YES

Dear All of Us, 

So, guess what?

Well, that's not really a question.

It's a lead in to me blowing off a bit. 

You see, I just spent 

the whole darn morning 

writing a long, big, fat,

bloated blog piece 

all about our 

    spiritual life. 

 It's a mess mass of 

      words.

     EKKKS!!

     ******

             LATER

Thanks for letting me word 

my frustration with 

this morning's word overload.

After prayer and a nap

here's a new go at it. 

       ******

 

Actually, our spiritual life is 

a beautifully simple matter.

       ONE WORD 

          does it.

 Our whole spiritual life 

        in a word is

            YES

  Our whole spiritual life 

            is a 

           Lived

            YES 

             to 

        God Good

 practical and personal

Watch out, though. 

Sad too much 

so called spirituality

words us to death

as I started to do 

this morning. 

It piles on

a dump truck of 

  "Have To's" 

      and 

"Don't You Dares,"

worries us down.

It wares the 

liv'n heck out of us.

We have to 

figure out and do 

a heaven of a lot 

to get there and 

avoid a hell of a lot more

to not go there.

It's decidedly 

an overtime job X2.

Well, we're just not up to it.

It's like an electrical cord 

stressing for the output 

of a generator.

Better put, the wonderous word 

of the spiritual life is that 

   God is in a Love Burst,

   God is branching out 

     all over the place

   We call it Creation.

          God is 

    Self-Expressing

      Love Making

  proteins to planets, 

  tulips to Grand Tetons.

            And 

        most of all

God passionately wants 

     to self-express,

       to expand 

 as us and through us.

 All we have to do is 

         live a

         YES

  God takes care 

    of the rest.

God not only supplies the energy,

God is the energy and the Reality

  that we can be and do in our

  unique, personal, human way. 

       God wants to be 

       person present 

             in us

          through us,

          in person 

   in the persons we are.

  (Yes, that's repetitious.

   May it add emphasis

   to what God wants

   and we need notice!)

As many here know, 

my favorite most parable 

is John 15:1-8. 

Jesus offers to be our life

and to be fruitful through us:

     "I am the vine and 

      you are the branches...

      This is my father's glory, 

      that you bear much fruit"

      

In other words, Jesus is asking

     can I happen as you,

     can I love you to life in my life,

     can I be personal and present 

           in you and through you,

                can I be 

           the unique body, 

           personality, 

           gifts and abilities,

           soul and psyche 

           I so want to be for you 

           and through you 

           for others?

           Can we be so close

           that we are 

           paradoxically,

           actually,

           Two In One

        Separately Same 

                 

God wants to be 

placed and personal 

          to 

     particular 

people and places,   

those in our zone 

    through us.

To rework that homey, 

hooky image above, 

God is the generator and 

we are the electrical cord.

God is our current and 

we are God's 

connectors/conduits.

God electrifies, 

powers us and

through us.

     Our lived 

        YES 

means things like:

We let God be intimate 

to our deepest selves 

in prayer.

We delight with union

in God and 

with all of God's 

people and Creation.

We rejoice in our uniqueness.

We open wide to God 

surging through us: 

  - in the oneness of 

     that mystical union

  - giving us right and real 

    direction in life  

  - in our spiritual 

    sensitivities and practices

  - in voting, investing 

    our conscience 

    not our pocketbook 

    or privilege

  - in being patient with 

    the loudmouth at

   (work, church, a party,...)

  - in having enough and 

    sharing all the rest

 (admonition of St. Augustine)   

  - in being serious without being 

    stone cold sober somber,

  - in being easy, lightsome 

    without being 

    flighty feather fluffy,

  - in helping to clear 

    the dinner table 

    when we feel like 

    heading for 

    the lounge chair

  - in changing a particularly 

    repugnant diaper

  - in deep community 

    as a church

  - in buying and using 

    environmentally 

    just products

  - in fully applying 

    ourselves at work

  - in using and sharing 

    our particular 

    talents and abilities for 

    The Common Good:

    hospitality, coaching, 

    mentoring, organizing, 

    writing, leading, 

    sharing gifts that are 

    musical, intellectual, artistic, 

    athletic, spiritual, financial,

    crafts and trades,

    sponsoring/supporting 

    social justice efforts ...

