On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity

Sec ond Quarter, 2012 Walk In the Light Vol ume 12 Is sue 2

Keeping the Main Thing the Main

Thing

My name is Linda Flanagan. I wor ship at Good Shep -herd United Meth od ist Church. I walked on Mary landEmmaus #100 and sat at the ta ble of Our Pro vider.(clap!)

That walk was 11 years ago last month. Much hap pensin 11 years. Since then, I’ve ad justed to wid ow hood,grate fully changed jobs at age 59, trav eled abroad fourtimes, mourned the loss of many loved ones, and cel e bratedmile stones in the lives of my adult daugh ters.

One of those mile stones was the joy ous mar riage of my youn -ger daugh ter on Oct. 8, 2011. At that cer e mony, Rev. BobPaulen ad vised the cou ple and all of us to “keep the main thingthe main thing.” As I think back on my life since my Walk toEmmaus, my Fourth Day, I think that phrase cap tures best thehuge im pact that Walk has made on my life.

Be fore Emmaus, I was prone to seek per fec tion and “fix things,”and of ten be came anx ious. At my Walk, I ex pe ri enced God’slove in abun dance be yond be lief, and I came to re al ize that thisgood-lit tle-Sunday School-girl-all –her-life didn’t re ally knowhow a per sonal re la tion ship with God can wipe those caresaway and re place them with peace, joy, and faith, de spite hercir cum stances.

And that’s the main thing.

Dur ing the tri als since my Walk, like an abu sive boss, a lost andtrou bled adult child, deaths of loved ones, and ill ness, in steadof run ning to find a way to fix things, I leaned on God’s prom ises as I never did be fore. I trusted in His word and talked with Him. I

Fall Walks a Go!

Rick Pitonyak has an nounced that boththe Men's and Women's Fall Walks have reg is tered enough pil grims to be held asplanned (No vem ber 1 for the men andNo vem ber 8 for the women.) Pil grim ap -pli ca tions are still be ing ac cepted un tilJune 1.

There is room for ad di tional team ap pli -ca tions, so please get yours in if you arein ter ested in help ing with the week ends.

Of course we can all as sist by mak ingAgape, at tend ing the open ing and clos -ing cer e mo nies, and es pe cially the Can -dle light cer e mony.

Most im por tantly, start pray ing now forthose who will be a part of the week end.

Con tin ued on page 3

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Fall Walks - 2012 - West River

Men’s Walk # 41 - November 1 - 4 Women’s Walk # 42 - November 8 - 11

Make plans to at tend the com mu nity events for each walk:Thurs day - Spon sor’s Hour - 7:00 p.m. Sat ur day - Can dle light - 8:00 p.m.

Sunday - Closing - 4:00 p.m.

Sign up to pray forour walks (and oth ers)

on line at:www.3dayol.org

Pil grim and Team Ap pli ca tions and this news let ter may be down loaded from theweb at www.somdemmaus.com

CLICK on “Doc u ment, Lists and News let ters”

Recurring Events of the Southern Maryland EmmausCommunity

Next Gath er ing July 21, at Good Shep herd United Meth od ist Church in Wal dorf. Pot luck at 5:00 p.m. Gath er ing at 6:00 p.m.

4th Day Sem i nars

Sem i nars are held in the spring and in the fall fol low ing the men’s and women’s walks. The next sem i nar date willbe No vem ber 17. At ten dance at a 4th Day Sem i nar is re quired in or der to spon sor pil grims , and highly rec om -mended for those who wish to team.

This Week: 05/14/2012

Emmaus Com mu nity Stats

10 Week ends in 8 States and 2 Coun tries 6 Women's Week ends and 4 Men's Week ends

3

On the Right PathDead line for next is sue is Au gust 1, 2012. The pre ferred method of sub mis sion is asan MSWord doc u ment file or a WordPerfect file (.rtf file also ac cept able) sent via-e-mail to the fol low ing ad dress: dbrennan6@verizon.net. Very short ar ti cles or notes may besent in the body of the e-mail mes sage. Please send your com ments and rec om men -da tions as well to the ed i tor, Dan Brennan, at the e-mail ad dress above.

