Preacherstribe: Vacation in Sunny Hot Florida

We leave tomorrow. So sad. We've had a great time in Florida. Last year, a friend lent us a condo on the beach. This year, the condo was sold. Unfortunately, or should I say, fortunately, we only found out after buying our tickets to Tampa. Not to worry. Janet's sister, Dale and Sylvio, live nearby. We invited ourselves to live with them. That's how you determine true friends.

We've had a wonderful time. They've been super hospitable, and overly generous. I feel indebted to them. Obviously, we've experienced some things we would not naturally be exposed to seeing there are to SDA's around. Let me explain: Dale and Syl live in a park in which they own shares. Approximately 400 people live in this park. A great number of them are Canadians. (For whatever reason, the Canadians seem to be the liveliest of the bunch.) Anyway, these Park Dwellers can think of any reason to have a party, something akin to our Leasa. Maybe coming from Minnesota has something to do with the party spirit. (She comes from very close to Canada.)

Memorable to us will be the Karaoke night we experienced. I suppose you know what Karaoke is? I guess I had heard of Karaoke before, but never have I experienced the like. Bear in mind, the people have to be 55 years old to live in this park, and most are more like 70-90 years old. Here is how Karaoke works: They have all these music CD's, like hundreds and hundreds of songs. The music is all from the 50's-70's. Unfortunately for me, I knew most of the songs. I assume my Lover knew even more. Of the 60 or so people who were there, perhaps half participated in singing songs from the past using the original music. It's like doing special music using background music. Only the music was Country and Western, Rock and Beebop, folk etc . . .

It was all very entertaining, but not very Adventist. At least, I haven't met any Adventist who do that sort of thing. My sister-in-all was determined that I would sing. Oh me. She thought that because I preach it would be nothing for me to get up and sing in front of all these people. Now, don't think I wasn't tempted. Except that someone, Joe Stankavich, convinced me to sing a special once at church with him in South River, 30 years ago, and I performed so badly that I swore I'd never do that again--and I haven't. But I was tempted. I know all the songs and my feet know all the moves too. (Not to worry, I didn't.)

Janet sang with her sister. I forget what. Finally, I sang with our table--a group of eight or so. You are My Sunshine, The Lion Sleeps tonight and Wake up Little Suzie.

Some of those old buggers can really belt out a tune and made Elvis look old fashion. I guess he would be by now--big, fat and red eyed.

We spent two and one half hours kayaking an alligator infested river. We saw four alligators. One was big. We also kayaked the mangrove swamps. Lots of fun and lots of sun. Aquariums and museums and all else. It's been great. We even played Shuffle Board. Now I must get back down to reality and think of doing some work. With all the storms happening, it might be tricky getting home tomorrow.

Before coming to Florida, Eden Valley hosted the ASI Winter Boards. That, from my perspective, was as exciting as anything else. Necessarily, I cannot divulge what we decided on these boards, but that isn't the point of my writing. As you know, I am the new ASI President--well, it's been a year and a half already, but I still feel like the new kid on the block. Everyone else has years of exposure to the inner workings of the corporation. Consequently, I am always nervous about doing well, saying the right things, not appearing to be as ignorant as I feel etc. . .

Can you imagine how much I pray about things like that? Wouldn't it be better if I was great at everything? Well, I'm not, but the Lord blessed me more than I expected. That is always such a pleasant surprise for me. I thank Him everyday from the bottom of my heart.

Blessings to all.