LEE DOMANN NEWSLETTER -- April 15, 2005

Table of Contents:
1. Welcome!
2. Road Reflections
3. Highway Heroes
4. Itinerary Through July, '05
5. Quarterly Quote

1. WELCOME!
Thanks for taking a minute or two to check out this edition of the quarterly newsletter -- I've always said a primary advantage of a quarterly epistle is that you, the recipient, only have to delete it four times a year. Such a deal, huh? Hopefully, many of you go so far as to READ it before deleting it! And, if you're me, that's a big deal. I appreciate it. And now, for the news (no details at 10):

2. ROAD REFLECTIONS
I want to invite you again to check the "Road Reflections" link at my website occasionally (www.leedomann.com). I'm working on developing a more consistent rhythm in recording, in journal form, experiences and thoughts in my travels. Some of you are kind enough to share yours with me, too. I really appreciate that. I'm of the firm belief that our personal stories are the lifeblood of human existence. Experience, strength, and hope emerge from them. They are a spiritual food we feed on. So, eat and drink up!

3. HIGHWAY HEROES -- Each newsletter features someone who has made a significant impact on my life -- someone I want you to know about and to experience the light shining through him/her. This issue's hero is George Dibbern, a German citizen whose highway was the sea. I learned of him when I read Henry Miller's STAND STILL LIKE THE HUMMINGBIRD (1962). In 1930 Dibbern set out in a 32-foot boat to sail the ocean and visit other lands. It was not without pain. His family and friends did not endorse his adventure. Dibbern said, "When a soldier gets his marching orders he just goes, he doesn't know where, or for how long, or if ever he will come back again. Nobdy ever questions it, or thinks it queer; but if one follows one's God, one's own consciennce, everybody objects." In his five-year journey he grew to see himself not as primarily German, but as first of all a human being. "At present," he said, "I can no longer be a member of one nation, only a member of a bigger group, humanity." He devised a flag of his own creation, as well as a passport in which he declared himself to be "a citizen of the world." Miller says, "Surely there ought to be room in this world for one man who wants to be nothing more, nothing less, than 'a citizen of the world'. Wherever he roams, George Dibbern's passport should be honored, his flag saluted. And if we had understanding as well as love, we would bow to him in passing."

4. ITINERARY THROUGH JULY, '05
(for more specific info, contact Lee at leedomann@hotmail.com)

April 17 -- United Methodist Church/ Comfort, TX 8:30 am & 11:00 am services 830-995-3813
May 15 -- Connell Memorial UMC/ Goodlettsville, TN 10:30 am service 615-859-5915
May 21/22 -- United Methodist Church/ Sparta, IL Sat. pm/ Sun. am worship services
618-443-3714
May 29 -- Lenexa UMC/ Lenexa, KS am worship services 913-888-5600
June 4 -- St. Mark's UMC/ Overland Park, KS am worship services
June 19 -- First UMC/ Smithville, TN am worship services 615-597-4961
July 3 -- UMC/ Clinton, MO am worship services 660-885-5597
July 3 -- Old Glory Days Community Concert/ pm concert Clinton, MO 660-885-2021
July 16/17 -- Lake of the Woods Church/ Locust Grove, VA Sat. nite concert/ Sun. am worship
540-972-0018
July 17 -- Calvary UMC/ Stuart's Draft, VA pm concert 540-337-2980

5. QUARTERLY QUOTE
The following is an 1873 interchange between a government official and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces tribe of the Rocky Mountains:

"Why do you not want schools?" the commissioner asked.
"They will teach us to have churches," Joseph answered.
"Do you not want churches?"
"No, we do not want churches."
"Why do you not want churches?"
"They will teach us to quarrel about God," Joseph said. "We do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men sometimes about things on earth, but we never quarrel about God. We do not want to learn that."

-- BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE, by Dee Brown, p. 302
(Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, Inc. 1970)