"On the Right Path" is pub lished by the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. Dan Brennan Ed i tor.

A Plea for Prayer

My name is Jane Elliott, and I at tend Pisgah UnitedMeth od ist Church, I walked on South ern Mary landEmmaus Walk num ber two and sat at the ta ble of Es -ter.(Clap)

I’m ex cited that in No vem ber we will have both a Men’sWeek end and a Women’s Week end. How ever, manyitems need to be marked off our “to do” list in or der forour Pil grims to have a won der ful worry free week end.Just like any event, good plan ning is the key.

How ever, what I’m plead ing for is prayer, prayer for ourcom mu nity, our Pil grims, teams and Spir i tual Lead ers.We all know a solid foun da tion of prayer can up lift andchange, well ev ery thing. So please pray.

Our “to do” list is in need of will ing com mu nity mem berswho can be the hands and feet for Christ here on earth,be fore, dur ing and af ter both week ends. Do you re -

mem ber your week end? Do you re mem ber all the care,love and at ten tion to de tail you felt while there? Well,with the up com ing walks, it al lows you to pass that ex -pe ri ence for ward to oth ers.

So please pray for our Pil grims, teams, and com mu nity.Pray on how you can use your God given gifts to helpcre ate week ends that each pil grim can em brace in theirhearts dur ing their fourth day.

Should you need ideas for Agape or in for ma tion onwhat else is needed please feel free to con tact me.

De Colores,

Jane ElliottAgape Co or di na torkcandjane@hughes.net

even yelled and cried at Him. I took my woes and needsto my won der ful, lov ing spon sors and re union groupmem bers, who lifted me in prayer and car ried methrough the dark times. I

turned to other Chris tian friends and clergy for coun sel,read and stud ied and lis tened to Chris tian mu sic (rec -om mended to me by Emmaus friends) as I never did be -fore. And I felt the PEACE that co mes with God’spres ence. The trou bles didn’t all van ish in stantly, but I

got through those times as I kept God’s prom ise as themain thing.

The main thing was count ing on Christ and re mem ber -ing that He is count ing on me.

I thank God and all of South ern Mary land Emmaus forthis new life, for the three legs of the stool that bring meto pi ety, study, and the ac tion of shar ing God’s lovehow ever I can. And that is the main thing.

The Main Thing con tin ued from Page 1

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Southern Maryland Emmaus - Leadership & Service

Prayer Co or di na tor

Ken Cainken.cain@capitaltristate.com

Re sources on Our Web Site

Visit www.somdemmaus.com ro these and other com mu nity re sources:

• Southern Maryland Emmaus Leadership Roster & Board of Directors

• Southern Maryland Emmaus Prayer Points of Contact

• Team & Pilgrim Applications

• Team & Pilgrim Lists (where available)

On The Right Path

Is the news let ter of theSouth ern Mary land EmmausCom mu nity. Pub lished 4times a year (Feb ru ary, May,Au gust, No vem ber) bye-mail, dis trib uted by thePoint of Con tact for each par -tic i pat ing church, hard copymailed, and avail able on theSouth ern Mary land Emmauswebsite.

South ern Mary land Emmausis af fil i ated with the In ter na -tional Emmaus Move ment ofThe Up per Room, Nash ville,Tn. Emmaus is a pro gram of -fer ing of Up per Room Min is -tries of the United Meth od istChurch. Our pur pose is to in -spire, chal lenge, and equipchurch mem bers for Chris -tian Ac tion.

Please con tact the POC foryour church as listed in thisnews let ter if you are not re -ceiv ing the news let ter.

