Oak Haven Convention

I’m in flight from Michigan. Janet, Jason and his family, and I had a great experience at the Oak Haven Convention. It was great to be together and to watch those three granddaughters explore new territory. There is an element in them that says they should have been boys. However, I assume that by the time they start having pimples, they’ll become attractive mademoiselles. At least the beauty part isn’t missing.

On Sunday we had our annual Oak Haven boards. The Constituency meetings were downright boring, which is the best kind to have. If boring, it is because there is no trouble. The board itself wasn’t nearly so uneventful. I really don’t know what to make of it. The staff at Oak Haven is either prone to complaining, or the leadership just never learn their lesson. In the end, for all the complaints, they really had no choice. There isn’t anyone available with the potential to do the job. So, they are all stuck with each other for another year. Isn’t the Lord good? We’ll either learn to get along or to live in our misery.

Janet and Jason left Oak Haven early Sunday morning for Canada. Wish I could have journeyed with them, but alas, I am “shackled to a heavy burden, pressed beneath a load of care.” Well, it isn’t that bad, but my responsibilities do keep me from straying too far. I assume it’s my last hurrah. If I manage two terms (big if) with ASI, I’ll be 68 years old. That will be a good time to walk into the sunset, perhaps disappear into some African desert or jungle, or wander from my igloo into a snowstorm. (How dramatic is that?)

This week I have three days at home to be ready for ASI. I preach in Dallas, TX, next Sabbath to the baptismal candidates from the Youth For Jesus efforts. (Brianna is one of preachers. I am so proud of her. What a treasure.) Her sisters are in Hungary doing a Youth For Jesus program there also. Who would have predicted?

I am to preach the Keynote Address at the ASI meetings. I am still working feverishly on a sermon. Then I get to do a series of seven sermons at the North West Youth Congress in Spokane, WA.

Ok, the plane is going down. (Not crashing, I think, but landing.) When I retire, then we’ll have a family reunion, if any of them remember who I am.

My wife a few years ago. Or is that Emily?

So says the Preacher to his tribe.

Trouble in Paradise

It's been quite the week. Last week I was to preach in Copper Mountain. I decided to start a series of six sermons that I had done some years before, elsewhere. I was quite confident that it would be of interest to those people. When there, I found out that there was no interpreter for the Spanish speaking people. Finally, a little boy was chosen to be the interpreter. I had to hand it to the boy, he had courage. I suggested that instead of translating from the back to the Hispanics, that he join me at the front. I would speak one sentence, and he could follow sentence by sentence. He didn't want to do that. (It might have been a mess anyway.)

The problem with my speaking from the front and not hearing him interpret is that I have a hard time not speaking fast. There was a microphone in front of his face. He'd lift it up and it would slowly make its way down. He'd lift it again and again gravity would pull it down. So another little boy tried to help him. The problem with that was that they'd get into a conversation when he should have been communicating.

The whole exercise was frustrating, but what can you do? Sometimes the Lord allows your day to be messed up just to see how you handle the situation. It was the worst sermon I've preached in ten years, but, in the end, a good time was had by all.

We are in the middle of a lifestyle session. It's been a rough go. As you know, we deal more and more with cancer patients. But more and more they come to us with one foot in the grave. Among the 15 originals, two are dying. As usual, the Lifestyle guests are very sympathetic toward each other. This, however, proved to be a problem. Not only do they feel obligated to help, but they also feel upset because their time here is disturbed with a lot of drama. Finally, they sat me down and let me have it.

About 95% of our sessions are super appreciated, but occasionally, there is a group that finds fault with everything. I suppose that is a bit of an exaggeration. They did not find fault with everything, but they didn't spend a lot of time telling me about the things they didn't fault. I sat and listened and finally apologized for all our shortcomings. In an instance like this, defending one's actions is futile. The  people, when upset, don't listen to excuses or the defense of self. They deserve to be heard and acknowledged. So that is what I did. The camp has been quiet since and if nothing else go wrong, we might finish our session with some positive reviews.

Things have been so difficult in the Lifestyle center that Leasa decided not to go to the European GYC meetings. That is great for EVI, but it caused some consternation elsewhere. Namely at the Ford residence. Vanessa and Christina were suppose to go with Leasa. In the aftermath of Leasa's decision, Vanessa and Christina would need to navigate Europe (Austria and Austria to Hungary) by themselves.  Leasa felt she couldn't go and leave the Lifestyle Center without a shepherdess. When Memere heard of this plan she offered to take care of the Lifestyle Center for Leasa. In this way she saved the day, both for Leasa and our granddaughters. No doubt, the Ford parents are feeling some degree of relief also.

