I went for my first run today since my foot procedure except for one attempt that failed 20 yards down the road. It was hard work but felt good mentally.
I also installed the new fuel pump and...hold your breath...I think it may have fixed the problem. I didn't have time to take Sally out for a drive but it idled OK here in the driveway even after it was up to temp. Wouldn't do that Saturday. I still went down to NAPA and picked up the carb kit so I'll have it at the ready if necessary. Sure hope it ain't required.
I had an online conversation with Marta today about the sequence of things for baby goats. She'll come Thursday morning to disbud them. That's a procedure that's unpleasant for everyone, especially the goat kid, that involves a rod heated very, very hot that burns down to the skull where the horns would come out. I'll hold AJ and Burrito while Marta applies the iron.
She also gave me the schedule for the vaccination & booster that protects them from a couple of typical goat diseases and tetanus.
At ten weeks I do what's necessary (banding) to turn them from bucks into wethers. That's like a dad's spanking; it hurts them more than it hurts me.
We missed church a week ago because we thought Sundae was going to kid and we didn't want to be gone, so I listened to the pastor's sermon online. He'd said the Sunday before that was going to be his topic (from 1 Thess. 3, the book he's preaching through), and that's a tough preach, so I was curious to hear how he handled a difficult and very important passage.
When our paths crossed before church this Sunday he congratulated me on the birth of the kids. I told him we'd missed ("Sure, skip the sermon on sex!") but that I'd listened online and thought he'd done a very good job. He thanked me and then said, "This morning's sermon is a real yawner. Four points and not much else."
I know he said that to me because I preached a few thousand sermons and know the feeling of going into it less than excited about what I was about to deliver. Of all those sermons I think there were maybe five that I felt good about that afternoon.
OK, three.
I don't know how Brett felt about it Sunday afternoon but it was NOT a yawner. I think I detected a bit of struggle as he preached - the kind of ever-so-slight fumbling for the right word, fighting to remember which passage goes here - that I experienced when I lacked confidence in my outline. Confident preaching flows more readily.
But the sermon was solidly biblical, had a thesis (Paul gives us practical direction for relationships within the local church), and moved with good pacing from one point to the next. It likely wasn't a sermon that's going to transform anyone's life, but precious few do. It's the cumulative effect of bringing God's Word to his people with clarity week after week that allows the Holy Spirit to do his divine work.
My point? A couple of them.
First, if your pastor does a good job with a sermon, tell him that. If he's anything like me he won't entirely believe your positive feedback (hazard of the profession), but part of him will still appreciate, yea, cling to it.
Understand that preachers also have a rough day at the office (or in the pulpit). The best ballplayers go to the plate and fail 2/3 of the time, and they get paid millions of dollars. He gets paid a lot less and probably makes contact a lot more often. So if he swings and misses cut him some slack.
Pray for the guy. He struggles to do a good job and judges his work by a standard a bit tougher, higher than the ball player or widget maker. On the drive home he asks himself, "What did God think of that?!" (A: "I got a good bit of it wrong.")
And keep going, precisely because it's the cumulative effect of hundreds of sermons from God's Word that transforms us (Rom. 12:2). Don't expect a home run on this or any Sunday, but if he hits a single, well, enough singles and the game is won.
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