"We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work." - Milton Friedman

I've been gone for a couple of days, both physically and digitally. I left for the UFC men's retreat mid-afternoon Friday and didn't get home until fairly late Saturday night with no internet during that time. Yesterday was church in the morning and then taking full advantage of a rare rain-free afternoon to start prepping the garden. By the time I came in for supper my brain was dead.
But, despite popular demand, I'm back to resume periodic drivel.

The men's retreat was a pleasant surprise. It was my first and, frankly, I went prepared to view it as "ministry." The published schedule included a one-hour morning and evening session and meals, with everything else labeled as free time. Yeah, I'm not such a big fan of unstructured free time when I can't use it to get an ever-growing list of chores done.

But the actual schedule included some interesting and structured discussion time based on the sessions, meals for 60+ guys (outstanding food) took more time than I expected with some fun conversation while eating in smaller groups, and Saturday's afternoon free time gave me an opportunity to watch guys play pickleball - a game that looks worth trying.

So yes, I enjoyed the time away, thoroughly enjoyed the drive up and back and the scenery along the McKenzie River, and the many interesting conversations I had with a very diverse group of guys.

It will rain all day today but the rest of the week should be fairly dry with a chance at 70 degrees on Thursday. If that happens expect partying in the streets on the gravel road.

If you don't do anything else of significance today, listen to this. (You'll agree it's significant.)
Dave is our executive pastor.

I remember going through St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC as a college student and having mixed thoughts and feelings about that space. The architecture and art were stunningly impressive, but I was also struck by the spiritual darkness and idolatry of the place, especially as I saw Roman Catholics there for "worship" that included kissing the reproduction of Michelangelo's "Pieta."
So I'm sad for the loss of irreplaceable art lost in today's fire at Notre Dame, but here too I have mixed thoughts and feelings.

I'm just back from the dermatologist and the excision of my melanoma. Now we wait a week for biopsy results to see if they got it all, but the dr. seems quite confident it's going to be good news. And now I'll go for a check every six months instead of yearly.
He put in staples instead of sutures because they don't pull as much. So the scar is neater. On my back. Which he says should never see the light of day.

Somewhere there's a lab tech sitting at a microscope looking at tissue samples. Every so often he/she looks at a slide and says, "Yep, that's cancer." Sometimes it's a melanoma that can be successfully excised and sometimes the tech is looking at brain tissue, or pancreas tissue, or ....
They look up from their microscope and check "positive" in the box on a form and put that form in an envelope that goes back to the doctor.
Does that lab tech ever think about the person at the other end of that tissue sample and report form? Do they think about that mother, or father, or college student, or groom whose world is going to be turned upside down and be rocked by the C word? Nothing will ever be the same for them and in a matter of days, perhaps hours, their life will be consumed by a regimen of chemo, or radiation, or radical surgery.

There's more, but dinner is on its way and I'm hungry. So it will keep.