"An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger." - Dan Rather

This will be a brief post. Pam's out in the kitchen making a dinner that includes pot roast. That's noteworthy at our house where we rarely have a meal with meat that requires cutting. And in a little over an hour the first presidential debate will begin. I plan to watch, though if they're boring (or irritating) we'll turn over to the NCIS reruns.

I've already decided who I'm not voting for, so I'll watch more for the sport than anything. And since the news for the next 36 hours will be dominated by debate analysis I'll have some idea what they're talking about. Unless one of them totally screws up each man's camp will declare him the winner and the media - both ends of the spectrum - will make a show of objectivity in their analysis.  OK, maybe not both ends.

My new bike computer came in today's mail. I read through the instructions at lunch and will install it on the bike tonight so it will be ready for tomorrow morning's ride. I read that the speedometer will go up to 62.5 mph. That should be adequate.
Besides all the normal functions - current speed, average speed, current speed relative to avg. speed, elapsed time, ride distance, total distance, and temperature - it also records calories burned. I have to enter my weight and then whether I'm male or female. I'm curious: if I were a 150 lb. male would the rate of calories burned be higher or lower than if I were a 150 lb. female? And why any difference?
All this in a gizmo not much bigger than a quarter and about 1/4" thick.

I got exercised about my sermon and had it written, plus slides made, by 4:00 today instead of my normal Thursday afternoon. But this is one of those sermons that needs to connect with the gut. I'm better at, or at least find it easier, to preach sermons weighted to objective truth - teaching sermons. Feeling sermons require a lot more percolation after preparation. So now I've got until Sunday morning for that part of the process.

One of the gals at Pathway who also blogs wrote that she is amused by 19-year olds who wear a badge that says "elder." (Their house was visited by Mormon missionaries.) I agree. It's like a 26-year old celibate Catholic priest being called "father."

This comes to mind because of an email conversation I had today with one of my friends/former students who lives in another city and whom I rarely see. But as with a great many of my students I still feel a parental attachment. (The connections the internet makes possible, through both email and Facebook, are a great blessing IMO.) When they were my students I was roughly the age of their parents, and the small college environment allowed us to get to know each other outside of the class setting. The classroom and the cafeteria were my favorite spaces.
They were, and are "my kids."

I feel the same way about the dear people of Pathway. I am the age of their parents - at least of 90% of those who attend. I don't know if they realize how I feel about them, for them. They are my children, in this case "children in the faith" to use the Apostle Paul's term. They are their Father's sheep, but he has allowed me to be their earthly shepherd for a brief time and I feel a deep attachment to them - a parental concern and care.

Conventional wisdom says that if a church wants to attract and relate to younger adults it must have a pastor in that age bracket himself so he can relate to their life experiences. But I've decided it's an advantage to be elder. I was there; I know the feeling. I got some of it right and a lot of it wrong, and the wisdom that comes from experience should count for something. I'm elder and I feel like their spiritual father.

The people are the best part.