Sweat Work of Love

Building a new playground at church takes work, and lots of people. Its called Sweat Work of Love, especially on days like today when it is so hot you can fry eggs on the sidewalk.


It all began when I first moved here. A member of the church was sitting with the kids at church while Bob and I went to something, can't remember what. The kids had gone out to play on the then Swing set. Apparently one of the kids got hurt on it. As the church member investigated, it was loose parts on the slide. We tried to fix it and couldn't. The church member suggested it might need to be torn down. I was a bit hesitant being the new Pastor at the church. So I told her she needed to follow the Methodist way of going to the trustees who would then discuss it and then bring it before the Admin. Council. Way somehow or another the head trustee gave the person permission to tear it down without getting Admin Council approval. The next thing I know the husband and grandson were tearing it down. He told me it was full of dry rot, and holes from wood bees. I got him to save the accessories because they were okay. That would be one less thing we would have to pay for when we rebuilt it. Now you need to know this set got lots of wear and tear. We have a community basketball league and a school league that plays in our gymn, CLC center. And the kids get out there and play and play. We have this little courtyard area that it is set in, and there is a little memory garden in it too. This same couple said they would pay for a new playground if it was moved out of the courtyard over to the side of the church where there is this big open area.


Believe it or not it took us until this summer to get the new playground going, and it has evolved. We moved over the older metal swing set, put up a fence. Then someone donated another metal swing set. But the plans were to replace the wooden swing set. So we began looking and pricing. Those things are expensive these days! But hubby found one at Sam's he thought was a good one at a decent price. And guess what we got enough money to buy it to start building it. So now we are in the process of building the swing set. My hubby has taken it upon himself as a project. He bought it, got a trailer to haul it back on from our neighbor. But he forgot to get people there to meet him to unload it. (He thinks he can do it alone, that was what he had to do growing up.) But there were five boxes, three of which were over 200 pounds, one over 150 and one at 35. I helped with the 35 and the 150. I told him that he needed to start calling to get a man there to help him. After calling a bunch of the men he was able to get one man there to help him. IN the meantime, I had the idea of taking the boards out of the heavy ones until they were light enough to pull them off the trailer. Which I might say worked.


Well, now everyday, Bob and some of the men are over there working on the boards. Its a lot of work. A lot of Sweat work of love. Now people when they drive by see the new playground, instead of not being able to see it. My hope they can see that we love children and we care about children. And that they see these men at work for the Lord.


Here's what the new swing set will look like when it is done. I'll get pictures of the whole playground and post them.

What its Friday Five already?

Sally says; When I began work here at Downham Market a wise friend told me that after one year I would see a few changes and sense God at work- years two and three would cause me to question and to wonder why I had chosen to accept the post here and in year four I might see the beginnings of something new.And so with that in mind alongside yesterdays celebrations I bring you Friday 5 Looking back, looking forward..

1. Share a moment/ time of real encouragement in your journey of faith Gosh, when I look back there have been lots of times of lots of encouragement in my journey of faith. I have been so fortunate that God has sent people my way to encourage me just when I was ready to turn away. I would have to say the biggest time was after two years of Invitro Fertilization and 2 failed pregnancies, I was devastated, depressed, and angry with God. This went on for some time. The encouragement I received? It came from those who walked with me, never saying much, but stayed with me. In the most recent years, it was the closest I have come to saying the H*** with God, with Christianity and with church. But since that time, I have known God's presence in a deep place in my soul. I pray I can be as encouraging for others. Thank you friends, and Thank you God.
2. Do you have a current vision / dream for your work/ family/ministry? Yes, I have a vision of helping this church grow as we work through Natural Church Development. This vision came to me before we actually started, but it all fits together in God's beautiful way. For my family I dream we can go back to China when the children are older and can appreciate it more. And that this visit helps them in their maturing and dealing with their adoptions. I pray that when Bob and I retire we can have some time together.
3.Money is no object and so you will..... Go to China, take a year off, go to the Holy Land, back to Germany and England, see some of the places I have not gotten to see but dreamed of, and then have time to write a book from the experiences. And then get invited on the speaking tour like the big dogs.
4. How do you see your way through the disappointments? What keeps you going? I have struggled most of my life with depression; besides medication, my husband, friends, therapist, supervisor, spritual mentor, and friends have held me up when I couldn't hold myself up. Faith, without a doubt faith in what I cannot always see ahead of me. Letting myself have and feel my feelings.
5. How important are your roots? Roots? What roots? I am one of those mix breed white anglo saxon and no telling where it all came from. I am often proud of being oh 4th generation Floridan, of course, I don't live there anymore. I am proud of my Eastman heritage, but someone lost the book with all the lines and family tree, so I don't know what all is there. So I am not hung up on it. I think my kids roots of being from China is important. I think it is going to hurt them to not find their biological parents, I pray that we have laid the groundwork for them to deal with their feelings, and that we remain supportive and accepting as well.

