Monday meander

Oof. Yep, I missed another Five Things Friday. Sorry about that. I don't really even have an excuse. It just didn't happen.

So, here is a sort of substitute. Some stuff...

• Most of our evening activities now include basketball games. Either the granddaughter's JV high school team, or our grandson's who both play on the middle school "varsity" team, even though they are in 6th and 7th grade (usually the MS varsity is 8th graders, but they don't have any 8th graders that play). They are both fun to watch.
• Last week we did work the concession stand with our daughter for a varsity high school girls game. The wife and daughter worked the pretzel maker, and I was the drink runner for the counter people. It wasn't bad.
• I did my usual setup of the concert hall last Thursday, with one added twist: We had to set up the dance floor for the show on Saturday night. Ugh. I hate the dance floor. It comes in 4'x4' squares that lock together. It ended up at 16'x24' (I think). It's old, and some of the plastic "locking" features don't work so well anymore. It's a bit of a job for two people (me and a guy named Mark set up for most of the shows). Normally they charge an extra $450 to set it up - which we don't make any money off of ourselves - but it was for a local band and they didn't charge. I did get two free tacos for my trouble (which is not worth it).
• The show on Saturday night was actually pretty fun. I did my usual bartending gig, and made a decent amount in tips ($45 in cash; I'm still waiting on credit card tip money). A local band with a good following which includes a lot of younger people. They play very high energy music with a heavy latin sound (think Carlos Santana), and they had a 7-piece band on this night. Fun time.
• What was an even better time this past weekend was the Story Workshop led by Adam Young, of the Allender Center. It was held by/at our church on Friday night and Saturday. Adam led us through a series of talks, discussion, and journal prompts designed to provoke curiosity, prayer, and discovery around our personal stories. He was excellent, and it was a really good workshop. I will likely share more about it in a separate post one of these days. For now, here's a blip off the Allender Center site as to what it's about:
  

  Story is the heartbeat of God, the primary form for revealing who we are, who God is, how the world is broken, and how God intends to restore us and the world. We believe, too, that no one escapes harm over the course of their lifetime. Therefore we all have stories that need healing and restoration. Unfortunately, there are very few contexts in which the full extent of harm and heartache in the human experience can be explored in a way that brings healing. Many therapists are not equipped to address the narrative dimensions at the heart of human brokenness, and many churches and communities avoid the conversations out of fear, discomfort, or lack of training. So we live in a world of silos where narrative therapy, inner healing, and spiritual warfare are seldom integrated for the hope for restoration.

  Our purpose is to step into this gap to offer story exploration experiences and to train more leaders to address harm and tragedy with informed care and holistic engagement, identifying the emotional, spiritual, and relational impacts of our core stories of neglect, loss, betrayal, or outright abuse and violence. And in this process, something truly transformative happens: we find the hope of redemption. Courageously stepping into stories of pain and harm is the very place that true healing and restoration occurs.

   

So, that's what's been happening lately... besides reading, running, cleaning the house, and leaf raking/mowing. Hopefully I will put up some more posts this week. 

Have a good one!