Heather & celebrated the 80th birthday of a MCC friend last night – certainly the largest (by attendance) birthday party I’ve ever attended Among the many humorous and touching tributes to a woman of God who has blessed many around her, MCC’s senior pastor Ben Cachiaras closed the evening with a blessing to her in the form of the Apostle Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3:14-21.

Earlier yesterday, at a slightly larger gathering 150 miles north Yankee fans celebrated the team’s World Series victory with a parade. Though I’m an avid Yankees fan, I didn’t make any of the 1996, 1998-2000 parades; I think I’ll reserve my crushed-in-a-sea-of-millions NY experience for one of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades

Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi celebrated victory in a very different way, by helping a stranded motorist on the Cross County Parkway – I’ve driven the Cross County and he’s compassionate & brave, even if not quite to the degree of another traveler who stopped to help someone he didn’t know. I remember following him from his first days as a Yankee, including my joy at learning more about Girardi’s strong but not overly-confrontational faith.