God is a Love Surge.

God craves Oneness 

       with us.

There are people and places 

where God wants to plug in 

    and energize 

and that through us.

 What do we say?

May it be a robust, 

vigorous, wholly

   Love Lived

       YES 

     ******

   FURTHERENCE

"I live now not I, 

 but Christ lives in me."

   Galatians 2:20

What are the 

personal and practical 

implications of this 

for each of us and

for our spiritual community?

           ******

Speaking of Spiritual Surge

It's been another week with 

many, many new folks

joining in with us here at

     frankly speaking

        There's been 

     a significant surge

              from 

     The Netherlands

Welcome groups and individuals 

        from around our

   GLOBAL NEIGHBERHOOD

       OUR NEXT POSTING

   Tuesday morning/afternoon

    East Coast USA time

    April 8, 2025

      

   OUR NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

   Friday

   April 11, 2025

LAST FIVE POSTINGS AVAILABLE

                    by

       scrolling down beneath

             this posting

       Great to be together.

         Have a good week.

             Love to all.

             God Bless,

             John Frank

         frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

            ******

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

Dear All of Us,

As a kid I had red hair.

Over time it turned blond, 

then white and then 

mostly just gave up

and took leave of my  

 now shinny head.

(Finally, I'm bright!)

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

   over the years

    

          

As a kid I didn't like 

    being different,

 

    being called

  

    "Hey, Red!"

except when someone 

   

         said

"My, what beautiful 

 red hair you have."

I don't think I'm 

all that different

than most of us.

I had to learn 

to deal with 

my differences

   and with

those of others.

A birth injury 

shortened 

   

    and 

weakened 

my left arm.

I sure was a

  "lefty" 

- left out -

of baseball 

and basketball. 

That difference hurt.

But look out because

my especially strong 

right arm, lungs and legs

would run you off 

the tennis court and 

outdistance you in track

and that in record time

to say nothing of 

formattable defense 

as a right back in soccer.

Those differences 

sure as heck felt good.

I have this theory that 

difficulty and discomfort 

with difference 

is a prime problem

in mental health and

in societal accord, 

both stemming from 

   souls stifled 

      fearful

       

         of

 

   difference.

Media and merchants

make their bucks 

  pressuring us

to duck and weave

to their manipulations 

 

     of difference

         and 

   our discomfort 

  

    if we don't.

A simple and silly 

style difference.

In my many years 

it was once fashion right 

to wear a bow tie, 

then damn that difference.

Wide, wide ties were in

then outed with trim ones

and those outed now 

with no ties at all.

Different religions diss

other religions for their 

different views of the Divine.

They ignore the wonder 

that God is so vast 

that no one angle 

sees or shows 

more than that.

We'd get 

a fuller picture 

if we all shared 

our different

views and angles. 

Fascist pick out and on 

a different minority and

get the populus convinced 

that those folks are making 

a terrible difference and

we have to get rid of them.

And of course 

the fascist leader  

will lead us to rid 

the dangerous difference.

That galvanizes the power 

      of the fascist, 

   distracts and dupes 

       the masses

     by brutalizing

    an innocent but

  

   different minority.

Cain couldn't handle 

his brother, Abel, 

coming in number one with

a very different offering, 

so he killed him. 

People still kill off

a lot of God Good 

because it's different.

Looking deeply we see 

the divine paradox that

           God is 

            ONE 

    

    DIFFERENTIATED

     That's Creation.

  

        That's us.

 That's rocks and rivers, 

     male and female 

       with some

  beautifully different 

  shades and shapes 

      in-between,

    salt and sugar,

 savors of difference,

  gentle, quiet people 

      and robust, 

   vigorously voiced

    different others.

In God's design,

difference is 

God shinning

in ever endless 

   radiances 

of light, intensity, 

hue and color.

To diss the difference 

      is to deny 

  God Goodness

  

  Differentiated

That throws horrid shadows

that frighten and foul.

That darkens delight.

We are so afraid of that dark

that we do dark to self 

and different other.

   

   Creation doesn't 

homogenize difference.