Southern Maryland Emmaus Community

Reunion & Accountability Groups

The Re union Group list ing is tem po rarily un avail able while the coordinator, BrendaSmith-Thomas, is in the pro cess of ob tain ing up dated in for ma tion on Re union Groups inthe com mu nity. Pub li ca tion will re sume shortly. Mean while, check with your church'sPOC (page 6) for in for ma tion on meet ings for your church.

www.somdemmaus.com

Visit our website. No need to reg is ter at our new website

as no per sonal in for ma tion is main tained.

5

My 4th Day

By: Janice L. Reuter

“The Lord is my rock, my for tress, and my de liv erer; my

God is my rock in which I take ref uge, my shield and the

horn of my sal va tion, my strong hold.” (Psalm 18:2)

My name is Janice Reuter, I wor ship at Good Shep herdUnited Meth od ist Church, and I walked on the So. Md.Emmaus Walk #12 and I sat at the ta ble of Anna. (Clap)The scrip ture above meant noth ing to me be fore I didmy Walk to Emmaus. My spon sor was Linda Flanaganand I walked with Jeanne Parr and Ca thy Lavoie all ofwhom I knew very lit tle about. So I kind of felt “out thereon my own”. I wanted to leave by Fri day morn ing butsome thing hap pened Fri day dur ing the day. I met Je -sus Christ. Now I had known of Him, but I had never met Him. My jour ney changed for ever dur ing that week end. It was like ex pe ri enc ing a mir a cle but my own per sonalmir a cle. Be fore my Walk, I didn’t have a jour ney; I wasjust alive, barely. Now, on my 4th Day, I want to work ev -ery day on my re la tion ship with God and make Him mystrong hold, my rock. Next on my 4th Day I be came partof a Re union group (what’s this all about?) and was sup -posed go to Gath er ings. I was made ac count able but Iwas also loved un con di tion ally and I mean un con di tion -ally. I was en joy ing my 4th Day, each day.

Sev eral years af ter my Walk, I found my self in the pit ofa se ri ous de pres sion. It was so dev as tated that to getout of bed was a bat tle. Brush ing my teeth were daunt -ing and a shower, for get it. What had hap pened to my4th Day? But God came to my res cue. He held me upthrough my Re union Group. They carted me to meet -ings and some times Gath er ings even though I sat therelike a bump on a log or cried. They sup ported me, re -minded me of how great a 4th Day could be again,prayed with me and for me, and cried with me. My Re -union Group was my only life strand. Then one day lastyear when I thought I would be de pressed my whole lifewith no joy ever, God sent me a mir a cle, and this wasan other mir a cle just for me and no body else. Throughmy doc tor, He gave me new med i cine that changed mylife in 24 hours. I wanted to get out of bed and get readyfor the day. Now I could again. My 4th Day was back inmy life and I ac tu ally wanted to live each day and stillwant to live each day. Now each day I strive to be amore faith ful ser vant of God and live the prin ci ples ofthe Walk to Emmaus. Of course I don’t al ways make it,but now I want to make it. I want to be ac count able tomy Re union Group and I want to go to the Gath er ings.

My 4th Day jour ney is the most en gag ing and chal leng -ing jour ney of my life now and I love it. I have God, myRe union Group and the Gath er ings to thank for sav ingmy Emmaus life. Now God is again my rock, my strong -hold.

Rick's Notes

Boy, do I love thechange in sea sonsand this is one of therea sons I love liv ing inSouth ern Mary land!Ev ery thing is com ing

to life once again and you know what, it is not too hotand not too cold…its’ just right. Please take some timedur ing your busy week ahead to just go out side and en -joy what God has cre ated!

Just as we have the change of sea sons on this Earth,we also have a change of sea sons in our life. If we lookback on our lives and where we were one year ago, fiveyears ago, even ten, things have changed in your life. Iper son ally have had many changes in the last tenyears. Some were moun tain top ex pe ri ences and sometook me to the depths of de spair. One thing I havelearned to be true is that noth ing stays the same. Things are chang ing and will con tinue to change.