6. Bonus= what would you like to add ? This was a good Friday five. I think what I would add is to ask does any one need encouragement presently in their life?

I don't belong to the only true church

I had read in the news what the Pope had said about Christianity, and just let it slide right through my mind. I have had a lot on my mind as of recent, and a lot has slid through. But yesterday I read over at reverend mother her thoughts, and it reminded me about it again.

If you haven't read it; Catholic Church only true church.

Ya know, you think you are making progress on communion with the RCC, and you get told they are the only true church. (What are we fake churches?)

It says although Orthodox churches are true churches, they are defective because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope. and then "It follows that these separated churches and communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation," (Whoops, I guess I am not saved either.)

The document adds that Protestant denominations — called Christian Communities born out of the Reformation — are not true churches, but ecclesial communities. (Just what are those?)

"These ecclesial communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood … cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called 'churches' in the proper sense," it said. (But we practice the sacraments.)

Reverend mother suggests they use the following Marketing Slogan. How’s this for a marketing slogan:

Christianity: Answering Questions Nobody’s Asking Anymore

Over the past 5 years the Methodist church has been in dialogs with the Catholic Church, and issued a report on these meetings called "Through Divine Love: The Church in Each Place and All Places." It said we have some parallels with the Catholic. (I guess we actually live in parallel universes.)

Thanks for reverend mother's comments, so what do you think?

I don't know how to say this, but I'll just say it, I don't believe in the Pope, I believe in Jesus.
And if that means I don't belong to the only true church, or not a Christian, than so be it. I'll just keep believing in and following Jesus to the best of my ability.

I just don't think it is about denominations anyway or even non denominational status.

What I get concerned about is how these kind of things are not a witness to God's love.

But as reverend mother said, she is moving on, and I am too. I am moving on to continue to share God's love with others.

Being involved in Natural Church Development.

I haven't blogged about this yet. But St. John voted to go through the Natural Church Development Process a good while back. We had someone come introduce the process to us. One of the things you do is get 30 people together and the Pastor do a survey on the church. We did our survey right before the Annual Conference meeting in June, so we waited until afterwards to send it in to get it scored. Then I was gone on vacation. So last Sunday we had a meeting with our Coach to go over our results. I also began a sermon series on Natural Church Development and the 8 Characteristics. Our meeting was well attended, and we had a good discussion on our strengths and our weak point. Now the leaders are sitting with the results and praying over it and what step to take next. I have also set aside Fridays as a day of prayer for the church with the sanctuary open to come by and pray, I have also provided prayer guides to give us focus.

The more I read about the process the more I learn, the more empowering it is.

So I am praying that whatever I am doing that is blockage to God's natural Growth forces, will be removed. And I am praying for God's growth forces to be released in our church. It is interesting, several of the leaders have already come forward with some creative ideas of steps to take to work on our weak point. And I am encouraging them to do them. Even before we got the results, we were already beginning to address some things we realized were missing in the church.

If you want to know more about Natural Church Development, you can go here. I am very proud of our leaders for being willing to go through the process, and how they are handling things so far. Change is hard as you know.

Friday Five: Harry Potter who else?

Friday, July 13, 2007

Friday Five: Wotcher, Harry! ...or not
(Don't miss the big news in the post below! Mark your calendars!)As you may have seen in this Wednesday's Festival, Pottermania has hit the RevGals---though not all of them. Yes, I am all over Harry like a Seeker on the Snitch, but I know there are others who will be ecstatic to see the July madness end.

So today's F5 is a Choose Your Own Adventure: do the magical version or the Muggle one, or both:Option 1: Accio Friday Five!

1. Which Harry Potter book is your favorite and why? I have to chose, really? Seriously? You got to be joking.

2. Which character do you most resemble? Which character would you most like to get to know?

I would imagine I am like Rubeus Hagrid. I would like to get to know Harry of course.

3. How careful are you about spoilers?a) bring 'em on--even if I know the destination, the journey's still goodb) eh, I'd rather not know what happens, but I'm not going to commit Avada Kedavra if someone makes a slipc) I will sequester myself in a geodesic dome to avoid finding anything out You know, I can handle them or prefer not to have them. I don't really like it when I am told the ending.

