What did you do today?

Soul Treck
Stardate 12-14-2007
John left this morning at his usual 7:30 for work after checking his email and reading for an hour. At work he visited with a coworker going through a crisis during a break. There are several people who seek him out at work because they know he is a pastor. He took a late lunch so he could go by the church and give Phyllis the information for the bulliten and powerpoint. (She's wonderful to have around, a true servant willing to do just about anything for the church) He got home a little after 5:30 from work and had a bite to eat. I told him about some things going on in the church that he needed to know and got details about some things to put in the email newsletter. He fixed my computer for me and studied a bit of Hebrew before going off for choir cantata practice at 6:15. When he gets home, which will probably be after 9 because everybody likes to talk, including him, he will work on the lesson for the Men's breakfast in the morning. After he finishes that he will spend time working on his sermon, which he has worked on off and on all week late at night. Around 11, he will read a little bit and go to sleep around 11:30 or so.

Saturday morning he will be up early to make sure everything is ready for the Men's breakfast and spend time reading the news. He will be at church around 7:45 to make sure the building is open and the coffee is made. (and he will run out and buy food if someone forgot)He will do the lesson as he always does, but this time he does not have to provide any of the food. Much of the time he does. The Men's breakfast is always well attended and everyone enjoys it. After Men's breakfast, he will come over to the coffee shop to visit with members and prospects who show up. There are always good discussions about everything from the Bible, to church programs and idea planning, to issues, to people's needs, to current events. Since he is a part time pastor, this gives people easy access to him since he does not have office hours.

He will leave there and go over to the church. If there is no one needing his immediate attention, he will work on his sermon and other things having to do with the church service (powerpoint, special set ups, etc). There is always something but it varies from week to week. If there are needs that take from that time, such as Saturday events or people in crisis or just needing to talk, he has been known to still be there at 10 or 11pm getting ready for Sunday. He puts people first. If there is a mess, he cleans it up. If furniture needs arranging, he does it. If supplies are needed, he will go out and buy them if he knows (or he sends me) Anything that needs doing, he does. That is why I appreciate so much the things that people do to help out. They are a godsend. Every little thing matters.

Sunday morning is pretty much the same way. He gets over there early, makes sure all the doors are unlocked and the heat is on, makes coffee and makes sure things are in order. If the nursery worker is late or doesn't show, he will take care of the tykes for a while until someone else can be found. If somebody does not show up to teach Sunday school, he has been known to take the class. If anything is broken or messed up, he cleans it up or deals with it if there is nobody else to do it. People often come in and need to talk to him about something (often many somebodies) and he takes time for them. Then he gets up and leads the worship service and preaches as if nothing else has happened all morning. After service, there are always things people need to talk to him about and issues that need attention. He does lots of visiting during that time so he knows everybody. John cares about the people. Visitors will get special attention for a few minutes if they stick around at all. He drives people home if there is nobody else to do it.

Often there are activities and/or we visit with people well into the afternoon. Normally we get home by 2-3. He reads during that time and takes it easy. Sometimes something goes wrong at work and he has to go out there for an hour or so. By 5 or so we are getting ready to go back to church for night service. In the evening, like in the morning, he does whatever needs to be done but he does not preach or lead the service. Generally we get home by 9pm or so. (We try to eat well at lunch because there is no supper)

Monday morning he will be at work from 7:30 until 5:30 or 6. Before he leaves the house in the morning, he will have checked the lab by remote and fixed any problems and gotten anything restarted that needs it. He does that every day very early. He also reads and checks the news. If anyone is in the hospital, he will visit them on his lunch or after work or both. Unless there are meetings, people in the hospital or such Monday nights are easier. That's often the night he goes to visit visitors or talks to people who have asked for him to meet with them. He also spends time working on his sermon and getting the scripture and research started for the next week. Evenings lately have also been spent updating the website. Our days rarely end before 11:30 pm and often midnight.

Tuesday morning starts with Prayer Meeting at 7am. He gets there a little bit early to start the coffee and unlock the building. He hurries off to work a bit after 7:30. Tuesday nights are similar to Monday nights unless it is Session night. He might visit the sick or visitors, talk with somebody who requests it, make and answer phone calls, plan for the church and get his sermon and the worship service ready for Sunday.

Wednesday starts like Monday. He tries to get home to eat by 5:30 so he can be at church at 6 for Bible study. Most of the time, Jeremy leads it but 1/3 to 1/4 of the time John does. (Which means that was what he was working on Tuesday night some). Choir practice follows after at 7pm. Generally he gets home between 9:30 and 10. They love to talk. He will work on the things I mentioned for another hour or so after he gets home.

Thursday is a normal day, like Monday. John is busy reading and studying in the evening unless there is a meeting, someone in the hospital, a crisis, or a visitor or someone that needs a visit. Several evenings a week he calls and talks to Jeremy about how things are going and what needs to be done, such as who to call who has been missing a while. Around 7:30 or so, John may go and run 6 or 7 miles. (He sometimes does this on Mondays and Tuesdays also) At 9pm, we meet a friend and study Hebrew together for an hour. Often we are there more than an hour.

