The good and the bad

Last night we had perhaps our best concert yet at the pavilion. Dave Frincke played and sang, and it was simply amazing. Unfortunately, there were only 23 people there. What's worse is only 11 were from our church (not counting my family). That also included Dave's lovely wife, Bethany. I appreciated those that made the effort to be there. I have no idea why more weren't.

To be honest, at first I was pretty mad. As soon as Dave started singing though... it was like he took us into the very presence of God. So it was hard to stay that way. Now I'm just depressed. I don't know if the writing is on the wall or what. I can't seem to get people interested in small groups, can't get them interested in big events. The truth is a lot of people just don't care, I know. But I don't think that's the case for everybody. I don't know. It makes me sad more than anything. I don't know if it's me, them, or what.

Anyway... it was a good night. Dave also had the very mixer I had been looking at, and he said he "loved it." This is the one a salesman advised me against (so I would buy a more expensive one).

Yeah... well... whatever.

Dave Frincke at the pavilion

Tonight we have a community concert with Fort Wayne's Dave Frincke. He is an inspiring worship leader and I'm assuming it will be a night of praise and worship music. I have heard him sing and play the guitar and piano many times at come2go ministries (c2g). It should be good, and I'm looking forward to it.

The show begins at 6 pm and will last about an hour - at the Fair View Pavilion, 5511 Yoder Rd, Yoder, IN. In the event of rain we will hold it inside the church building. Pizza (East of Chicago) and drinks will be available.

I did something

Yesterday was supposed to be my day off, and I had thought about taking a day and just laying on the couch all day. Couldn't do it, so instead I spent about 6 hours working on our recycling shed. We needed a wall separating the recycling part from the storage part, and someone had started it like 2 or 3 weeks ago, so I finally finished it. I know the person that started it is going to be mad at me, though it seems like they're ticked at me about something all the time anyway anymore, but stuff like that really tries my patience. To me that is one of the greatest hindrances in the church... people say they will do something, or they start something, and it never seems to get done. It just drives me nuts. And I think for most people they don't see it as a problem because church to them only happens one day a week, and they don't realize it is a 7-day/24-hour thing. The whole idea behind our park/playground thing is for people to be able to use the property ANY time, and they do. So, anyway, I cut boards and screwed them to the walls. I'm just a wee bit sore from the screwing today. And it got a little harder when the storm blew in and I had to shut the doors and do it in the dark. Hmm... this is starting to sound funny. New topic...

After finishing the walls I decided the next thing needing done is a step for the recycling door. This is another thing that someone said they would take care of about a month ago. I need to buy a board and we'll be in bid-ness.

Following a 4 1/2 mile run I was reminded by Lady Jane that there were some things we needed to take to Ossian for the junk day (the day where you can put your junk out by the road, and whatever the scavengers don't take, the garbage man will haul away). We had an old exercise bike that didn't work anymore, so we took it to the house where a couple ladies in our church live. I bet it wasn't there 2 minutes before someone took it. And while we were there the one lady asked if we ever got a refrigerator for the pavilion. She just up and GAVE us one - and it's nicer than the one we have in the parsonage! That was pretty cool. So we loaded it in the truck and dropped it off before heading out for date-night.

After eating at the newly-painted neon-looking Bandito's in lovely Waynedale we headed into town. Daughter Carrie called and said the boyfriend's band was playing at a place on Calhoun Street we had never heard of. So we dinked around until 9:45 and stopped in. It was a really neat old building, and a really cool place, but it's like connected to the backside of one of the bigger gay bars in the Fort. Anyway, we walked in and could hear the music, but couldn't see where they were. There was this cool room in the back that had me thinking "church gathering spot" from the minute we walked in. It was great. I'm not sure what the boyfriend thought when we walked in and across in front of the band while he was singing, but he smiled and waved. Carrie showed up later and surprised him too. It was a fun time, but we didn't stick around too long so the kiddles could party without parental supervision. Apparently the mayor of Fort Wayne walked in right after we left. I guess his nephew is the drummer or something.

Today is... well... it's another day. There's a pavilion booking, and I suppose I should get ready for the show tomorrow night too. I cant' really even remember what else is on my to-do list. Something important I imagine. Ha.

Work, work, work

One of the bad things about my present job is that there's just so much I can't really talk about. So it occurred to me that I don't think I've ever done one of those posts listing all the jobs I've had. I'm not real good with specific times and dates and all that, but here's a rough rundown:

• I started mowing lawns (our own and for a couple of neighbors) when I was fairly young - sometime in grade school.
• It was probably around middle school age that my dad started offering my services to local farmers for walking beans (when beans used to be planted in rows and you would eliminate the weeds by hand), bailing hay, and castrating pigs. I did this off and on into high school.
• It must have been between 8th grade and high school that I worked for the Youth Conservation Corp along the Hennipen Canal Parkway - building picnic tables, clearing trails, painting, etc.
• I think it was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year that I worked at the high school for the janitors. I was the principals kid, so they didn't like me to begin with, but they REALLY didn't like me after I screwed a few things up. They would have been better off doing things themselves than having to redo things I tried to do. I also got mono this summer so I missed several weeks with that.
  
• During my sophomore year - once I got my drivers license - I started pumping ethyl at a little gas station along Interstate 80. I did this part-time during the school year and full-time in summers basically for the next 10 years, although I had other jobs along with this one from time to time. The guy that owned this station also owned several others, so at different times I worked in the other ones too. This one was more a self-serve gas station and convenience store - though we did sell diesel fuel, which was full service for semi's - but the other stations were all full-service garages where we changed tires and did oil changes and stuff. I preferred the interstate. I met a lot of innaresting people there.
  
• Jobs I had while also working at the gas station were:
  

For awhile I also worked as a cashier at the gas station/restaurant (the Hen House) across the street from the other gas station.


Every now and then I would fill in at the antique store next door to the gas station. The only thing I remember is their pricing code was WHITE CLOUD.


For several years during this time period I cleaned the sewing factory my mom managed. I did it once a week, and it was a real pain. They made women's undergarments, and the lace would stick to the once-painted cement floor like velcro and made it hard to sweep. And it was all women that worked there and they made a mess of the bathroom. The only nice thing was I would go in there at night and just CRANK the stereo for the 2 or 3 hours it took me.


For awhile I worked for an independent video producer. He did some tv commercials, but mostly company training and sales videos. I was the gopher/grip/grunt.