4. Make one prediction/share one hope about book 7.5. Rowling has said she's not planning any prequels or sequels, but are there characters or storylines (past or future) that you would like to see pursued? I certainly hope she isn't done. I mean doesn't she want to get another million or so, and then she can buy England instead of just being richer than the Queen. If she were to do this, I would love to see a story about pre Harry, about his parents, etc. or Harry gets married to Sally, whoops, I have the wrong movie.

Option 2: Please Mommy, Anything But Those Blankety-Blank Books! And we do mean anything: I haven't heard that one yet, mine love books.

1. Former U.S. First Lady "Lady Bird" Johnson died this week. In honor of her love of the land and the environment, share your favorite flower or wildflower. Yes, lets honor her, I like the small little wild purple violets. They are so dainty.

2. A man flew almost 200 miles in a lawn chair, held aloft by helium balloons. Share something zany you'd like to try someday. Not that, but maybe fly in a glider, does that count?

3. Do you have an iPhone? If not, would you want one? No and no.

4. Speaking of which, Blendtec Blenders put an iPhone in one of their super-duper blenders as part of their "Will It Blend?" series. What would YOU like to see ground up, whizzed up or otherwise pulverized in a blender? I seriously would like to see parts of the Discipline and the Itinerate system and the hierarchy and all the commissions, and structures we have up above us in the Methodist Church, but don't ask me what I would do after that.

5. According to News of the Weird, a jury in Weld County, Colo., declined to hold Kathleen Ensz accountable for leaving a flier containing her dog's droppings on the doorstep of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, apparently agreeing with Ensz that she was merely exercising free speech. What do you think? Is doggy doo-doo protected by the First Amendment? Most definitely, especially in a case like that, and a few other nameless ones.

Home Sweet Home

We are home, after a long trip back from Tenn. Drove most of the way back in good rain. Thank you Lord for the rain, you know we have been so dry. Now spare those states taht are flooding from continued down pours.

I want to thank the Martins for taking care of our animals while we were gone. And thank you to our neighbor for mowing our front yard too. And the house wasn't bad at all.

The kids were tired and went to bed to early, and here I am still up catching up on email and blogging while I can.

We had a great vacation. The last full day there we played more putt putt which the kids really liked. Good thing the Resort had one of their own you could play for free. And we took them to the petting zoo. Now that was really a blast, and the kids didn't want to leave. When I asked them which ones they like the best, they said, they liked them all. Got to talking to the caretaker, and learned a lot more about their story and how they take care of the animals. It was obvious they were taken care of.

The kids want to go back to Tenn. soon. I do too. They will be a little older and will be able to do more hikes.

Friday Five:Hasty Edition

Reverend Mother offers the following at Revgalblogpals: Whoops! I have been in a family-induced haze these few days, with the July 4 holiday and taking time off while relatives are visiting. So I literally lost track of what day it was!So rather than make you guys wait even one minute longer for the five, I'll dig up an oldie:

Today, what are you:

1. Wearing Colorful Polo shirt, khaki shorts, crocs.

2. Reading The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd; They Like the Jesus, but Not the Church, Dan Kimball: Natural Church Development and The Implementation Guide, Schwartz.

3. Eating Pizza, Dark chocolate Mms and anything that is good for a long road trip.

4. Doing Traveling back from our vacation to home, it is a long trip, so I am also trying to keep the kids from getting too bored.

5. Pondering How bad is the house going to be when we get home? Will these kids ever stop arguing? And how will I write my sermon for Sunday?

Clingman's dome

Well, Clingman's dome did not conquer us, we conquered it after many stops along the way for little legs, and mom's legs. It was quite an ascent. And a wonderful view all the way around! The kids said it was worth the hike. They loved the views of Smokies. It brought back many memories for me of the different times we went as a family, and different ages I was. Bob and I came, I think twice, and did a lot of hiking then. Hah, I would have to get in better shape. At the Ranger's station, they have a gift shop, and the kids found stuffed black bears. We bought each one a bear, and they immediately named them. Then they were treating them like they were babies. Yes, babies. They even went up clingman's dome with the kids. Although Katy toward the end of the hike started saying, I wish I had not brought the bear. Too late for that. But the bears did make it back down the moutain and took naps in the car along with the kids.

I really had a sense of peace being in the mountains today. Can't explain it but I did. Thanks for all your comments, and keeping up with our trip.

