It´s about time

Okay, I´m back. Just a quick note from Cancun, where we´ve been for the last week. Sorry I haven´t posted, but life in the slow lane is...well...slow. We´ve had a great time, and will talk with many of you when we get back. I recommend this to anyone who wants to get away for a while. We love you all, and we´ll be back in S´toon on Monday.

“Groups become great only when everyone in them, leaders and members alike, is free to do his or her absolute best.”
“The best thing a leader can do for a Great Group is to allow its members to discover their greatness.”
(from a presentation by Tom Peters)

Another 'born-again' blogger...

I am happy to announce that my best bud Nolan is now blogging. He is a musician, studio producer, and a good writer, contrary to his feelings on the subject. Take a wander over there and check it out.

Life while out of work

I've been off work for about two weeks, and it doesn't seem to have slowed down much yet. Sherryl has been working lots, and I've had a few meetings with different people to sort out what has happened in the last month. I also had coffe with a local pastor who represents an organization with a job opening. I don't want to say any more than that right now, but wee'll see what happens. I've been looking after the kids a lot, which is good, but definitely not what I'm used to on a regular basis. Other than that, not much has changed yet. I haven't been bored, although I can forsee a time when I'll want to tackle some more indepth projects than just cleaning out the storage room (which I have not yet completed). I want to read more and hopefully write a little too, whether that be poetry, prose, or music.

There are a lot of questions I have about what happened at the church that put me out of a job. They have told me that it was not performance related, and I believe that to be true. However, there are many things that don't add up in my own mind, and I fear that I'll never understand all that went on behind closed doors that led to my being let go. My friends and family have been very understanding and supportive, and they don't 'get it' either. I think a lot of politics and personal agendas were involoved, and maybe that's just the way it goes. Somehow, though, I believe that there are other ways, other expectations I can have about how churches run that are not impossible. This I can say, however. I learned much and grew much in the last four years. I am so much more healthy thatn I was when I came to Lakeview. That is not because I was working in a church. Infact, it was working in another church that brought me to doubting who I was. Rather, I was fortunate enough to have a group of people around me that believed in me and supported me through all the growing pains.

I feel like I am a little behind where I could have been I I had lived a life of steady spiritual growth, but I also know that the things I have gone through have helped me be more able to help others who are going through what I did. There have been a few people who say I have handled the last 6 weeks graciously, but I honestly had nothing to do with that. God has not given up on me, and is changing me, and that is why I am not really scared about what I'll be doing in a year. I so often do not have the strength to hod on to God's hand, but I know that he will never let go of me, and that is a very freeing idea.

you have to do stuff that average people don't understand, because those are the only good things.
-Andy Warhol

An April Fool's Prayer

The Sedentary Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know when the best I can do is to stay up watching X-Files reruns with a bucket of KFC, a pint of Haagen Dazs, and a carton of Marlboros.

Found this poem today...

...it's one of those little pieces of paper that has been following me for many years, always showing up in a box or folder of some sort. Anyway, I read it today and thought there might be something in it for some of us, so here we go...

I notice
that I am vulnerable
to death
and that sheds light on me.

The ground disappears from under my feet
when I feel strong.
I become weak, yet strong
when I have nothing to lose.

I sacrifice my senses
but regain them,
transformed by going under
in fear and need.

Fear saves me from contentment,
in which I fall asleep and die.
Need creates in me the search for more,
which makes me rich.

In opening myself to hurt
tears become solid rocks,
and from the wounds we share
strength flows to all.

Relying on the power of his stroke
the swimmer will sink;
while struggling to survive
the sinking one will learn to swim.

You Are 50% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?