Tuesday

I hope your week is going well. Yesterday was a good, productive day for me. I love it when I get a lot done, and yesterday was one of those for me.

Ben had a basketball game in Brownstown last night. They won, so that was enjoyable. I have to tell you, though, that I find the behavior of basketball fans pretty troubling. Some of our folks yell, scream, curse, swear, and in other ways embarrass themselves. Actually I don't think they are embarrassed, but I am. Our coaches, Darren S. and Don C. are just the opposite. They are models of restraint and courtesy. I really appreciate that. They encourage, instruct, and challenge the boys. The Brownstown coach was yelling and throwing things. What does that teach? Oh well. My journey with sports continues... It's not what it used to be.

My running continues to go pretty well. I have a good shot at running 1500 miles before the year is over. I have to average 38 miles a week to get it done. I did 38 last week and am on track to do at least that this week. Sounds like the weather could get a little more challenging as the week progresses. Since I bombed out at the Monumental Marathon (see older posts) I kinda want to reach the 1500 mile mark. My other running goals were to go sub 22 for 5K, and I did that with a 21.30 at the Persimmon. I didn't quite reach my half marathon goal of 140, but I got close. I think I can get it next time.

Got a good day ahead of me. Going to run 8 miles here in a little bit. Then I get to help load a semi with Bryantsville corn. This afternoon will give me some time to check in at the store and do some study. The store continues to do very well. It is truly a blessing in so many ways.

There is a chance of a little snow tomorrow night! There is also a big storm brewing for next week. Rain or snow? Only time will tell.

Gotta git! [Hope to write more this evening.]

Here we go again

Time to get back to work! I love Thanksgiving; it's my favorite holiday of the year. It's all the nice feel of Christmas without all the commercial junk.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Lester and Maddie came in for a couple of days, and Luke was here. We ate and laughed a lot. Good stuff.

I was so out of routine last week, so I really need to push pretty hard this week to get some things done. I only have two more class meetings with my Oakland City students before I give them the dreaded (by them - ha ha!) final exam. I am really wanting to get our church website pushed along as well. Plus all the usual stuff.

Yesterday was a really good day. We had a nice crowd at church and though a lot of people seemed tired or hung over from too much food, everyone seemed engaged and joyful. Our life group last night was wonderful. We spent considerable time expressing thanks to one another for various things. Lots of laughter and lots of joyful tears. We all left feeling blessed to be a part of a loving community.

This week we turn our attention to the Christmas story. We are going to talk about 3 characters over the next 3 weeks: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. We start with Joseph. He is such an interesting character. We'll try to live the story through his eyes.

OK, I plan to be pretty active here this week, so check back from time to time.

Give Thanks

SO, what are you thankful for? I would like to get a lot people's response to that question, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

You can reply here if you would like, and I think I will try to ask people this week.

Our text for the week is from Luke 17 - the story about the 10 lepers. Only one returned to thank Jesus for the healing.

Interesting.