Totally Full Thursday

Before we got to Thursday, we had Monday -- work, Tuesday -- Joyce left me, and Wednesday -- Joyce came back. What happened was this. We have a friend, Beth (and her family) from back in Newberg days who lives in Redmond. Joann H. and Joyce decided to go visit her. She was trying to get ready for a yard sale but she had recently had surgery so it was slow going. Well, say "yard sale" to Joyce and Joann and it's like saying "telephone" to a teenager. I took Joyce to Joann's house in Stayton early Tuesday morning and off they went. I think it was a little bit of deja vu all over again -- the three of them talked, laughed, went out to eat, watched a DVD movie at the motel, and pretended they were young again. But they had a lot of fun and Joyce needed that.

Thursday -- yes, then there was Thursday! First off was a MEG meeting at the Conference office in Salem at 9:00. The superintendent and I had to tell a pastor that he was suspended from his appointment to a church -- not easy and not fun. Next, Joyce and I met with a banker to discuss the possibility of a home loan (IF we should happen to buy a house in Salem). Then it was off to Beaverton for a lunch meeting with Joe at 12:15. He is the coach for the pastoral coaches. I needed him to pour some education into me. Then we headed to Newberg for a 3:00 memorial service. This was for Mackey, a man who was our Director of Senior Adult Ministries when we were in Newberg. He was retired at that time but just so willing to serve the Lord in any way he could. I was asked to give a short tribute. When that ended, we schmoozed for a few minutes, then headed back to Lebanon for a dinner meeting with church friends at 6:15. When we left their house about 9:00 we decided to drive to Grants Pass. Whew! We fell into bed about 12:30. I think I'm too old for very many of those kinds of days.

Our garden is in decline, except for the tomatoes which are really ripening now. We picked a bunch -- not sure what we will do with all of them. Maybe sauce them up and freeze them for stews later on. Saturday, I conducted the memorial service for Lloyd, a former member of Allen Creek. When that was over we left for Lebanon, getting back here about 7:00.

Today, Shanette preached and used her life experiences as the basis for her sermon. She did a great job. Next Sunday, it is me.

Notice the preference poll to the right. Are you anxious for summer to be over? Add your vote. I'm not, but here it is, the first Sunday in autumn. We have been having some pretty nice days but the nights are getting cold and they say it will rain this week. Winter is coming, ready or not. And so it goes. Take care and have a great week.

A Look At the Inside

Someone asked to see the inside of our Lebanon house. Let me try to describe it to you. If you visited us you would step into a small entry way. To the left is a short hallway leading to the main bathroom on the right, a bedroom across the hall from that, and the master bedroom at the end of the hall. A couple steps down the hall from entry (just before the bathroom) is a short hall to the right going past the utility closet. Since we don't have a washer/dryer here, it makes a nice storage area. That hallway opens into the main living area. To your right is the dining room and to the right of that is the kitchen; to your left is the living room. These are along the back of the house (toward the canal). The first two pictures are of the living room -- definitely being lived in!!!

Moving around the room from left to right... a borrowed book rack holding a borrowed book, a borrowed stool holding a borrowed lamp, a borrowed recliner covered by a borrowed throw thingy, a borrowed lamp, a borrowed couch being occupied by a chosen wife, a borrowed table, a borrowed lamp, and another borrowed recliner.
Continuing around the living room is a snack table we own, holding my laptop computer I own. Next is a basket holding some plastic greenery we own, then a small table we own. Last is the backside of our TV (showing a football game) sitting on a borrowed table. The windows to the right look out on the canal. So its a comfy "decorated by borrowed" effect.

The dining room table and chairs are ours, the desk in the background is borrowed, the computer was given to me by friends in Seattle, part of the kitchen utensils are ours and part are borrowed. The food is ours -- mostly. The bedrooms are simply nice-sized rooms with air beds on the floor. Very utilitarian and works very well.

As for the week past... it has been fun. Since Trevor and Shanette were gone from Sunday through Wednesday, I had it all and it seemed like the old days of solo pastoring. They were at our church's World Ministries Center in Indianapolis at a conference for new pastors. Our two small groups started last week and I attended both of them, Joyce and I visited a man who only has a few months to live, we had our first genuine (with all the groups meeting) Wednesday Family Night and I led the adult group, and Joyce and I had lunch with our treasurer.

I took Friday and Saturday off and did some catch-up work on the computer. Friday evening I went to Lebanon High School football game. They are pretty good but still lost the game. Saturday evening Joyce and I were invited out to dinner at the home of a couple who have been in the church forever. Ginger came and went to church with us today. Trevor preached. We are starting a 3-Sunday series on our testimonies. He did a good job of using his testimony as the sermon. Next week it is Shanette; I am up the following week.