I also worked for a company that covered old kitchen cabinets and made them look like new. I never worked at their factory, but would help a guy set up displays at shows or go pick up new equipment and occasionally deliver cabinets.


I think I probably did a few other things too, but can't remember now.

• 
  
• I finally landed my first real job at the only factory in our small town other than my mom's garment factory when I was about 28. This was the chimney factory, where I worked for about six years. I did various jobs as a laborer, general sheet-metal worker, and welder. I worked in the double-wall commercial chimney section. The most interesting thing I remember was the order we made for Billy Joel's house when he was married to Christy Brinkley and it had 26 fireplaces. I guess that qualified it as a commercial job. I still remember getting my first paycheck here too. I couldn't believe it because I had more taken out in taxes than I used to even make in one weeks pay. I thought I was rich. I worked here until I decided to move to Ohio and attend seminary full-time.
• While attending seminary I worked a little for an office furniture store making deliveries. I also did a few odd jobs for some widows who were 'friends of the seminary,' and I helped Jane clean a house or two on a rare occasion.
  
• For the last nine years I have been here on the outskirts of Fort Wayne as the pastor of this church.
• 
  

Peaced off

This has been an odd sort of day. I just haven't felt much like talkin'. Somethin' in the air, no doubt.

I had already written about the Jimmy Dobson / Barack Obama joke and had it set to publish, but then I read what daughter Carrie said on her blog and decided she said it better and was much kinder than I was.

This morning I drove down to a Church of God Anderson function at the invitation of son Isaac. I think it's their general conference or something or other - there were people all over, and lots of pastor types. It was weird, because it wasn't at all like any Church of God, General Conference things I have attended. I don't really know what to make of that.

Anyway, I attended a lecture on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. One of the AU professors - an expert in Middle East history - gave a really good presentation, then Isaac addressed the group with a response. There were probably 70 people or so crammed into a little basement room. I have to say... I was mighty impressed. He pretty much said the same thing there as he did in this blog post: Peace In Palestine. Good stuff, and it fit really well because the speaker talked mostly from a historical context, whereas Isaac brought it down to a more specifically Christian thing. I was really glad I got to be there. I keep telling him he needs to preach for me someday. I don't know if he knows I'm serious. I wish I had his knowledge. It makes the stuff I talk about seem like... well, I don't know what.

So it was a good day. But there's lots of stuff on my mind.

Peace out; and in.

Random other stuff

An innaresting week this week. Yesterday I actually BABYSAT with a 3-year-old. Talk about steppin' outside my comfort zone. And she has cystic fibrosis too, so we had to do a treatment and everything. Which wasn't really so bad, because she can basically do it herself. I just kept thinking, "what if something goes wrong; what if something goes wrong?" It went well though. She was a perfect little angel. And I was fortunate that Jane was able to babysit me for a couple hours of it before I had to go it alone for a couple hours more. I was glad to do it though. This couple just had their 17-year-old son die not too many months ago, and they wanted to go to the funeral of another young person. They've been doing this ever since their son died. I think it's partly because they're still trying to work through their own grief, but also, I think they see that as a way they can help others. You know, that, "We know what you're going through" sort of thing. They are some wonderful people, so I was glad to help. But I still can't believe I babysat. Not that I don't like kids, but... let's just say I don't spend a lot of time with them. I saw enough cartoons, read enough books, put puzzles together and all kinds of other kid stuff to last me a good long while yesterday. :)

Today I'm supposed to help a guy put the window in the pavilion enclosure. We also need a shelf and a few other small things done.

Tomorrow I get to go to Anderson to hear son Isaac give a response to a talk on the Israeli/Palestine situation. That should be interesting for sure. I've been loading up the ipod for the trip there and back.

I did finally put some podcasts on the nano, nano. This was really what I wanted an mp3 player for - so I could listen to sermons and talks while mowing, or running, or driving. I'm sure many of you will be disappointed that the first sermon I loaded was from Mark Driscoll. Already listened/watched. It was 70 MINUTES LONG! Man, I couldn't even go half that long or everybody would be asleep. Yesterday on the treadmill I watched a guest speaker at Ginghamsburg Church in Ohio. I've got some more with Michael Slaughter, as well as some from Erwin McManus, and a four-part series from Andy Stanley.

I think this will be good to listen to some other preachers, because I hardly ever listen to other people's sermons anymore. And I probably need to not only for my own personal growth, but to help me become a better preacher too. But I had a really hard time deciding who I should listen to. You know, who is really good? I know several people who subscribe to Rob Bell's podcasts, but, between you and me, I just can't listen to Rob. I think he's too cool for me, and I get tired of his voice and the phrases he uses over and over. I've always like Michael and Erwin and Andy, so I thought I'd start there. For some odd reason I just can't think of anybody else right now.

Well, this ramble is getting distracted. Peace out, folks. And in.

Not preaching

I'm taking a little preaching break. It started yesterday, and I won't preach the next two Sundays, then I'll preach on July 13, and then be gone on July 20 & 27. And, while I do like to preach, it is kind of nice to not have to sometimes. It's almost like I didn't even do anything - even though I still led worship.

Yesterday we watched part 1 of a 2-part dvd from Bluefish tv of Donald Miller entitled Free Market Jesus. You can order your own or watch a preview HERE. I thought it was really good. But then... I like Don. I'm not too proud to admit that Blue Like Jazz was fairly life-changing for me. And I liked Searching For God Knows What and To Own A Dragon about as much. Jane and I met him at a bookreading a couple years ago in Marion, IN. That was also the first time we heard Josh Garrels play. And I like how the bluefish people broke this 60 minute dvd into two parts: one 36 minutes and one 28. So it's perfect as the Sunday message.

I'll show part 2 next week, then I have a student coming to preach on July 6 (while I am here). I had him speak once before while I was gone, and I would like to hear him. Then on July 13 we have a child dedication and I will be preaching, then July 20 is my last vacation day and I have a singing group coming in; and July 27 I am taking a Sunday Sabbatical (I have 2 Sundays per year where I am here during the week but can be gone on the Sunday) and I will show Tony Campolo's It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming dvd.

Some people probably frown on showing videos for the sermon. Not me. I figure if it's good teaching then why in the heck would I NOT show it? I also think it does people good to hear from other speakers now and then - especially good other speakers. I wouldn't want to shows videos all the time, but I think it's good to do things different now and then. People seemed to like part 1 of Free Market Jesus.

