Hump Day Not-So-Brief

It’s now the evening of the 27^th.  I am safely home after a full day at the office.  I needed it desperately since I had fallen behind in every facet of office work:  Letters, phone calls, emails, and other forms of paperwork (was that redundant?).  All those things had to be squeezed in- between any possible interruptions and unexpected visits from constituents wanting to discuss a particular concern or need.  At times I feel I should spend more time in the office, but I quickly recover from that unfathomable thought.  Office work is one of those things I must do in order to do what I love to do.

Nonetheless, in the midst of the day at the office there was an unexpected and belated celebration of my birthday on Monday.  There were some extremely delicious cupcakes provided by Phil, who purchased them from some place called Simply Bundt, or something like that.  They were incredibly rich and tasty.  The group sang the Happy Birthday Song two times: once for a young lady named Joy, who was part of the auditing team, and once for me.  I, however, was made to wear the red straw hat and hold the piñata of a donkey.  Typecasting at its worse!  But it was a fun moment of jocularity. 

I hope to be off to California tomorrow morning.  I have plans to visit the Pathfinder Camporee at Glen Helen Park in Devore on Friday morning.  The evening, however, is reserved for my grandson, who is turning four years of age!  We will celebrate his birthday with family on Friday night.  Then the rest of the weekend has been planned by my family to exhaust the last ounce of energy from my aging body.  It involves packing, loading the cars, driving 300 miles—600 round-trip, unloading the cars, exploring the snow banks of Mammoth Mountain, playing with the grandkids, snow-boarding, falling, snowboarding some more, falling some more, one night of sleep and more traveling.  Oh yes, and enjoying a Sabbath rest before it all begins.  I do not know what my children are thinking!  But honestly, there is no other place I would rather be than with my family.

When I pray the one thing I always ask is that God keep my family connected to him so that can I have the pleasure of enjoying in heaven forever—someday.  There is much to love about this place called earth, but there is also much that is not right and will only get worse until God makes all things new.  I would love to see my grandkids running and playing in a carefree world with no danger or death.  There is too much that reeks of hate and anger and prejudice.  No one is immune of the effects of the sin problem.  I figure the longer I live will only expose me to more tragedy and pain in others.  I can handle it, but I do not want to see my family go through it—ever!  But it is as inevitable as the sunset and night on the equator.  So while I pray for their safe-keeping, but I pray even more for their hearts—that they might be safe in God’s hands and secure in His salvation.

Lots to share, but I have exhausted my space.  Tomorrow will come soon enough.  Pray for the children…. (234.2)

Hump Day Brief

Just a short entry—a full day awaits me.  I am delighted to know that my day is full.  I was reminded this morning that time is precious and ought not to be taken for granted.  I will

I toyed with the idea of traveling to California today—the PUC Pathfinder Camporee is taking place in Glen Helen beginning tonight and through the weekend.  It will have to wait.  Too much catching up to do!  Have a great day!

Holbrook Happenings

My birthday is almost over.  It was a day full of meetings.  Holbrook Indian School Board of Trustees took the lion’s share of the day.  The rest was taken up by local family commitments (my mom, mainly, and a couple of newly acquired family members who have claimed my mom as their mother).

I just finished four hours on the computer and phone thanking the people who took the time to write on my Facebook page or who left messages on my mobile phone.  It took me a few hours, but I felt I should at least say thank you.  Major changes are on their way for the Holbrook school.  Their principal of the last six years is retiring to care for an ailing mother.  The Vice-principal has accepted a teaching position in Texas.  And that’s not the end of the changes.  On the bright side, the board interviewed the person who appears to be the chosen candidate to take the helm of the school.  The decision is for the candidate to make after visiting the school and meeting with the staff.  He seems like a genuine person with a passion for impacting Adventist Education in this unique school and in the Native American community in Holbrook and Chinle, the other northern Indian school.

Tomorrow will be an even busier day.  There are phone calls to make that have been piling up for a few days.  There is an important document to produce.  There are a couple of appointments to keep.  There are even committee members to secure for visits that are already on this side of the horizon.  The Tax Credit program will hopefully be on-line before Wednesday.  We may even get a DVD together to send to the churches to explain the Arizona Tax Credit Scholarship Program.

The campus of TAA is quiet this week, except for a few Maranatha workers that remain to do the finish work on the project.  The Maranatha Group definitely left its mark on the campus—but the work is a long way from being finished.  Money will need to be raised to do the cabinetry for the newly refurbished dorm rooms.  They look pretty good right now, but they are not finished.

There are great things ahead!  If we just pull together we will be able to do great things for God.  I believe something extraordinary is about to take place.  Sooner or later things are going to break out and produce something special.  God is Good! (230.4)

Birthday Eve

In less than one hour I will be turning 55!  Wow!  When did that happen?  Where has that time gone?  Here I am sitting at my computer blogging my way into my 56^th year.  It is a time of reflection.

At this moment any professional milestones don’t mean much.  Anything that has been accomplished or gained during my short tenure here seems a bit devoid of any significance—at least at this particular moment.  Tomorrow morning will bring its share of moments of joy and satisfaction.  What I do here in Arizona provides me a purpose in life and reason for being here and doing what I do.  I am enjoying my ministry.

