It's a marathon, not a sprint

Forgive me, bloggers, for I have sinned. It's been a week since my last entry.

I've thought about it some, but frankly, I've just been too busy catching up from being gone for five days. But now I can relax and post some random thoughts.

Today is the day my fantasy baseball team, the Sons of Thunder of the Fellowship Fantasy League, clinched the 2005 (human drafted) Championship. This comes after spending more than a month in dead last in my league early in the season. We took the human-drafted lead for good on Friday, and cruised from there. In case you're wondering, the team actually finished second, but the guy who won had his team drafted by the computer, because he didn't show up on draft day. So the rest of us don't recognize his championship since the program made his player picks for him. :)

The trip to Wisconsin did me much good. On Saturday night I stayed with Terri and Charley Rydmark in Tomah after I got off the bus. Terri and Charley are two of my favorite people in the world. Terri counsels with me every summer at youth camp, and I admire her heart for that ministry. Her sister, Julie, and her daughters Brandi and Tarra and grandfetus joined us for dinner along with Sue Foster, a friend of the Rydmarks' who worships with them in Tomah.

Julie is the camp nurse during my session, and Brandi and Tarra are former campers. Actually, we've had this long-standing joke about calling ourselves by titles, rather than names. Because I'm a reporter, I'm known as "he who writes for the newspaper." Julie is "nurse." Terri is "the nurse's sister who is also a nurse," because she too, is in fact a nurse, just not at camp. Brandi would be "the nurse's daughter and nurse's niece who is an EMT and wants to be a nurse." Tarra's a bit tricky, because she's also a nurse's daughter and niece, but she has no desire that I'm aware of to be a nurse. But we can still work her in, because she's eight months pregnant. So I guess that makes her the "nurse's daughter and nurse's niece who soon will nurse." Works for me.

Anyway, dinner Saturday was a wonderful time. The food was good, and the company was better. Julie and Terri are typical sisters. And they have some stories to tell, for sure. We laughed even more than we ate. It meant a lot to me to have Julie and the girls come in to see me that night since I didn't get to see them over the summer.

I always enjoy worshipping at the Tomah Church of Christ once a year when I'm up that way. The difference between it and my church here in Oklahoma City is refreshing in a way, but it also makes me appreciate what I have here at home. It's a small church, 50 or so folks including children, which is considerably smaller than Wilshire. They've been between preachers for more than a year now, so the men of the congregation have to step up and get it done until a full-time guy gets there. It's very relaxed there. The preacher du jour used an interesting illustration about dog poo in brownies, which is an illustration I'm not likely to hear here in Oklahoma City. So I remember it. I'm sure you're wondering, unless you've already heard it. Essentially, two siblings wanted to go see a new movie, except that it was rated "R," which they're not allowed to watch. So they try to reason with dad that there's only a little bit of bad language, only a little sex...otherwise, the rest of the movie is good. So the next day dad makes them some brownies. But these aren't your typical brownies. Seems dad went outside to the yard, picked up a little dog poo out of the grass, and mixed it in the batter. The dad tells the kids they can go see the movie -- but only after they eat the poo-laced brownies. "It's only a little bit of poo," he says. At any rate, you get the point. They pass on the brownies and the movie. Ward Cleaver wins again.

Church also was neat because during communion, Terri and Charley hummed Twila Paris' Lamb of God. Where I'm at today, I tend to believe the theory that our observance of the Supper should be celebratory, not a mourning atmosphere. So listening to them hum when otherwise you'd hear only silence was refreshing.

The preacher's retreat itself was pretty good. Probably safe to say I didn't get from it what the preachers got, but I got what I needed. So it was worth the trip. Got to see some longtime friends who are like family to me, and got to spend some time by myself at Hilltops of Glory, one of our devo sites.

Didn't meet anyone like Jessica on the bus ride home. The buses were more empty than on the way up, so I didn't have to share a seat with anyone, except for the stretch from Chicago to St. Louis.

I'll post more down the road. Thanks for stopping by.