It glows through it and

WHAT A DIFFERENCE. 

In starting to write 

this weekly blog 

eight and a half years ago

I had to embrace 

the gift of difference.

I'm influenced 

by the unique 

manner and mode 

        

         of 

Shakespear, 

e.e.cummings 

and most of all 

Gerard Manley Hopkins.

I scatter words 

across the page,

take liberties with lines,

particularize punctuation,

type tones, touches, 

and tempos, 

play a bit, 

all in a free form.

That makes some people 

crazy and they check out.

That's fine.

There's a library of  

spirit sharing writers

available to us, 

and that in 

in many different, 

marvelous styles.

Ron Rolheiser, O.M.I. 

writes in long, linear fashion

and is it ever good!

Yet another is the

Daily Meditations

       from 

The Center for Action 

and Contemplation.

It presents a kaleidoscope 

               of

different styles and writers.

      I read it each day.

Sometimes the differences

        stretch me. 

    I count that a gift. 

This week I am sharing 

some about me and 

    my dealings 

  with difference.

   

  

   Now how about you?

        I pray you 

delight, prosper and share

           in your 

  

  God Given, God Glow 

  

       Different Ways

   May we all be at home 

  in our blessedly different 

       skins and souls 

  

       spirits and styles.

    God wants to happen 

             as us 

      

         right where 

            just as 

 

           we are.

  

There are many different 

 

         God Good 

 gifts to accept and give, 

 souls to sing, 

 unions to create,

 truths to speak,

 needy to nurture,

 impoverished to enrich,

    

 depths to discover,

 injustices to right,

 jobs to do,

 children to raise,

 elderly to assist,

 soils to rejuvenate,

 poems to pen,

 guests to bring home,

 pies to bake, 

 endlessly different and more. 

        

         God is a Give Away

              We accept

              We share

God wants to make a difference.

 

              That's us

 AS DIFFERENT AS WE MAY BE

                   

                and

     WHAT A DIFFERENCE

                

              ******

We gathered here are 

as different as can be

in age, personality, 

ethnicity, homeland,

spiritual gifts 

and experience.

All are welcome.

Being together, well,

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

        ******

Again and always, 

thanks to all who share 

    frankly speaking 

with others.

You are our 

one and only

Circulation 

Department!!

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday morning/afternoon

East Coast USA time

April 1, 2024

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April 4, 2025

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Praying us all the grace to be 

and make the difference 

God invites and others need.

    See you next week.

       Love to all,

       God Bless,

      John Frank

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

 

            ******

   

          

     

  

HEAR

Dear All of Us,

God talks to me.

God talks to me a lot. 

And oh what I HEAR!

Now before you offer to drive me 

over to Shaddy Grove Sanitarium 

for a few sessions of shock treatments, 

let me save you both 

the bother and the gas.  

My shrink/spiritual counselor 

assures me I'm no nut case, 

nor some sort of misty mystic, 

just because I hear 

God talking to me. 

Au contraire, 

it's one heck of a gift.

A backstory for a dear example:

My almost four-year-old 

Grand Son, Ollie, 

started Sunday School 

for the first time ever last Fall. 

The first week it was 

less than stellar. 

It was scary. 

That quickly and 

delightfully changed. 

Scary went to stellar 

because of Mr. Mason, 

Ollie's new Sunday School teacher. 

He is a twenty some law student 

and he is magic with kids. 

Ollie loves Mr. Mason and 

Ollie is good with Sunday School 

because of Mr. Mason. 

Come January, Mr. Mason 

had to return to campus 

in Richmond for the semester. 

Ollie misses him 

and happily is good with 

Mr. Josh, the new teacher.

That's the background. 

Here's the "hearing."

Last Sunday we're driving 

home from church. 

From the back seat, 

rather calmly,

rather matter-of-factly, 

Ollie says: 

"Mr. Mason came to visit us 

at Sunday School today." 

After a reflective pause, 

"That was like a present." 

What purity. 

What perception. 

What love. 

What "A word from The Lord."

What a God Gift to hear.

God is sheer Goodness. 

God speaks that Goodness, 

that Godness, 

in many tongues, tones, 

tempos, accents, settings

and vocabularies.

