At Least I'm Not Alone---

Here I am, at the Residents in Ministry retreat on stewardship. It isn't bad; the speaker is quite successful at teaching stewardship at the church he has pastored for 27 years. Of course for me the question is why has he been there that long, when "itineracy" is the buzz word at our commissioning interviews. I know better than to mention it, however.
It's good to see the other people who are in the group. I notice one of the other four in my particular little group is starting to make comments about not being happy in his appointment. I hope he won't quit, since he seems to be a very spiritual person. He says he and his wife are both unhappy in their occupational settings. I encouraged him to see that as a sign he needs to change appointments. Exploring that option couldn't hurt, I don't think.
I learned also that one of the more outspoken members of the "residents" has quit; she became burned out, and has decided to go back to school and pursue her ph. d. She'll do well, as she's a good student. It's interesting, though, her senior pastor was the individual I had personality conflict with. Hmmmmm.
I'm glad to know again I'm not the only one.

Springlike Saturday

Today is just beautiful. Birds singing, warm, not too hot. It was supposed to rain all day. I even got planting done. But the weather scared me off from running a race this morning, and now I'm sad. I guess if we had run it it would have been pouring.
Another funeral to do-- this makes five or six since the middle of February. It always seems like we have multiples when we have a death. The last time we had this was two years ago. It's so hard on the congregation. And our Memorial chair isn't handling the influx of donations too well. We keep getting calls from people who want to know why their $5 cheques haven't cleared. It's hard not to respond sarcastically to that--
Any way you look at it, Spring is here, and at the same time, folks are dying. What an odd juxtaposition.
Tomorrow is the last Dead Sea Scrolls Bible study, meaning I have to find a new one to start. I think I'll suggest we start the Sunday after Easter, though that might mean having to remind folks. It will be interesting to see who actually goes to see the scrolls. I think maybe we'll do a study on one of the books of the Old Testament. Who knows.

Monday Skepticism-- Apparently the Lonely Road

I think sometimes I hate Mondays. I feel so overwhelmed... The house is dirty, the dog is, too. I don't feel like cleaning, I feel like sleeping. Somebody told me I had seasonal affect disorder (SAD, get it?) but I actually feel more tired as it gets warmer and I feel the pull to be outside gardening, while I should be inside cleaning, while I should be on the computer working, while I should be... and it goes on and on and on...
I am so sick of Bush justifying his actions and giving press conferences. His voice just has the ability to piss me off. I am constantly amazed that anybody can actually buy all his rhetoric. Or Karl Rove's rhetoric, or whoever the real spin doctor is. Four years of War today. Over three thousand U.S. soldiers killed. No idea how many "contractors" or Iraqi innocents killed, maimed, orphaned, etc. All in the name of "helping" that country. God help them if we didn't like them!
I went to the biggest spin presentation I have ever heard within the confines of church business yesterday, too. It scares me that people will listen to what a leader says (whether school official, politician, church leader, business leader, etc) and not question what they hear. Its like free will is completely thrown out the door. How can people accept things and not at least question the validity of what they are told? Am I the only one with a tendency to be skeptical? Sometimes I wonder. Is it a good idea to do away with Annual Conference support of social service/mission agencies which are begun and associated with a denomination? Is it good for the Missouri Conference of the Uniited Methodist Church to quit supporting Vital Ministries, like food pantries, homeless shelters, and childrens homes? Is the motivation to really allow these places to get more money, or is this a spin to justify cutting them off to save and redirect dollars? Am I the only one who wonders this?

Challenges and Stress

It seems it's going to be a crazy and long weekend. I ought to be enjoying it, but I'm not looking forward to it. I love St. Patrick's Day, with all the green, and Irish music, and food, and revelry. I don't love the ridiculous idiots that abound, especially when the day falls on a weekend. I bet the police have bets on the number of drunks they'll be bringing in. It could be a budget-booster for some areas.
My weekend got busy as soon as my friend's mother died. I knew before she told me, that the funeral would be Saturday. It's in a really rural area of Kansas, and that's when folks do things like that. I knew before she asked that I'd end up doing the funeral too, and that means travelling four hours, to the town and back. That's okay. But in the mean time, my kids have soccer, a Girl Scout outing, babysitting my nephew while his family attends a piano recital, and there's a church dinner.
As if that weren't waaaay too much.
So this afternoon, the phone rings and it's my daughter's friend, who is living in Janesville, WI. Only she's now at the Days Inn with her mother and two little brothers-- down for the weekend. And I'm sure there are expectations here-- as I asked her what was going on, her response was cut off, and I could hear whispering. Her mother is probably hoping to dump the kids on me while she goes out-- she did this from August 05 to St. Pat's 06, in between misusing babysitters, leaving the kids unattended, and expecting the little girl (age 10) to watch them. Last summer my family had the little girl for a month, and we paid for her to go to church camp. She wants to again, but I wonder if we won't be expected to also keep her brother. This just puts dread in my stomach, already. I hope this isn't the beginning of another year of worrying about these kids, and being able to do nothing.
I guess I should pray for guidance here, and ask for God to do or show me something to do. Turning my back won't help these children. Their grandparents have already done that, and it means bad things have happened with no system of checks and balances. So, I guess that's my prayer-- to find a way to help these kids, and to deal with the extra stress it puts on my family too. Amen.

Wednesday Frustrations

Today I finally got the cell phone I ordered last week. I am finally really back on line! Yeaaaa! I never realized how dependent I have become on cell phone technology and text messaging,until I couldn't do it. It was kind of like having a missing appendage. Weird, huh. And the company I finally bought it from was pretty nice-- but I didn't realize until I bought it that if you don't give feedback when you buy something, you get a "0" rating and some sellers won't sell to you. I could have gotten a cheaper phone if I had not had a "0" rating.
The other lesson I learned is that I don't EVER want to bid on the wrong item again. That has been the biggest pain. It appears that if you bid within the last 12 hours, or even close to that mark, then you can't retract your bid, no matter what. Doesn't even matter whether you can't reach the seller. So when I finally reached the seller the next day, after I had won an item I didn't want (a phone usable only for parts-- which was why it was soooo cheap) the seller said I could just pay $5 for his advertising costs and we'd be settled up.
Nooooo, it was not that easy.
I keep getting payment reminders from Ebay, and the seller has even sent me something saying the item was shipped (which it better not be.) The seller acts put out when I question why I keep getting these things. I will never buy from this particular seller/company (cellularliquidation) again, or recommend it very highly either.
On other fronts, my 7-year-old is "sick," which means he has improved each hour of the day that brings him closer to when school is dismissed and his buddies come home to play. It is pretty annoying. I guess I should have made him go to school even though he felt crummy this a.m. Once I gave him Mucinex, he's just fine. And hyper. And he keeps setting booby-traps all around the house, to catch intruders, which of course, we don't have. The dog is freaking out, and the cats have abandoned the house. When is this day over? I suppose it would be cruel to take some cold medicine that makes me sleep, or him, for that matter. Going crazy here...