So, what changes are in store for South ern Mary landEmmaus? We are get ting pretty darn close to hav ing tode cide if South ern Mary land Emmaus is go ing to con -tinue or not. SME has come a long ways from where wewere a year ago.

The Gath er ing at ten dance has in creased and I thank allof you who have come out for the Gath er ings. Theboard has been cre ative and has come up with a fewthings that are dif fer ent. One of those was hav ing aBreak fast Gath er ing. I do be lieve that you all liked thatand we are plan ning on do ing that again in the fu ture.We have had dif fer ent praise bands at the Gath er ingsand you all have liked that. So, I think we are do ingsome things right.

The dead line for the Fall Walks is right around the cor -ner, June 1st.We are so close to hav ing enough pil grims! We just need a few more for each walk and we will have

Con tin ued on page 10

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Fire, Faith, Fruit

Mi chael Oher, who is an of fen sive line man for the Bal ti -more Ra vens, wrote in his book, I Beat The Odds; “Likemost kids, when I was youn ger I didn’t re ally un der stand that my life was not nor mal. It wasn’t un til I had a chance to see how other peo ple lived that I re al ized that the way my fam ily lived wasn’t the way ev ery one else lived. Achild can only un der stand what he or she sees on adaily ba sis—that’s what seems nor mal. And un til I sawan other way of life, the things I was sur rounded byseemed to tally nor mal to me, so the prob lem with itdidn’t stand out in my mind.”

Mi chael Oher grew up in the ghetto of Mem phis, Ten -nes see. Most peo ple that grow up in the ghetto re maintrapped there, but Mi chael was de ter mined at a youngage to grow out of the ghetto. At one point in his life Mi -chael was placed in a fos ter home with a fos ter Momthat was a very de voted Chris tian. It was his faith, de ter -mi na tion, and help from oth ers that got him out of theghetto.

To sum ma rize what the Apos tle Paulwrites in his let ter to the Ephe sians2:1-10, the Apos tle tells us in this pas -sage the great change that we ex pe ri -ence as we are trans formed frombond age to sin to free dom in Christthrough Grace.

“For by grace you have been savedthrough faith, and this is not your owndo ing; it is the gift of God”. Ephe sians2:8 (NRSV).

Much like Mi chael Oher, I thought thatmy life as a child was nor mal. But now as I look back onmy life from time to time I see that my child hood was notnor mal.

I grew up in Up state New York. My Dad was a dairyfarmer and that was pretty nor mal for the farm ing com -mu nity that we lived in. But that all changed sud denlywhen I was about four years old. At the age of 35 Dadsud denly started go ing into con vul sions. I was therewith Dad while Mom was on the phone fran ti cally try ingto get med i cal help. Need less to say that was a veryfright en ing ex pe ri ence for a four year old. As it turnedout Dad had suf fered a stroke that crip pled him.We lost the farm and nearly ev ery thing that our

fam ily owned. We were able to get fi nan cial helpthrough So cial Ser vices and the Wel fare pro gram, andfood to put on the ta ble through gov ern ment sur plus.

The first time that we re ceived some of God’s grace was when we re ceived some Christ mas gifts and gift bas -kets from peo ple that we did not know through a pro -gram that is much like the An gel Tree pro gram. For ayear or so the Pas tor of a nearby Church would comeand pick us up and take us to Church and SundaySchool.

Like Mi chael Oher we found that it was dif fi cult grow ingup as wel fare chil dren. In school we were shunned byoth ers at times and at other times we were picked on byother chil dren be cause we did not wear the nic estclothes. An other rea son that I was shunned was be -cause I was very tall for my age.

When Dad passed away at the age of 51 the Pas tor ofour Church came and vis ited with Mom a few times, but

he never talked to me or my sib lings.Through my own grief I be came veryan gry with God. I fell into a pit of sinthat I lived in for years. I stayed awayfrom the Church for a most of thoseyears.