A new racing family is in the making...

Did I say we were staying in North Carolina? What was I thinking other than we do spend a lot of time in North Carolina. Actually we are in Tennessee. Sieverville to be exact, home of Dolly Parton. We are staying at the Smokey Mountain Resort, part of the Wyndham Vacation Resorts, was Fairfield before.

Today we caved into the kids and took them to the NASCAR Speed Park. But I made them promise that the next day we go back to the Smokies. You can race various size go carts on various tracks at various speeds. But you must reach a certain height for most of them. Our kids could drive the ones that go about the speed of riding lawnmower. They had a blast. I turned to Bob and said "well I guess we can't let them do the lawn mowing now."

They did have some other kiddie rides they could ride as well. They didn't want to ride the faster go cars, even if they could ride with dad driving. So now a new racing family is in the making, The Wilke family. Although I ended up with a sunburn standing around, looking pretty, holding the trophy for the winner in the winner's circle. (I just made that up.) I was the one taking the pictures while standing in the sun all day. Tomorrow we conquer Clingman's dome or it conquers us. Have a happy fourth of July ya'll.

A few moments of time...

Hi friends, I only get thirty minutes to use the computer and the internet here at the resort, but thank God they even had that. Just wanted you to know I am here in North Carolina on vacation with the kids at the Smokies. This resort is amazing, you could do everything here and not be bored. But we came to introduce the kids to the Smokies, but they want to do the pool and the water park this place has. I don't understand the comparison to the Smokies, really I don't. And I don't understand a computer in this day in time that can't read Google code. Really, I am having to guess what the little zeros mean.

Yesterday we took them to Cade's Cove, one of the really beautiful relaxing spots at the Smokies. We saw deer and black bear. Yes, black bears, three, and they had stopped traffic by playing in the road. People got out of their cars to take pictures. Now really that is one not so smart idea. Anyway I am here until Friday and then will head home. I have been able to rest and read. Oh wow read. It is so fantastic.

I'll write more later.

Friday Five: Gifts and Talents

Over at revgalbogpals, Sally is in charge of the Friday Five.

So this what she introduced: Our Circuit (Methodist) is having a "Gifts and talents day" tomorrow- we have a minister visiting from another circuit who has modified the Myers Briggs personality test and added a few things of his own to run a day where we get to look at ourselves in the light of giftings and of the whole church. The idea is to encourage everyone with the news that there is room for you in the ministry of the church- and perhaps to discover where that ministry might be.....It should be an interesting day, and one where I hope people will leave feeling encouraged and challenged...
So with gifts and talents in mind here is todays Friday 5;

1. Personality tests; love them or hate them? Depends on which one it is.

2. Would you describe yourself as practical, creative, intellectual or a mixture ? How about none of the above....(But its early here, and I was up late last night.)

3. It is said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame; have you had your yet? If so what was it, if not dream away what would you like it to be? No, and I probably never will. (Aren't I the cynic this morning.) But if you want to know what my dream was as a kid, here it is; I wanted to be the First Woman President of the US. And frankly I think I might be just a hair better than someone else I know that is running, well at least a little more ethical at this point, but then I have never been in politics and all that means. So now you know.

4. If you were given a 2 year sabatical ( oh the dream of it) to create something would it be music, literature, art.....something completely different...share your dream with us... You know, I had a Seminary Prof, that took his sabbatical and made pizzas at Pizza Hut. I have never forgotten that, and often thought that would be an interesting sabbatical to take. But if I were to take one to create something, I might write and maybe paint some, not quite sure.

5. Describe a talent you would like to develop, but that seems completely beyond you. Are we talking about talents like music, art, sports or what? Maybe acting, they seem to be making the megabucks these days. It seems so unnatural to me.

Bonus question: Back to the church- what does every member ministry mean to you? Is it truly possible to encourage/ implement? Every member in ministry is one of those Wesley, Discipline, purposes of the church. It is something that we have gotten far far away from. I think it is part of making disciples in the church, "it is the fruits by which we know them." Yes, I think it is possible to encourage, and to implement.

Bonus, Bonus: What is the most recent Personality test you have taken? Most recently I attended a workshop called, Ministry from your Strengths. In order to take the seminar, I had to read the book from Gallup Press, part of the Gallup Corp. and take the online test. Only my book didn't come in time, and I took the wrong test online. I have since taken the right test. If you ever want to introduce a different way of looking at your gifts and graces, for your members, this is a good way. I had worked it out for the person to come offer the workshop here in our district, and no one signed up. In the meantime, the whole cabinet took it, and so now the DS is pushing it, so we are going to reoffer it in the fall. Now go find your strengths and introduce them to your congregation. Amazon has the book too, and most of their books. If you want to know more let me know.

