Penultimate Day Contemplation

Only one more day remains of the year 2012.  Penny and I are back from California and Christmas with the family.  It was pretty awesome.  Every day that goes by I miss them more and more.  Being there only reminds me of all that I am missing.  I know that there is much more to do here in Arizona.  That is why I came.  I confess that my resolve is beginning to weaken.  There will be much prayer in the next few weeks and months as I assess what God has in store for me in Arizona and beyond.

I had a great time preaching this past week at AWC.  My sermon title was “Now What!” but it could have just as easily been “Happy Ebenezer Day!”  I am learning to savor every time I stand to preach since I do not know how long I will have the privilege.  Life is fragile and unpredictable.  I have had too many reminders of that reality this year.

Now I have a couple of very busy days ahead before I head out again for the West Coast (actually Central California) where my step-mom still lives.  Our plan is to travel with grandchildren in tow and spend a day or so with her.  She hasn’t seen them for a few months.  It is too easy to get too busy and lose sight of the priorities in life.  Our parents and those who had a part in seeing us through our formative years should not be forgotten.

Well, I ate too much during the holidays.  My scale was not happy when I returned to Scottsdale.  I am in recovery…but, alas, I am returning to the land of endless invitations to eat heartily and drink deeply.  I see plenty of “green juice” in my future, upon my return from the holidays!  (217.8

Running on Fumes

If that date sounds familiar, it should, since today was prognosticated by many as the last day of planet earth.  This may sound a bit crazy in a few years, but it was taken quite seriously by many people.  Oh well, we’re still here.

In any case, it is late Friday night in Scottsdale.  Another busy week has come to a close, but for a busy Sabbath awaiting me tomorrow.  This week produced quite a few memorable moments. 

Tuesday I enjoyed a great musical concert at GAA.  It was amazing what that school has put together at their school.  The children sound nothing short of amazing!  The selection of music was not simple and basic.  It was challenging and more than a bit complex.  But the kids rose to the occasion and produced some wonderful melodies and harmonies.

            Thursday was the Christmas Concert at TCE, where Penny and I work a few days out of the week.  All I can say about that evening is that God rescued what could have been a disastrous night.  Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, not just that evening, but for a couple days leading up to the concert.

To name a few (not all), we lost our performance CD.  It was taken by mistake to California.  We failed to order a rush copy, because we were convinced that we could use a “Dropbox” copy of the performance CD for the rehearsals and the “dress rehearsal”.  As it was, we were unable to open the Dropbox copy on time to use during our rehearsals on Wednesday due to some security firewalls.  We had to use a scratched and imperfect copy to rehearse.

We had planned a dress rehearsal on Thursday morning in the TAA Auditorium.  Instead we were forced into a “lockdown” situation due to a police situation a couple of miles away from our school.  That was after we were informed that the person who was running all the lights for the evening program had been admitted to the hospital in California (with our CD). When we finally went to rehearse, the good news is that we had a workable copy created by a very intelligent computer genius.  On that down side, our sound technician did not show up.  We were forced to have a dress rehearsal without the microphones we were going to use in the evening.

We survived.  The technician arrived that afternoon, about 4:00 p.m., and set up the microphones and other amenities. All was working well. No lights, though, since the technician was not familiar with the intricacies, as was his wife, who was in the hospital in California.  We launched the program anyway, only to discover too late that most of the microphones were in fact not working.  One speaker and the “fold-back” speakers used by the choir also when dead early in the cantata.  Do you see a pattern?

The good news is that the kids did wonderfully!  They sang their little hearts out, and in the end, the parents left delighted with the results, not realizing that the choral director was close to a coronary!  It was an amazing night, in spite of the technical difficulties.

Tonight I went for the last rehearsal before tomorrow’s cantata at AWC.  I’m tired!  Good night!  (213.6)

No Time to Rest...Yet

Thursday is over.  I spent the lion’s share of the day at GAA doing some teacher observations and dealing with some matters that needed special attention.  I had an opportunity to sit through a portion of the rehearsal for the Christmas program scheduled for next week.  GAA’s music program is incredible and the students work hard to create an amazing concert.  It was sight to behold!

I did not have much time to be in the office.  I was there long enough to get some documents signed and some Christmas cards completed before I had to head home to get ready for the evening.  It was the AZ Conference Christmas Dinner.  It is always a fun night, although it was close to 10 o’clock when we ended the evening at the office.  We still had more work waiting for us at home.

The evening was complicated unnecessarily due to a typical male behavioral pattern.  I apparently failed to make note of the dress code for the evening and proudly accompanied Penny to the evening festivities all gussied up only to discover upon arriving at the office that no one else was dressed up for the evening.

Penny had to run home and change, but the evening had already gotten off on the wrong foot.  At least she came back to the party, but the evening was quite cold for a considerable spell thereafter.  The Quartet sang a few songs.  The office staff sang some Christmas carols.  There were some readings and some humorous moments.  The food was quite delicious although I did not eat as much as I would have wanted since I was going to sing.

The White Elephant gift exchange went on forever, but it was very entertaining.  The items most in demand were some electronic picture frame and a large can of Big Franks--- go figure.  I ended up with a wind-up radio and a can opener!  It will be a late night followed by an early morning leading to a full weekend and a busy next week leading into the holidays!  Aaargh!  (217)

The Pace is Picking Up

Today was 12/12/12 and it will not be that again for 100 years.  I guess the next big day is December 21, huh?  I truly doubt the day will be anything other than another day, except for some “crazy” that may use the day to create some sort of apocalyptic scenario to get some sick sense of notoriety.  No need to worry!  Every day bring enough to worry about.

