"A man's already halfway in love with any woman who will listen to him." - Brendan Behan

Pam's 12:15 flight got in early so we were home by 12:30. It's now almost 3:00 and we're just now getting up to do small tasks. She had a challenging visit and came home emotionally exhausted. I've had a busy week at work and I'm always surprised how much extra there is to be done at home when there's only one person to do it all. So just sitting quietly in each other's company feels like a huge relief.

It's official; I will be teaching an adult class for the four Tuesday nights in April. The staff decided this morning that "Adult Ed" is a thoroughly inadequate name so they have until next week to suggest an alternative. (Feel free to weigh in with your suggestion. If it's good I'll present it as my own and get all the props that go along with it.)
This first four week class will be an Introduction to Theology. We'll cover the five basic categories of theology (Biblical, Systematic, Dogmatic, Historical, and Contemporary) and give a summary of how each works, why they're good to know, and how to proceed in a study of each.
Assuming this initial offering goes well I'll teach more 4-6 week courses in the fall, alternating between BTh (Bible/Theology) and CL (Christian Living). For each course, including this first one, they'll get a syllabus and a handout with space for them to take notes. The handout sheets will be 3-hole punched so that as we go through courses they can build a notebook of their notes from each class.
One of my adages: "Pastors typically overestimate what their people know and underestimate what they're capable of learning." We'll start at the beginning and build up from there.

Aside from the prep work for the class, I'll be doing the "check-ins". Because it's a larger church UFC works hard to integrate people into the church community, and tracking the number and quality of each person's connections is a big part of that. If someone comes to my class are they also in some other group within the UFC ministry umbrella? Do they attend a small group, or ladies' Bible study, or the monthly senior luncheon, or the college group, or...? So part of my job is to take attendance and then use the church data base to see if those attending have at least one other connection with UFC. If they don't I do my best to encourage them in that direction. It's sort of like this class is my little flock to shepherd.
UFC does a lot of stuff right.

I plan on posting tomorrow, but just in case I don't for some reason I should also explain that I'll be gone part of the weekend. This weekend is the UFC men's retreat up in Black Butte.
I just told you everything I know about this except that it starts with dinner at 6 p.m. Friday and ends Sunday morning. But Brett and I are coming back Saturday night so we can both take care of our Sunday morning responsibilities. Black Butte is about 2 hours east of here. They've reserved 4 houses, most through AirBNB I think, that the 60 or so guys will stay in.
Three group sessions, meals together in the largest of the houses, and mostly free time. It's going to be in the mid-40s so outdoor activity is for the brave and hardy. (I'm neither.)

So I'm gone Friday and Saturday, home Sunday for church responsibilities, Monday will be the morning at church and then out-patient surgery in the afternoon.
At my annual skin check a couple of weeks ago the dermatologist took tissue from a suspicious mole on my shoulder blade and the report came back "malignant melanoma." So Monday afternoon he'll take out a bunch of tissue (why do they call it tissue when it's flesh?) and send the edges out for biopsy. A week later I'll find out if they got it all or if I have to go back for more excision.
This is my third time going through this routine and it ain't a lot of fun. So I tell myself to be thankful for dermatologists who can spot and treat the problem.
"Shut up and be thankful."

On the way home from the airport we turned onto Baker Rd. to see a tree service truck with a chipper in tow. The truck was FULL of chips. I left a note in the truck door saying we live 3/4 mile down Baker, we have a circular driveway that allows easy in & out, and I'd love to have those chips! About 30 minutes later he pulled in and dumped this pile of mostly cedar chips.
Freebie!
I'll get some landscape cloth to put down between the raised beds now enclosed in the deer fence, and then put the chips on top of that. Easy for the lady of the house who's in charge of raising the veggies.
Boom!

Pam's just about got dinner ready (it's really nice to have her home!) and after we eat I'll work on my lesson for Sunday. Ezekiel and apocalyptic literature as a key genre within the OT literature.