It's Another Birthday

Well, Kara had her 7th year birthday party at the skate rink, last night. She was the Queen of the rink. Several of her school mates, and church friends came. It was a lot of fun. She is pretty good at skating too, for a 7 year old. We forgot the camera, sorry, no pics. She made quite a haul of presents. We got home so late last night that she didn't even have time to really play with them. But this morning, she spent most of the morning, playing with them, trying to keep her little brother away from them too. She was very happy. I am glad. Surprisingly it was quite affordable too.

Mom had to go to Bham for a meeting and just made it back in time for the party. Dad had to get all three of them ready, bring the presents, go get the cake. All in all he did pretty good, with all that to do. Kara, somehow managed to sit on her cake, how we don't know, and I don't think we ever will. But that didn't matter, it did taste good. Note to mom don't go to meetings out of town, on big event days.

The Seasons are over

Yes, its true, Baseball, softball season is over. Its done. I don't know if Zachary is glad or not. Several of the parents mentioned they were. I think we are going to miss it. They had a party at the water park here in Florence. And since then all we have heard, "I want to go to the water slide today, now!" It was a fun party though, and the parents enjoyed talking with each other.
The girl's season is over too. We are waiting to hear what they are going to do for a party. I know the girls are glad its over. But as the season went on, they really played better, and they were encourage to play Fall Ball. So I guess we will be back out with fall ball.

The Dance season is over too. And the Dance Recital was really good. The girls remembered their routines in both their dances and did really well. I have to brag, on one of the dances, the girls were the only ones who knew the routine and danced it. People were coming up and telling us how good they did, and encouraging them to keep up the dancing. Katy told Bob that she liked being on stage. I believe it! She and Kara were just beaming. All the dancers and dancing was just great. In the girl's jazz class there were two boys. At first they didn't like them. But then all I heard toward the end was their names. They are cute boys. Katy didn't want to take dance this summer, she wanted a break. She is taking tumbling instead. Kara wanted to take dance, so she is in dance and tumbling. She originally didn't want to take tumbling, but when she got there and saw what the others were doing, she was excited. Zachary finished his preschool dance class, and their little recital was well cute, what other word is there. There was one other boy in the group, and the boys were both pretty good. Zach is taking hip-hop this summer, and is really good at it. One of his teachers is the granddaughter of one of our members. So he is now in love with Darby. Darby is really a good dancer, a sweet girl, and very beautiful but too old for him. He is taking tumbling for boys, and is loving it and doing well. They wanted to do Karate too, but we just could not afford or do it all. They offer Karate at the Y, and so maybe later they can take it. So Bob is still doing a lot of running back and forth to the dance and tumbling studios.

I finished preaching the Purpose Driven Life series, and the book study is done. It has had an impact on us. This Sunday the book study group celebrates with a meal. They are also supposed to make a commitment to some kind of practical application of what they have learned. This group has decided they want to continue to stay together. So Sunday they will be looking at that, and deciding or looking at deciding how they will do that. This is good news.

We have started the Natural Church Development Process at St John. We completed our surveys, sent them in for scoring, and they came back this week. I met with our Coach to go over the results and to make plans to meet with the leaders to go over the results. I am not going to reveal the results here. I am going to say that the Coach was positive about our strengths and how that will help us in our working on our weakest point. When I looked at them I felt the same way. It was very uplifting, and says a lot about how this church is growing. I am going to be preaching on the Eight Characteristics of a healthy church, How God grows us, and how the church has its own natural growth process. I am calling it the Growing Season.

I haven't written in awhile, so I thought I would summarize some of what I keep meaning to do. And it seems like I can't get to the computer to blog like I was. I know I have been double tagged and am planning to blog those, but every time I sit down to do it, something comes up.
I am hoping it gets better for me to be able to blog now that the season is over.

Friday Five: Books, Books, Books

Sally at revgalblogpals is in charge of today's Friday Five:I've just returned from a meeting in Cambridge so I'm posting this late here in the UK (it is 3:45pm).. because I took the opportunity of a free afternoon in Cambridge's wonderful book shops... I only bought a few- and they were on sale- very restrained for me!!! (Can't believe you were restrained, and I am so jealous that you were at Cambridge book shops!)