My daugh ter is the one that is re -spon si ble for get ting me back into the Church. It was God’s prevenientgrace work ing through her when shetold me "Daddy if I have to go toChurch so do you." And I went. I satin the pews as a pew po tato for a few

years just tak ing up space. When I fi nally ac ceptedChrist into my heart at the age of 51, I re al ized that as Ilooked back on my life that God had used the suf fer ingthat Dad went through and that our fam ily went throughas an ed u ca tional train ing ground for some thing that hehad planned for me. It is through His grace that he is us -ing me in His ser vice in many ways.

It takes a lot of per se ver ance to get through the strug -gles of life. Some say that per se ver ance is the same asen dur ance. But per se ver ance is more than en dur ance.Per se ver ance is en dur ance with grace. It is en dur ing

Con tin ued on page 7

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dif fi cult times cheer fully and with out com plain ing. Per se -ver ance is hav ing pas sion ate peace with Je sus as ourLord and Sav ior and know ing that He is ei ther walk ing withyou or car ry ing you dur ing those times.

God now uses me as an ad vo cate serv ing the un der priv i -leged chil dren, the home less, the hun gry, the el derly, andthose that are griev ing the loss of loved ones.

As I am writ ing this we are com ing up on the “One GreatHour of Shar ing”. My prayer is that you will be gen er ous. Ifyou are un able to give fi nan cially there are many otherways that you can give in your com mu nity. Such as vol un -teer ing at a food bank, mentoring an un der priv i leged child, do ing yard work for an el derly per son, giv ing a home lessper son some thing to eat and spend ing time talk ing tothem. These are just a few ways that you can give.

Look back on your own life. Has your life al ways been nor -mal? Is there some thing in your past or some thing that isgo ing on in your life right now that God is us ing as yourtrain ing for His use now or in the fu ture?

“For we are what he has made us, cre ated in Christ Je susfor good works, which God pre pared be fore hand to be ourway of life.” Ephe sians 2:10 (NRSV).

Jack Wood ford

Cer ti fied Lay Min is ter

Ste phen Leader/Ste phen Min is ter

Trin ity UMC

Fire, Faith, Fruit Con tin ued from page 6

We Need Your Help!

Cleaning out the

Southern Maryland Emmaus

Trailer

so please, if you can help,

Mark your calendars for

June 2nd, 2012

9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Lexington Park United MethodistChurch

21760 Great Mills RoadLexington Park, MD

Thank you in advance from

The Southern Maryland Board

For further information pleasecontact

Jane Elliott

Agape Coordinator

(H) 301-934-2786 (C) 301-645-1258

kcandjane@hughes.net

If you are prayer fully con sid er ing team ingfor the fall 2012 Walks, you can down loadteam ap pli ca tions from the South ern Mary -land Emmaus website atwww.somdemmaus.com. Mail your com -pleted and signed ap pli ca tion to South ernMary land Emmaus, P.O. Box 1242,Leonardtown, MD 20650. You can alsoemail an elec tronic ver sion of your team ap -pli ca tion to Sheila Hanson atperseey98@gmail.com fol low ing up withmail ing your signed ap pli ca tion. If the teamcost is dis suad ing you from ap ply ing,please note that schol ar ships are avail ableto as sist in pay ing for the team cost of aWalk.

8

Ken's Perspective

Our March Gath er ing

Wow! That was aboutall we could say onMarch 17th as we held

the doors open and greeted over 100 peo ple for Break -fast!.

It all started about 5 AM as Margret Kolbe showed upwith kitchen crew in tow to put out a spread that was just amaz ing. The place was packed and ev ery one hadplenty to eat.

The Gath er ing that fol lowed was one of the best inyears ac cord ing to Linda Flanagan, a long time mem ber at Good Shep herd United Meth od ist Church in Wal dorf,

where the Gath er ing was held. We had a great time with lots of sing ing, great tes ti mo nies, prayer and fel low ship. The mu sic was ab so lutely fan tas tic and the place re allyrocked that day!