Memere is he heroin once again. Hey, had the stars lined up differently, I might have married some airhead from Hanmer or something.

Besides all of that, I am stuck to have to prepare 9 sermons in two weeks. Well, I've got one week left before I go to the Oak Haven Convention and then I'll have a couple of extra days. The good news is that I've got two sermons prepared already. Lord help me.

I am scheduled to represent ASI in Poland at an ASI Poland Convention in Dec. I will be speaking there on the Law of God. I got an e-mail today asking for the ideas behind each sermon with the foundational bible texts. Besides that they want an article to be printed in their bulletin. Oh, and guess what? They want it now, like in toute suite. Well anyway, I can't produce that much that quickly. I had to tell them so. They apologized. I must have sounded impatient. I hope not.

Ok, you just wasted another perfectly good five minutes. Better go back to work.

(Oh, I forgot to tell you. I had three teeth fall out this week. Well, not exactly. Three crowns fell out. I went to find a dentist (five actually). They wanted $84 just to look at my face. They don't realize that I charge more than that for anyone to get a peek at this famous mug. We couldn't agree so I'm waiting for the Lord to find someone to help me with the missing grinders.)

That's how you become in self-supporting work. If you've been in it long enough you know there is someone out there that will do it for less. (Is that bad?) Would a pastor do that?

What follows is a picture of my visitors from Africa. Weirdos.

Ramblings

It's the end of another week. Happy Sabbath in a few hours. It's been seven days since I've written. I am pretty much determined to write once per week whether I've experienced anything during the week or not. By and large . . . not.

The fact that we are living at the very end of time is masked by everyday mundane occurrences. I often think of the Jews in Europe prior to WWII. Life was good, they had families, they ate well, they pursued happiness; all was normal and predictable until one day all hell broke loose. To this day, the Jews have nightmares just thinking about what happened. I can't help but think our turn is coming--a time of trouble such as never was. There will be one differences for some Christians, the Spirit of God will be in their hearts fully and there will go forth a power never before witnessed in this old world. For most life will be a terror, for some glory will blend with the terror, and in the end, they will see Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven.

Jared, an 18 year old at EVI, broke his leg in two places this morning. He was riding his bike to work when he was hit by a car. He thought he was all right so he dismissed the driver. Later on he found out his leg needed immediate surgery. The Lord is speaking to our boy. I like Jared. He is smart and on a practical level he is a good thinker, but not interested in spiritual things. I hope he survives his teens. He is met with one blow after another.

Our EVI ladies had a yard sale today. Frankly, I don't know how it went for them. I stay away from junk as much as possible. I've never seen such a pile of one-man's-treasure. My guess is they trucked more to Goodwill than they sold. I"m sure they had a blast and EVI weighs three tons less.

We start another Lifestyle session on Sunday. Fifteen people are expected. We are ready. If you know of a doctor or a potential lifestyle director. We need one of each. So far, the Lord meets our need.

One of our church members will be buried at EVI on Monday. Pastor Eagan and I will share in the services. She was in her early fifties. Cancer took her life. We offered her a lifestyle session when she first heard that she had the dreaded curse, but the doctors have a way of scaring people to death and convincing them that they must have chemo and radiation. Her poor husband (and I mean poor) is probably saddled with an enormous medical bill. I can't claim that the outcome would have been different had she come to us instead, but I can tell you the outcome wasn't pretty for the route she took and the suffering she endured, and the mess her husband is left with.

Last week, a young couple called and asked about coming to EVI with their two-year old daughter who has liver cancer. We wanted to help. My wife was anxious to be her therapist, but the doctors threatened to have social services take the child from them if they don't do chemo. (Police state or what?) No doubt, they think they are doing right. Damn their blindness. The little one will die, must we torture her to the end? (Is it the money? Surely not . . . do you think? No, they wouldn't be that cruel. . . . Do you think?)

I have the keynote address at this year's ASI Convention. Everything is different from last year. Last year, I spent preaching on Righteousness by Faith. In the end, I was able to condense my research into three fair presentations. This year was all busy-ness. My preaching suffered as far as I am concerned. Just lately am I coming into a groove that has some promise. Lord help me. I dare not focus on trying to prepare a winner of a sermon, otherwise, I'll have nothing but a flop. I need only focus on being led by the Lord sermon by sermon until He gives me what He wants the people to hear. Who do I think I am, anyway? On top of that, I am to preach at the North West Youth Congress in Spokane right after ASI. That means I need sermons on the Holy Spirit before the end of the month. I need to find out how many sermons I am expected to give. Does that sound like work to you? It does to me.

Not to worry, the Lord never lets me down.

So says the Preacher to his tribe.