Rev. John Crabtree's Blog

Revamping

2011-07-06T11:23:00.000-04:00

We're going to be spending time revamping the blog in the next coming months. In the meantime, here are some photos from the 4th of July fireworks show in Oak Ridge, TN. It was a fantastic show.

Performing before the fireworks was the Oak Ridge Community Band. This group of volunteers work tirelessly to bring the best in musical experiences to the Anderson County area. Everyone should take the time to attend one of their concerts. You will come away impressed.

Winter Stream

2010-12-22T20:30:00.000-05:00

Winter isn't my favorite season, but it does have its own kind of beauty.

Peace,
John

Fall and Winter

2010-12-21T22:18:00.000-05:00

Fall and Winter both have their own kinds of beauty

This is two shots of one of the creeks that feed into Cove Lake.

Peace,
John

Bill Leff and the T-6 Texan at Oceana Air Show

2010-09-23T11:31:00.001-04:00

Bill Leff did all the restoration on the T-6 Texan and she shines like a jewel in the sun. This radial-engine prop trainer was used from WW2 to Vietnam in a variety of roles. Bill truly pushes the envelope as the engine sputters and coughs in protest as he flies upside down just feet above the ground.

What a beautiful warbird.
Peace,
John

Super Hornets at Oceana Air Show

2010-09-22T23:11:00.000-04:00

Hey all,
The McDonnall Douglas F/A 18 Hornet was well represented at the airshow this weekend. These are two aircraft from the Fleet air power demonstration. As they roared overhead, pyro charges simulated a bombing run. Very cool.

This is a F/A-18E Super Hornet. The larger size (25% increase) of the airframe is not readily apparent, but the larger rectangular jet intakes are certainly noticable. I can't help but wonder what that did for the "stealthy-ness" of the aircraft.

A F/A-18F (two seater) Super Hornet gets a welcoming wave from a fan after its run. The jet intakes are really obvious from the front. The Blue Angels fly the A and B (two-seater) variants with much smaller and rounded intakes.

The Super Hornet pilots wave back to the crowd. It's nice to be able to show our appreciation to the men and women who fly these beautiful jets and used them to protect the freedoms we all enjoy.

Peace,
John

Blue Angels C-130T Hercules transport "Fat Albert"

2010-09-21T12:55:00.001-04:00

The Blue Angels always bring their support crews and spare parts with them on a C-130 Hercules transport dubbed "Fat Albert." He's flown by Marine Corp Major Brendan Burks. It's nice to see the support staff getting a chance to show what they can do.

Peace,
John

Oceana Air Show 2010

2010-09-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

The E-2C Hawkeye is a carrier based radar and command/control platform.
It provides essential tactical information and provides a comm link between aircraft and carrier.

A member of the Red Devils, the British Army parachute team, brings the Red, White, and Blue into show center as we all sing the National Anthem.

A Sea King (or Super Stallion?) brings in the Red Devils for their jump.

The wing of a KC=135 Stratotanker does make a good viewing platform.

F-22 Raptor at Oceana Air Show 2010

2010-09-20T22:22:00.000-04:00

The F-22 demonstration didn't go as planned. The Raptor flew in did a quick vertical climb and did an almost right-angle turn due to its thrust vectoring capability. The announcer then said the aircraft had develolped a problem and couldn't finish it's demonstration. That was disappointing.

Peace,
John

Blue Angels at NAS Oceana 2010

2010-09-20T12:41:00.001-04:00

Hey all,
Just back from a tremendous weekend at the annual Naval Air Station Oceana Air Show. My friend Chris Dover and I drove down to see the show, hear the roar, and smell the exhaust. The Blue Angels performed, and as always, did a superb job. Their job is to take normal manuvers and do them FAR lower and closer than normal aviators. This precison control and skill is a hallmark of the Naval Flight Demonstration Team.

The Blue Angels in their "Diamond Formation" there is only 18 inches separating the canopies from the wingtips.

Blue Angel 5 banks hard.
Notice the contrails forming over the leading edges of the wings. As the wing angle of attack changes during the turn, the air can't fill the void fast enough and clouds form in the low-pressure areas.

