The Breath as the Center

“Then God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

 There are few things more basic than the rhythmic in and out breathing we do every moment. The ancients recognized breathing as life-giving. Being aware of our breathing in the present day can help to tune our bodies and souls into the divine source of life.

As we begin to learn how to meditate, we turn our attention first to our breath. By concentrating on our breathing, we train our minds to be present in each moment. A classic beginning meditation is simply to count four breaths (in-out-one, in-out-two, etc.). As the mind wanders and thoughts distract us from our breath, we gently bring our attention back to the breath. Over and over, we bring our awareness back to the breath, practicing concentration and opening ourselves to peace.

Scientific research tells us that practicing meditation is good for us physically. It’s also good for our souls. Whether we are counting our breaths or meditating on a repeated word or phrase, as in Centering Prayer, our minds are open to insight and spiritual growth.

"When God first formed the heavens and Earth, Earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep. And divine breath swept over the waters." And so began the first acts of Creation.

A Beginner's Mind

"Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

 Humility and openness are essential components for those on a spiritual path. The human brain has a powerful ability to see what we think is real, rather that what is actually real. Often, our thoughts and feelings are clouded by preconceptions that choke our capacity to see life as it is.

A beginner doesn’t have to unlearn preconceived ideas and biases. A beginner’s mind is open and eager to learn. A beginner can approach the world with the freshness of a child.  "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few," said the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki.

Perhaps Jesus knew that part of our spiritual journey is getting back to our beginner’s mind. The most direct path is prayer and meditation.

So, try this. Relax for just a moment, wherever you are. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and count very slowly to ten. Even this brief meditation can begin to open your beginner’s mind.

"Worst Case Needs" for Housing - A Growing Epidemic

Disturbing news from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)...

Raphael Bostic, assistant secretary for policy development and research at HUD reports that so-called "Worst Case Housing Needs" rose dramatically between 2007 and 2009.

Worst case needs households are defined as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who either paid more than one-half of their income for rent or lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both....

High rents in proportion to renter incomes are an increasingly dominant cause of worst case needs....

The past ten years have been brutal on very low-income families:

Since 2001, the number of cases has increased by almost 42 percent, now representing more than 6 percent of all households. Because of these dramatic increases, 41 percent of the 17.12 million very low-income American renters had worst case needs in 2009.

And the main cause? Income cannot keep pace with housing costs:

Most of these renters had severe rent burdens, paying more than one-half of their income for rent, with inadequate housing alone accounting for only 3 percent of cases.

Compounding the problem is a phenomenon HUD calls competition - nearly half of all housing units that are affordable for very low-income families are occupied by higher income renters. Therefore:

As a result of this competition and because a substantial proportion of available units are nto in standard or adequate physical condition, only 32 units of adequate, affordable rental housing are available for every 100 extremely low-income renters. For very low-income renters, 60 adequate units are available per 100 renters.

My conclusion: We are losing ground in the struggle to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness.

To see the entire report, go to the HUD website: http://bit.ly/hEpS7z.

How to Setup Outlook to Ghost an Email Account through Gmail

I work as the pastor of a congregation within the United Church of Christ, and recently, because our internet service provider let too much spam through to my email, I decided to use a Gmail account, which has much better spam filters.

But, I still wanted every email I sent to appear to be coming from our church's server, and not have the gmail address appear in the headers.

So, the following shows what I did to successfully accomplish that. Note that I am using Outlook 2003 on an XP computer.

First, of course, I had to setup a Gmail account.

Second, I used Tools|Email Accounts|Add a new e-mail account, POP3 option, clicking Next when appropriate, and setup the initial POP3 settings as below.














After that, I clicked More Settings... and setup those tabs as you see here.

08 Spelling Bee

Download the video: www.windwardsailor.com/uploads/KennedySpellingBee.avi.

You can congratulate Kennedy at: kennedy@windwardsailor.com.

Christmas Letter, 2007

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our friends and family!



We are settling in to our new lives in Evansville, Indiana, and here are some highlights from the past year.

Natalie - finished up her 2nd grade year with Ms. Johnson and began her 3rd grade year with Ms. Courtney Rueger. Natalie is doing very well in school this year, after some serious struggles last year, and we are so proud of her! She has become quite the avid photographer, and you can see some of her beginning work in another post here. This spring she spent after-school hours on the soccer field on the Red Fire team of the NEYSC girls division (Dad served as assistant; that's another story altogether!). In early August, Natalie and Michael attended the "Just You and Me Kid" camp at Merom camp. This fall, she has joined a Girl Scout Troop, and is now looking forward to her first cookie sale starting in just two weeks (email us with your orders!). The Christmas program at Highland Elementary this year featured the third grade, and you can believe that Natalie loved being on stage. She's already planning her audition for the 4th/5th grade choir next year! This year, Natalie played the Innkeeper in our congregation's "Walk to the Manger" Christmas Pageant.