What was re ally mem o ra ble was the clos ing cir cle. Itwas hugh! The look on ev ery one’s face re ally re flectedthe pres ence of the Holy Spirit at work that morn ing.

Rick Pitonyak, our Com mu nity Lay Di rec tor stated thateven though this was billed as an an nual event, we willstrongly con sider do ing at least one more this year!

Take a look at the pic tures on page 9 of this edi tion. See any one you know?

- Ken Cain

Making Music to Thrill the Soul

Over the past four months, mu sic at Emmaus gath er -ings has been pro vided by var i ous praise groups fromchurches sup port ing South ern Mary land Emmaus.

Praise groups from Good Shep herd UMC, South Po to -mac Church and Cal vary UMC have each led the sing -ing at our gath er ings. The mu sic has been very wellre ceived by those in at ten dance and we con tinue toPraise God through song. This month we hope to put

to gether a group of men who, in the past have par tic i -pated in pro vid ing mu sic for Emmaus Walks or Emmaus Gath er ings. If you have a group that is in ter ested inlead ing the mu sic at one of our up com ing gath er ings we would like for you to let us know. Con tact Bud Camp bell (budlekel@comcast.net) or Ka ren Smith (musicladykaren@ya hoo.com) if you are in ter ested.

How many Pilgrims do we need for a Walk?

I’ve heard this ques tion asked over and over again in the past months and I per son ally think that is n’t the ques tion we should be ask ing at all. We, the com mu nity, shouldbe ask ing - Who do I want to share the Walk to Emmauswith; 72 hours of un con di tional grace? The ideal wouldbe that we have so many pil grim ap pli ca tions on file thatonly the first 24 men and 24 women’s ap pli ca tions con -firmed would be cho sen to at tend the Fall 2012 Walksand the re main ing would be held over for the next Walkin 2013. One sign of a healthy com mu nity!

I re mem ber when my spon sor’s asked me if I was in ter -ested in go ing on the Walk to Emmaus? It was n’t for aspe cific Walk (month/year) but rather my spon sorswanted me to ex pe ri ence what they had ex pe ri encedand what the dis ci ples ex pe ri enced when Je sus ap -peared to them on the Road to Emmaus.

South ern Mary land Emmaus has been hold ing Walkswith less than the ‘de sired’ num ber of pil grims re cently. Some would ask “So what?” I be lieve the ‘de sired’ num -ber is set at 20 pil grims for a rea son - you need at least 4 pil grims, an as sis tant Ta ble Leader, and a Ta ble Leader at each ta ble to cre ate and fos ter a sense of com mu nityat that ta ble and in turn fos ters a healthy SME com mu -nity.

Pil grims are still needed for the Fall 2012 Walks. Please PRAYERFULLY con sider who God is call ing YOU tospon sor!

Con nie Wells

9

10

My name is Con nie Wells; I at tend Lexington Park United Meth od ist Church. I walked on SME #28 and sat at the ta -ble of Na omi (clap).

What do an ex-con, a for mer drug ad dict, a real es -tate bro ker, a col lege stu dent, and a mar ried motherof two have in com mon?

Noth ing, or so Jodi Baxter thought. Who would haveimag ined that God would make a group as mis -matched as that the clos est of friends?

“I al most didn’t even go to the Chi cago Women’sCon fer ence—af ter all, be ing thrown to gether withfive hun dred strang ers wasn’t ex actly my ‘com fortzone.’ But I would be room ing with my boss, Avis,and I hoped that maybe I might make a friend or two.

“When Avis and I were as signed to a prayer group oftwelve women at the con fer ence, I wasn’t sure whatto think. There was Flo, an out spo ken ex-drug ad -dict; Ruth, a Mes si anic Jew who couldsmother-mother you to death; and Yo-Yo, an ex-con

who wasn’t even a Chris tian! Not to men tion womenfrom Ja maica, Hon du ras, South Af rica—prac ti cally a mini-United na tions. We cer tainly didn’t have muchin com mon.

