its been a quiet week in...

Quiet weeks in Lake Wobegon are the most wonderful times of life. This past week has been a quiet week for me, but it has been the most wonderful. I ran three miles in the "Let Go, Let God" relay team from our church in the Road Runner Akron Marathon last Saturday. I had the leg through Sand Run Metro Park. It was the most beautiful day of the year! It was like running with God.

As the week has gone on conflict around the present and future of the church have led to melt down for some folks. I found myself in one of the greater moments of trusting in God. Always in the past when such times arose, I paniced. My anxiousness took over. This time I felt a peace and a confidence...not in myself, but in God. Many folks have come to me concerned how I was doing, and I let them know my appreciation for their concern. I'm also aware of many folks around the church who have no idea that there are some people who are so anxious about the church and my leadership. For instance, today I attended a reception for a younger man from our church who served six months in Iraq in a very difficult role. It was clear that for that family there was nothing about the church that they were aware of or concerned about. The time all of us shared together was simply a time of great joy. This young man visited me the day he was shipped out. I gave him a small pocket Bible with a message from the church in it. I hugged him and cried at that time. It felt so strange to have someone young enough to be my son to be going off to war. This is where the peace and joy of Christ is real. Not in struggling over who has whose way within a church. It isn't really about us anyway. In Christ, as I experienced in this quiet week, we find the peace that is beyond understanding. That is the gift of God in serving through the church.

day off...what is it?

What's a day off? Off from what? For me it means not going into my office, but there are still things I do. This morning I hiked the Mingo Trail at Sand Run Metro Park. Great hike. Probably the most continuously strenous hike in our area. Up and down. 3.4 miles. Beautiful. We saw four groups of deer in the woods and one drinking in the stream. We saw a hawk bring its captured mouse to a rotted tall tree trunk 15 yards from us to eat. Color just starting to come in spots. Temperature in the high 30's. This is a great day off. Duane Ewing (6' 8') and I (5' 8") have hiked or played 9 holes of golf almost every Tuesday for the last four years. A lot more hiking than golfing.

Right now I'm writing this and listening to classic rock on the internet. A day of Neil Young is a goodly spent day off. But I've got more to do. Dirt to shovel. Grass to mow. Bills to pay. Exercise machine to finish assembling. AND time for prayer and meditation. The latter makes every day a day off.

Oops, missed a week

But then, I don't figure any of you were waited with baited breath for a post here! LOL

I love the fall. It snowed today, too. Big, white, wet snowflakes. Both the fall and the snow awaken or remind of the power of visual sensuality. My generation and a few before reduced too much of life and expression down to prose. Explanations. Lectures. Literate.

But on a day like today with colorful leaves, a dark cloud filled sky and big snowflakes falling...wow, what a picture! We need more of these. Especially in these times of massive machines sent to kill others and wondering if the headlines will announce that a young man from our church might have been killed in Iraq.

He is home. What a joy. After six months and then speculation he would be ordered to stay another year. He is at Ft. Bragg now and hopefully here in a few weeks. BUT, there are still so many like him, there. Still there. Like us, so many families and friends wait and wonder if the headline will be their's.

That is why I loved the big white snowflakes today. I wish they had such a day in Iraq.