Another One Goes By

Whoops… there goes another week. Boy, they sure go by fast. Blink a couple times and you lose one faster than you can say, “no water again.” Yep. We drove to Grants Pass Wednesday after Family Night – got home about 11:30 to a nice warm house because I had Mike go over and change the heat from “vacation” to “we’re home now” (or whatever its called). Anyway, Thursday late afternoon I flushed the toilet (sorry about being so intimate here) and no water. A brief survey of the system revealed smoke coming from the capacitor in the relay box in the well house. It seems the flat piece of plywood I use for a lid now acts like a sieve when it rains. Water got in the thing and water and electricity don’t mix very well. It was easy to fix – for 40 bucks. I just bought a new box and used the half that had the needed parts – and this half just snapped onto the other side that was semi-permanently mounted. It works, but that was one of three.

We go back to GP once a month to take care of things. It seems things always need taking care of. I knew the batteries in the pickup were dead. So Thursday morning I called the tow company for a jump start. I mean, I’m paying big bucks for the towing service so I might as well use it. Right? The guy shows up in one of those big flat bed rigs -- the kind he would use to haul away a monster truck. But he couldn’t get the pickup started. My neighbor had the number of a guy who makes house calls to work on diesels. I called him. Told him the problem. He said there has to be 10 volts getting to the computer or it won’t start. I knew we weren’t getting 10 volts because the thing would hardly turn over. My best new telephone friend said to put a trickle charger on it for as long as possible. So I did. Over 24 hours. Friday afternoon it started as if it had been running forever. So much for the tow guy. That was #2.

So Friday I’m mowing the lawn. Yeah, mowing the lawn. It looked like no one lived there and that is the last thing I want when no one lives there. Joyce comes out and says the washing machine smells funny. Sure enough, it smells like hot wires. I’m not sure what that will be. When it cooled off she was able to finish the laundry. We unplugged the thing but next trip home will be a washing machine repair – or maybe the trip after that. And that was #3.

So these kinds of things come in threes, or so I’m told. So I simply said, “okay, Jesus, this is three” and we went to a movie. We saw Sherlock Holmes. It’s not that great. If you haven’t seen it, take your chances on something else. The scenery sets of old London were really interesting, though.

Family Night is doing well. There were 52 last week. During the autumn months we usually had about 25 to 30. KidZone was up to 19 with lots of workers. Really nice to see this happening. Trevor preached today. He will be doing more and more of that. We have been struggling with our music but today a guy (whom we are borrowing from another church) came with his son and 2 other young people. We had guitars and a drummer! Great. Good. He will come often – maybe every week. We haven’t worked that out yet. It sure gave a new sense of energy to the service.

And so it goes. Blink and its gone. Love ya.

Another Week Goes By

Another week retreats into history. That sounds somewhat boring, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. Let me tell you about KidsZone first. It is very exciting seeing our attendance climb from 4 the first week to 16 two weeks ago to 18 last week. For all of Family Night we have jumped from 23 to 42 to 50. I think there is a new sense of excitement and everyone feels it.

Wednesday morning and part of the afternoon, Joyce and I went into Salem and helped some friends pack up a house so the movers could take everything into storage. The house was damaged by a massive water leak and the inside needs major renovation. Our friend is the contractor doing the work and it was his responsibility to get everything out of the house – now, quickly, pronto, immediately … you get the idea. We got a call Tuesday late afternoon and showed up for work Wednesday morning. There were 6 of us so it went quickly and pretty efficiently. Kind of fun. I used to do that for Mayflower in St. Helens a few decades ago.

We had lunch with Dennis and Sandy on Thursday and then Doris, Beth, and Betty came for a visit Saturday. Also, we took Monday as a day off – a real day off. So you can see it’s not all work. However, since I preached today, there was a fair amount of preparation for that.

Next week will be different. A Conference Board meeting on Tuesday then to Grants Pass Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It will be good. Stay tuned.

Especially KidZone

KidZone is fun. Fun. Fun. Lots of work, but fun. This week we built Elijah’s altar. The short (very short) story is this: Elijah and the followers of a false god enter a contest to see whose God is real. They both construct altars, put on wood, add a sacrifice, then pray for fire. Of course, the false god doesn’t deliver but Elijah’s God sends fire that not only consumes the sacrifice but also the rocks of the altar and the water Elijah had poured over it and even the wet soil. Okay, with that bit of Bible story behind us, here’s what we did – in pictures.

I told the story -- again (told it last week, also)

Then we built an altar -- in a long storage container with a gravel base. The altar was fist-sized rocks and the boys needed a little help placing them.

Two of the kids added sticks. Another added the sacrifice -- a big, yummy, mouth watering chocolate bar! Well, we couldn't kill a cow! After that a boy added water like the Bible says -- actually three times. Now we're ready to pray down fire from heaven!

But, alas, a fireman rushed in and sprayed everything with a fire extinguisher because, as he said, fire was too dangerous in a room full of children. I know he was a real fireman but I'm not too sure about his extinguisher. It looked a lot like a can of whip cream with red paper wrapped around it. Hummmm. Maybe this was a setup?

Well, whatever it was, the kids loved it. After this, they made cupcakes into altars with candy rocks and strips of red licorice as fire. Then games. Some music woven in there. Fun. (but they learn about the Bible and Bible principles during all this fun stuff).