“But some thing hap pened that week end to make usre al ize we had to hang to gether. So ‘the Yada YadaPrayer Group’ de cided to keep pray ing for eachother via e-mail. That worked for a while, but our per -sonal strug gles and re quests soon got too in tensefor cyberspace, so we de cided to meet to gether ev -ery other Sunday night.

“Talk about a rock tum bler!—knock ing off eachother’s rough edges, learn ing to laugh and cry alongthe way. But when I faced the big gest cri sis of mylife, God used my new found girl friends to help teachme—Jodi Baxter, long time Chris tian ‘goodgirl’—what it means to be just a sin ner saved bygrace.”

I highly rec om mend the The Yada Yada PrayerGroup by Neta Jack son. Read this book and I’msure you’ll be get ting the other 5 books in the se riesto see how God works in and through these di versewomen. Happy Read ing…..

Bless ings, Con nie

P.S. What did you think of JESUS CALLING? March 8 – SEEK ME FIRST and fore most; then the rest ofyour life will fall into place, piece by piece.

enough! I pray that you have a pil grim and will be able to get the ap pli ca tion in on time.

We, as a com mu nity, re ally need to work on be ing “onteam.” Even though we have re ceived more team ap pli -ca tions than in the past, we do not have enough at thispoint to make a team for each walk. Even if we haveenough pil grim ap pli ca tions to have the walks, if wecan’t build the team the walks will not hap pen.

One of my moun tain top ex pe ri ences has been be ing a

pil grim and I feel ev ery one should be al lowed to ex pe ri -

ence “The Walk to Emmaus” and what it means to be

close to GOD in a joy ous way. Re mem ber your Walk

and the two ques tions you were asked to think about

and tell the com mu nity? What has the Walk to Emmaus

meant to you and what are you go ing to do about it?

Do you still re mem ber your re sponses? What are you

go ing to do about it?

Take care and GOD Bless,

Rick Pitonyak

Rick's Notes from page 5

(ED's note: at pub li ca tion time we had achievedenough pil grims to hold the walks. )

11

Ob ser va tions from the Ed i tor

As a some times co me dian, I amvery much aware of the most ter ri -

fy ing sound in the world tothose stand ing on a stage

with a mi cro phone. No,it's not the heck lers in theback row . The most ter ri -

fy ing sound to a co me dianis si lence, of ten de picted by the plain tive cry of crick etschirp ing in the back ground.

My base ment of fice at home re cently en dured a smallin va sion by the lit tle crit ters (they're gone now), but Icould n't help but no tice them in the oth er wise qui etudethat is my of fice early in the morn ing. I wanted them tobe gone, not be cause they fright ened me, but be causethey had in vaded the time I most en joy.

Early in the morn ing, be fore the day's events have re -ally be gun, is the time when I can en joy the value that si -

lence can bring; the op por tu nity to be alone with mythoughts ex cept for the Lord who shares all of mythoughts all of the time. It is a chance to speak to Himfreely, and yes, to joke with Him as well. Did you knowthat God has a won der ful sense of hu mor? Well, Hedoes.

He and I were shar ing some thoughts just the othermorn ing, and I gave Him a few lines from a new rou tineI'm work ing on, and sud denly, there they were, thecrick ets. Do you think God was try ing to tell me some -thing?

- Dan Brennan

And be hold, two of them were go ing that very day to a vil lagenamed Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Je ru sa lem.And they were talk ing with each other about all these thingswhich had taken place. While they were talk ing and dis cuss ing,Je sus Him self ap proached and be gan trav el ing with them.

“Walk in the Light” - South ern Mary land EmmausVisit us on the web at www.somdemmaus.com

"Were not our hearts burn ing within us while He wasspeak ing to us on the road, while He was ex plain ing

the Scrip tures to us?”

Luke 24:32

In for ma tion on the South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus, as well aspil grim and team ap pli ca tions may be found on our website:

www.somdemmaus.com

On the Right Path1005 Nor folk DriveLa Plata, Md. 20646

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