Good things

Trying to re-fix my gaze. These are some good things on my mind at this time:

• I just received my free copy of Brian McLaren's new book "Everything Must Change" - compliments of Joan at Sojourners. Thanks!
• Yesterday I had occasion to hang out in my mechanics waiting area. They are super nice people (they are part of our church), and it brought back a lot of good memories from when I worked in gas stations. It was also nice to just be around some people for a change. That is perhaps the hardest part of my job sometimes - the isolation. Plus... after spending 1 1/2 hours working on our car - the charge was $0. How cool is that?
• I think Jane and I have narrowed our vacation destinations down to two places: one in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and one in Cancun, Mexico. They are both pretty ritzy, and we're probably going to spend way more than we need to on this trip. But you know what - I don't care. It is to celebrate 25 years of marriage, and we've only went on an actual vacation maybe 5 times in all those years. And 3 of them were to Florida, either staying at relatives or in a condo owned by a couple in our church. Otherwise vacations usually consist of a week at my parents house or a weekend in Chicago or something. So I don't feel at all bad about splurging because it is likely the only time we will ever do anything like this. I only wish it were next week! :)
• The other day I had a bunch of kids come to the church door and ask if they could use the restroom. They had been playing on the playground. One little boy - maybe 4 - stayed behind and we chatted. He told me a couple of the girls were his cousins and they lived down the road. I said, "Oh, so you're here visiting your cousins?" And he said, "No, WE'RE HERE TO PLAY IN THE PARK!" He was so enthusiastic and excited about it. :) I don't usually think of our church grounds as a park, even though that's the idea. It was just really nice to know someone appreciates it.
  
• It's Friday. Which is good because my brain is a vegetable for some reason. I had a hard time writing my sermon this week. Too many things on the brain. But today is for no thinking.
• I got a call yesterday that I had won a prize. I think it was a 2-week pass to some fitness place in Bluffton. They were calling random places and the first however-many people who answered the phone won. The lady was disappointed when I declined. I was right in the middle of a thought, and I probably shouldn't have even answered the phone, but when she started asking me questions I was afraid I was going to lose my thought, so I said no. I don't really like those places anyhow. But it's always nice to win a prize!

There might be other things, but that would require drawing on stored memory banks. We'll stop here.

peace.