Thoughts and stories, by Pal

 This article has special meaning to me!  One of the "lost sheep" of my children, and his wife, called me just 2 days ago, and we talked for 1 hour and 27 minutes!  He was searching for the group, and wanted to feel found, I feel!  It truly warmed my heart! Are you giving your black sheep a baaad rap? By  Daryl Gibson  · October 23, 2022 To read more from Daryl, visit  Parenting in the Borderlands . Sheep get no respect. Nobody wants a child to turn out to be the “lost sheep” or the “black sheep.” It’s time to take a broader look at these misunderstood mammals, and at your adult children who fit the description. You may have been wrong about both. Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep is one of the shorter of his stories. The gist of it is:  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?  (From Luke 15) I’ve always interpret...

We came to Capernaum on April 23rd.  It is spelled differently on the sign!  It was in this city that a man was lowered down through the roof into the room where Jesus was, and Jesus healed him!  Matthew 9:2 and 3.  After Jesus grew up in Nazareth, he lived mostly in Capernaum during his ministry.  Several of his apostles were men from this town, and He had many miracles performed here.  The city was evidently destroyed during the Arab conquest in 638 A.D. and never again inhabited. Showing many remnants of parts of buildings from that time period.  Showing foundations of private homes, with small rooms. Additional ruins, showing the stone carvings that were once in the city.  The different carvings had significant meanings for them, such as the 5 and 6 sided stars.  I can't remember the meanings, but they were Jewish. Some of the stones in the front are millstones, and extremely heavy.  Bishop Clark told us abo...

We had a short flight from Cairo, Egypt, to Amman Jordan.  During the day we stopped at Mount Nebo, where Moses went to pray.  It is a high point where you can look in all directions and see for many miles.  In that time there were 15,000,000 trees in that area.  They have been cut down years ago, and the area is quite barren. Mt. Nebo is where Moses looked out over the land in all directions, but was not able to help the Israelites settle there.  You can look out in most directions, and see many miles of terrain.  There isn't much there now, just a few small places people have settled.  It is mostly dry desert now. We were on our bus during that day, and stopped at a factory where they made beautiful mosaics.  The Jordanian guide said that the United States had paid for some of those factories which now hire handicapped people, who are able to use their hands and make the mosaics.  Some of them have very small pieces, 1/...