my coworkers about the beginning of Lent and Ash Wednesday. We sell all sorts of books for Lent and even ashes for use on Ash Wednesday but msot of the staff don't know anything about Lent at all. It's good for business for all of us to learn together, even if most of the staff find it quite weird. 90% of the staff is Assemblies of God. :)

Well, back to the real world. My living room is messy and dishes need done.