So with my head full of books I've seen and a long wish list in my mind, I bring you a Friday Five on books!!!

1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance???? I tend to be ecletic in my reading, but once I find a good writer or a series, then that's the books I read. Right now I am reading the No. 1 Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith.

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly? Shut the door, get quite, and stay up all night. Read until its done. And then maybe read the good parts again.

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why? Mmm unless its one of the kid's books, I don't know....Chronicles of Narnia. Why, I can escape to Narnia and be with the lion, and have all those wonderful adventures.

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most? Any thing by C. S. Lewis, or Barbara Brown Taylor.

5. Describe a perfect place to read. ( could be anywhere!!!) (The Beach with a little breeze, not that noisey, something to drink, and the waves coming in. Perferably the Gulf Coast on the Panhandle.)

Bonus question #1. How many books are on your Amazon Wish List? Too many to count.

#2. Bad habit you have while reading books? With some books, I tend to not be patient and go to the back of the book to read the ending, and then I'll read from where I where I left off. ( I have really tried to break this bad habit.)

A day of Tragedy for Methodist Ministers

I hate to bring the bad news, and I hate to hear it. I really do.
Today was a day of bad news.

Rev. Jerry Herston was killed in a single car automobile accident Monday afternoon. One other individual in the car with Jerry, a member one the church he has been serving, also was killed. The News Channel in Huntsville has the details of the accident. Jerry and I were in the same district before we both moved. I was truly upset by this news. I like Jerry and his wife. He was moving this year, so I don't know what that means. His son Jonathon, a Methodist Minister also, will be moving too. What a tragedy to deal with right after conference. There will be a service of thanksgiving and resurrection celebration will be held at Guin First United Methodist Church at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

And a memorial service for Dr. Herston will be conducted Sunday, June 10, 2007 at 2 p.m. at Asbury United Methodist Church in Fort Payne . He really had a Pastor's heart, was a genuine individual. He will be missed. Prayers for his family.

Then I found out that Jim Hauer, husband of Rev. Martha Hauer, died at 4:00 this morning following back surgery in Columbus, GA. Martha is the Pastor at the church I formally served, Wadley UMC. She is also the one that was in the terrible automobile accident last year. The church has surrounded her with their love and care and support. She is still effected from her accident.The funeral will be Thursday, June 7 at 2 p.m. at Wadley UMC. Burial will be Friday at 1 p.m. at Oakwood Cemetery in Tuscumbia , AL . She and Jim were married for 35 years and he has been super supportive of her ministry. They have one daughter. Keep them in your prayers.

My heart goes out to the Herston Family and Martha. It is a truly sad day for us in the North Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church.

A Quick Conference and Quick Elections

I attended the two day conference of the North Alabama Conference. Usually this conference starts on Sunday afternoon and finished late Wednesday afternoon. However, not many of the lay delegates could come or all you got were the retirees. So our conference last year shortened by one day, and this year it was shortened to the two days. The Memorial Conference was moved to Thursday night and to one of the churches. That was well attended and it was a good service instead the sterility of the college Coliseum. We women had our clergywomen gathering right after the service in the parlor of the church. That was nice too. I think it was one of our better gatherings. The Bishop even joined us for awhile. Then the next day we started the long day of Friday. A lot of us were concerned that elections though would lead to a long weekend. The last elections took a whole lot longer than planned for. I felt like we were running through the business pretty fast almost at light speed with little discussion. We had no Bibles study, no workshops and fewer worship services.

Bishop Huie spoke to us about the changes that are going on in the Texas Conference. As I listened I thought to myself, "It won't be long that we will be doing some of the same things."
She also preached at the Ordination service. She was imaginative and creative, well spoken. Boy is she a dynamite. The commissioning service will be done later at another church. Bishop messed up though the ordination of Jan McCarver, I think he must have forgot what she was being ordained for. But that will be corrected.

