It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.

First they took away the meals, then the pillows and blankets.
Now we have to move the planes ourselves.

That picture in the panel to the right...the one of me on the motorcycle...now has a new caption.
I met "A.J." at the dealership after they'd done the valve adjust and throttle body sync, at a cost to me of $183. He took one look at the bike and handed me an envelope with $4,300 in it. He didn't touch the bike, didn't start it up, didn't take it for a ride. He did comment on how good it looks. I told him the service guy did an inspection and the front brakes and rotors need replacing and he responded, "No problem." Weird.
So I am now without a motorcycle for the first time in about 15 years, a span of time that put 30 years on my mother. (She's sleeping soundly tonight.) No plans to replace it with another. Life changes.
Now that it's gone I'll say that I never really felt at home on the bike. I wouldn't complain whilst I owned it lest it sound like I was bargaining for a replacement. But the service tech agreed that the 1150 is indeed both heavy and top heavy. (He said I should drive the new 1200, completely redesigned.) I always felt like I had to muscle it through corners, not like the bike and I were one. Great brakes! And very, very stable at high speeds (shhh). But a C- for handling. And no torque, but that's expected from a 2 cyl. boxer engine. If I did get another bike I'd ride it harder during the test ride, and pay more attention to the bike's weight.

Maybe this should be my next bike!

Wall Street is apparently not thrilled with the President's economics plan. Where's the bottom?

I worked on the curriculum while I was waiting for my ... uhm, AJ's bike to be serviced. I've lost almost all motivation for that project, and with the motivation went effectiveness. I'm close to the end of the first draft of the second year teacher's guide and when it's done I'll print the whole thing out for a read-through. I'm afraid of what I'll find.

In the first few verses of 2 Corinthians Paul says that the comfort he has received from God prepares him to pass that comfort on to others in trouble. "Praise be to God...who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (1:3-4).
Note "in any trouble." It's not that those to whom Paul ministers are experiencing the same trouble he did. Paul was beaten, imprisoned, slandered and more. But those experiences and the comfort he received from God gave him a resource he could pass on to others even if their difficult situation was very different.
As we've gone through my pastoral ministry Pam and I have referred to this passage on more than one occassion. When Steve was hospitalized at 6 months, when I found myself unemployed (twice), when we didn't have enough money for food.... In each and every case God not only met our physical needs, but comforted by meeting our emotional and spiritual needs.
Now my responsibility is to pass on to others a measure of that comfort which I have received. That's a mixed blessing. A pastor doesn't want to see his people in need of comfort; it means things have gone very wrong. But at a time like that he wants to do all he can to help them through their troubles.
I thank God for past troubles because, in addition to building me up, they prepared me in some measure to pass it on to others the comfort I've received.

Pastors need to get kicked around some. Job training.