I find it amusing there are people who think we have a lot of free time. That's a skill related to hospitality and it is pretty automatic if developed. It has to do with putting people above things. When we are with people, our attention is with them. We are normally not in a hurry to get anywhere, but that is a choice. Most of our life we have made time for our family if they came over or wanted us to come over for example. I simply rescheduled everything or changed our plans but never said anything about it. That gave both sides of the family the impression that we never do anything and are always available. (I've had people in the church who are under the same misconception) They were wrong. It was simply our way of saying they were important to us. (I will also wait to serve a meal for hours if need be if the guests are not all there. My culture says it's rude to do otherwise unless you are sick or a small child. It's a way of telling a person they are important.) It's got to be a cultural practice because I've always understood this is the right way to be, and I'm not living in a culture in this area that sees life that way in general. (Sometimes we just can't accomodate a request, but those times are pretty rare, especially if the other person is willing to compromise a little.) This practice does not extend to meetings and things like that. I can turn those down and have to since I only get the same 24 hours a day as everybody else. It is simply about hospitality.

Every once in a while John and I get a chance to go out for coffee, just the two of us, and talk for an hour. Some weeks it doesn't happen because we're too busy. We used to go out for coffee, just the 2 of us, every Saturday morning. I like what we are doing but I miss that too.

This time I mainly wrote about what John does. Maybe soon I will write about what I do. Life is very, very busy but it's harder to write in general terms about my activities since they often involve individuals. It would not be right to tell specifics about people's lives, even if I do not identify them by name. After reading this blog, one might understand better why I am the one that takes care of some things and reminds him of others. Most people know, if they contact me, I will arrange to get things done. It's not because John isn't doing anything, it's because he is very busy.

Our adult kids are getting more and more involved in the church. The youngest works in fast food and doesn't get off work until 2 or 3 am on Sunday but still comes to church at 10:30. He is learning to play the drums and practices at church so he can play some Sunday evening if he gets it off. Our oldest son also works nights but gets off a couple hours earlier. He is co teaching in the Sunday School, runs the video recorder during the church service and is the narrator in the Cantata. He has a strong, steady voice that has leadership qualities.

Without the many faithful people of the church who work hard, our church could not do as much as it does or reach as many people as it does. They are wonderful and very much appreciated. While our attendance is quite small, our ministry, including the ministries of our members, touches thousands. Wow! Ministry is not about us, it's about reaching as many as possible for the Lord no matter what church they attend eventually.

Mysteries

There is no lesson here or anything else, just my ramblings spurred on by the events of the day.

In the past we have had a number of things missing at church. Sometimes they are bizarre, like the missing port a potty, but usually they are smaller items. An occasional Bible will go for a walk and we hope the person who has it is reading it. Odds and ends like a tablecloth, can opener or other kitchen item will vanish. We had a number of coffee mugs in the cabinet, probably a couple of dozen, and they all vanished except for one. Dishes and pans have been known to go for a walk. Those are probably in the homes of absent minded people who intend to bring them back and keep forgetting.

We had a large box of items being collected for Operation Christmas Child stored in an out of the way place. Almost all of the bags of candy and gum vanished out of it. So did a few toys and other items. The most bizarre thing to vanish out of that box was close to a thousand bandaids! I guess somebody ran out of scotch tape! We had love loaves for a mission project and they vanished. All the scissors in one of the kids classrooms disappeared along with the markers. Nothing of much value normally vanishes though. It's just bizarre.

Today we have the mystery of the missing loaves of banana bread. They were to be for a meeting tonight. I saw them on the counter in a bag, out of the way, on Sunday late but by early this afternoon, they were gone. Only a few people were in the building and we checked with most of them to see if they knew where the bread went. Nobody had any idea. I guess it could have been a very big mouse because only people with keys can get into the building on Mondays.

We have groups that use the building that are not church members but the items go for a walk at times when the groups are not there. It has to be a big church mouse.

For a while we had lots of cookies missing over a period of time. We have a shelf of food for those who need help and come by the church. One sweet lady had donated 3 or more packages of cookies as a treat for those who were having difficulties, in addition to the other food. One by one, the packages disappeared, with only one of them going to a family who requested help. Another sweet lady replaced 2 or 3 bags of cookies. Again they vanished in a few days and they did not go to people asking for help as far as I could find out. I replaced cookies several times and they would disappear within a day or two and the other food would still be there. After a while, I quit replacing them. Our mystery church mouse has a sweet tooth. The mouse prefers cookies and goodies to other foods. And it doesn't like the food on the counter that is there for everyone. It's particular.

The quilters appear to have trained the mouse not to take their stuff. Smart ladies. They have very clear signs on their snacks in the freezer that say something like, if you take this God might get you and you'll deserve it. (I made that up but they do have signs)

It doesn't seem to matter if I put my name on something in the refrigerator. If the mouse likes it, it's history. (The mouse likes fruit too) If the mouse doesn't like it, things have been known to sit in the refrigerator until they spoil and try to escape on their own.

The whole thing gets somewhat amusing. The port a potty was the funniest because it is big and would be obvious going out the door. We solved that mystery. It turned up in another state.

Some day I might get a real cheap surveillance camera and put it up just for fun. It might be interesting to see where all this stuff really goes.

Sometimes I suspect there are members who see something that just doesn't look very good any more to them and they get rid of it. That could be a good thing if they replace it with something new and better. That's what happened with an old Christmas tree. It was in bad shape so the people who threw it out got a new and beautiful one for everyone to enjoy.

For now, I'm keeping my eyes open for a big church mouse with a sweet tooth that caused a minor crisis in the church today.