Hey, Andy. I think I'm into the 16th minute.

How would you like to have this guy as your soccer coach?

No post last night. I was Sunday night tired and had tasks I needed to complete before crashing. Now I'm not sure I can remember all the things my mind has raced through since Saturday night. In no particular order....

I got a call this morning from Nancy Farghalli, the gal from the NPR program "Marketplace Money." She's the one who called initially to set up the interview we did at our home last week with her and Tess Vigeland. Because that interview included a discussion about our kids and whether they looked forward to retirement in the classic sense she thought it might be interesting to interview one of them. Josh & Aubri and the kids left yesterday for a week's vacation in San Diego so I gave Nancy Steve's cell number.

He called me about 45 minutes later to say Nancy had called, and after talking for a bit she decided it would work better if he did a formal phone interview with Tess, the host of the show. So Tess will call Steve This Friday.

Skip ahead to late this afternoon. I was out on my bike ride when my cell phone rang. I always take it with me in case I have a problem, but I'm one of those guys that has trouble ignoring a call. So I jumped on the brakes, pulled over to the side and got the phone out of my jersey just before it went to voice mail. It was Nancy again. She said they thought it would be interesting if they could put some of my preaching in as background for our conversation. So while we talked I gave her our church website, she went there and saw the page where the mp3's of sermons are posted, and said that would work very well.

I was so pumped by this turn of events - "...as heard on NPR" - that I finished that route in a personal best time.
How weird is all of this?
The downside is that our local NPR station doesn't carry Marketplace Money. They only carry Marketplace.

I spent most of the morning running 120 envelopes through my printer. This afternoon I went up to Office Max and printed out the letters about the curriculum. So by the end of the week a letter announcing the curriculum's availability should be in the hands of over 100 pastors.
This is the part of the process where I start spending my money. So far it's just been my time.

The govt., in the person of former AZ governor and current Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, has decided that the swine flu is no more severe than the normal seasonal flu that makes the rounds each year. So we can all return to kissing pigs and entering crowded elevators. About the only people disappointed are the manufacturers of masks.

I heard someone interviewed this morning (on NPR) who said an Obama popularity crash is inevitable. He said that back in the day people's expectations and hopes for a Reagan presidency were unrealistically high, and disappointment was sure to happen eventually. It did. The same was true for Clinton and Bush. In each case their party's loyalists began by saying, "Now things are really going to go our way!" but that even with a majority in Congress it's unrealistic to expect to turn a country your way in four or eight years. The President's power is too limited.
This guy went on to say that the expectations for an Obama presidency are way higher than for any of those previous guys, which will make the reality check even more dramatic.

That prediction reminded me of something I heard the late Dr. Jack Dean, then President of Grace Bible College, say at a ceremony opening the academic year back when I was an undergrad student. Dr. Dean said that if we pinned our hopes on an individual we were bound to experience disappointment sooner or later. I think he said that because he knew how easily college students, especially freshmen, can attach themselves to a particular prof and become blind loyalists. Dr. Dean said only God would never disappoint, never fail, and so he alone should be the focus of our loyalty.

Whether its presidents, college profs or friends and family members, we are all human beings. We are all, even if we are the children of God through faith in Christ, subject to the temptations and failings of the flesh (sarx). That reality reminds us to keep our focus upward and our expectations of others muted. We will be disappointed. That is not to make excuses for sinful failures! But somewhere this side of cynicism is a realistic understanding of the frailty of the flesh. And thanksgiving for an always faithful God.

Lakers in six, Orlando in five.

I've got more but I need to feed Al so he gets his P.M. constitutional in before dark. I need to feed myself too (Pam's at work). Then I've got 120 envelopes to stuff.
So the rest will wait until tomorrow.