Last winter, Bev ordered a new window for our house. It was going to replace the dilapidated aluminum slider that opened to the back yard. A glass company here in town built the low wall the window rested on and installed the window.
The next stage of the operation was to get a stucco company to finish the exterior wall to match the rest of the house. The first guy that agreed to do the job only did the first coat, but never came back. Then a guy named Frank called us and agreed to do the job.
I had a friend once tell me that he thought you just needed to accept the way things are. To acquiesce. Knuckle under. Give in. Give up.
Those weren’t the exact words he used, but that was the bottom line of what he was saying. After the conversation was over I felt profound sadness for him.
I just discovered an excellent web site in Cutting Edge, the quarterly church planting magazine of the Vineyard. The site is the creation of the New York City Vineyard Church, and it was designed specifically for people of diverse background and belief in NYC.
The site features short video clips from members of the NYC church talking about their faith journey. It is interesting and compelling.
The site was originally designed to invite visitors to a dinner. They had 220 people who showed up after seeing the web site. Only 70 were members of the NYC church, and the rest were people from all over the social and religious spectrum.
The dinner is over now, so the site serves to let visitors listen to real people talk about their faith. It is well worth visiting and very inspiring.
Friends of our took a three day vacation to San Luis Obispo, and they asked us to keep their dog. We were quite happy to do that, especially since “Dingo” has visited us before and done quite well.
This morning he came to our bedroom door and notified us of his need to go out. I got up to let him out, but as I moved through the house I dropped something and moved quickly to pick it up. That quick motion scared Dingo. Long puddle…..
I was barefooted and thankful that I did not walk through Lake Dingo. It was also a good reminder why Bev and I do not currently have pets. There’s too much to do to take care of one properly. So we can love on Dingo and then send him home. Perfect.
I got invited recently to attend a Chamber of Commerce seminar called Volunteer Leaders Workshop. It takes place on June 9 in Sacramento. The stated purpose of the workshop is to assist in developing an effective leadership team to guide your Chamber to excellence.
It is presented by Superchex which is a group of Northern California Chamber executives, and it provides “activities to enhance the professional knowledge and skills of its members.” I’m really pleased to be able to attend this seminar because it adds to a base of knowledge and experience that I’ve gained through my lifetime.
Bev and I have kept an eye on American Idol. We haven’t been able to watch it much, but we have monitored the results.
We already knew that Melinda Doolittle was a huge talent that deserved to win. Plus we enjoyed hearing her powerful and lovely voice.
But stupidity and style points are what won the day. NOT talent. Wednesday night she got booted off because of fickle voters who clearly wouldn’t know a singer from a hole in the ground.
This result plus the untimely exit of other talented people proves that this show is not about ability. I’m no longer curious about the outcome. It’s meaningless.
When I went through church planters “boot camp” everything was pretty theoretical. In some ways it was like reading the travel books Bev and I used to prepare for a European trip. It wasn’t until our feet were on Parisian streets that we really understood how it all worked.
Before we moved we were warned by other church planters that people would try to hijack the mission. We were told they would see a small, new church as an opportunity to bring their own agenda. I filed that away for future reference.
Saturday was the day of the annual Chamber Car Show. Merced is a popular location for auto buffs, and this annual May show is well attended.
In previous years the show was held at the County Fairgrounds. Because of recent changes, the car show was moved to the Castle Air Force Base museum rounds. It was a nice venue with plenty of room. It was also beneficial to the museum, because it drew people who had never see the planes on display there.
This was a headline on page A-1 of the local Merced Sun-Star: “New Book Ranks Merced Fourth Worst Place to Live in U.S.” It’s not exactly the sort of thing you want to hear about your city.
Criteria for the designation includes cost of living index, air quality, job availability, health care, and climate. It struck me, as I read the article, that the people writing the book probably were like air passengers flying over a city. You get a cursory view. “There’s a lake.” “There’s a mountain range.” “A fire destroyed that building.”
A letter to the editor in our local newspaper was from an atheist who was taking exception to what a vocal Christian had written in the same paper. It was clear from the editorial that all the argumentation and debate had produced no concensus and no faith.
The argumentation and negative results make you wonder if there isn’t a better way to talk about one’s faith. Is debate really that effective? Can you change someone’s mind through debate and elaborate argumentation?
MonoLogue 