Lead Solo Lt. Commander Frank Weisser and Opposing Solo Lt. Ben Walborn cross during opposing minimum radius turns. They are closing at many hundreds of knots (800+?) and pass within feet of each other. Phenominal skill and nerves of steel are nececessary. (BTW - I'm proud I timed the shot just right. My Nikon D90 is so fast and responsive that it makes shots like this possible. I love it.)

All 6 Blue Angles form the "Delta Formation" and complete other manuvers.

The Diamond Formation breaks on the "Boss's" (Capt. Greg McWherter, Blue Angel 1) command and the aircraft maneuver independently.

If you get a chance to see Blue Angels in action you should. What a show.

Peace,
John

USS Wisconsin

2010-09-17T21:14:00.001-04:00

On our way to the Oceana Air Show we decided to visit the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship.
Wow.
That was cool. The "Wisky" as she's affectionately called, served with distinction in WWII, as wells as the Korean and Gulf wars.
That is one BIG ship, and her sixteen inch main guns can hurl a shell that weighs as much as a Volkswagen twenty-one miles.

More soon.
Peace,
John

Hard at Work

2010-09-14T12:57:00.001-04:00

A bumblebee was hard at work gathering pollen when I came out the door this morning. Isn't God's creation marvelous?

Peace,
John

Me Her Us

2010-09-11T23:01:00.001-04:00

Hey all,
Here are some pics of us we've taken recently.

Tomlin and I are hiking the Appalachian Trail. No problem as we hiked from the parking lot to the trail :) We took this in Shenandoah National Park along Skyline Drive. What a beautiful place.

Sweetie at Windrock recreation area.

Gayle on the Appalachian Trail.

Us at Windrock. The Wind Turbines are really cool.

Us on the AT. We had a really fun trip.

Life is good.
Peace,
John

Video of Wind Turbines - TVA Buffalo Mountain Wind Power

2010-09-07T13:41:00.002-04:00

These wind turbines are so awesome. Watch their graceful motion and listen for the "whoosh" as those massive (100+ foot) blades sweep across the sky.

Cool.

Peace,

John

PS - geek moment. I got to wondering about the whoosh and did a little math. If I'm right, the blade tips are moving at over 100 MPH! That will certainly generate enough turbulence to be audible.

PPS - super geek moment - With 100' blades the tips scribe a circle with a circumference of 628 feet (2pi x radius) we timed 4 revolutions in 15 seconds making it 16 rpm.

16 revs x 628' = 10048 fpm

10048'/5280 = 1.9 miles per min x 60 = 114 MPH

If the blades are 134 feet (as I read somewhere) the tip speed is 153 MPH.

Windrock Wind Turbines

2010-09-07T00:00:00.001-04:00

Took a really cool drive up Windrock mountain to the wind farm today. The tubines (windmills?) are huge but graceful as they sweep across the sky.

Climbing the mountain you can't see them until you are almost there.

Those blades (each over 100 feet long!) were really moving. We clocked them at 16 rpm which is quite fast for somthing that big. Our friends Billy and Karla, whose Jeep we rode in, said they'd never been able to hear the "whoosh" of the blades so clearly. Check out the video to see/hear them.

These turbines are part of the Buffalo Mountain Wind Farm, a TVA "green power" project.

They are like kinetic sculptures. I think they're really quite beautiful.

I appreciate Billy and Karla taking us up the mountain, it's part of a large off-road recreation area.

Peace,
John

Riding the Dollywood Express in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

2010-08-21T19:18:00.001-04:00

We took a trip to Dollywood this week as a treat for our daughter who is going off to seminary. One of our (okay, my) favorite things to do is ride the Dollywood Express, a twenty-minute trip through the beautiful Smoky Mountains behind an authentic steam locomotive. Dollywood Engine 70 is a Baldwin 2-8-2 narrow gauge locomotive built in 1939. She spent several years in Alaska and Canada and was borrowed by the US Army to help build the AlCan Hwy through Canada to Alaska. She's been taking guests on trips the entire 25 year history of Dollywood and also worked at Dollywood's predecessor, Silver Dollar City. She's a great locomotive and the crew affectionately calls her "Cinder-ella."

Engine 70 waits at the station before beginning another run. The water tower isn't a decoration.
During a typical day, Cinderella will consume about 5,000 gallons of water and 5 tons of coal.

Our engineer did a great job.
It takes a skillful hand on the throttle to get a loaded train under way without a big jerk.