I must confess that there are days that are less gratifying than others.  This time of year brings more than its share of days with moments that I find no pleasure in experiencing.  I wonder if the efforts made to further and lift the system above the ordinary and into the extraordinary levels God wants us to experience will become a reality.  There are naysayers—I have one who regularly sends me messages that are far from encouraging.  I wonder what motivates such notes.  I sense no one is out to destroy Adventist Education—certainly not me.  I would think that neither do those who do not believe in what we are trying to accomplish.  But that does not mean we have to try to chisel away at each other.

Right now I just miss my family.  I miss the sounds of my grandchildren asking me to give them a ride around the room on my back or asking me to tell them a story I just made up.  I miss the smells of fresh cooking from the kitchen.  I miss more than a virtual moment of solitude with Penny.  I miss going to church with my wife and grown children and the deep discussions about God and life and ethics we regularly had on Friday nights during and after supper.  I miss holding Penny in the crook of my arm as we fell asleep after a long day.

Yet here I am because I believe God somehow wants me here and because I want to make a difference for the Adventist children and young people who should benefit from soaking in a solid and spiritual education in an Adventist school.  What’s wrong with that?  Have all decisions been absolutely the best decisions?  I don’t know that right now.  I believe they have been.  But the Enemy is also at work trying to sidetrack our efforts.  That’s the enemy, not any detractors out there, and not me.  We would do well to focus our corporate efforts in defending our children from the real Enemy!  We need each other—we need to band together if we are going to stand a chance.  God calls us to unity.

Anyway—please forgive this indulgence in sentimentality.  The bottom line is that I enjoyed preaching Sabbath morning in Gilbert.  I enjoyed preaching again on Sabbath afternoon at the Paradise Valley Spanish Church.  I enjoyed a restfully busy Saturday evening at home and a busy office day and Holbrook Personnel Meeting today.  Somehow I still believe we are making a positive difference here.  The unkind words and unfortunate developments along the way are the dues I must pay for the privilege of being part of something special.  My children incessantly remind me that I left a good thing behind in California.  They are so right!  I left a chunk of myself back there.  I leave a piece of myself there every time I visit and have to drive away from them once again.  But this is where I believe God called me and I will remain at my post until God calls me home or elsewhere.  There is something special here too.

Let’s pray for each other.  The option to pray against each other or to ignore each other in our prayers is not good.  Those do not sound like viable choices.  We may disagree over methods or motives, but we can still pray for each other. Ten minutes to go.  The great unknown awaits!  Good Night!  By the way, my secret friend-- I could use some building up occasionally.  (229.6)

Whirlwind Week

I am finally within the confines of Sabbath—Hallelujah!  I need the rest on many levels!  It has been a tiring and trying week in the AZ Conference.  For purposes of full disclosure, not all the stress was related to the AZ Conference.  The week began in Prescott, Arizona, where I had a marvelous time with some friends from the Paradise Valley SDA Church who asked me to speak for their family retreat in beautiful Camp Yavapines.  It was a great day—made even more special because my wife, Penny arrived early enough on Friday to travel up to camp with me in time for me to speak for the Friday evening vespers service.  She stayed!

The next day was equally stimulating.  Their hospitality was extraordinary; the accommodations were excellent (The Helmer Hilton!); and the messages were anchored to the theme, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”  It was about relationships—God, couples, families, and humans.  I had a great time.  The end of the weekend in Prescott was a bit premature, since the winter storm of the year was heading our way and was anticipated to arrive in Prescott at about 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night.  (The PV people sent me picture the next morning—beautiful snow covered scenes!) Well, we had to get out, since I had to be in Calexico, California at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.  I had to somehow squeeze dropping Penny off in Riverside before the orientation meeting for a WASC accreditation meeting on the campus of Calexico Mission School.

We barely got out!  We went through some thunder and lightning and rain and hail, but we got off the mountain and arrived in Riverside in the wee hours of the morning.  I was off to Calexico by about 10:00 a.m. (which was cutting it pretty close, but out of my control!).  The three-day visit was a good experience and the visiting committee did its job.  The report was submitted to the administration right after lunch on Wednesday and I was on the road (special dispensation from the committee chair) to Tucson by about 2:30 p.m.  Considering I had a 6:30 board meeting in southern Tucson, it was not a possibility without stretching the laws of time and space.  My Prius is not built for warp speed!

I pushed the proverbial envelope more than I should have and arrived late—a little before 7:00 p.m. to the meeting.  It was a productive but long meeting that ended somewhere about 10:00 p.m.  I hit the road headed back to Scottsdale—without considering for a moment that I was slated to be back in Tucson the next day (a scheduling anomaly!)  for a pastor’s meeting, some classroom observations and another school board meeting at a sister school.  If not for a phone call to a friend who questioned the sanity of traveling late to Scottsdale only to return early the next morning to Tucson, I would have done it out of habit.  Alas, I located a hotel and spent the night.