God speaks Goodness 

through 

- an almost four old 

- a Spirit Sparkling 

  Sunday School teacher

- occurrences

- nature

- the arts 

- the holy scriptures

- wise advice and counsel

- good example

- a clear intuition

- loyal friendships

- the cries of the 

  abused and needy

- a Maine Lobster dinner

- community prayer and service

- Spring's first daffodil

- good example

- and...

We hear God 

with all five senses, 

intellect, psyche and soul.

We hear God 

in the noise of the combine 

at harvest.

We hear God 

in the wisdom of sages.

We hear God 

in the crashing cascade 

of the waterfalls.

We hear God 

in the staggered 

last breaths of the dying.

We hear God 

in the "Why is the sky blue?" 

of a child.

We hear God 

in the voicings for social justice.

We hear God 

in the weave of a Persian carpet.

We hear God 

in the trying ways and words 

of the disturbed and disturbing.

We hear God 

in the "I want you" 

of our lover.

We hear God 

in the intimate quiet of 

door-closed-prayer.

We hear God 

in a delicious 

Chicken Cacciatore dinner.

We hear God 

in..., well, in all of 

God's surround sound.

To hear God best and fully 

we turn off the psychic static 

of media interference.

To hear God best and fully 

 we give our tongue a rest.

To hear God best and fully 

we slow twitchy mind and 

frenetic doings to sensitive 

settings and listen.

In our hearing, God so wants 

to hear back from us

- in our love and prayer

- in our course correctives

- in our service and care 

  of people and place

- in our actions speaking 

  "The word of the Lord" 

   that we are

  God is talking to us.

  It's ours's to give 

      "HEAR" 

  and response. 

     ******

A PERSONAL NOTE

Last week's blog was 

more than challenging

for me to write and 

I fully expect

for you to read.

To write it meant the risk 

for a lot of turn offs 

and turn aways.

And there were more than a few,

some dear friends.

I am more pastor than prophet 

in makeup and temperament.

Writing a prophetic challenge 

sure was exactly that for me 

- a challenge.

I expect it was every bit that 

for all who stayed and

considered it in heart

with The Holy Spirit.

Many from many

different homelands 

stayed with it.

Particularly notable was 

the very large cohort

from my homeland 

here in the USA.

I am exhausted.

I am grateful.

God spoke to me 

through you

- a confirmation and 

  a consolation.

Thank you all 

as we seek to hear 

God talk to us.

   In Love

 John Frank

If you missed last week's 

prophetic challenge,

   TRANSPORT,

just scroll way down

beneath this week's posting.

    WELCOME

  ONE and ALL

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Tuesday morning/afternoon

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March 25, 2025

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March 28, 2025

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    frankly speaking

         Thanks!

LAST FIVE POSTINGS 
    
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          below  

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Thanks for this time together.

      See you next week,

          Love to all.

         God Bless.

        John Frank

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             ******

 

TRANSPORT

   Hey Hi Hello!

A word of welcome 

         and 

a respectful caution.

We're in for a workout.

What we consider 

here this week is

both taxing and hopeful.

The taxing has 

no promise of exit. 

The hopeful is 

as wide open as we are.

That's pretty much a match 

for what is and a hope for 

what can be for us. 

  Let's do a little 

   Soul Huddle

       and 

  figure forth.

Glad we can do it 

    together.

    Thanks  

    ****** 

Dear All of Us,

Given the Givens 

we're getting these days,

we really do need an  

  All Purpose, All Weather, 

         All Terrain,

        TRANSPORT 

      to keep going

           and 

    get somewhere

          good,

The Common Good,

      God Good.

      We need a

     TRANSPORT 

  that can adapt for

  all sorts of purposes 

- problems to possibilities -,

  that is a go no matter 

  how weird/wild the weather,

  that can best terrain terrible.

Now, this isn't a pitch for the

2025 GMC HUMMER EV 3x

with 1000 hp @$104, 850 (base)

       This is about the 

     promise and power of

         Gospel Living

        free and freeing 

          TRANSPORT

          if we get in, 

          get into gear,

    give it a full torque go.