The "front office" of Engine 70. Beautiful craftsman ship and no plastic visible anywhere.
The long metal thing in the beam of sunlight is a sight glass showing the level of water in the boiler.
Very important as a boiler that runs dry can explode with tremendous force.

The fireman looks back to check on his train and gauge the status of the firebox by the color of the smoke.

Running an engine like this is a very hands-on operation.
These beautiful pieces of mechanical art can be treasured for their own sakes as well as for the work they can still do.
Thanks for a great trip guys and Cinderella.

Peace,
John

Bald River Falls

2010-07-30T20:29:00.000-04:00

Sweetie and I took a really nice drive to the Cherohala Skyway in Tellico Plains (Monroe Co., TN) The nice folks at the Visitor's Center
told us about the Bald River Falls which is several miles down a Forest Service Road off the Skyway. It was a beautiful drive and the falls were great. The road crossed the river just below the falls and the bridge gave an excellent shooting position and place to steady my camera. Moving water is great fun (and great frustration) to shoot, as the shutter speed can made a HUGE difference in the appearance of the water. The two closer views illusrate this difference.

The falls are a popular destination for swimming as well. But the location is remote enough that the crowds are nowhere near as large as at the Great Smokies.

A 1/500 second shutter speed stops the moving water and really coveys its power.

This shot used a 1/10 second shutter speed and gave the water a flowing milky look and I think shows it's motion and grace. I couldn't decide which I liked better, hence putting both of them on the blog.

Peace,
John

Fireworks in Lafollette 2010

2010-07-05T23:51:00.003-04:00

Hey all,

I love the 4th of July. We give thanks for our Nation and enjoy great fireworks.

These were shot at Woodson's Mall in LaFollette. The Cityof Lafollette sponsored te show and it was really nice.

Shooting fireworks can be frustrating, because there is still an element of luck in the shots.

But here are a few things I've learned to improve my chances:

1. use a tripod.

2. long exposures get cool sweeps of color but the ambient glow off the smoke can cloud the image (see pic 3)

3. short expousures get a cool "flower" like effect but are hard to time

4. focus manually, the autofocus has fits trying to get the lights focused before they disappear

5. don't trust the automatic exposure - the dark sky will fool the meter. Fireworks are so bright a low iso will get them and keep your background dark. The image below was made a 1/30 sec and iso 500 but the meter was calling for 3 sec at iso 3200

6. take lots of images at different settings and see what you like (don't be afraid to drop bad shots just learn from the culls)

Here is a HD video of the grand finale shot with my Nikon D90

Stay safe and have a great 4th.

Peace,

John

Behold the chicken

2010-07-04T19:18:00.001-04:00

Okay, yes it's a little ...
odd to post a picture of a chicken on my photography blog.

However, this is the first chicken off our new smoker, and it looked so good I just wanted to share [the picture not the chicken :) ] with all of you

Got to go, time for supper.

Peace,
John

Epcot Trip

2010-06-09T22:07:00.001-04:00

Our trip to EPCOT was a blast. Weather was sunny and hot up until the evening when we had an awesome storm.
The full album is at http://picasaweb.google.com/revcrab/DisneyTrip2010?feat=directlink

Peace,
John

Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee

2010-04-08T15:38:00.000-04:00

The Parthenon is a must-see on a trip to Nashville. Located in Centennial Park, this is a faithful re-creation of the Parthenon in Greece. Known as the "Athens of the South", Nashville had this built for Tennessee's centennial celebration in 1896.

A HUGE gilded statue of Athena is the centerpiece of the upper level. On the lower level there is a very nice art gallery.

To get a sense of scale, the statue of Nike in Athena's right hand is over six feet tall.

Flowers 1

2010-04-07T23:00:00.000-04:00

Spring is finally here and with it bright colors and graceful shapes.
After the dull hues of winter this is a welcome change.
PS - I wish I knew what these were. oh well.

These two are from our yard. I enjoy the challenge of finding beauty here "under our noses" so to speak.

Dogwoods are coming soon...

Peace,
John

Double Rainbow over Jacksboro, TN

2010-03-13T18:53:00.000-05:00

We had a beautiful double rainbow at home today.

Nice.
God is good.

