"I have long been of the opinion that if work were such a splendid thing the rich would have kept more of it for themselves." - Bruce Grocott

The lily pond has a surface area of 42 sq. feet. If the humidity level is 13% and the wind blows at 20 mph with gusts to 25 mph the pond loses about an inch of water level in a 24-hour period.

A proton walks into a bar and orders a Shirley Temple. The bartender says, “You know that’s a kids’ drink, right. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
And the proton responds: “_________.”

This is just very cool!
Space Shuttle launch in time lapse.

Cinderella is going to the big dance! Go Bulldogs!

A statistician goes into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender, who is 5’10” tall and weighs 178 lbs. says, “I won’t serve you.”
And the statistician responds: “_________.”

I’ve been tasking away since 6:00 this morning. I moved the bedroom furniture that had been moved out to the garage for the master bedroom remodel into the dining room (table pushed to the wall). That will create room for Ilsa when I bring her back from Clarkdale Monday. I knew El Guapo wasn’t right so this morning I went looking for a feminine German name and settled on Ilsa which, at least according to the internet, means “devoted to God.” In this case it’s about stewardship. It’s God’s car.

All the printing is done and the case packed and ready for church tomorrow.

I was at the rental a little before 9 a.m. to do a variety of repairs to get it ready for the new renter.
Why would someone install the latch on a bathroom door backwards / upside down so that the door doesn’t close?

A yogurt cup goes into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender says, “I won’t serve you until you sing me an aria from a famous opera.” The yogurt cup proceeds to sing “Un Bel De Vedremo” from Madama Butterfly, and does so beautifully. The bartender says, “I am absolutely amazed! I would never have guessed you could do that.”
And the yogurt cup says: “_________.”

This afternoon I sanded the ceiling in the master bedroom, marking with a pencil all the places that needed another application of mud. Then I mixed up a pan of 45 minute mud - pretty thin mix - to go over those areas. I learned a trick watching the pros who did the walls in our church addition at Celebration. For the final application where just a thin layer is needed over small areas it can be difficult to see the mud even right after you’ve applied it. They added some blue chalk like the kind used in a snap-line case to give a slight tint to the mud. That works!
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll give those areas a final sanding and then it will be ready for priming.

I took a dozen or more photos of Gerta in anticipation of listing her on eBay. I need to go back and get one of the battery tray, a site where rust often develops, to show she’s clean and solid there, too.
The battery in a classic VW is under the back seat. Often, the plastic battery cover supplied with the car goes missing, and that has been the cause of more than one car fire. Someone climbs in the back seat and their body weight pushes the metal seat springs down onto the battery terminals, shorting them out. Next thing you know...toasted buns and a nasty conflagration. Lots of guys just use a piece of cardboard to replace the original cover. Anything to insulate the terminals from the seat springs.

I head it said that a good pastor’s conference sends you away with three good jokes, two sermon outlines and one solid contact for your next church.
By that measure this one gets a D. I got two sermon outlines, but not from him.

He’s a good guy who clearly knows the Word of God and understands what it means to be a pastor (he spent 20 years in pastoral ministry before joining RBC). His assigned topic was, “The Pastor’s Life” and he covered topics like balance in ministry, disappointment with people, the pastor’s family life...and some other stuff I don’t remember.
The reason I don’t remember it is because, as several of us noted in conversations after sessions, he didn’t bring it on home. Everything he said was true and biblical. But it stayed out there. He gave anecdotal illustrations but even those lacked ....

The best preacher I’ve ever heard is Ed Dobson who retired from Calvary Church in Grand Rapids several years ago because of his advancing ALS. Listening to him preach makes me feel like I should be fixing faucets for a living. He teaches the Word, but also has an absolutely amazing ability to make application that is specific and personal to ... me. Remember that Roberta Flack song that says, “He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair. And then he looked right through me as if I wasn’t there. Strumming my face with his fingers....” Dobson can do that. He finds a way to take a biblical truth and prick you with it, making its application so specific that you leave shaking your head at the immediacy of that truth in your life.

This guy missed. He said all good stuff but it stayed “out there” in principle land. Yeah, I understand that bitterness over real or perceived injuries can ruin my ministry. But to really work he needs to find a way to stab me with that truth. That happens as the preacher - through careful and prayerful work during the preparation of the sermon - uses the second person pronoun to apply it to the listeners real, daily life. Sometimes that happens through setting up a scenario, sometimes through exhortation, but almost always using “you” in order to force me to confront the truth.

You know why the four or five of us talked about that after his sessions? It was NOT to critique him!! We agreed it was so we could, from the other side of the pulpit (music stand) hear a sermon as our people hear it. It reminds us what WE must do. Our objective is not expounded truth but changed lives (including our own). Surgical application is required for that to happen.

So tomorrow at Pathway....

In my next post I’ll try to explain the really great stuff I took away from my week in Michigan.

A neutron walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender serves him and when the neutron goes to pay the bartender refuses, saying: “___________.”