Author: Robert

i’ve been majorly sick the past week. starting sunday afternoon i developed the mother of all flu’s. it was awful. i didn’t go anywhere near the church until earlier this morning. truthfully i didn’t care what happened at the church – not because i don’t care about my family that is there but rather because i didn’t care about much other than when my next dose of medicine was coming up and how long i could sleep that time. i felt miserable. this post however is not about me. it’s about the staff that i work with.

i work with two wonderful people, jessica and alan. together we make up the youth ministry staff that leads a team of volunteers in getting the youth ministry going and grooving. technically i’m their boss, but truthfully we are a team. they didn’t miss a beat without me there even though we have a pretty major girls event this weekend (the feminar). everything, including our wednesday night service (the view) ran wonderfully. kids were assured of GOD’s love, parent’s were assured that they matter within the youth ministry and everyone was pushed and encouraged in following our wonderfully dangerous LORD and SAVIOR. and i had nothing to do with it.

i love my staff.

after four days of being stuck in the house because of the mother of all flu’s i’m presently sitting in the cc’s coffee house on seigen lane drinking a grande decaf mocha and eating some banana bread. i took pam’s car to church this morning taking the boys to school and stopping in the office to make sure that life had gone on without me (as anyone who knows the youth ministry knows everything went great without me there. jessica and alan make everything happen and all i do is stand around and take the credit for it all). afterwards i went to drop off pam’s car at our mechanic. sunday pam’s car started having trouble going into reverse. now personally i’m not entirely sure why we have to have the reverse gear. i think life should always go forward with our past merely pushing and supporting us. you should never live your life in reverse looks backwards. i tried this answer with pam but she insisted that she needed to be able to go in reverse. once again she has rejected my logic.

anyway, i took her car to berry automotive once again trying my “life should always go forward” joke and once again getting a blank look from the person i told it to. unfortunately, since no one was at the church office when i went this morning i couldn’t secure a ride back from berry’s automotive. therefore, i decided to walk across the street and have a cup of coffee while i phoned a few people for a ride. i called bill, my pastor, and secured a ride up to the church with him. then i went to order my coffee. this is where life became good.

there where three barristers working at the siegen lane cc’s this morning. i knew all three of them and better than that all three of them knew me. it’s not unusual for me to know one or even a couple of people working at cc’s but knowing everyone working at the store at a single moment has never happened to me before. even better than just knowing them, and being known by them was that they all three initiated a conversation with me. not just some “hey lets have small talk while i fix your drink” conversation but rather an extended conversation jumping from ” where’s that coffee cup that you used to always bring?” to “how are things at church?” and “how’s pam?” we ended our conversation with a discussion of the best cheeseburger in town (riverside patty hands down). i didn’t even have to tell them what i wanted to drink, they knew it already. while other people were in the cc’s i was the one who was the “regular”. for some of you this is no big deal. you’re probably a ‘regular” at several different spots but that’s not true for me. cc’s is the only spot that i am a “regular” at and it feels good to be a “regular”.

now, i’m going to go back and finish my banana nut bread.

when i get sick i get majorly sick, just ask pam. i’m out for days. all i do is sleep. of course, me being sick is not really the point i wanted to make during this entry. instead i want to talk about how great it is to have a basset hound. the only thing i do well when i am sick is sleep and it just so happens that basset hounds are experts at sleeping. even better than being expert sleepers bassets love to sleep beside people. every time i lay down montana is there to jump on the couch and lie down with me. 45 pounds of slightly smelly bed warmer. just what the doctor ordered.

the good side of being sick has been that my body picked the absolute best days of the year to be sick on. it has been rainy and cold (at least i think it is cold – i haven’t been outside the house since 7 p.m. sunday). the perfect weather for being sick in. pam is making her fantastic chicken noodle soup tonight and that will only make things better. so let me hit the facts again:

• sick
• cold, rainy weather
• basset hound warming device
• homemade chicken noodle soup

if you got to be sick then that’s the way to be sick.

i feel miserable. i’ve been suffering through a 101.7 degree fever today. i’ve done nothing but slept all day. this is the first time i’ve looked at the computer (or done anything other than move from the bed to the couch) and typing this is actually wearing me out. i think i will have to stop now and sleep around two hours to recuperate. if you have an orange tree that is bearing fruit and wouldn’t mind bringing me some freshly squeezed orange juice i would appreciate it.

i love tony campolo and i love jordon cooper. campolo i love because he is campolo and there is nobody else like him (though there are many of us who pretend to be like him) cooper i love because he constantly finds good article and links and pastes them on his blog.

yesterday jordon cooper posted part of an interview with campolo concerning his book “speaking my mind“. as usual with campolo the interview was great. here’s just a snippet of the interview.

if john kerry or george w. bush were to call you up and ask for your guidance on issues facing america today, what would you tell each of them in turn?

to kerry, i think my major issue would be “do you understand us? do you understand evangelicals and why we’re so upset about the pro-life issue? do you understand why we believe all life is sacred?” i’d encourage him to do justice and to do righteousness.

to george bush, I’d say “the GOD of scripture is a GOD who calls us to protect the environment. i don’t think your administration has done that very well. the GOD of scripture calls us to be peacemakers. we follow a JESUS who said those who live by the sword will die by the sword, who called us to be agents of reconciliation.”

i would point out to george bush that the CHRIST that he follows says “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”-which doesn’t go along with capital punishment.

i would say different things to each candidate, but i would respond instantaneously to the invitation to speak to each of them. all the way to the white house, i would be praying, “GOD, keep me from chickening out. help me to not be so overawed by the high office of these people that I fail to recognize i answer to a higher authority.”

you really should read the rest of the article it is great. campolo has a way of hitting the “nail on the head”. he does a great job of avoiding becoming the mouth piece of the right or the left. he’s for CHRIST rather than a conservative or liberal ideology. i love that.