Peace,
John

Patterns 2

2010-03-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

Winter has its own stark beauty.
The patterns of nature are more evident without foliage, but I must admit it is easier to appreciate it when the sun is out.

Trees on a mountainside

Seed pods at Cove Lake

Flaming Moss (?)

Enjoy the last of winter, and be glad spring is coming soon.
Peace,
John

testing testing read all about it

2010-03-05T23:46:00.000-05:00

this is a test of the john crabtree photography blog
this is only a test

if this were an actual blog entry
you would view it more than 10 secs

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

gone.............

fishing

Patterns

2010-03-05T13:06:00.001-05:00

Hey all,
Shapes and patterns are fascinating to photograph. Common objects have hidden depths waiting to be revealed
This old cogwheel is still ready to whirl into activity (grinding corn in this case)
yet the rust and age says it's not going anywhere.
The contradiction of "frozen motion" appeals to me

A seed pod defiantly hangs on the tree.

An old tractor seat filled with graceful curves.

Beauty in the ordinary.

Peace,
John

Antique Tractor Beautiful Decay

2010-03-04T20:29:00.001-05:00

I love all types of mechanical things.

This tractor was in front of a closed antique museum in Lake City, Tennessee. Decades of weathering have taken its toll, leaving it beautifully weathered. One can almost feel the years of hard labor it's seen.

Once upon a time, this tractor was shiny and new, undoubtedly the pride of its owner.

Now, metal wheels are corroding,

and gauges are splintered.

Yet we can still honor this relic of a bygone day and give thanks for the way it served its purpose.

Peace,
John

Norfolk-Southern Engine, Powell, TN

2010-02-25T15:06:00.000-05:00

As a life-long railfan, when I saw this beautiful, new engine parked in a siding at Powell, Tennessee, I had to stop and get a few shots. My grandfather, WH Overton, was a conductor on Southern Railway for many years, mostly on the Knoxville-Asheville run. In fact, there was a whole gang of Overton brothers and uncles working for Southern as engineers, conductors, and in the shops, especially Coster Shop. Pe-Paw started working for Southrn in 1939 and worked there until his retirement in '75.

It was great to get a close-up look at this huge GE locomotive. I was amused to see "Under Warranty" painted under the windows of the cab, but this is still a fairly new engine. Its emissions certification shows that it's not quite four years old.

Lake Junaluska, NC

2010-02-16T16:29:00.001-05:00

Snow in Jacksboro

2010-01-30T13:44:00.001-05:00

The snowstorm began in the evening and by midnight it was coming down hard

The way it was gathring on the branches, I was afraid the power would go out. Thankfully, it didn't.

Before
&
After

Our Dog Tomlin

2010-01-23T22:11:00.001-05:00

Just hangin' out with my human

Peekaboo

Well, are you going to throw the ball or what?

He's a three-year old Husky mix who is convinced he's "people" too. Tomlin brings a lot of joy to our lives and will be a big help to our daughter when she goes off to graduate school.

He's rotten, but we love him anyway.
Peace,
John

Avatar Movie Review

2010-01-21T23:39:00.000-05:00

Just got back from seeing Avatar. In a word, "Wow!"

So the story is familiar (Disney's Pocahontas with blue cat people), it didn't keep me from fully investing is the experience. I really enjoyed it. Sweetie made a good point; the familiar story kept from distracting from the gorgeous special effects. BIG hat tip to James Cameron, Avatar looks like nothing you've ever seen before. All the tired tag lines: "Revolutionary," "Game Changing," really do apply. Pandora is a fully realized world and the Na'vi are fully realized "people." Oddly enough, the scenery was more distracting than the Na'vi characters. I quickly forgot they were CGI blue cat/people aliens and just thought of them as "people."

Go see Avatar. Now.

Aren't you gone yet?

Peace,
John
Avatar Website Here

American Museum of Science and Energy

2010-01-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved visiting the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The AMSE is full of exciting exhibits about energy and the historic role Oak Ridge played in world events. Admission price is $5 for adults and is well worth an afternoon of exploration

I could watch the lightning ball for hours, it's more mesmerizing than a lava lamp.

This is the main exhibit hall for atomic energy. The large blue ball is a whirling model of an atom

This shows the principles behind a nuclear power plant and historic milestones in the development of nuclear power.

The Atomic Theater is a wonderful place for demonstrations and educational events.

