When I left pastoring I was sure that I would have more free time in my life. This certainly does not seem to be the case. Even without spending eight hours per week in my car going to church and preparing three sermons a week I still seem really busy. Much of this can be attributed to work where I have been doing a fair amount of traveling (off to New York on Monday after two appointments in Columbus) as well as other miscellaneous stuff.
Time is, without a doubt, my most precious commodity. My observations tell me I’m not alone. I’ll go as far to say that time is more precious to most folks than money. If you work in the church, you see it all the time. Folks who have no problem writing a check have a much harder time making themselves available. My time, for the work I do, is quite expensive, running in the three digits per hour. I don’t know if there’s anyway to fix this (I’m guess there’s not) because we are so connected. I’m going to Cleveland today with Becky (we have theater tickets) but, as I go, literally my entire office goes with me. My Blackberry has my phone, email, address book, calendar- see you can’t escape. It’s trying to shove so much activity into so little time.
I’m going to take time to re-fill my coffee cup. Have a great weekend.
Update: The New York Times helps me make my point in this article from their website.
I’m still figuring out how to make WordPress more like my old Typepad blog (you know, except this one is free). Be patient with me while I fiddle around with the widgets that are available for Wordpress and see what I can do. I really like the look of the blog (versus Blogger) and it seems to be quite functional but, like any new venture, it’s taking me a minute or two to get used to. I may have some to fiddle with it this weekend. Any WordPress bloggers who have tips on working with this format please feel free to comment. Thanks.
From my picture, you can tell that I am not the least bit athletic (although, like yesterday, I do like to go for a walk around the neighborhood). Yesterday however, I stumbled on my front steps and twisted my ankle. I have not had an orthopedic injury in the longest time and forgot how much they hurt. Maybe God is trying to teach me to be empathetic with the people I work with.
In a completely unrelated vein, I found this story in today’s New York Times fascinating. In short, it talks about how some black churches, usually a most conservative group, have begun accepting homosexuals into their churches. The most interesting thing to me was how the pastor in the lead part of the story changed his view because his son was gay.
There is an interesting lesson in principles here. Namely, truth does not change based on our circumstances. The pastor decided that homosexuality was okay because it effected his own home. When I was in college, we talked a great deal about “situational ethics” which by its very name is an oxymoron. Either something is ethical (or true) or it is not. Anyhow, I will not sermonize as I’ve already preached this week but it is an interesting read.
Back to the ankle, I don’t think anything’s broken and I should be back in business tomorrow. Maybe another walk through the neighborhood with pictures will be in order.
I had to go to the post office today so, since it was a beautiful sunny day in the 70’s, we decided to walk. I took the camera a shot a number of pictures along the way. This one is of the Knox County Courthouse which was built in 1854. There are a number of house pictures from my neighborhood as well. Full Disclosure: The homes pictured are grand historic homes built in the 1850’s and 1860’s. My house is not nearly as grand or historic but it was built in the 1890’s. Enjoy the pics on the Flickr photo stream.
The weekend isn’t quite over but I have a few spare minutes before going to church tonight so here’s a quick update. The Holy Ghost Rally in Lancaster on Friday was awesome- six children received the Holy Ghost. Saturday, I went from Lancaster over to Dayton to enjoy a district quiz tournament. Ohio has 18 teams in Junior Bible Quizzing this year in the beginner and junior divisions.
On my way home from Dayton, my car broke down. It lost all electrical power in it and I had to pull over to the side of the road around Springfield. I called AAA and waited (and waited and waited) for a wrecker to come. It became quite dark and, not having any headlights, sitting beside the road became a very not fun experience. The Highway Patrol eventually stopped and lit flares until the tow truck arrived. I asked the driver (a very nice gentleman named Marvin) how much this would cost if I didn’t have AAA. $60 to hook up the truck and $2.50 per mile. For those of you without an Ohio map, it’s about 85 miles from Springfield to Mount Vernon. You do the math. Thank God for AAA.
I preached in Mount Vernon this morning which was great fun. God was good enough to give me a wonderful illustration in my stranding last night. Right now, I’m getting ready to head back to church. Have a great week folks.
PS- For those of you (yes, both of you) wondering about the car, it was the alternator which is going to cost me roughly what the tow would have cost to get fixed. It’s definitely Monday.
As many of you know, I work in a home office here in Mount Vernon. I don’t have a tech support group to help me out with computer problems which can be bad news. We have two Dell computers in our home and, after my experience with them, I am guessing we will have many more. Here’s what happened.
