Wedding Photo! July 2007

Ghost Ranch Class

Well, here is my first attempt at publishing photos, below is my writing class in front of kitchen mesa at ghost ranch which was back in July-August

Coming soon: art and poems/prayers

Hi, Our church is raising money by taking 5 dollars and investing in something that will double, triple our investment. This is a challenge to me, what can I do? So, I finally decided, bookmarks! I am creating bookmarks with a watercolor scene on one side and a poem on the other. So, I try to figure out how to put them up on the blog for you to view, and order. I have no idea what to charge, so what do you think? Steve

Time to come back home!

Okay I took your advice. I am coming back home. I went into my office today and it was great to see Julie, and Chris our pre- school director came by, and I made a few phone calls, went through the mail, and worked on a worship service. However, I went too long without lunch and my blood sugar dropped. Okay, remember to eat at regular intervals Steve. Then tonight I went to the Jubilee Grant task force meeting. I now have 30 proposals to read and vote on before October 12, we then meet on October 20th to award the top vote getters with funds. I am one step away from sending out stuff to publishers, this is a harder step than I realized, I begin to wonder if my work will be okay or will I get rejection letters. I wonder if maybe I should just keep it to myself, and not take the risk. I think that maybe what I have written is not good enough. Anyhow, I am trying to work up the courage, and send some samples off, pray for me!
Thanks to all for your support, and if you are reading this for the first time, since I did send out a bunch of invites to new folks now that this will be a regular blog, I invite you all to read some of the earlier posts which has much more creative writing, and less of this babbling. Steve

Time for going back to work!

Well folks it is almost time to go back to work! I am already working on making my reentry into next Monday. I am thinking of changing the name of this blog, a new title to inspire me to keep writing, and posting. I will take any suggestions! Steve

Wedding Anniversary

Well I am back folks, arrived safe and sound tonight, too tired to write much but here is the service I wrote for my parents:
50th Wedding Anniversary Service for Neil and Norma
Marshall 9-15-07


Friends and Family, We have gathered together today
under the care of God. We gather to celebrate love and
all love inspires commitment, dedication, joy, courage
and faith. All these virtues make our relationships to
God and one another fulfilling and purposeful.

We gather here to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of
the Marriage between Norma and Neil, a journey that
started right here in this sanctuary. Marriage is a
commitment to be faithful to another person for
better, for worse, for times in sickness and health.
This is not an easy promise and many challenges can
threaten the bond between the two partners.
So it is with great joy we celebrate the love of Neil
and Norma, a love that has weathered the storms and
grew deeper still. Their faith in God to protect and
guide them has grown stronger and their witness to
others of their love and faith has stood the test of
time.

Today we stand as witnesses to Neil and Norma’s love
and faith and give thanks to God for this milestone in
their life together: Let us pray:

Dear loving Creator, You know us even before we were
formed in the womb. Your Spirit spills into our souls
even as our physical form takes shape, and as we take
the first steps into life, you guide us and offer your
unconditional love. Your love inspires us to love one
another as you love us and so we find friendship and
soul mates in the journey of life.

You have taught us to be faithful to one another in
friendship, in partnership, in marriage, give us
courage to keep our promises and strengthen our
commitment to be faithful. Be with us now as we
celebrate Neil and Norma’s marriage, give us joyful
hearts, and renew your love in each of us. We pray in
the name of Jesus the Christ, Amen.

The marriage of Neil and Norma unites them and their
families. We would invite all those family members who
were present 50 years ago to rise. (People rise). We
thank you for your blessing and the care you have
given to Neil and Norma all these years. You represent
all those family members who have gone to be with the
Lord, especially Walter and Gertrude Marshall, Neil’s
parents, and Clifford and Elizabeth Whittier, Norma’s
parents. Who in their lifetime nurtured Neil and Norma
into adulthood and whose love they still cherish.
(Please be seated).

No marriage can survive without the caring of friends,
so all those friends who were present 50 years ago
please rise. We thank you and all those who are absent
now for the blessing and care given to Neil and Norma
all these years. New friends also are present, we
celebrate your presence today, and so would you now
stand. We thank you for your faithful presence in all
the moments of Neil and Norma’s life. (Please be
seated)

Marriage often produces new members of the family,
Neil and Norma raised three children: Steve, Janice
and Gary (please stand). Neil and Norma have spent
many hours of their lives lovingly giving of their
time, energy and resources to raise their children. As
with any household there has been times of joy and
celebration, times of trial and tribulation. Yet,
through it all the family has found a way to persevere
and to love. The family has also grown so would all
the family members now rise; this includes all the
family who were not present 50 years ago, all the
in-laws, nieces and nephews, grandnieces and
grandnephews, grandchildren cousins. Neil and Norma
have continued to give and receive support from all
these family members, who has made their marriage
stronger.
(Please be seated)

To all of you family and friends thank you all for
your presence, which is the greatest, present anyone
can give to one another.