If you're in Knoxville or Oak Ridge, be sure to visit the American Museum of Science and Energy
www.amse.org

Gates of Oak Ridge, Tennessee

2010-01-16T10:49:00.000-05:00

Oak Ridge Tennessee was known as the "Secret City" during World War 2. The city was created as part of the war effort to build the atomic bomb. Uranium for the bomb was produced at 3 top-secret facilites. The entire area was an armed military camp guarded by fences and checkposts. I have family who lived in Oak Ridge and worked on the Manhattan Project and there were many family stories of having to get the proper pass to go through the gates to visit relatives.

These checkpoints were no joke. Armed guards carefully checked passes and documents and routinely searched people and vehicles. Cameras and binoculars were strictly forbidden within the city. Those narrow windows are fitted with bullet-proof glass and the small opening beneath the window is for machine guns.

Searchlights on the roof and floodlights everywhere else made sure no one snuck past. These buildings are still powered and in use. The are unmarked and I believe they are offices for the security forces that still guard the government operations in Oak Ridge.

High on the ridge above the gate, a second guard tower provides an additional layer of security.

It's not hard to imagine hard-eyed guards still suspiciously watching for enemy spies and saboteurs.

I love Oak Ridge

Winter at Cove Lake 2

2010-01-09T23:42:00.001-05:00

Winter at Cove Lake

2010-01-09T23:30:00.001-05:00

Pictures of the Chattanooga Choo Choo

2010-01-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

Completed in 1909, the Termial Staion for Southen Railway in Chattanooga was a familiar stop for many travellers. The beautiful building won awards for design in a 1900 competition in Paris, France. Closed in 1974, the property was purchased by private investors and now is a Holiday Inn Hotel. You can sleep in a real train car!! We love this place.

The familiar sign and beautiful Art Deco brickwork are a beloved landmark in Chattanooga, TN

Lobby interior featuring the Great Dome

These doors used to lead to loading platforms, now they open to a very nice dining room with a "patio" feel

Beautiful Christmas decorations (many featuing life-sized figures) grace the lobby area

Chattanooga Getaway

2010-01-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

This year we took our annual New Year's trip to Chattanooga, TN.

We used to live there and it remains a favorite getaway destination.

We visited some favorite restaurants (Acropolis, Imperial Garden), visited some favorite places (Chattanooga Choo Choo, Rembrandt's, Arts District) and visited some favorite people (Hello Dover and Winter families!!)

After the Christmas rush it was a good break to go away for a couple of days. We came back rested and ready to get back to "normal"

Allie and Tomlin relaxing at the hotel

Gayle (between shops) in Choo Choo lobby

Sam proves you're never too old to ride the kiddie train

hmmm. I wonder what this does....

Chattanooga Choo Choo Photos

2010-01-05T17:14:00.000-05:00

Our annual New Year's trip was to Chattanooga where we had a great time looking at the historic railroad station, in the shops and at the HUGE model train exhibit. We had a blast

Funerals aren't always sad

2008-07-23T13:18:00.000-04:00

Well, we've arrived at our new appointment and are beginning to get acclimated. We still have lots of boxes, but unpacking and setting up a new household is much more fun that packing one up.

I had my first funeral here yesterday. It went pretty well (the family said they were pleased) and now I'm feeling more like a part of the community. It's one of the blessings of the ministry that families will let you deep into their homes and lives at some of the most important times they face, weddings and funerals among others.

It is inappropriate to say I like funerals, but I do get satisfaction from comforting those who are grieving and reminding them (and all of us) of Christ's promises that offer a real and lasting hope right when all seems hopeless.

This funeral was for "Pappy" Parnell. I am so very grateful that some kind church members took me last week to meet him and his sister who cares for him. It's much harder to do a funeral when you don't know the person (another good reason for going to church and getting to know your pastor.) I heard dozens of stories about how Pappy loved his church, family, and community and all the things he did for them. We sometimes forget how our lives are a witness to our faith in Christ that can continue after we've gone.

Grief is real and the loss of a loved one can be devastating. We mustn't make light of that, but remember that through Christ there is hope.

Pray for those in grief.

Grace and Peace,
John

For Sale - One Set of Frayed Nerves, Stress Included, Good for Parts.