These have been a couple of very busy days in my life.  Education Board for the Arizona Conference took place on Tuesday and the Executive Board for the Arizona Conference took place today.  Add a personnel committee and a budget committee to the mix and you can begin to sense my level of busyness. 

But at least I am on this side of the storm and I’m still standing.  Some pretty sensitive matters were considered.  It’s tough to have make decisions that seriously impact people’s lives.  But sometimes it’s inevitable.  Great discussion took place during the Education Board related to identifying new sources of income for the school system.  The good news is that Tax Credit funds have spiked considerably this year.  That bodes well for December donations.  But it is going to take quite a windfall to significantly impact the financial challenges that exist presently in certain schools in the system.

The coming days do not offer any hope of slowing down.  Christmas season only picks up the pace.  Additional rehearsals are planned this week and next for the TCE Christmas Concert.  That should be fun.  Tomorrow I will be visiting GAA to do teacher observations after rehearsing with the TCE group in the early morning.

Change is in the air! (217)

Sunday Escape to the West

Sunday began early this week.  It usually provides me the opportunity to stay in bed a few extra minutes.  Today would not allow me such a luxury.  Today was the AZ Conference Retirees’ Christmas Banquet at the conference office.

The conference quartet, that still remains nameless, was slated to sing a few songs for the retirees.  That required some last minute rehearsing in the morning before it was time to set up the sound system.  We practiced and actually sounded quite nice—the acoustics in the cafeteria are quite impressive.

In any case, we practiced and got to sing four songs.  I wish I could say we sounded as good during the banquet as we did practicing, but this was definitely not the case.  Our only solace was the possibility that some of them could not hear us well enough to know how fragmented we sounded.  Or perhaps they did hear us and were simply very gracious with us not wanting to hurt our feelings.  Well, we get another chance this coming Thursday at the conference Christmas Party.

Penny and I left to Riverside immediately after we finished singing.  It was our daughter-in-law’s 30^th birthday celebration put together by the aunts back in California.  We arrived about two minutes too late to be in on the “Surprise!”  But we did get there in time for all the good food.  It was a great time with family.  No doubt we are missing the family more and more.  But God has provided us plenty of opportunity to visit and spend some time with them.

We’ll see how and where God leads for next year.  (217.8)

Busy Sabbath

It’s almost midnight and the day is almost done.  It was a great day at AWC.  Pastor HB had the sermon, but it was also our first day trying out our new template for the worship service.  We were out of church at 1:00 p.m., which is a rarity at AWC.  Still, there was plenty of time for the important components of the worship service.  It was good day.

In the afternoon (after a quick lunch) Penny and I ran off to witness a baptism.  German and Ashley were baptized in a mini-pool.  Lots of people came out in the afternoon and celebrated with the AWC family.  Great time was had by all who came out.  I even had an opportunity to see some ex-TAA students who came out for the baptism.

The evening ended with a trip to TAA to enjoy the Christmas Concert.  It was a treat.  The choir sounded amazing.  The strings and band are immensely improved over last year.  The program itself was put together and lighted quite nicely.  I don’t know how it’s midnight already. (216.6)

Friday Brief Brief

Just a short entry tonight.  Half a day at TCE.  The afternoon was spent running errands with Penny and hunting for gifts for the White Elephant gifts exchange at the conference office.

The day ended at choir practice at the conference office with the AWC Christmas Choir.  That program will take place on December 22.  Time for some shut-eye. (216.6)

Thursday Tidbits

Busy day is waiting for me when I get to the office.  The president is out of town and he asked me to cover for him at the morning worship at the office.  The fact is that I hardly go to the morning worships at the conference anymore, since I am usually at TCE greeting parents and the children as they arrive for school.  But it will be a treat for me to share some thoughts with my friends at the office.  I do miss being there regularly.

Yesterday Penny and I took a reasonably long trip to Nogales, Arizona to supposedly take care of some SENTRI process I had been working on for the last few months.  As it is, since I had since traded in my previous Prius I could no longer complete the process.  Ironically I couldn’t cancel it either without going into the office.  Homeland Security has made life a lot more difficult for the honest people.  In any case, I am beginning the process all over again.

The conference school system is still in need of a large influx of cash.  Schools are struggling financially.  The tax credit program is not being used to its potential for reasons I cannot truly fathom.  We gave out over $100,000 dollars in scholarships, but the need is so much greater.  It is going to take some divine intervention again.  I have been praying and I am curious to see how God is going to get involved this time. 

By the way, not that it is has anything to do with this blog, but my keyboard is going wacky!  It is jumping around in the middle of my typing without rhyme or reason.  It is very frustrating since I have to keep correcting mistakes that are unnecessary.  I do not know if it is a deterioration of my typing skills or truly a mechanical thing with my computer.  I’ll keep you posted on this important development.
 

Today ended up being a great day.  Worship at the conference office this morning was a hoot.  The details will remain undisclosed, but trust me when I say that it was one of those unforgettable moments.  I had little time to enjoy it since I had to run to the dentist’s office for some needed intervention.  I got away relatively unscathed. 

I got my things together and headed up the hill to the Prescott school.  I had a short but productive day with AL and CL.  They are doing a great job.  The students were engaged in what was taking place in the classroom.  We had a blast playing kick-ball and some crazy tag game which involved a “Paper, Rock, and Scissors” tiebreaking protocol and bedlam.  It was my exercise for the day, but the kids enjoyed seeing the old man run around the gym.

I stayed for an accreditation meeting followed by a school board meeting.  Both were productive and positive.  Lots of good things are in the pipeline at Prescott.  There are challenges, but they seem to have a positive spirit that will go a long was in pressing on.

I got home at a relatively early time.  Penny and I even had the time to sneak off to Costco and get some computer work done when we got home.  It’s Friday tomorrow!  Where did the week go? (218)