Whatever.

Pictures from home

We had an overnight trip back home this past week. We had a chance to visit with some old (and good) friends. Also had some interesting conversations. Here are a few random pics. They'll get big if you click on them.

This was the view I had for most of my life. This is from my parents back patio - which is the only house they've lived in since I've been alive. Jane and I also had the same view for several years when we lived just down the street. Jane's parents house is in that direction several miles off in the distance.

This squirrel is eating corn from the walnut tree in my parents yard where I spent many hours picking up walnuts. There are brown squirrels all over the place.

Here's a fat rabbit eating grass off the other side of the patio. The walnut tree with the squirrel is just to the left. There are quite a few rabbits around the yard too.

Here are some cows on the farm where Jane grew up. They are either her brothers or his sons. This is the view Jane had out her back door all of her unmarried life. The field we own now is just down the road from here. The Spoon River actually starts right here - only it's just a small creek at this point.

Sigh... You can't beat rural north central Illinois. I think it will always be home to me.

I won

Jane and I ran in our first 5k this morning in Zanesville, IN. And I won my age division! It helped that I was the only one IN my age division. But still... I wasn't expecting to get anything besides a t-shirt. :)

There were only about 20 runners, and Jane and I ran together. We weren't near the top, but we weren't last either. It was a nice morning for a jog. I think we ran it in around 33 minutes. Just so you know what kind of competition we had - the overall winner only had one leg. At least I beat the winner of the male 70-79 division. But I got smoked by the female winner of my age division. It was pretty fun though. Hopefully we can run some more of these.

It actually made my back feel better too. After driving five and one half hours home from Buda yesterday, we got home at 4:45, and by 5 I was on the mower trying to get the yard done because there's a birthday party at the pavilion today for a 90 year old woman in our church. She was also the biggest donor to the pavilion project. Pretty cool. She brings me Almond Joy candy bars about twice a month. After mowing, and going out for supper, we went down to Rib Fest in the Fort, but we didn't pay to get in. We stood outside the fence for awhile, walked around downtown a bit, and watched the skaters at the skateboard park. We had to be at the race by 7:30 this morning, since we hadn't registered yet.

Well, better see if they need anymore help setting up for the birthday party. I just had a guy introduce me to his "husband." I think that might be the first time I've actually met a gay couple that were legally married. Hmm.

Random pictures

Jane took these pics the night of the Father's Day show. The top one is from the pavilion to the east and south. That house/barn is about a mile away. The bottom one is of the cross on top of our church building. If you click on the pic they are bigger.

Peace conference

Son Isaac was asked to represent his university at the 2008 Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. So he'll get to spend a week in Quebec, Canada in July. I have no idea where that is, but I guess it's somewhere north of here. And he's not a baptist, but I'm darn glad he's a peacemaker. Very cool thing, boy.

Carboard testimonies

This video of cardboard testimonies is incredible. ht to Tammie.

Conference notes

Today is the last day of our midwest region conference. It's been good, and I've enjoyed talking with many people, but... it's kind of weird. Like, there is something going on that no one is wanting to talk about. Discussions are very guarded, and there's a lot that's not being said.

At any rate, the speakers have been pretty good. I always love listening to Dr. Dave Draper - the president of our seminary. He is one of the best speakers I know of. Steve Ayers has been really good, even though I'm not a rah rah type. Rick Rusaw is really good. I'd heard him before, and read his book. I like him. There was a comedian last night. Something Pearson. He was okay.

My notes so far...

From Steve Ayers:

• "Why would anyone want to live in the middle of the road? The only things there are yellow lines and dead possums." S.A.
• "You know what blows people away? Old people that are still happy." S.A.
• "We need to love the hell out of people." S.A.
• "People will follow what I celebrate." S.A. (so that's the problem)
• "We (as the bride/church) need to be trying to help people fall in love with the Groom instead of the bride. Reproduction will not result from the bride being in love with the bride, but it will be natural if the bride falls in love with the Groom." S.A.
• "We don't introduce people to Jesus, we should REVEAL where Jesus already is in the world." S.A.

I guess I don't have too many from Rick Rusaw. I think I've blogged some before. He did give some interesting stats. The largest Muslim training center in the world is in New York City. the largest Hindu Temple in the world is in Boulder, Colorado. The largest Transcendental Meditation center in the world is in Fairfield, Iowa. But the largest Christian Church in the world is in Korea; and the church is growing fastest in China.

Hmm... I guess that's all I've written down. I used to keep extensive notes - only to have them sit in a drawer forever. I guess now I pretty much just listen. I don't know which is better. Whatever.

Well, gotta go. Had a great supper last night with a bunch of people. Peace.

Killers of community

I saw this list of 'Ten Killers of Genuine Community' and thought it was pretty good. I think this is one of the most difficult things about being the church. In fact, you could probably just put my name on this list. I seem to be pretty good at killing community. At any rate, to see Peter Scazzero's entire list, with explanations, GO HERE.

Here are the points:

1. We look to other people to tell us we are OK.
2. We think loving people means keeping them happy.
3. We lie.
4. We encourage false peace.
5. We are confused about anger.
6. We love our neighbors and not ourselves.
7. We over-function.
8. We are quick to speak and slow to listen.
9. We think "love believes all things" means we should believe all things.
10. We think differences mean division.

People who like church

Last Sunday Jane and I each had a conversation that blessed us immensely (I know "blessed" is not a part of my normal vocab, but I couldn't think of another way to express it). In the morning as people were arriving for the worship gathering I stopped and said hello to an older lady. She has a few health problems, but not as many as her husband - who is home bound - and she always sits in the very back seat and always leaves before the service is over - I think because she doesn't feel comfortable around people. Anyway, I ask how she is, and she says what she normally says, "Oh, I'm here." I said I was glad she was, and then she stunned me. She said, "I don't know what I would do without coming here each week. It's the only thing that gets me through the week. You people are so nice." I don't remember what I said back to her, but I know I almost immediately teared up and had a hard time saying anything. That was nice.

Then, that night at the concert, Jane said she was talking to a young guy who hadn't been around for awhile. He's been off doing life. She told him something like, "It's nice to see you again," and he said something like, "It feels so good just to be around this place and among these people." And he meant it.