For some reason, my computer thought that the CRTL key was depressed (pushed down, not in need of medication) and this would make typing or anything else quite difficult. For instance, if I typed the letter “p” the computer would read CRTL-P and ask me what I wanted to print. Not Good Times! So anyway, I had an email chat with one rep from Dell who gave me some diagnostics to run and a case number to refer to. I couldn’t run the diagnostics due to the keyboard issue so I emailed chat again. The rep called me, walked me through the process, determined that the keyboard was the issue and said they would send me a new keyboard. 17 hours later (this morning) I get a DHL package from Round Rock, Texas with a new laptop keyboard. Five minutes to install and I am back in business.
I know people are much more likely to gripe about bad experiences than to praise good ones but this experience has made me a huge fan of Dell’s. When I upgrade my laptop (likely next year), I will definitely get another Dell.
If you just read yesterday’s post, you’d think that my trip to New York was only about having a “great steak” and seeing landmarks. Not so. The real reason for the trip was to visit and assess a client and his family to assist me in writing a life care plan. I won’t divulge too much about the client due to privacy concerns except to say that he is a little boy who was hit by a delivery truck and now has significant disabilities. As much as I love working with these type clients, it absolutely breaks my heart when I see them. This little boy was my son’s age when he had his accident. And he is a beautiful child who smiles and has gorgeous blue eyes and will laugh when you talk about his girlfriends. He really is a cutie.
Anyway, I met with his father and sister in there home on the Upper East Side. I noted to the dad that there were likely more people living in a two block radius than lived in my entire town. That’s not a joke. Mount Vernon has all of 15,000 people while NYC has around 8 million. It’s an entirely different planet. One other place that I visited was the Mickey Mantle School on West End Avenue at 82nd Street. It is a part of the NYC Public School System but is only for children with special physical and emotional needs. I spoke with my client’s teacher who is an incredible caring guy as well as his therapists and nurse. One of the children came up to me and was holding my hand and talking to me. She asked where I was from and I told her Ohio. She had never heard of Ohio before so I told her a little about it. She was just precious. Again, going to this school where the staff is doing a terrific job with these kids just breaks your heart. They are such beautiful children who, for whatever reason, find themselves facing tremendous challenges in their lives. After going to schools and meeting with kids like these, I always want to go home and hug my kids. I’m so thankful to be blessed with healthy children.
One other trip note to share with you- if you’ve never ridden in a New York City taxi, you really need to do so. I am convinced that we could have people get right with God if they just spent five minutes in a cab. I don’t know what the speed limit on Park Avenue but I’m quite sure it isn’t 55 mph. My ride to the airport Wednesday night was truly one of the most terrifying experiences in my life. Having said that- you must experience it for yourself.
Times Square, NYC
Originally uploaded by So Cal Metro.
I had an awesome trip to NYC yesterday except that my camera didn’t work. As such, I’m stealing a picture from Flickr to show what was to me the most impressive part of the trip, Times Square. Pictures don’t do justice to this spectacle of sounds, light and video. It is complete sensory overload from the moment you get there. It truly has to be experienced. Also on my walking trip was Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Broadway, Rockefeller Center, and the Madison Avenue shopping district (Bloomingdale’s anyone?). I got in about 12:30 this morning and am resting up a little bit before heading over to Gabrielle’s school for a program.
My funny New York story for the day- I was having dinner last night at the Silver Star Restaurant and a guy who looked like a rock star came in with a lady who looked like a model and he says to me “that is a terrific looking steak, is it good?” and the lady says “oh, that’s a beautiful steak”. I reply in the affirmative that as NY Strips go this one was pretty good (when in Rome and all). So the guy calls over to a gentleman who I assume owns the restaurant and says “I gotta have one of those steaks”. Glad I could help you out. As I told the therapist yesterday, when I go to New York I might as well go to the moon- it’s so different from Mount Vernon. But I can’t wait to go back.
I may have mentioned this in the other blog so if I have forgive me. I have been reading for the past couple of days the blog of the Archbishop of Boston, Sean Cardinal O’Malley. Now obviously I am not Catholic but my stepmother is and I am fascinated by the Catholic faith as it is interwoven with Western European history which was one of my favorite subjects in college. The other thing is that, while we don’t agree on many things theologically, Cardinal Sean (as he likes to be called) has some very interesting homilies in his posts that can/will make great sermon starters and illustrations. So if you have the urge to spread your wings a little go check out Cardinal Sean’s blog.
This is by far the most common question I get these days. In truth, not to bad. Why? Because I have great friends who care about me and check up on me. My friend Shawn who pastors in Northeast Ohio has been checking in to see how I’m doing and my friend Gene, send me a couple of very kind emails that were clearly directed of the Holy Ghost. These men are like brothers to me and I am thankful to have them in my life.
Physically, I’m still recovering from the bug that set in on Friday night after I finished preaching. I’m feeling okay but my voice is kind of shot. And I’m sneezing a lot as well. Who knows? I’m going to New York tomorrow and hopefully will remember my camera and can post some pictures when I get back. Right now, I have a massive report I have to write. Good Times!
