"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." - Thomas Jefferson

I've been absent for a couple of days for no good reason. We had stuff going on through most of the weekend and when I got to the evening I just didn't feel like posting.
Deal with it.

Saturday morning Fred & Karen Vinton stopped in for a visit on their way back to SoCal. Next summer they'll head back to Africa - Tanzania - to serve there again as missionaries, this time under Wycliffe doing translation work. I've known them for decades and have HUGE respect for them. Our visit was too short.

After they left at about 11:00 I went right to work painting the rest of MoHo's east side. We were to be rain free for the rest of the day, and in fact the sun peeked out a couple of times.
It then poured during the night, starting about midnight. As in, woke us both up it rained so hard.
When I went out to feed the animals before heading to church I saw this:

You'd think 12 hours would be enough for paint to dry, but not in Oregon where the humidity this time of year is always about 110%.
This closeup represents the half of one of MoHo's long side, so an area about 30'x10'. To say I'm disgusted is an understatement. And with rain in the forecast for the next five months I don't know when I'll get this area repainted, never mind the other three sides.
Grrrrr.

Sunday morning I taught my class from 8:30 to 9:30 and, as always had fun doing so. It's an easy group. This last week they (we) read through the last part of Exodus and the first few chapters of Leviticus. They'll almost finish that latter book by the time we meet next Sunday. I warned them that books like Leviticus don't make easy reading and gave them permission to skim. I'd rather they did that and stayed on schedule than think they had to read every word as attentively as is easy to do with narrative sections and then give up when they find that too difficult.
In class next Sunday we'll talk about what they skimmed and pull out significant factoids. Then I'll give them an overview of Numbers. Because that book returns to narrative it will again be more engaging.

The BIG news that makes me very happy:
Brett and the small group of UFC guys went up to Oregon State Penitentiary last night to do their turn at the bi-monthly service. I got an email from Brett this morning telling me that CHIP WAS GRANTED PAROLE!!! His release date is 12/14. He'll celebrate his first Christmas outside in 25 years.
Even if Brett doesn't need me to sub for him I'll go up between now and then so I can see Chip before he's released.

When we lived in CA I was a diehard Dodgers fan but I was glad to see Boston win. The enemy of my enemy (the Yankees) is my friend and they have some very likable guys on that team. The Dodgers have some not-so-nice guys, especially Machado.

Oregon has a vote by mail system. You can either mail in your ballot or drop it in one of the boxes at various locations around town. On the way to church yesterday we dropped our ballots in the box located in the Walmart parking lot along our route.
It's a very convenient way to vote. I can vote whenever it's convenient from the comfort of my chair with my state information booklet at my side if necessary. And the drop box bit is as easy as it gets.
But something about this leaves me wanting. I miss the experience of going to a polling place where my fellow citizens are also exercising their most basic democratic right. I miss going up to the table where the volunteer looks up my name and hands me a ballot, and then going to one of those flimsy booths where I fill out my ballot before dropping it in the big sealed box.
And I got an "I voted" sticker on the way out.
I think vote by mail probably increases voter "turn out," except we didn't turn out. We barely got up.
So is there a tipping point where exercising that right becomes so easy it loses its significance, its gravitas?

OK, we're just home from small group. On the way we picked up the rental car I'll drive to Seattle early tomorrow morning. I was supposed to take a Kia Soul but it was due for an oil change so they gave me an Impala. Just driving it the 20 miles to small group and back it seems like a nice car. I'll let you know more after I've put 600+ miles on it.

Small group was fun. Brett's sermon was about election (Rom. 8:29-31) and they had great questions. They may still, but we had a fun and significant conversation. I like talking deep theology in a way that allows for lots of laughter. That may be the best.

The goal is to be out of here between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next. I'm staying at my brother's and they don't have wifi. (They do everything on their iPhones.) But when I do next post I should have some pics.

Til then....