You know... I know there are people who are burned out on church, people who have been used, abused, and whatever else. But not everyone feels that way. It's nice to rediscover that from time to time. Some people actually find hope, redemption, and even salvation in the body of Christ still. I wish everyone did. I am glad for those who do.

Today #4153

This morning I ran 45 minutes on the treadmill, went 3.54 miles, burned 357 calories.

Nice Holiday Inn Express. Huge (and nice) room, pool, workout room, free breakfast, free internet... the whole nine yards. And I slept like a rock.

Day one of conference was pretty good. Steve Ayers was the main speaker yesterday, and I believe again today. He reminds me of Mark Driscoll a little, in that he's a tough guy and not at all interested in being politically correct. He keeps your attention.

Speaking of politics, someone was talking to me yesterday and they so blatantly assumed I was a republican it was funny. Not that I'm a democrat necessarily either, but... it was just funny.

Today is a full day of sitting in a chair. Can't wait. :)

Sad, sad, sad

Last week I was spraying weeds, and at one point I noticed something move in a weedy area along our fence. I glanced back - after having sprayed there - and saw that it was a little bird. It was old enough to move about, but couldn't yet fly... and I had just sprayed it with weed killer. I was immediately bummed. And it was like he was looking up at me wanting to say, "Why did you do that to me?" So I got the garden hose out and thought I would try to spray it off with water. Of course, when I sprayed water on the poor thing it just knocked it over. Then the bird got all flustered. So I sprayed it a little bit, and just left it alone. I was sad for the rest of the night.

And like that wasn't bad enough, then the other day I was coming home from Fort Wayne. I was on Smith Road just south of the dump, where that little church sits. I noticed something in the middle of my lane, and the cars in front of me kept swerving around it. It was raining fairly steady and I couldn't see what it was until I got almost to it, and I noticed it was moving as cars went by. Man... it was a young dog. I don't know if it had been hit or what, but it was laying in the road and was able to hold its head up, and it just looked at each car as it drove past. I felt like the worlds biggest clod driving past. I don't know what I could have done, but I should have done SOMETHING. It had THE saddest look on its face, and was dripping wet...

Stuff like that completely ruins my day. I still feel rotten about it. Sigh...

pavilion set-up

An internal memo to myself. For the Father's Day show I set up 50 chairs with an aisle down the middle, along with 10 picnic tables (7 under roof; 3 outside). For food: 2 long tables on north side of enclosure, 1 short table on east - north of door, the prep table/fridge south of door. 4 coolers; 2 big bags of ice. Small table for sound equipment. Long table for cd sales.

Future reference:
I left 40 chairs in enclosure. This should be good for remaining shows, and keep more picnic tables under shelter. Once we can serve through the window we won't need the tables around enclosure if it's just pizza and drinks. Use a small picnic table for sound equipment by stage. Should just need one long table for cd sales on north end.

View from the stage toward enclosure, with curtain down.

I believe there are two fairly frequent commenters on this blog in this picture.

Minimally organized chaos - yep, that's what we're after.

Mork to Wilco

So... I got me a 4 gig ipod nano last night. Right away I wanted to download my new Wilco cd and stuff. Oh... and btw son Isaac... the dvd that came with that cd is awesome!!! You'll have to watch it sometime. I can't believe all the freakin gear they have. Thanks. And a thank-you to daughter Carrie for the case that fit perfectly around my nano. :) They were kinda pricey. As was the itrip, which I snagged so's I can play and charge in the car.

Anyway... so I'm trying to get this nanonano thing to work... and I might as well be talking to Mork from Ork. At first it copied down all my itunes stuff on my laptop - but I noticed that some of the things I'd burned weren't on there (including the two albums I most wanted to listen to). So I imported the files or whatever... and then it just randomly mixed the songs amongst everything else. Then I did something else and it removed all the other songs EXCEPT the new ones I just put on, but they're still randomly intertwined. Man... this itunes is taking me some time to get used to. So I downloaded itunes on the home computer. I think we're getting there.

Now I've got me some Wilco Sky Blue Sky, Bob Dylan Modern Times, U2's Joshua Tree, and Danny Bowman's Sad Song. I may do some more before I leave.

Lemme tell you somethin... this is too cool. It's like listening to music for the first time all over again. It's been so long since I've just closed my eyes and had it all to myself. I mean, like real music and everything. Not just the normal noises in my head. I could get addicted to this. I'll probably be totally worthless now. Sorry.

I don't think the Joshua tree has ever sounded this good. Dang, I'm almost tearing up...

More father's day thoughts

Jane got me a box of chocolates. Carrie got me an ipod nano case (I'm eventually going to get an ipod). Isaac got me Wilco's new cd Sky Blue Sky (and it's darn good). Great haul.

Tommy Womack left his hand written set list for me:

NICE DAY
COCKROACH
VICKY
WISHES
SHEILA
HIGHWAY
CIG
CLEAN
DON'T THINK TWICE
B.G.
MARTIN LUTHER
GOING NOWHERE
MEMPHIS
BETTY
ALPHA (which he didn't do - too many bad words/ideas no doubt)
RONALD REAGAN
PRAYER
COLD WIND
SAM STONE
FOLSOM
FLUORESCENT

It was still a nice day

So, the Tommy Womack show had a slight weather glitch... but it was still a nice day. It was beautiful from the time I got up until right about the time Tommy started playing. Then we had a bit of a thunderstorm. It all worked out though.

Tommy arrived around 3 pm. He asked for a place to take a nap, so I showed him a couch in the basement and a place he could smoke and he was set. Though I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to wake him up when it was time for his sound check. He and Andrew were nice sound-checkers though - as neither one were too particular.

People started rolling in around 5:30 or so, and at its peak I would say we had maybe 85. I was a little disappointed there weren't more people from the area there just to see Tommy, but they were predicting thunderstorms all day, and it looked like it stormed in Fort Wayne before it did for us. I think that kept a lot of people away.

Anyway, there was plenty of food. We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and had everybody from church bring a dish. It went well. Andrew Camp took the stage around 6:30. He did a nice set. I like his style, and he's got a really neat sound (and he didn't call my names boy the whole night!).