Two more important events: it rained Saturday (but cleared up today and is supposed to be 90* by Tuesday), and the Oregon Ducks beat Utah in football.

Strip It Off

I think we all carry too much weight around. No, I don't mean the pounds that plague our collective midsections. I'm referring to the stuff of life -- or maybe it's the stuff IN life. We have, we want more, we grasp, we hold tightly. We bring things along with us -- things that happened to us long ago but we won't let them go. They all weigh us down; they keep us from being the people God intended us to be. We need to get rid of the stuff -- to strip it off -- to run the race called life with as little extra weight as possible.

This morning I preached. You're getting the overflow. The Bible in Hebrews 12:1 advises us to "strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that hinders our progress." To demonstrate a contrast to "strip off," I started the sermon dressed in wading boots, a heavy wool coat, plus a wool cap with a funky tail down the back (like a lizard tail). It was fun; it was also hot. I found a place to ditch the stuff near the beginning and finished the sermon in my stocking feet.

We stripped off some of the stuff this week. What we ditched was the work load and feeling that "I have to be there." Monday was a holiday of course. To celebrate we stayed home most of the day. Our big outing was to Wal-Mart where we spent $3.00 on a plant for our courtyard; then a stop at the A&W drive thru for a couple of cherry limeades. What a day!!!!

Friday is supposed to be our day off. I finished my sermon, then we went for a drive to see this part of the valley we have never visited before. We discovered there are 5 covered bridges about a half hour from here -- we saw two of them and will pick up the other 3 on another day. We also found a neat little cafe where we had lunch. It is in Scio (you'll have to have a real good Oregon map to find that) and appropriately named the "Covered Bridge Coffee Shop." Good clam chowder!

Did we do anything constructive this week? Well certainly. We're not slackers all the time. Wednesday evening we had our first Family Night. It was simply a get acquainted, have fun, eat and play games. I told a brief story as our devotions at the end. This coming Wednesday we'll get serious with age-level groups. Saturday was all-church work day. About 14-15 people showed up and we got a LOT done. We organized rooms, got rid of junk, cleaned cobwebs, fixed non-working lights, painted places that needed touching up, and generally wiped, cleaned, and vacuumed. Somebody said this hadn't been done in 3 years. I can believe it. I've never seen so many cobwebs in a church! But it looks 1000% better now and I think the people feel good about what was accomplished.

Trevor and Shanette left this morning for a new pastors conference at our church headquarters in Indianapolis. The reason they left Sunday morning is a long story that involves confusion in booking flights. They will return Wednesday night.

Well, that's about it. Just ask, I'll preach you a sermon anytime. This was a good week and the coming week will be lots of work.

Committees, Fair, and Home

The title kinds of sums it up. There was another board meeting at the Conference Office -- one of those "not much fun" kind. But it had to be done. Then Joyce, Ginger and I went to the state fair. I think this was only the second time I had been to the fair. It was fun to walk around looking at the stuff and to take in some of the special shows. This was on Wednesday. Thursday morning we headed for Grants Pass. The garden needed tending, Joyce needed to pick up a prescription, and she had a ring at Fred Meyer that had been repaired. Okay, let me tell you about the ring. This was the ring I bought her for our 25th wedding anniversary just a few days before we left St. Helens in our move to Grants Pass. It is one of those "real expensive" fake diamonds -- all I could afford at the time.

While we were home we went out to dinner with Mike and Joann, plus some other friends: Ken, Ruth, Josh, and folks from New Mexico who were visiting Mike and Joann. It was a great time of talking and eating. Our garden was producing tomatoes and beans in abundance -- we brought a lot back with us. The zucchini and cucumbers were huge -- should have been picked many days before. And of course the lawn needed mowing. Saturday morning we loaded up the car (yes, the car -- the pickup can stay home for awhile) and drove back to Lebanon -- in the RAIN. Well, certainly. This is Oregon and this is a holiday weekend so naturally it rained. Though I have to tell you, right after church today a bunch of us distributed invitations to our Wednesday Family Night. And it did NOT rain until we finished. Thank you, Lord. Later in the afternoon, it really poured for awhile. The weather guy says it won't rain much tomorrow and get steadily nicer as the week progresses.

One other little, minor thing happened this week. Joyce turned 65 on Tuesday! I didn't do anything to embarrass her so I can use this blog to tell everyone. She is now officially old -- well, at least on Medicare. I was supposed to take her to lunch but I scheduled a luncheon with a guy in the church so I took her to Chinese for dinner. That's her favorite, anyway.

Now I am hoping this week is a little quieter. We need to do some visiting and some planning. Be good to yourself this week.