1Cor.13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but
have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver
my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain
nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous
or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not
insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices
in the right. Love bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love
never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as
for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it
will pass away.
For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is
imperfect;
but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass
away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought
like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a
man, I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to
face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand
fully, even as I have been fully understood.
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the
greatest of these is love.

Words by the Pastor

Closing Prayer

Let us pray

Dear loving God, You have continued to bless Neil and
Norma in their Marriage. We ask now for your continued
blessing and guidance over them as they start the next
50 years! May your presence in their lives, inspire
them to continued in deepening of their faith in you
and one another. May they be blessed with the
continued presence of friends and family in the giving
and receiving of love. May we be inspired by this
milestone of love and commitment and practice
faithfulness in all our relationships. We pray this in
the name of Jesus Christ who taught us to pray....Our
Father...Amen
Benediction

You are invited to participate in the reception
downstairs in the fellowship hall with food prepared
by Orange United Methodist Woman.

Rev. Steve Poteete-Marshall
Walnut United Methodist Church
20601 La Puente Drive
Walnut, California 91789
909-595-4228

Poem read at Ghost Ranch

Well, I have now come to the poem that I read for my 'performance' at Ghost Ranch. On Friday evening, the last night of our class, we were asked to read one of our works for the rest of the Ranch. There were about 100 people present for this reading, and my class picked me to go first. So it was a bit intimidating to read something you are not sure about, whether the people there would appreciate my creative side or not? The assignment was to write a list poem, that is a poem that lists a number of characteristics of some aspect of life, we were to write as fast as we could without thinking too much, which was easy for me. Okay here it is
Voices in my Head

The voices in my head are like
an off key quartet
an angry swarm of bees
a driverless bus of senior citizens going down the mountain
golf sized hail hitting a tin roof
fingernails on a chalkboard
the screams of lobsters being boiled
poets arguing about style
presidential canidates debating the economy
a child setting off a mine
the crunch of steel against steel in a head on accident
the dried out brakes that whine at the slightest touch
the scrape of a walker without tennis balls
a cascade of water roaring over the falls
the whine of a dog who has been stepped on
buzz of a drill
the buzz of an alarm clock after a long evening
the noise of a tire rim rolling against asphalt
the cry of the poor asking for handouts
the click of a computer losing power
the complaint of a teenager who can't do Whatever they want
th sound of a punch in the gut
the break of a bone twisted the wrong way
the bursting of a pimple
fighting of two humming birds at a feeder
drone of leaf blowers before coffee
the commentary of any sportscaster for any sport
the cursing of my father
the snowplow hitting a fire hydrant
a car turning over
an ancient tree being cut for timber
a golfer throwing clubs
a temper tantrum in the empty auditorium
a life guards whistle
the scrape of trains on tracks
peeling rubber
the taking off of B52 bombers
breaking of a grandmother's glass vase
the shot that killed my cousin
the mourning cry of a mother
the rage of a mentally ill person being strapped into restraints
a surgeon having to reset a bone
the agony of being lost
the unawared friend who talks but doesn't listen
the wild colt fleeing from danger
the bite of a horse fly on the ankle
the taste of a bitter herb
the crack of a non-stick frying pan left over a gas flame too long,
the soda shaken opened
the screams of a woman in child birth.

SPM 2007

Ghost Ranch writing

Well, glad to hear you all took naps. One of the problems I encountered at Ghost Ranch was very sore feet. I found out that my hiking boots which I have worn in very well, just are not the right size anymore, my arthritis was making my toes swell up and so I have had to move up a size to 14 or 15 depending, and double wide. Then come to find out my other issue was a condition in my heel was fasciitis, which kept me from hiking as much as I would of liked. Now, after a few weeks of motrin and a RX I am feeling much better. At the time I wrote this:

My Feet

The toes were cramped
just for a day
The blisters formed
along the way
The feet squeezed in
hollering out in pain
Now my toes are
swollen just the same

I had so much in mind
this day and the next
But now I read and write
while the feet rest
Tommorow promises more
plans broken
The blisters on the bottom
have spoken!
SPM 2007

Tuesday

Well, I can't remeber any hotter labor day weekend than this, and we were just 5 miles south of the 4.7 earthquake that hit so we felt it, but no injuries! Linda is off today to help her cousin get through a back surgery for a bulging disc in Las Vegas. So she should come back on Friday if all goes well. I am tired from the heat, no air conditioning at my sister in laws house, but it was good to see her and my niece for the weekend. So napping is on my mind so here is a poem:

Napping

My eyes are closing
closing
closing
My mind is drooping
drooping
drooping
My muscles are slacking
slacking
slacking

"Huh, What?'

my ears are open
open
open

until... they are overuled in favor of
napping
napping
napping

SPM 2007