Our road trip through life

right now finds us

in the early stages of 

      a massive 

      landscape 

         and 

    atmospheric 

change and challenge.

It is spiritual, social,

local and planetary.

It traverses terrain tough

and weird/wild weather:

in personal and public purpose,

in morals, values, comportment,

in religious and spiritual experience,

in world order and governance,

in ecological concerns,

in finance and security,

in social justice,

in culture and conduct

 - people, purpose, planet 

          too much

           at odds

          in turmoil

    Rough road and ride

   in weird/wild weather.

 The way and roadway 

      that was isn't 

 and won't ever be again.

We have had the shocks

knocked out from under us.

We are experiencing the results 

of vapid, illusionary, bad choices

of purpose point, conveyance

 and direction.

We are not going to find our way 

back to the good old days 

that really weren't all that good, 

given where they have landed us.

In the midst of this 

seismic social and 

planetary shift

we fret over 

where it will put us,

      and yet, 

we pretty much know, 

or don't want to know,

it's too likely to be in a 

hell hole of peril.

Here in my 

beloved USA,

where I try 

to navigate life, 

The Body Public

is split right 

down the middle

philosophically

politically,

purpose-wise,

policy-wise

on means 

and direction.

It's like a 

Driver's Ed

dual drive car 

being steered 

hard right, hard left

all at once.

We're in a spin out

and the mud flies.

In other lands 

sad many 

the variations 

of deadly threats

to reaching 

The Common Good,

God Good Realized.

We can languish in lament, 

just stall out and go dead,

          rust out,

in the frightful cold of chaos.

Hitching a ride with

politicians and pundits,

conservatives or liberals,

social scapers/shapers, 

subscribing to surface solutions,

will lock our wheels in cement.

             A no go.

        We die in place.

The old wine-way 

has soured 

and burst its skins.

The need now for 

new wine-ways and 

new wine-way skins.

So, let's have one hell of 

a loud, messy cry over it 

and then get together 

and hit the road

in a whole new way.

                  

                  That 

             TRANSPORT 

                   is

          great good news.

                  It is 

                 THE 

             Good News

             Gospel Live

        The Kingdom of God.

           It's more than

             rocky road,

             all purpose,

        weird/wild weather, 

           terrible terrain, 

              worthy

         and we are too

when we hop in and buckle up

         on our way for

  the repair, the refurbish of 

       of all and all about 

            - Creation -

          

      Creation is beautiful

                but

        People and Place

      have been damaged, 

      have been wronged,

      have wronged,

      need redemption.

The man and the plan is Jesus

                and 

he wants us in on it with him.

Jesus is the energy for the fix.

He speaks it, he lives it, 

       he shares it.

He rights real 

      what has been wronged.

He restores the harmony 

     of the universe and

     to our part of it

     as much as we allow.

He enlivens the deadened 

   with his very life.

He loves people and place 

   to full life.

He brings us into

   The Kingdom of God.

    "I've come that you 

     might have life 

     and have it 

     to the full."

     John 10:10

All the specs 

are spelled out

beautifully and 

clearly in 

    The Beatitudes

    and the whole 

 Sermon on the Mount

      Mathew 5-7

      NOW 

here is where  

we really need 

to shift into low gear.

This is where Gospel Living

gets a grip on 

the new wine-way.

It's rough, real rough,

and it will make us 

  real road ready.

        

     FOR STARTERS

Please be sure 

those seatbelts 

are on tight.

What's in front of us

is more than certainly

   "terrain tough."

It's this.

Regular, old time, traditional, 

hip, new age, contemporary,

parish, denominational, mega,

 any and all sorts of religion

 as we currently have them,

        have to go.

In form and function 

they have failed us and 

impeded the coming of 

The Kingdom of God.

We need to have the  

courage and clarity 

          to

       face it, 

       see it,

       name it,

       change it.

Not easy.

Not nice.

Absolutely necessary.

Yes, lots of good people 

go to church.

Some are quite holy.

As a group that 

is not the case.

An honest, 

applied reading of 

   The Beatitudes

          and

    The Sermon 

   on the Mount

  and then a week

     tight in at 

most anybody's church

doesn't read at all close.

