In today's local paper:

For the city of Aparecida, where the National Basilica for Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil's patron saint. There, supposedly, fishermen found an image of Maria in the river. In the 80s a new structure was dedicated, only the Vatican is larger.

I was preparing a nice little item about this, when my computer froze up. *Sigh*

Suffice it to say that this city of 35,000 will receive this weekend around 220,000 pilgrims. The basilica will hold 45,000 people at once. The parking lot has space for 4,000 buses and 6,000 cars. Normally 700 people work at the basilica and 1,500 volunteers are on hand this weekend. See a few items and pics here.

Last night I awoke about 2:30 a.m. to total silence. The electricity had gone off, the ceiling fan that blew the mosquitos away had stopped, there were no electric hums, no street lights, no alarm clock numbers counting off the hours.

Far away, a faint bark of a startled dog.

Down on the avenue, a car motor grew and faded.

Then, nothing. Only my wife's shallow breathing.

Perhaps the silence had awakened me. On our dead-end street, with our house facing a small woods, we are accustomed to quietness. But this was more than quiet, it was real silence.

Now I know why my dad must like the woods.

Ten minutes later, the ceiling fan starts a low whine and winds up to the proper velocity, with the whoosh-whoosh of the blades daring the mosquitos to show their noses. The alarm clock flashes an ominous 12:00 - 12:00 - 12:00.

By this time, Vicki is awake, we check her watch, reset the time and alarm. After all, one can't be late on Sunday morning.

Things get back to normal, and we drift back into slumber.

On our way to church this morning, a road crew was replacing a light post. Evidently, somebody with too much to drink didn't make the curve. (This is the third or fourth time on this avenue in just two to three years.)

I think sadly that I owed my quiet moment in the night to a fool. And he, too, may be hearing, from this world, total silence.

I was pleased with the outcome of the sermon this morning. As mentioned earlier, I'm doing a series entitled, "Why I'm Still Just a Christian." Today's sermon was "Because God is Love," with John 3:16 as text.

From the congregation's reaction, it's hard to tell how it was received. They've never been encouraged to compliment others' work, so it's the rare moment that I hear a comment on a lesson or sermon. (Of course, it could be the quality of my teaching and preaching. There's always that to consider.)

I've worked hard at different times to praise people in the congregation for their good works, but I can't tell that it's forming a habit among us.

There are those who think you shouldn't compliment others, since it would swell their heads or cause them to be proud. Maybe. I tend to think from what I read in Scripture, that it encourages and stimulates people to continue on, do better, go higher.

Jesus praised people for their faith and perseverance, Paul praised even the problematic Corinthians in some things.

To do things for praise is one thing, a bad trait. To praise people for doing right, that's something altogether different. And something we need more of.

What do you think?

Trying to kill two birds with one stone. Since I'm preaching this quarter, my sermons will use the material I'm preparing for Why I'm Still Just a Christian. First book chapter becomes tomorrow's sermon, "Because God is Love."