We took a short, short break... because the skies were getting dark, and it was starting to lightning. Some people began leaving at this time. Then Tommy played. He only did a few songs and it started sprinkling. The skies were looking nastier by the minute, so I made an executive decision and moved everybody inside into the sanctuary. I thought this would be easiest since he could just plug in and play from my set-up and we wouldn't need to do any sound makovers. About five minutes after we moved inside it just cut loose. It was raining sideways and blowing to beat the band. Someone came and told me (twice) that the sirens were going off. I didn't think it was worth moving into the basement so we just stayed and Tommy played right through everything - even when the power went off for about 20 seconds. And, actually, it sounded a lot better inside through our main sound system (I thought).

All in all... I kind of amazed myself that I never freaked out the whole night. I was impressed that Tommy was able to remove all the questionable language from his lyrics on the fly. And in one of the few covers he did - Sam Stone - he changed it from "Jesus died for nothing" to "Jesus died for somethin, I suppose." It was a really nice Father's Day for me.

Oh, and to top off the night, Shelly saved a couple of bicyclers from the storm and brought them to the show, and they spent the night in the church building. I think they were glad.

Here are a few of the 75 pics Jane took:

Andrew Camp wowing us on the six-string.

Crowd shot: Drew flashing peace; Carrie yawning; Isaac & Laura contemplating; me and Joan in the background. The lady in the lavender sweater is 91 years old! She was stomping her feet to the beat all night. :)

Kids having fun.

Jane caught me by surprise.

Meeting of the minds: me, Tommy & Andrew.

Tommy Womack taking over my pulpit.

Me presenting Tommy with the Father's Day card everyone in our church signed Sunday morning.

Why

Not everyone in our church understands why we have concerts like we're having this weekend. Not everyone understands why we built the pavilion and the playground, or more precisely, why we encourage the community to use it - at no charge. So I want to remind myself of why we do it so I don't forget (if I can remember).

One of the best church leadership books I believe I've ever read was Reggie McNeal's The Present Future. I don't think Reggie gets enough credit or pub, but that's another story. At any rate, one thing he talked about was the impact local churches have in their community. He said we should ask ourselves, "If our church no longer existed, would anyone notice?" (or something like that). So we set out to try to see what our little church had to offer the community where we are located. How can we serve the people in our sphere? Our council, and several others in the church, decided that on days of council meetings we would fast during lunch and instead spend that time praying for direction. I don't know how long this went on, but I remember at one point we all felt very strongly that God was telling us the very same thing: to build a park. Our church is located in the country, but there are a number of houses nearby, and the actual town of Yoder is just a couple of miles away, and there is no park anywhere close. Since we own a sizable hunk of property that we're not doing anything with, we thought we would offer it as a place for people to use. And little by little more and more people ARE using it. And the reason we have concerts like the one this weekend - with a performer that is not necessarily a "Christian" performer (I'm not judging Tommy's place with God, I'm saying that he doesn't perform "Christian" music) - anyway, the reason is... because we don't want to just invite people to "church stuff," but we want to do things FOR the community. So the church is more-less "sponsoring" this concert and providing all the food, and we hope the community will see it as nothing more than wanting to share in having a good time. Certainly we will also have some "Christian" concerts, and I hope people in the community will feel welcome to attend them as well. And I wish I could think of some other things we could do... but at the moment this is it.

Something I've been thinking about is possibly checking into renting or buying a port-a-potty. I know a lot of the church people would like us to just build a restroom outdoors, but those are extremely expensive. When someone reserves the pavilion or when we have concerts, we have it so they can have access to the church restrooms without being able to get anywhere else in the church. But it's a bummer for people who just drop by when nothing is going on. We also have a lot of bicyclers who come by here, some of whom stop, and it would be nice for them too. As well as a fair number of children during the week. But I have no idea how much port-a-potties cost.

So... there ya go. I know it's not anything like solving world hunger or an addiction-recovery ministry or anything... but it's something, I guess. In a way we're really trying to change the perception (non-church) people have of the church. And... we feel we've been blessed to be a blessing. Hopefully no one in the church will see this as "everything" though. It's just one little thing. But I feel I need to explain it often, because I can see it in people's eyes that they don't all think it's a good idea. And maybe they're right, but it is what it is.

Powered mixer or powered speakers

I've been looking at live sound equipment for the church - something we can use outdoors under the pavilion, in the basement, and have as a backup unit for the sanctuary. I had originally been thinking that we would go with an 8-12 channel powered mixer and some passive 12 or 15" speakers, plus stands. I was hoping to spend around $1,000. I had heard that powered speakers WERE NOT a good way to go, because with your amp in the speaker cabinets, so to speak, you run a higher risk of jarring something loose from speaker movement. However, I just consulted a salesman at Sweetwater, and he recommends just the opposite. He said you get way better sound quality out of powered speakers, and it's better to have a mixer with no amp in case something goes wrong with either. So... I dunno.

I had been looking at a Yamaha EMX 312SC or 512SC 8-channel powered mixer, plus either the Peavey PR 12 NEO or 15 NEO speakers. My sales rep suggested the Mackie CFX12 mxII B-stock mixer, with a pair of TAPCO THUMP TH-15A powered speakers.

While the system he suggested would probably be better - it's also $1,500. I could probably subtract out the case and it would be down to about $1200. While what I had been looking at could be had for $900 to $1000. Ugh. I hate trying to decide on things like this.

Does anyone have any advice - powered mixer or powered speakers?

5 miles

I'm not bragging, but just wanted to log it for future reference... yesterday I ran 5.25 miles. With the warm-up and cool-down it took me 63 minutes. I believe that's the longest I've run - since keeping track anyhow. I was also finally able to crack into the 6 mph range again. Unfortunately it looks like I'll only be able to do three days this week, but at least I still got in over 13 miles (I usually average just over 15 per week). And next week could be worse, since I'll be gone a few days. We'll see.

For the record - I really hate running. But I do feel good about finally breaking 5 miles. :)

I also bought a pair of those short, short running shorts yesterday at Dick's Sporting Goods. I sweat like a pig, and I need some shorts that are made for this. No picture though.

Awake, sort of

It's almost 4:30 and I am wide awake. I don't know why. I don't feel particularly stressed or anything. Just can't sleep. I did get a few nods in the recliner after watching the Celtics come back and beat the Lakers (yippee). When I tried to lay in bed my ear kept hurting, and I was doing nothing but turning over and over. I finally just got up.

