How's it going?

Fast? Seems that way to me, but that's OK. Let's see, where was I in my story? Oh yeah, we went to the football game Monday evening. Ben re-injured his ribs early in the game, continued to play, and then finally stood on the sidelines for the second half. I don't know how long he will be out. We got beat 54-0 or something like that. I am really, really getting tired of getting whipped in football... And volleyball. Sports, when you lose all the time, is mostly unsatisfying. I tell my kids that they are not defined by sports. This is good.

There are a couple of things that I wanted to tell you about. One is a new ministry that kinda got started over the weekend. For a long time Brent F. has dreamed of a ministry involving cars. We, Brent and the Capstone Ministries board (think ReGeneration Store), sat down a few months ago and dreamed this thing out. Long story short: we are seeking donated cars which we (Brent,volunteer mechanics, and Capstone funds) will fix up and then sell at very reasonable prices to people in need. Reliable transportation, or the lack of it, is a huge problem for people living in poverty. We want to help remove that problem. Over the weekend we received our first car! Brent and I loaded it up on Sunday afternoon, and he got it running Monday evening. Soon we will have for sale a 1987 Volvo!

The other thing I want to tell you about is one of my Oakland City U classes. It only has 7 students, which is nice for building a community of learning. To do that I spend some time early on trying to find out about the students. On Monday I asked the students who they most admired and why. The first girl spoke about her grandfather and began crying. She loved him so much but he died recently. This started off a poignant and powerful parade of raw grief. One student talked about the murder of her one and only child, a son. I am always struck by how much pain and tragedy there is in life. We hide it most of the time. My prayer is that my class will help reveal a God of compassion, and while we cannot answer the "whys," perhaps we can develop some trust in God.

Yesterday was another busy and productive day. It ended with a long volleyball game that lasted until 9.30 last night. Lots of stuff going on with lots of people. Reach out to someone, walk with them, and encourage them.

Today I have a 10 mile run scheduled, classes at OCU, several calls, a lunch appt. (hopefully), reading/studying, and a class at 7 p.m. It doesn't sotp until about 8.30 tonight, and that's OK!