I understand, kid. I understand.We left for the airport a little before 4 a.m. and Pam called to tell me she'd arrived in Grand Rapids about 11:30 local time.
I watched bits and pieces of the TV coverage from the Chile mine scene. Fascinating, and very moving.
Yes, just as we thought we might be nearing the end of the housing mess it took another turn for the worse. The Attorneys General of all 50 states have called for an investigation into the foreclosure process, and an increasing number of banks are following B of A's lead by halting all foreclosure proceedings. The problem is "robo-signing," bank employees signing the documents to initiate a foreclosure without ever reading the forms to see if everything was in order.
Nobody thinks a significant number of people who lost their homes to foreclosure would have kept them, save for these tactics. These were all folks who fell behind on their mortgage payments, so the issue is procedural, not substantive. But the banks are easy - and in most cases deserving - targets for anger, so even procedural problems provide a basis for demonizing.
But one unintended consequence of halting foreclosures is halting the sale of abandoned homes, thus delaying significantly the reduction of inventory, including the shadow inventory. This prolongs the recovery of the housing market, some say, by years.
And for those who stopped making their mortgage payments but are still living in their home just waiting for the bank to evict them? (Many for over a year.) Make yourselves comfortable, folks. Just don't complain about injustice to those of us who are upside down but still making our mortgage payments.
Monthly elder meeting tonight. A couple of months ago we formally adopted Pathway's constitution. One of the items in that document, under "Elders," is the stipulation that we carry out an annual peer review for each elder. (I get a job performance review, instead.) Creating the form for that process was a tough task! This is a draft, and I'm sure we'll refine it as we use it over time, but we've begun the cycle, one elder per month. It's not an easy or comfortable thing for any of us, however the significance of the office of elder requires we hold each other accountable to the standards of Scripture re. serving in this office.
Lots more good stuff happening at Pathway. We're growing in every sense, making progress on many fronts. God is Good.
I watched bits and pieces of the TV coverage from the Chile mine scene. Fascinating, and very moving.
Yes, just as we thought we might be nearing the end of the housing mess it took another turn for the worse. The Attorneys General of all 50 states have called for an investigation into the foreclosure process, and an increasing number of banks are following B of A's lead by halting all foreclosure proceedings. The problem is "robo-signing," bank employees signing the documents to initiate a foreclosure without ever reading the forms to see if everything was in order.
Nobody thinks a significant number of people who lost their homes to foreclosure would have kept them, save for these tactics. These were all folks who fell behind on their mortgage payments, so the issue is procedural, not substantive. But the banks are easy - and in most cases deserving - targets for anger, so even procedural problems provide a basis for demonizing.
But one unintended consequence of halting foreclosures is halting the sale of abandoned homes, thus delaying significantly the reduction of inventory, including the shadow inventory. This prolongs the recovery of the housing market, some say, by years.
And for those who stopped making their mortgage payments but are still living in their home just waiting for the bank to evict them? (Many for over a year.) Make yourselves comfortable, folks. Just don't complain about injustice to those of us who are upside down but still making our mortgage payments.
Monthly elder meeting tonight. A couple of months ago we formally adopted Pathway's constitution. One of the items in that document, under "Elders," is the stipulation that we carry out an annual peer review for each elder. (I get a job performance review, instead.) Creating the form for that process was a tough task! This is a draft, and I'm sure we'll refine it as we use it over time, but we've begun the cycle, one elder per month. It's not an easy or comfortable thing for any of us, however the significance of the office of elder requires we hold each other accountable to the standards of Scripture re. serving in this office.
Lots more good stuff happening at Pathway. We're growing in every sense, making progress on many fronts. God is Good.
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