Today was a somewhat productive day though. I had breakfast with TWO other pastors this morning. That was nice. I talked with a guy who's been struggling with some stuff and has a nag for a wife. I spoke with our guy at Sweetwater about some sound equipment, and he quoted me some stuff that was one and a half times as much as I told him we could spend, and was also just the opposite of what I had been thinking we would get. I did some other stuff that - while not a secret - I can't really tell you about. Mowed the yard, and sprayed for bugs around the pavilion. Bought a whole bunch of buns and some other stuff for the cookout Sunday. And... I dunno... other things too.

I read an interesting blog post tonight from Today At The Mission. I don't know who this guy is, but he usually has some interesting stuff. The one I became most interested in was his post about Shane Claiborne's book "Jesus For President." He noted that as someone not from the usa it didn't have quite the same appeal to him. As he said,

Perhaps the authors fail to grasp the fact that America may be the only nation in the world in which religious, patriotic and militaristic zeal are hopelessly confused...

I thought that was an interesting statement. He explains it in more detail in some comments. He also raised another point:

What does nag in the back of my mind, however, is that nowhere do the authors talk about the need for a deep and personally sustaining relationship with God. My experience at the Mission has been that one simply cannot give without possessing that which needs to be given; nothing less than the presence of Christ is the empowerment for serving others. Perhaps there is much to life in an intentional community that I don't understand, but the absence of any discussion related to an intimate and individual knowing of Christ is puzzling, if not alarming. The authors may assume their audience will read the text as if a personal, knowing experience of God is unstated but understood yet, barring that assumption (and the subsequent decoding of the text it requires), Christ appears to be reduced to a political, economic, and religious figurehead.

I don't think he was being disagreeable necessarily, and I think he thinks a lot of the authors, but this is a valid point. I have often wondered about this with certain people too, and honestly, it's possibly something I can get confused about myself from time to time. I appreciate that someone spoke it.

Anyway, I have not read the book. I believe daughter Carrie has. I remember reading S.C.'s Irresistible Revolution and how impactful that was. I have quite a few posts somewhere in my archives about that.

On a not totally unrelated thought from this... I've been thinking about the need to have communion more often in our Sunday gatherings. I have to admit... communion has never really done a lot for me personally. No big reason. It just never has. But I'm feeling like maybe it's something we should do more of. As a community. I dunno.

Well... ugh... this might be a long day. I have a q-tip stuck in my right ear. It's dark. It is not raining outside. Or inside. I think I'll have some yogurt and watch tv with no sound.

'night.

I am the reverend

So, I went into Lowe's tonight and bought two boards. I go up to the cashier, whip out the church credit card (because the boards were for the church - I'm starting a new board), swipe it, and she asks to see the credit card. To this point nothing is out of the ordinary. But then she asks me, "Are you the Reverend?" I said, "yes." She looks at me... and then asks if I have any identification. Ha! I've never been carded for using the church credit card before. I suppose it didn't help that I had my spiderman t-shirt on. Still... that was weird. But I AM the reverend. Though sometimes it's more like revnerd.

Feature story in whatzup

Well blow me down! There's a feature story about our Tommy Womack show this Sunday in Whatzup magazine. How darn cool is that?! Man, it's like pulling teeth to get the local rinky-dink newspaper to run anything for us, and here the rock rag of Fort Wayne bends over backwards without even being asked. Heck, I didn't even know they were going to do it either. If daughter Carrie hadn't pointed it out to me with a facebook invite I still might not.

To read the story go to WhatzUp.com, click on the pic of the guy eating the ribs, wait for the pdf to open, and scroll down to page 5. Or you can pick up a hard copy just about anywhere in Fort Wayne. Nice story.

Smiling.

Signed, sealed, and...

Well, I signed up today for IMPACT. That probably doesn't mean anything to anyone that isn't in my denomination - which is the Churches of God, General Conference of Findlay, Ohio. It's kind of our annual all-denomination camp/discipleship/conference for all ages sort of thing. I haven't been for quite a while. I always used to enjoy it, then they made some changes, and I had to serve as a youth leader, and then they made more changes and it just got to be too much to deal with (or something like that). Then it always seemed like there was something else going on, and... yada yada yada.

But this year I'm going. And I'm going by myself, which is a bummer, because I don't like doing these things without the Lady Jane. But she's kinda missed a lot of work this year, and she doesn't get paid when she doesn't work, and, well... somebody's got to make some money around here. So it will save us money with only me going, and I'm thinking I can maybe sleep on daughter Carrie's couch or somewhere (?), and I didn't get the meal plan, but will maybe buy a box of crackers and loaf of bread instead... :)

Anyway, I'm hoping it will be good. My friend Lance is in charge of it, and he always works hard to bring in good speakers and music and whatnot, so I've wanted to attend for the past few years, but it just hasn't worked out. This year I will be there (I hope). It's near the end of July. I'm going to take the Sunday after off as one of my "Sunday Sabbatical" days, and have the church watch Tony Campolo's "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming" video. That will be good for everybody.

I will also being attending my Regional Conference Convention next week in the beautiful Decatur, Illinois. I'm not so much looking forward to it. Not so much because there won't be good speakers and worship and stuff - because there will. But there is a tension in the air at these things that you wouldn't believe. And I am always disappointed, because there are bunches of people that I really want to talk to and spend time with... but I always seem to be on the other side of the tracks or something. Anyway, I always end up frustrated. At least m'lady WILL be going to this with me.

Well... that's all I can think of. Tomorrow I hope to spray around the pavilion for bugs, spray for weeds, and mow - hopefully before it rains again. I think me and the neighbor guy are going to try tearing down the old shed by hand too. And try to not get stung by the bumble bees that call it home.

Randomly... I did run 4.69 miles last night. And it felt pretty good. I have been feeling stronger lately in my running for some odd reason. I suppose I'm about to pull a muscle or something.

Later. Peace out; and in.

The new shed

We finally got our new storage shed at the church. We bought it from Sheds of Steel out of Peru, Indiana. Sure, it's not Buns of Steel, but still... it's pretty nice. It was pre-built, and they just came and set it on our spot for us. It is a 15'x30' garage with a big door on each end and one side door. I was thoroughly impressed with the thing, and I highly recommend the place. Now we'll build a wall down the middle and people can leave their recycling stuff (papers, cans, etc.) in the one end, and we'll use the other to store the mower and signs and things like that. Here are some pics of them pulling into the parking lot, letting it down off the trailer, and in its final resting spot. Another thing to mark off the list. Ahhh...