2008-06-04T21:07:00.000-04:00

I'll offer you a good deal on a set of used nerves, fairly frayed and in need of a good vacation.

I hate moving. I mentioned that earlier but it bears repeating. I hate moving, and yet here I am in a vocation that is rivaled only by the military and certain professional moochers (Kato Kaelin) for the number of moves required.

Yesterday was a prime example of why I hate it. There seems to be a giant "crap magnet" that is activated when we begin the process. I'm not referring to our possessions, but it would be apropos. I'm referring to all the other crap that happens which keeps us from dealing with the crap we really need to.

We were at a meeting (which went pretty well) and went out to the car and when we turned the key - nothing happened. Well, we have AAA for a reason, so we gave them a call. My wife innocently announced, "by the way, we need to go by the closest gas station when we do get it started." After waiting 45 minutes, this massive flatbed towtruck arrives, and out jumps the driver with this dinky little red box. He cheerfully announces, "This will get you going in no time" and proceeds to hook it up to the battery. He waits for a sec and then tells my wife to give it a try. She did. Again with the nothing. He frowns and jiggles the wires and has her try it again. Nope. Still nothing. When your rescuer starts coaxing and sweet talking his equipment, you know you've got problems. "Come on, you can do it." At this point, he decides to try the "big battery" on the truck. We pushed the car out into the middle of the driveway so he could get to it. Did I mention we were in a hospital parking lot? I had visions of an ambulance wheeling around the corner and flinging the patient out the back doors as it served to avoid us. The driver hooked up these massive cables to our little battery and then to the suitcase sized battery on his rig. I had visions of our little car blowing up when he cranked up the diesel, but nothing happened. Really. Lots of nothing. After about ten minutes of trying our little PT coughed to life. We all cheered, and he unhooked the cables. As he was returning to his truck, the PT sputtered and died and again refused to start. I yelled at the towtruck driver over the roar of his truck and he looked quite surprised. He was even more surprised when he touched the jumper cables to the cab of his truck (while they were still hooked to his battery.) NICE fireworks, but fortunately, no injuries. We decided that maybe it was out of gas, so our nice towtruck driver went to get us a can of gasoline. After dumping that in the tank we repeated the process with the cables, again it tookforever before the car started. When he tried to remove the cables it died immediately. "Uh oh," he says, "you may have a bad alternator." I can't afford an alternator, we're moving, for goodness sakes'. At that point, we had literally less than $50 to get through the month (no I'm not making that up) the rest was budgeted for utilities and moving expenses. While we're absorbing that bit of news. The towtruck driver looks up and earnestly says, "Geez, you guys may need to call AAA for a tow truck." Huh? I mean, his tow truck was currently taking up half the lot. Turns out, he needed to go to Knoxville, and couldn't come back for us for at least 3 hours. Never mind that our garage was on the way to Knoxville, he couldn't take us. Sigh.

Note- our driver (from Airport Towing in Morristown) was very helpful and nice. He had just run out of time for our call and needed to move to the next one. It was frustrating on our part, but he did really try to help us. I would call them again.

We called our mechanic who said, "yep, it sound like an alternator." Then he added ominously, "those can get really expensive on those cars." Great.

While waiting on our second AAA tow truck, my wife and I walked into the hospital to grab a bite of lunch. We were commiserating on these things happening, but we reminded each other that God is really good to us. You see, our budget was down to $50, but I still had that paycheck in my pocket. If we had an emergency car repair we could pay it and clean up the mess it would make of our budget later. We've had that happen before. We'll have some major breakdown right after I've gotten my check. If this had happened last week, we would have been in deep, deep trouble. God is very good.

In due course, our other tow truck arrived, and we were heading to the garage in short order. I got my truck and met my wife at the garage. Our mechanic friend sent us out for a new battery since ours seemed to be fried. When we returned, he installed it and then proceeded to check the alternator. "You just dodged a big bullet," he said with a smile as he closed the hood. "Rebuilt alternators for your car run $238, but yours is okay." Whew. Thank You, God! A new battery is much better than a new alternator and battery.

By this time, it was 3:00. Our plan was to have an early appointment so I could be home by 10 working on packing. Oh well, plans change. We're another day behind on preparing for the move, but at least her car is running and we didn't have to spend all our budget on repairs.

We'll get through this. We've gotten through worse, but that doesn't make this stress any more pleasant.

