Lots of Good Things; One Bad

This has been a fun week. So many blessings. So many good things. But I suppose we just as well begin with the bad. Let's get it out of the way and conclude with the good stuff. The bad: today was the last Sunday for Allen Creek Church! Their numbers had dwindled; their finances disappeared; so a couple weeks ago they voted to disband. Bummer. Well, worse than that but I don't use that kind of language. How do I feel about this? I am hurt, angry, and troubled. And we better leave it at that. However, on the positive side, there is a plan to replant the church. Time will tell if that really happens. There is also a possibility of keeping the church open with the remnant that is left plus others that will come back. I know a man who will go in and be the pastor. But there are a lot of details to work out and this might not be a realistic possibility. I know a lot of people who read this blog believe in prayer. Please pray.

Now let's focus on the good stuff. Wednesday we drove to Grants Pass stopping at the hospital in Eugene to visit a former Allen Creek lady who was having surgery. In Grants Pass we cleaned up the yard and took a trailer load of garden and yard debris to Jo-Gro. Friday evening we had a potluck dinner party with the "old gang" from Allen Creek. We crammed 18 people into our house. It was crowded but lots of fun. Many of us (them) had not seen one another for several years. The love flowed freely. Such good friends. We shared a lot through the years. Everyone wanted to get together again so maybe we'll meet in the spring. We returned to Lebanon Saturday.

Last night we set up the worship area with the tables for the Thanksgiving Dinner. Twelve round tables with 7 chairs each. Of course this meant that for worship this morning everyone sat around the tables. There were a lot of comments that we are pushing them out of their comfort zones (we are) but no one really complained. In fact a few people liked it. We noticed there was a lot more visiting before worship began.

Tonight was the potluck Thanksgiving Dinner. Great decorations with candles. Great food. We thought we had a good count on how many people were coming -- but they kept coming, and coming. We were set up for 84 and could crowd a few more chairs in. Well, we kept setting up more and more tables; card tables, old beat up tables, tables from I-don't-know-where. The final tally was 112 -- give or take a few. We did two things for entertainment or "program." One was to have each table find the best Thanksgiving story and then one person share that with the entire group. That was pretty good but a lot of people don't like to speak publicly. The other thing was loads of fun. We found a short play on the internet and did it. It was real simple; very few props. Funny. Basically, people were calling in to the radio program, "The Testimony Show." Except their "testimonies" were tales of illness and calamity. The host wept and hammed it up and had a hard time handling it. Finally someone called in and told what a real testimony was (that was me). It was simple and fun. The lady who played the host was really good -- really, really good.

So we came home a little while ago tired and worn out and happy (except for the ACNC thing). And so it goes.