Rainey Days

Today was one of the days that I spend doing numerous tasks that take forever but I feel like not much got accomplished. Periodically, I have to do paperwork: letters of confirmation to churches where I am going to speak in the next month, letters of introduction to pastors who request more information prior to making a decision about support, and sometimes letters of reminder to folks who haven't followed up on what I've already sent. It seems so simple, but it takes so long. I'm never quite satisfied with the wording of these letters. I have to sound both enthusiastic and persuasive, yet not effusive or pushy. Somtimes I'm reminded of English class as a student where I had to write drafts and then re-write and polish the final draft to perfection. Of course, in English class, I didn't then have to mail them all out to pastors. On days like today, I sit at my desk surrounded by commitment forms, stamps, envelopes, address book, address labels and my printer, whirri...

Did you know that "survival of the fittest" was not a term used by or about Charles Darwin's book, The Origin of Species . (I didn't, until I started writing this post and did a quick google search!). I don't believe in evolution, nor do I support anything Charles Darwin claimed in his writings, but I have used the term "survival of the fittest" in conversation. I learned, only moments ago, that Charles Darwin didn't coin that phrase, preferring instead "natural selection" (meaning that animals will biologically select the fittest for mating purposes). Actually, it was an economist, Herbert Spencer, who gave us the phrase "survival of the fittest." Why all this history and (useless) information? Well, I had a meeting in northern Virginia yesterday, and I drove the Capitol Beltway on my commute. There is a certain section of 495 West that I really find dangerous. If you are driving along 495, headed toward Maryland, and just afte...

Yesterday I preached at my uncle Ron Pettibone's church in Lambertville, NJ. He has recently taken the pastorate at the church there, so Mom and I went up for the whole weekend to visit Aunt Ambra and Uncle Ron in their new home. (Plus, my aunt wanted help doing a yard sale on Saturday--you know how I feel about those!) The service went great yesterday; I was very impressed with the folks of the church. They are great people, totally committed to the church there, which will really help the rebuilding effort they've got going on. Plus, the town there is absolutely charming! Want a pleasant weekend jaunt? Go to the twin towns of New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ, split by the Delaware River. Beautiful! Some of you know my Aunt Ambra's humorous malapropisms (fancy word for switching around words and their meanings). This weekend was no exception. She gave us this expression: "I'm sweating pistols!" I guess that means sweating even more than bullets!

My niece Olivia (11 months) : *these two photos by Amanda Vogt My niece Sydney today on the bike trail: I'm sure you can understand why I love spending time with these two cuties!

Lately, I’ve been traveling up and down Maryland’s highways to meet with pastors and our district leadership. I enjoy driving and no doubt, you’ll have the chance to read about some of my road adventures in upcoming blogs. Now that the weather is cooler, I don’t mind as much where I park, but when the heat was so oppressive in the last few weeks, I would end up parking under the trees in my yard, hoping to keep my dark car cooler. The main disadvantage is that pollen, acorns, sap, and bird droppings fall freely on my car. I don’t like driving to meetings with a dirty car, in case some pastor might actually notice. I try to be professional, you know. So the other day, I filled up my gas tank, getting a discount on a car wash. I thought, “Perfect!” and I rolled right up to the car wash area. I had to roll down my window a bit to enter a numeric code, and the automatic track starting pulling me forward. Now, this is probably the time I should mention that my car, while a wonderful f...

What was the best part? Seeing old friends? Playing rummy til 1 am? Hearing amazing testimonies of God's grace? Talking to Sister Goggin Bartles, one of my heroes? The gorgeous weather in West Viriginia? Laughing and laughing and laughing? I just can't pick one . . . but I can say that I had a great time at the campground with the wonderful women of Pasadena Assembly of God, as well as the other ladies who attended the retreat. We had a lot of humorous moments, and we had fantastic times of worship. I felt like I was able to let go of some burdens and enjoy the presence of God.

Ha! Got your attention with that title, didn't I? This morning I went to my home church office to get some work done. I'd asked Pastor about using an empty office at the church to make my phone calls and do general work like that, because it's quiet and free of distractions. Working out of my bedroom means that I always have a dozen things that I could do instead of working. Pastor readily gave me the approval, and this morning was my first (very successful!) work time there. On the way, however, driving over the back roads to the church, I passed a cleverly concealed police car. I saw him clearly, but the steep hill in someone's yard provided the perfect cover from the oncoming traffic. Then I faced the dilemma: should I flash my lights to the opposite traffic, warning them that the cop was there? Traveling as much as I do, I often see people flash their lights toward my lane of the highway, and I admit, I've often slowed down based on their warning. And, in...

Where else can you do so much work for such little pay? Today my mother, my sister, and I had a yard sale in our front yard. Doing this required many steps: cleaning/sorting through the basement, numerous closets or bookshelves, and boxes of seasonal clothes to find the perfect yard sale items Boxing them all up Clearing off the porch so that the yard sale boxes could be stored there until today Pricing all the items, usually involving much discussion with other family members, sounding something like this: Me: How much for this? Sarah (wrinkling nose): You'll be lucky to get fifty cents. Who would want that? Me: But its brand new. Someone gave it to me as a gift; it just wasn't really my style. Sarah: I can see why they gave it away. Me: Yes, but the purpose of this event is to make money, and someone might want this. Mom: You could make more on ebay. Me: I don't know how to do ebay and I've already been holding on this for years. I want to get rid of it. Sarah: Th...

Happy Labor Day weekend to all! September has begun with a pretty promise of cooler weather to come, and its supposed to be this pleasant all weekend. Normally, our family tradition is to go camping on three-day weekends with our good friends. This year, with Dad's surgery, we knew there was no way that we could do it, although my mother was particularly disappointed not to do this "family tradition" while I'm home to enjoy it. So, all that to say that as I type, looking wistfully out the window at the cool breeze blowing through the trees, I envy our friends down in Virginia at their campsite. I started reminiscing about old camping experiences, and we have had some real doozies! My favorite memory would be hard to choose: the year Mom's dental situation had her doped up on painkillers the whole weekend. . . the time in Missouri that Sarah was trying to run up the big hill to the bath house . . . . the night Julie ran smack into a deer on her way through the ...