Kimball's "missional"

I have always liked the way Dan Kimball thinks. In fact, I think he is my favorite church thinker. I wish I could be more like him. Balanced and patient in his explanations, but not afraid to speak his mind. I would rank he, Scot McKnight, John Ortberg and Jim Martin as the top four guys I look up to in my "field."

Scot had a post yesterday asking if the two terms "Emerging" and "Emergent" should be used for two different and differing segments of the larger emerging movement. Personally, I don't really even care anymore. I'm burned out on the whole thing at the moment. But eventually Dan had a long, long comment that included this definition of the term missional:

I personally see missional as meaning you are foremost living as worshipers of God and following the teachings of Jesus, but your whole life blood and decision-making and intentionality as a Christian community is designed around evangelism - that of course includes social activism in helping with the physical and holistic emotional needs of people locally and globally and it also includes the eventual Spirit-produced action in seeing those who weren’t Christians becoming Christians.

Howeber, I am more and more finding it a paradox that in my experience, a significant amount of the missional talk that I personally have been hearing is not including or giving specific stories or examples of people who were not Christians becoming Christians as an eventual result of being missional. I am not embrassed whatsoever to say in as I think of missional and what that looks like in our church - is that we pray, hope, dream and passionately long to see God move in people’s who are not aware of the grace of God and salvation through Jesus and what happened on cross - discover who He is, repent, trust in Him and become Christians (in the healthy definition of “Christian”).

I think he was maybe in a hurry, as the spelling and grammar look like mine, but... I like what he had to say. We're either sharing the Good News or we're not. And there are boatloads of ways we can do it. But whether it's in big ways, small ways, loud ways or subtle ways... we need to be doing it if we're following Jesus.

I think I will start going by the name "Dan" myself, since he's so smart. So from now on please call me Dan. Okay?

JATS lifetime achievement award

It's about time. Jason & the Scorchers will be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Americana Music Association on September 18 in Nashville. A great article about it HERE. They say:

They were punk. They were country. They were rock. Perhaps most of all, they were originals. Jason and the Nashville Scorchers, as they were originally called, were messiahs for a 1980’s American rock scene suffering from a slight inferiority complex and aching for pride and grit. Together, frontman Jason Ringenberg, guitarist Warner Hodges, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Perry Baggs, personified roots music experimentation, boasting an unparalleled respect for and familiarity with honky tonk, while wielding innate punk savvy. It wasn’t just how they said it: What they were saying also resonated. Ringenberg’s songwriting often drew heady thematic comparisons to Southern Gothic literary giants like Flannery O’Conner or William Faulkner, and Hodges’ influential guitar work roared in response as the punk-rock backbone of their euphoric sound’s dual-personality.

And to think... my friend Jason Ringenberg played in our little pavilion just last year. Cool that. Looks like we'll be heading to Nashville in September.

Goodbye old paint

Actually it's stain, and it's the first (and only) coat. This is Lady Jane.. putting on the stain.. and it didn't rain.. but today she's in pain.. Okay, this is getting insane. Anyway... she is staining the enclosure we just added under the pavilion. We'll store tables and chairs and junk in there. Plus if we ever get a fridge we can sell pop, water, and stuff out through the window - which we have - but it needs to be put in. The neighbor kid thought this was going to be my office. Hmm. Might not be too bad...

She did an excellent job on this, as usual, and I appreciate the many nights and days she slaved away when there were plenty of other things she would have loved to be doing instead.

We actually have the pavilion booked for 10 events right now just in June and July. I believe only 3 of them are church activities. So I think that's pretty good. There were two graduation parties there this weekend, plus a baby shower inside.

Other than that... I have no plans to leave Cheyenne. It's been years since I've been there, and it might just be in the plans for next summer. I dunno.

Peace out; and in.

Happy birthday girl

Today is lovely daughter Carrie's birthday. I can't believe she is 23 years old! She was our first born, and has always been a go-getter. She always loved school; always knew how to figure out the "angle"; she is the only person I know who knows someone everywhere she goes; and she's got this stubborn streak kinda like her dad (she can belch like me too). :)

Having received a BA from Huntington University, she currently works for Winebrenner Theological Seminary in Findlay, Ohio. She does a variety of jobs there - working her way up to being president. Soon she'll be starting on her Masters work as well.

The finest daughter one could have, and I hope this birthday brings you everything you're looking for. Love ya, Carrie Jade. Happy birthday!!!




(The right pic is from two summers ago when she was doing an internship at WTS. The left one is off of her blog - not sure what the story is with it, but she's always looked good in hats).

Got hope?

I've decided to nominate myself to be on the democratic ticket as vice-president of the United States. I mean, if Hilary can do it, why can't I? Geesh.

Okay... I'm coming out. I am glad, glad, glad that Obama got the nod. I could go off on a rant against Hilary, but... I'd really just as soon she go away. I hope she is not the vp. I just don't trust her, or Bill. And, to be perfectly honest, my personal opinion is that the only reason she's stayed in the race this long is because they're willing to do whatever they can to keep a black man from being president. No one is ever going to say that, of course. So, since I am no one...

Anyway... I was kinda stunned yesterday when I read that something like 80% of Southern Baptist pastors back John McMahon, while only 1% are for Obama. What?!? I guess it shouldn't surprise me, but geezaroo... that just seems backwards. I mean, who is it that has actually worked in the church; for Christian causes? It's not Johnny. I dunno... he may be a very nice guy, but not only does he not impress me in the least - he scares the heck outta me!

So, if anyone wants to get me a dad's day present you can get me one of these:
Peace out, folks; and in.

Some random pics

I got nothin'. So here are some totally unrelated pictures...

Me and son Isaac in front of his current house. Can you guess which one is me?

Drew Carrie being goofy at church.

My birth control pills - I mean, my blood pressure pills. They don't come in a bottle anymore. So now I shouldn't get pregnant either.

A UPS plane coming in for a landing over the tree across the street from us. You can't really tell from this picture, but it was a huuuge plane.

Just a bird sittin' on the fence in our back yard. His name is Larry.

Solomon in the side pocket

Last Sunday I started a series looking at the biblical book of Proverbs. The new Get Smart movie is coming out this month, plus we were honoring our graduates, so I thought June was a good time to think on some words of wisdom. Plus, we f-i-n-a-l-l-y got done going through the book of Matthew. I don't know how many years that took - even though we did stray from it from time to time. I liked it though.