Oh well, God is still good.

On the budget front, we were able to re-arrange some of the bills and now we're in a much better position for the move.

Peace,
John

PS- pray for those with money trouble and car trouble

Conversations in an alley

2008-05-31T17:14:00.000-04:00

On the way to get boxes yesterday, I went to a liquor store in a really bad part of town. I'd called around and they promised me a big stack of boxes (Friday being a big day at the store). I got there and there were four lonely boxes in the alleyway. Hmmp. Well maybe someone needed them more that I. Also in the alleyway was a homeless guy sitting against the building with his bag.
I needed to get going. My wife and I had planned a date, and she had already gone home to get ready. This was not a nice place, we were close to a housing project and the clientele was, shall we say, different from what I normally see on Sunday morning. I really wanted to grab those boxes and go.

But there he sat, looking at me.

I've been reading a book, Messy Spirituality, which has the coolest subtitle ever: God's Annoying Love for Imperfect People.

Well, I'll claim that "imperfect" part all right, and if I want grace and mercy, who am I to offer judgement and rejection? Sigh. Yes, Lord. When I looked over and asked, "How's it goin'?" It was like flipping a switch. This fellow lit up and said, "Friend, could you give me 50 cents?" 50 cents? What in the world can you do with 50 cents these days? I thought. I said sure, and started to look in my billfold to give him at least a dollar or two. I'd forgotten that I'd given all my cash to my wife earlier that day. All I could offer him was the change in my pockets, which may or may not have been the requested amount.

All the while I was digging around, he was talking about how much is feet hurt and how his ex-wife had taken him for thirty-five thousand in child support. I wasn't really listening until something (or someone) caused a memory from a recent training event to cross my mind. "What people in need want more than anything is to be listened to and be taken seriously." Sign (again). Yes, Lord. I'm sorry, I'll try to do better.

So I started paying attention and giving eye contact. I had to battle the usual helpless, overwhelmed feeling. I really couldn't help this guy in a truly meaningful way. I couldn't fix his marriage, his back problems, his housing problem, his disability rejection. All I could do was listen. Well, maybe not all. I did remember a resource list from that same training that was still in my truck (see, I wasn't procrastinating about cleaning it out. I was saving it for something important.) So I was able to give him some phone numbers. I also asked his name, which is Tim.

Then we prayed.

I prayed for Tim. Tim prayed for me. I was reminded that we were both in a similar spot, needed the grace, help and support of Jesus to get through. Sure Tim is in great need, but I cannot afford to look down on him because I too need the grace of Christ to get through the day.

I couldn't do much for Tim, just pray for him. On second thought, maybe that's what really matters.

Peace,
John

PS- remember Tim and the other homeless and needy today in your own prayers if you would.

Boxes Boxes Everywhere

2008-05-31T16:59:00.000-04:00

Well June is approaching, and for many United Methodists in this part of the country that means Annual Conference season and Moving Day. This year we are joining the trek to a new appointment which will bring a whole new set of challenges and exciting opportunities. This is truly a time of new beginnings where pastors resolve to do better than the last time and really become the Spirit-filled disciple, preacher and teacher God called them to be. There are new people to meed. A new community of faith to get to know, and a loving God to serve. Every appointment teaches us things (good and bad) and we (I) try to bring that into the new setting. I do believe that God is in the appointment process and He is preparing our place for us.

But first........

Ugh. I hate moving. How did we accumulate all this crap? Um, I mean treasured family belongings. I walked in the parsonage the other day and it hit me, "Wow, moving day is coming soon." I wondered where that thought had come from then I noticed that our living room had that smell. The box smell. No matter where they come from, they all have that musty kind of sour smell.

For this move we have a selection of Pizza Hut boxes, a large number of "likker" store boxes (hey, they are strong and usually already have handy dividers) and some bona-fide official moving boxes that we got at the local thrift store.

It would be nice if the rest of the world stopped so we could focus on just one thing, but for now I've got to put aside the boxes and go polish my sermon and do the bulletins for church tomorrow. We're doing Holy Communion (which I love). You ought to come, it'll be great.

Peace,
John

My wife's blog.

2008-02-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

While I'm getting things ready here why not visit my wife's blog? The url is http://hopeforhealingorg.blogspot.com/