The next day was a quickie too. We did finish the elections. I had to leave early because of the girl's had a Dance Recital, that I was not going to miss even for the conference. Now something you need to know is that last year we had a big argument over one of the petitions that came before the conf. this petition was to tell the President to end the war. The same petition came up again. The person from the petitions committee did a good job presenting it, asking us to stop and pray for those who have died in the war. It was very moving. The Bishop brought up that he had lots of letters about last year's discussion, and so he did not want us to have a discussion again. That just ruined the tone, because our conference has always had a history of discussing things sometimes pretty heatedly, but coming out on the other end. Everybody was pretty upset that we could not discuss, he even used the Roberts Rules to keep that from happening. But then one of the Pastors out maneuvered him and brought an amendment to it. The amendment basically took out the language of telling the President what to do and took out the time line. Well it passed, and the Bishop was fed up. Two other people at that point stood up to speak. One of them started saying that maybe we needed to think about what sacrifice we could make and he basically shut him up. Well don't you know then the conference was pretty mad at the Bishop. You see we have history of being able to speak and be listened to. Usually we have one for the and then one against, like that. That is all he had to do. You know we are students in a class that you tell us what to think and what to do, and be quiet. I spoke to the man about what he was trying to say. I know this man very well. Good fellow, bright, thoughtful, worth listening too. His son is a Marine in Iraq. What he was trying to say, is okay, instead of just saying we are for peace, lets to something, find out what is needed in Iraq. How we can make things better and do it. You know I think he is on to something. I suggested he present that next year. Start now finding out how we can help, how we can do something and present it. I don't like war anymore than anybody else, but I think writing the President and telling his to cease fire, and withdraw immediately is not the only answer. I think we the people need to begin to give and help too. I don't remember it being so bad last year, but that was a year ago. I do think that a fair discussion is okay. But with limited time like this was set up for, there is little time for discussion.

The place we met was great, I have no complaints. I don't even mind making possible for lay people who work to be there. But what would it mean if we just go ahead and met on Sunday too. Go ahead and give enough time for what has to happen and be taken care of. Have lay speakers or retired ministers preach. I think it was too short of time.

Now to the elections. I am going to put the results of the clergy elections up here, and you tell me what you see and think....

General Conference
1. Will Garrett
2. Bill Morgan
3. Mark Parris
4. Paul Hillard
5. Robert Sparkman
6. Amy Bowers
7. Tommy Grey

Jurisdictional Conference
1. Dalton Styes
2. Sheryl Thornton
3. Steve West
4. Rudy Guess
5. Glenn Conner
6. Andy Wolfe
7. Robin Scott

Alternates
1. Amelia Sims
2. Alan Head
3. Sara Cameron
4. Tim Barnes
5. Alan Weatherly
6. Dale Cohen
7. Kenny Baskins

I will say we had more mission moments that were really inspiring. We had good ministry reports also. I would say over all it was a good conference.

MP3s Questions and other doodles

I am thinking about purchasing a MP3 player. I have been studying the MP3s that are out there. I have read the CNET, and other reviews. I even done the comparison thing. It seems like it keeps getting back to Apple IPod. But even IPod has some limitations. Now I want to know what the real users think. I want to know your thoughts. How you use it. Why I should spend the money, although I did ask Santa for one, but didn't get it. He was broke at the time. Do you listen to music, listen to books, pod casts, or watch movies, videos, look at pictures? Is it worth your money? Do you use it while walking, riding bikes, in-line skating, excersising or while driving your car or sitting at your desk? Does it work to your liking? Please don't get too technical or use less geeky language. I appreciate your thoughts?

And finally, I will be gone to the North Alabama Conference today through late Saturday. What's the big events? Tonight the clergywomen are gathering after the memorial service. We get to hear Bishop Janice Huie at Ordination. We are voting for jurisdictional and general conference delegates. It is a compressed meeting, but last year with voting we were there late, so it could happen again. We are meeting at Clear Branch church out in Clay, NE Birmingham, one of our big churches, and not at Birmingham Southern. Our special offering goes to the Nothing But Nets.

Wednesday thoughts about Rob Bell and Velvet Elvis

Over at revgalblogpals, they have been in a book discussion over the book Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. The thing that we related to the most was his chapter on burnout and trying to be "SuperPastor". I know this struggle, I have struggled with thinking I had to be super woman, super pastor, and tried to do it, and burned out trying to do it myself. We aren't called to be superhuman. We are called to be human, after all we are human beings. Okay so I am preaching to the choir, myself, and maybe I need to keep hearing and reading it.

I am just at this place in the book. I keep getting interrupted in my readings by the munchkins. But I will say it is good interruptions. I had read this before in an excerpt Rob Bell wrote for Chritianity Today, called the The Storage Room Meltdown.
Here is what he had to say: "I could feel my car keys in my pocket, and all I could think about was how far away I could be by 11 a.m. How much gas was in the tank? How fast could I drive?

Sitting on a chair in a storage room, I could hear the worship space filling up with people, and all I wanted to do was leave. What do you do when you're pastor of a church, it's Sunday morning, people are finding their seats, you're scheduled to preach, and you realize you have nothing to say? How did it come to this? It started out so great … One minute you have these ideas about how it could be, and the next minute you're leading this exploding church/event/monster."

