Hey, I just checked my email and found a nice word of encouragement from Nagid Ben Chesed (aka Don Curtis). In the course of correcting my spelling (ack!), Don also explained the unusual name. It's the Hebrew equivalent of his real name.

Don = leader = Nagid
Curtis = lovingkindness = Chesed

Thus: Don Curtis = Leader Son of Loving Kindness = Nagid Ben Chesed.

Well, cool. Thanks, Don, for the kind words.

And BTW, don't you just love kind words? In fact, that's what we did last night in our group meeting. We practiced kind words. The idea was for each of us in turn to encourage the person to our left. To tell them why they're worth more than "many sparrows." This turned out to be a great blessing. I think God created us to need this kind of thing and revel in it. To need "building up." And so we practiced giving and (equally important) receiving just that. After we'd completed the circle, we threw open the floor (thanks to L.'s suggestion). Now the kind words were flying back and forth. Some that do not often speak up were positively eloquent. It was a wonderful thing to see and hear. Thank you, Father. Your blessings are new and new and new, each and every one.

Quotatious:
This one is from The Great Divorce, by C. S. Lewis:

You cannot take all luggage with you on all journeys. On one journey, even your right hand and your right eye may be among the things you have to leave behind. We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre; rather, in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two and each of those into two again and at each fork you must make a decision.... I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. I suppose all this has to do with choices.