Anyway, I was looking through Jason Boyett's Pocket Guide To The Bible - which I think is hilarious, btw - and this is what he had to say about good ole' Solomon (believed to have written most of Proverbs):

SOLOMON
Son of David and Bathsheba and the third king of Israel. Known primarily for being super smart, super rich, super powerful, and super active in bed, thanks to his seven hundred wives, three hundred concubines (1 Kings 11:3), and steamy love poetry (Song of Solomon). Also renowned for building the Temple in Jerusalem, a magnificent construction considered by many to be -- hang on, seven hundred wives? Sweet spawning salmon!

KEY PASSAGES: 1 Kings 1-11; 2 Chronicles 1-9

HIGH POINT: God appears to Solomon in a dream, offers to grant him one request, and Solomon nails it: he asks for wisdom. God digs the answer and piles wisdom and understanding on him like sand on the seashore. Then God drops a bonus, adding honor and great wealth to the wisdom. Excellent dream score (1 Kings 3:1-15)

LOW POINT: That many wives? Guy can't have been too freaking smart.

Hehe. And get this... Jason B. himself actually emailed me yesterday! So, I'm like almost famous or somethin. In fact, I think I'll make a movie and call it that, and I'll put that song Tiny Dancer on the soundtrack. Yep.

Ticked off

Drew Carrie made it back from Texas last night. While they were at our house Drew spotted a tick on Bogie-boy's ear, so we had quite the experience getting the thing out. It was Bogie's first tick, and it was quite the group effort. Weirdly enough, my mom had just emailed us this forwarded email on how to remove ticks using liquid soap and a cotton ball. So we tried that - and it didn't work at all. Then Drew tried heating a needle and poking the tick in the butt, but that didn't work either. So... here were Jane, Drew and myself all hovering over the poor dog - who was being extremely good, he just sat there and let us do all this stuff to him (we used MR's advice and told him this would "help") - and Carrie was on the computer looking up what google had to say about tick removal. Finally Jane took some tweezers and got right down around the ticks head and eased it out - and she got the whole thing! Then we had to wash Bogie's ear off, and we put some peroxide on it, and we all washed our hands... and he wanted a treat, big time! It was quite the fiasco.

On another note, Drew Carrie went to the Austin Stone church on Sunday - which is where Chris Tomlin is on staff as worship leader. They said it was pretty cool, but of course Chris wasn't there that Sunday. I checked out their staff and recognized some of the names - though I don't know from where - and I actually think I have been on their website before. Again, I don't remember why. I kinda like their section "What We Do." It says, "Our strategy for ministry is to build up New Testament believers who: Worship Christ, Live in Community, Get Trained, and Make Disciples. All of our ministries have been arranged around these four elements of redemptive life." I like the elements, but admit that I don't particularly like when people say they are a "New Testament" church. I mean, I think the old one is pretty important too. And I know that's not what they mean, but that's how it looks. Anyway....

Not much else to say today. Watch out for those ticks.

No more grace

Yesterday was a weird sort of day. It was the first day with no Sunday School this year – so we just had the 10 am worship gathering. It was also the first day for hour-long Jr. Worship – and it was a beautiful day, so they were able to go outside. I also changed the order of the service around quite a bit. We opened with just one song, then we took a quiz, I played a Tommy Womack song, did the sermon, then we did some worship songs. But most importantly, this was the first Sunday since September 25, 2005 where we did not sing “Amazing Grace” as our closing song. A few people made mention of it to me afterwards. Not that they were upset, but probably more sad than anything.

Things seemed out of sorts from the start. I didn’t head over to the church building until after the sun was already up. Then it was just so different having people show up all at once. But it was okay.

While we were running through songs before anyone arrived I noticed a man and woman come in. I was pretty sure they had been here before - wanting money. It was several years ago, but I remember them because the guy was wearing an Insane Clown Posse t-shirt. Anyway, they wanted money again, so I told them to wait until after our worship service and we could talk. I didn’t think they would, but they did, and I gave him $20 (what he asked for).

I had a hard time getting a feel for how the service was going too. I couldn’t get a read from anyone. This is one of the things I really miss - having a “core team” to help me process things like this. People to give me feedback and whatnot. But… it’s nobody’s fault but mine. So, I’m not sure how the new format went over. I have to admit, I was ready to change back before we even started yesterday. But I hope I can have the patience to wait it out and see how it goes. We’ll see.

I was sad myself at not closing with “Amazing Grace.” I had been wondering how long we’ve done it, so I looked it up after church. Two and a half years is quite a while. What’s weird is – I didn’t really even think about it when I planned out the service. I just sort of ‘did it.’ But now it is starting to sink in… and it really saddens me. But I don't think we should go back to it. I mean, those things just never seem the same once they’re changed. I dunno.

I’ll close with a quote I’ve been thinking about from The Shaping of Things To Come (p.77):

We don’t think a church is just any old group of Christians who have bumped into each other. Neither do we think that a group of Christians who gather for a specific missional purpose is necessarily a church… When we use the term church we are trying to do so in the same way the New Testament uses it. In Paul’s writings he employed the term ekklesia (church) in a way that can only refer to an actual gathering of people, not to some ethereal theological concept. It is a regularly constituted meeting of God’s people… As to what occurred in such a gathering, we think Acts 2:42-47 provides a neat snapshot. (Then they go on to describe the three broad commitments of: Communion (relationship with Christ), Community (relationship with one another), and Commission (relationship with the world).

I’ll buy that. You know, I complain about the church probably as much as anybody; and it can frustrate me to no end sometimes... but no one ever said it should be easy, or pretty; and when it comes right down to it, I still believe it is absolutely necessary. It is the only true hope for the world.

Have a nice day, folks!

Happy birthday boy

Today is son Isaac's twentieth birthday. Lady Jane and I no longer have any teenagers. Although, Isaac has been much older than his age for quite some time. He just completed his sophomore year at Anderson University in Anderson, IN, where he is majoring in Bible & Religion, with a minor in Peace Studies. This summer he's working full-time as a grounds keeper for the university (which he also does during the school year). Next year he's planning to play rugby and I believe he will be heading up AU's prison ministry and peace group (can't remember all the details), which he's been involved in for 2 years. We will be heading down to see his new apartment and to take him out to lunch after our worship gathering this morning. A finer son no one ever had. Happy birthday, Bud! Love ya.

(I think this pic was from the first day of school when he was a junior in high school. The hair days.)