He goes on to say: "We were growing. House churches were springing up, partnerships were beginning with other churches around the world, and people who had never been a part of a church were finding a home. Two years into it, around 10,000 people were coming to the three gatherings on Sundays. In the middle of all this chaos was me, superpastor, doing weddings and funerals and giving spiritual direction and going to meetings and teaching and dealing with crises and visiting people in prison and at the hospital. It was happening so fast. One minute you have these ideas about how it could be, and the next minute you are leading this exploding church/event/monster. I tell you all this because there's a dark side. It's one thing to be an intern with dreams about how church should be. It's another thing to be the 30-year-old pastor of a massive church. And that is why I was sitting there thinking about how far I could be by 11 a.m. I escaped to the storage closet to be alone. I was moments away from leaving the whole thing. I just couldn't do it anymore. People were asking me to write books on how to grow a progressive young church, and I wasn't even sure I was a Christian anymore. I didn't know if I wanted to be a Christian anymore. I was exhausted. Full of doubt. I had nothing more to say.
And so I sat there with my keys in my hand, turning them over and over, hearing the room getting louder and louder and more and more full. At that moment I made some decisions. Because without pain, we don't change, do we? but I realized that day that things were wrong with the whole way I was living my life. If I didn't change, I was not going to make it. In that abyss I broke and got help … because it's only when you hit bottom and are desperate enough that things start to get better. This breakdown, of course, left me with difficult decisions to make.
This breakdown, of course, left me with difficult decisions to make. Mars Hill was alive and people were being transformed. Who would leave all that? I decided to be honest about my journey, and if people wanted to come along, great. But I was still going to have to take a new path. And a new journey began, one that has been very, very painful. And very, very freeing.
It was during this period that I learned that I have a soul."

Well he says more, and I'll be glad to share the article with you or you can read the chapter in the book. Its a good chapter. I think whether you are a Pastor who is planting a church, or is pastoring a mega church or a little church, somewhere you are going to get to this place in your life, your ministry. And if you seek the help you need, change your path, you too will learn you have a soul, but you will have to face and feel the pain. I would say that some days, I am still facing and feeling the pain, and when I do, I realize, I have gotten off the path, or am having to look at another shadow part of myself.

Here is the Nooma for the day. It is a Nooma we could all use. It is one I can especially use. The Psalmist wrote, "Be still, and know I am God."

• "Why is silence so hard to deal with? Why is it so much easier for us to live our lives with a lot of things going on all the time than tojust be in silence? We’re constantly surrounded with “voices” that are influencing us on how to think, feel, and behave. Movies, music, TV, Internet, cell phones, and a never-ending barrage of advertising. There’s always something going on. Always noise in our lives. But maybe there’s a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God. If God sometimes feels distant to us, maybe it’s not because he’s not talking to us, but simply because we aren’t really listening."

The Dogs want their turn

This is Lily Bear. Many people think she is a male, because of her looks, but she is a she. Many think she is a mean dog because of her looks, growl and bark. She can be if threatened or you threaten her family. She has some wolf in her and acts like one. Bob is the Alfa. Lily Bear was found in the middle of the road below Wadley on the way to Lafyette, and was given to my daughter Katy. There was no giving her back. She is very sweet, likes her back scratched. She was named after our Liaison in China.

This is Koda, you know like Koda in the Disney movie "Brother Bear." He is a he and acts like a he. He is part Dachshund and part lab. As you can see he is small and long, and has the legs of a daschand, on the other hand he is round and fat, with the black colors of a lab. He gets mixed up about which personality he is. He is loyal like a dog. Very protective like a Dachshund. Loves his mama. Loves the cats. Loves the kids. He is also very funny. Still chewing on anything and everything.

Here our other cats

This the big, fat kitty, Tygger. but you could tell that couldn't you. She is too big to get outside the fence, although she does try to escape out the doors. She was found in the woods with her two siblings. The vet figured her to be three days old, and didn't think the kittens would make it. But they made it, and indeed beyond. All three are big as can be. Two of my friends in Columbus, GA own the other two. Tygger is loving to your family. But not to strangers, she will attack you until she knows you. I have been told that cats raised on the bottle by humans can be like that.

This is Midnight, this is where she regularly sacks out after a night of galavanting in the woods behind our house. I found her at the church. She looked lost, and right away came home with me. She is a sweetie.