The next day was hectic, but I was refreshed!  The observations went well.  The pastor’s meeting was productive.  The school board went long, but sufficient personal preparation had taken place to deal with the difficult items for discussion.  I got home about midnight and enjoyed a good night’s rest.  This brings me to Friday—today.  Let’s just call it mostly a “mom” day.  I am scheduled to preach in Gilbert tomorrow.  I will be dropping my mom off at the Dear Valley Spanish SDA Church on my way to my commitment in the southeast of Phoenix.  My mom’s “adoptive children” will be taking charge of her for the day while I am gone to Gilbert.

I have not even begun to scratch the surface of all that is going on in the conference—perhaps I can catch up next week.  In the meantime—have a great Sabbath!

This is War

The end of the day is here.  I am very unsettled at the moment.  There is a lot going on in the conference that causes me reason to pause.  There are unseen powers battling behind the scenes to derail worthy goals and initiatives.  In my quiet moment of introspection I wonder what lies ahead.  I have never for a moment thought the task would be easy, nor would it depend on my personal capital or ability.  It has always been a God thing.  I have evidence of divine intervention in matters that I have deliberately placed in prayer before God.  It is amazing to see Him at work.

The puzzling thing is that people who find themselves on the opposite end of the same initiatives lay claim to the same divine power to move in a different direction.  I am sure glad I am not God!  I am left with my limited perspective and narrow frame of reference to move forward believing in a God who is able to make the best even our of our worst efforts.  I would gladly become a proverbial donkey for God if it meant I was doing His bidding.  I venture to think that I may have already accomplished the first task quite adeptly. 

It’s that time of year when personnel decisions are taking place across the conference school system.  There are several transitions taking place due to teachers going back to complete a doctoral program or finish some needed classes to attain overdue certification.  Those are understandable and laudable causes.  Others however are precipitated by school closings and possible downsizing.  This is what I believe to be unconscionable, particularly in a state that offers the opportunity to fund our entire system with money that simply needs to be diverted from the state to the school with a simple step at the moment of finishing a tax return.  There are so many ways to give to the Arizona Tax Credit program that are painless and at times requires no actual money coming out of your pocket.  I have one month to create a wave of Tax Credit Funds with little chance of meeting my goal without some help from people in every church taking it upon themselves to find people to sign up.  If we cannot manage to find them prior to the April 15 deadline, then we must find them after the deadline, but find them we must!

I cannot do it alone!  I cannot do it without a total commitment to the cause.  I cannot do it without all conference pastors jumping on board en masse!  I cannot do it without divine intervention.  This is a battle—it is war!  Our children are at risk if we fail to consider it as such.  I know that the enemy will stop at nothing to discourage, detract, detour, derail, demoralize, degrade, and any other negative “D” word that applies to my spiritual core.  I ask for your prayers.  Tomorrow waits!  We cannot afford to any longer.   (230.4)

Escondido Escapades

I am in Escondido, California today for a WASC accreditation visit for Escondido Adventist Academy.  This event was not in my schedule even three weeks ago.  A last minute complication from a visiting team member precipitated a last minute call into duty.

Sabbath morning took me to Yuma Gila Mountain Church.  I enjoyed Sabbath School with the church family which consisted mostly of retired and semi-retired people.  Their Sabbath School begins at 9:15 a.m.  I’m not talking song service; I am talking post-song service Sabbath School begins at 9:15 a.m.  So even though Penny and I arrived promptly at 9:30 a.m. after waking up at 5:00 a.m. and leaving Scottsdale a little after 6:00 a.m. in order to arrive on time, we arrived merely in time to hear half of the mission story from a lady who had actually served in the jungles of Peru!  Amazing!

I had the privilege of sharing the children’s story (I had to call a 16 year-old to participate in the children’s participation part of the story.  I am thankful there was at least one younger person there.  Her name was Naomi).  I also preached a sermon entitled “My Eight Sons.”  I enjoyed preaching it and Penny told me she enjoyed it also. 

We stayed for potluck which gave us the opportunity to share the table with some very interesting people—one from Battle Ground, Washington and the other from Sand Point, Idaho.  Both couples shared life stories and experiences that confirmed that God was working in their lives.  It was a very interesting lunch.

We could not stay much longer since we had committed to a dedication service in Redlands, California at 6:00 p.m. on Sabbath evening.  We arrived with plenty of time, mainly because I let Penny drive and I fell asleep.  I am certain my poor Prius got pushed more than when I am driving.  I was surprised how quickly we got to our destination.  We even had time go to Riverside to visit for a few minutes with the grandchildren.

Which brings me to Escondido, California and a WASC visit.  My media fast has gone through a bit of a change.  I am listening to choice music—so that part of the media fast has morphed.  In exchange I am trying to stay away from video media of all kinds as much as possible.  This is not easy, since much of the news offers video clips to accentuate the news event.  I am a news junkie of sorts.  I am now tempted to exclude all news…and sports…from the array of options in which I choose to participate.   I am having trouble with that one.  Perhaps that’s a clue that I should try if I am serious about “detoxing” my mind.  I can only begin to imagine how much stuff has accumulated over the years of watching newscasts alone, not to mention all the other stuff I have mentally ingested.  It is quite sobering.  In any case, duty calls.