Kennedy - after a great year with Ms. Lynn, Kennedy has moved to 5th grade in Mr. Woebkenberg's class. Actually, she spends half the day in his class, and half of her day in Horizons, the gifted and talented program at Highland, taught by Ms. Lois Ciepley. Kennedy competed in the local National Music Federation competition this fall, and earned an Excellent rating in her near-perfect performance of two pieces for piano. During the spring, Kennedy played soccer for the NEYSC Mutiny, coached by Dad (the story's coming!). Kennedy spent her first full summer camp week at Merom camp in mid-July. In August, after much begging and an incredible show of responsibility, Kennedy adopted Shadow. In November, Kennedy competed in the Vanderburgh County Spell Bowl, a team written-spelling event. The eight members of the Highland Team took home the first place ribbon in their division, with Kennedy earning a near-perfect ribbon, missing only one of her assigned words. Later in December, Kennedy won first place in the Highland Spelling Bee, earning her a chance at competing in the county-wide Spelling Bee in February. Kennedy is now in our congregation's newly formed 5th/6th grade Sunday School class, and graduated out of a costume and into a reading role in the Christmas Pageant. Kennedy is now planning a two-week trip to Alaska next June with the People-to-People program.

Kennedy and Natalie spent a full month away from home this past summer, leaving home on June 7th, and returning exactly one month later on July 7th. First, they went to Bear's house in Griffin, GA, enjoying the Atlanta Zoo (and the baby pandas!), the World of Coke museum, FDR's Little White House, and a trip to the top of Stone Mountain. From there, they went to Gramma's house in Fair Play, for a week on the lake and in Athens. Then, it was off for a week in Montreat for the annual Music Conference. Then, a couple of days stay at Nana's house in Montreat, and Kathy and Michael picked them up for a week's vacation at Uncle Jay's house in Arlington, with trips to Mount Vernon, and the fireworks on the National Mall in Washington, DC, as well as a full day sailing on Chesapeake Bay. Wow! In addition to that, the girls and Michael spent a week in August at Nana's house with Dillon, Timmy, and Kady, the Vermont cousins; there they rafted, hiked, hunted waterfalls, rode horses, and enjoyed many games around the dinner table.

Kathy has just celebrated her first anniversary at Families Through International Adoption. She began in the Vietnam program, one of the smallest and most tenuous programs, and was moved to the Guatemala program in the middle part of this year. She is expecting a trip to Guatemala to escort a baby to the U.S. sometime next spring. A sad note to report this year for Kathy and all of us: Kathy's grandmother, Granny Maude, died on May 13th of this year (obituary). Even in death, however, she was able to draw her entire family together for one more celebration and meal. This past summer, Kathy, Michael, and Natalie traveled to Indianapolis for the annual FTIA family picnic. This fall, Kathy began serving as the sound tech for Bethel's Connections contemporary worship service.

Michael volunteered to coach soccer this year, and found himself coach of Kennedy's team, and assistant for Natalie's team. It was a real joy, and a learning experience. He's now completed 18 months of ministry at ; the largest project this year has been the transition to a new worship model and schedule. More meaningful though, was a June trip with three other adults and eight youth on a mission trip in conjunction with the Appalachia Service Project. In the spring, he made an initial presentation to the Evansville-Tristate Association on the difference between the modern and postmodern worlds.

We have had several opportunities this year to see friends and family. Spring Break saw Michael, Kennedy, and Natalie in Georgia for a brief visit with Barry and Cathy. An annual April trip to "Thunder Over Louisville" allowed us some brief time with Lee and Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty and their two children, Garrison and Emme. For Mother's Day, we enjoyed a visit from Kathy's sister Betsy, which included a trip to New Harmony and a pre-Mother's Day (Saturday) meal at the Red Geranium. We also enjoyed a visit with Nancy in August for Natalie's birthday (and another trip to the Red Geranium), and a visit from Sara and John as well. Barry and Cathy made a trip in mid-December to celebrate Christmas, and we ended the year with another visit from Nancy and Betsy & Grayson at Christmas time.

So ends another year in the Erwin family. As you can see, we have received many blessings this year, and look forward to another year of life and love.

FTIA Picnic 2007