Our leadership planning retreat went really well. Trevor did a good job planning and leading. Friday evening he had us make an eco-map telling our own stories. This built a good sense of community. Saturday we tied this into the story of our church. Which then led to what we want our story to be in the future – what would we like our church to do (become) and how do we get there. Some good ideas and mini-plans. We have more to do, but that can be done by pastoral staff with approval of the leadership.

Sunday was different. Trevor and I decided to have a worship time with no singing – just a lot of “here’s the good things the Lord is doing.” We didn't have a pianist. She quit -- long story. Our usual song leader is gone -- another long story. Would you like to move Lebanon and be our worship leader? The morning went quite well I think. I closed with a very short meditation from Psalm 103 on the “benefits” of the Lord.

So be blessed. The Lord is good.

Fun at the Beach

After working 52 hours last week (I know, it's not a lot by many pastoral standards but I'm only supposed to be working 30 hours), Joyce and I decided to treat ourselves to a day at the beach. We splurged on a nice motel in Newport and simply enjoyed ourselves. The weather was not too bad by Oregon standards – overcast and a little foggy, but no rain and almost no wind. I walked on the beach with just a coat and it was great. These pictures are FROM our room and looking back up AT our room. We were one floor down from the top and little to the right of the walkway. You can tell from the pictures, there is a little bit of fog.

Okay, let me confess. All this is true, however our trip to Newport was actually motivated by a search for some ocean-oriented items to enhance our SCUBA theme for KidZone. Wow! That calls for a lot of explanation, doesn’t it? Ok, back to the beginning. On Wednesday, we started a new, more club-like program for the children (pre-k through grade 5). We are using some old, old material from Allen Creek called SCUBA (Super Cool Undersea Bible Adventure). We have a big poster and smaller pictures but the setup was lacking. So we conceived this bright idea to go to Newport, scrounge through old shops, and come home with lots of treasures.

Sunday evening we called Larry and Cheryl, friends from our Agate Beach Community Church days in Newport, to have dinner with us. In conversation with them, Larry said he knew someone who could help us. Monday we met a really delightful retired commercial fisherman who loaded our trunk with old nets (they call them webs) and floats. We have enough to use for next summer’s kids camp. It will have a “high seas adventure” theme. We still prowled some shops we knew about, had a relaxing day, and headed for home.

Another fun thing this week was our dreaming session Sunday after church. The down side was only 16 people attended (Apathy? Lack of vision? Poor promotion? I don’t know). But on the up side, it was a really good dreaming session. Lots of good ideas and plenty of enthusiasm. We will take these ideas to the Leadership Council meeting this coming Friday-Saturday and refine some of them to a working plan – or perhaps simply direction to a working plan.

This last photo was taken just a little way down the beach from our motel. The house is kind of like a sentinel looking out over the ocean. But it is really quite vulnerable to storms. I suspect it was build before laws were passed to prevent construction like this. All the other buildings are up ON the bluff. But since this one faces the setting sun, it can symbolize looking to the future.

We are. Does that work for you?

Out With The Old, In With The New

I think most people are glad to see 2009 slip into history. For so many, it was an unsettling year with economic downturns, loss of loved ones, health problems, and an uncertain future. I don't discredit that at all. I certainly understand it and helped some people deal with it. However for Joyce and me, the year was pretty good. We began it with our kids and grandkids in LA and then moved to Catalina and made lots of new friends and memories. The year ended with us in Lebanon having more fun than two retired people should be allowed to have -- with a little work tucked in here and there. In between, we were actually at our legal residence in Grants Pass for awhile.

After our “out of the box” Christmas eve and day, Joyce and I had a very quiet New Year’s Eve. We watched the ball drop in New York City at midnight (realize that is 9:00 Oregon time). After that bit of celebration, we decided to really live on the edge of revelry. We dragged our air beds into the living room where the TV is so we could watch the ball drop again – at Oregon’s midnight. Well, we almost made it. I remember seeing it with one dreary eye and hearing some firecrackers go off in the neighborhood. Then it was morning. We really know how to party, yes we do.

I do have to ask for a moment of silence for the Ducks. We were all saying, “Go Ducks.” But they forgot they were supposed to go when the HAD the ball, not spend all their time going when they didn't have it. So they used most of the game playing catchup and not doing it very well. The eternal optimist says, “Next year in Pasadena.”

Trevor was scheduled to preach today. Last night at 9:45 I got a call that he was sick – really sick. Apparently not the Swine, but still very sick. Shanette wasn’t doing much better. So I dug out a sermon I had preached before, brushed the dust off, fixed it up for this church, and used it this morning. Trevor called this afternoon and is doing better. And such is the way we start the new year!

Joyce and I used our Christmas card to ask some people if they would like to be our prayer supporters. It occurred to us that we need prayer support the same as a missionary serving in another country. If you would like to be on our prayer support list, let me know. We will send a prayer letter (via email or snail mail) about once each month. One prayer request I will share with you right now is for a friend of ours named Rick. He and his wife and Joyce have been friends since high school. He became my friend when Joyce and I married. He is in poor health with a weak heart and various infections in his body. He knows Jesus. Pray for God’s healing and commit him to the Lord.

I trust 2010 will be a good year for you.