          

          Jesus 

           and 

The Kingdom of God

      have been 

    watered down,

    domesticated, 

    compromised,

    commoditized,

    adjusted to 

    preference

        and 

   convenience.

We're not living pure

   Gospel Real,

  much, much less

  living it fully.

There's all sorts of wraps,

trappings, arraignments 

and not much of

The Body of Christ 

       inside

all that religious 

    covering.

Sure, many churches 

do lots of good.

So does The Red Cross.

The pity is there isn't 

that much of a 

divine difference.

Yes, there is 

fire in my fingers

right now.

I pray it will light

a real look at 

what is and what 

Jesus offers and asks

         and 

our world so needs.

There's a huge, 

deciding difference. 

Our world right now

is just plain going to hell 

rather than to heaven.

     It's road rage 

    on and off road.

    A DIFFERENCE TO MAKE

Find or found a small group

        that will have 

      a real go at being

     The Body of Christ,

     the embodiment of 

real, practical, sweaty sweet

             Gospel Living

          Community 

                in

     The Kingdom of God

       as practically per 

       The Beatitudes 

              and 

              ALL

The Sermon on the Mountain.

        Matthew 5-7

It won't be heaven on earth,

    but it'll get us there.

       It will transform,

         TRANSPORT

   us so really that others 

will want to ride along with us.

        "They'll Know 

         We Are Christians 

         By Our Love" (1)

         

        "See how they 

         love one another." (2)

           

We will rub each other 

the wrong and right ways.

We will care for each other

and all about,

some days well and 

some days not so well.

No matter the matter, 

we stick and stay.

We soak in scripture.

We zoom in prayer.

We open to

   Spirit Spark.

Our thinking, values, 

comportment,  

community sharing, 

careers, finances, 

earth care, 

       lifestyles

         read: 

address, wardrobe,

vacations, leisures,

wheels, indulgences, 

pastimes, justice seeking,

         will be 

    greatly changed

as in one heaven of a 

        GREAT

    BIG CHANGE.

      They will 

   more and more 

        be our

      Lived Yes 

          to

   The Good News.

     We actually,

     believably,

       will be 

Followers of the Way

    The Gathered

    The Ecclesia 

    The Church

   Acts 4:32-5:16

shares how this worked 

so beautifully well 

in the early church

for those "All in" 

and didn't work

for a holdout couple.

      No politicians,

          neither

   Fox nor CNN pundits,

       NYT or WSJ

      can save us.

It may come across as 

an off-putting 

highway billboard,

but the beautiful, 

pure truth is 

     JESUS SAVES

         He is 

       the way, 

       the truth 

          and 

        the life (3)

     for all of us,

     for all Creation.

     

Are we ready for him,

for his energy 

and (re)direction?

Our fate 

and most definitely 

that of planet earth 

and all peoples on it

depend on our actual, 

     radical real 

         YES

Hey, if you're still here,

and I dearly hope you are,

I also sure as heaven hope 

you'll come back next week.

          For sure,

 this has been a workout.

Even more, I pray, 

I really do and will PRAY,

that we're all

          "All in" 

          on this

ALL Purpose, All Terrain, 

     All Weather

     Good News

    TRANSPORT

      ******

(1)  Hymn

      Peter Scholtes

      CCLI 26997

(2) Tertullian

      On the early 

      Christian communities

(3) John 14:6

Thanks for sticking with 

all that we faced here.

Everyone is welcome 

in this little part of 

The Kingdom of God.

This week we were blessed 

with visits from

large groups 

of new friends

       USA

      France

    Singapore

as very much well 

many individuals 

and small groups

from all around our

God Good Globe.

  WELCOME

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday morning/afternoon

East Coast USA time.

March 18, 2025

NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

March 21, 2025

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

      AVAILABLE

            by

    scrolling down

        beneath 

      this posting

         THANKS

      MANY MUCH

       for sharing

   frankly speaking 

     with others.

Let's really pray for each other,

pray that we will see clearly, 

and make the big changes 

      that will make

   THE BIG CHANGE.

   See you next week.

       Love to all.

       God Bless

       John Frank

        frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******