Sluggish Status

In spite of my resolve, it’s been 11 days since I last blogged.  No excuse except for Thanksgiving break.  All I can say is that I survived.  Softball, eating, golf, eating, soccer, eating, more eating, then came Sabbath and more eating!  Dare I say there was a lot of eating involved?  Oh, by the way, I was sick much of the time so I succeeded in not gaining much weight at all along the way.

Now I’m back in Scottsdale trying to catch up with tons of work that was supposed to have been dealt with during the break!  This did not happen.  However, more work succeeded in piling up while I was gone.

On a positive note, I finally made it to traffic school and erased that blemish from my driving record.  The day after renewing my license I was stopped on Interstate 10 by a state trooper.  Luckily it was only a “fix-it” ticket related to my over-tinted front windows.  I got it fixed today and will send the paperwork in tomorrow.  I am legal again!

I did not have a good day today.  I was drained before I got to work!  It was as if energy had been sucked out of me during the night.  I could not concentrate.  I could not stay on task.  I made it through the day, but barely.  I actually did get some things done, but it was not as productive a day as I would have wished.  I pray tomorrow will be better. (218.8)

Trying to Strike a Balance

Friday morning usually finds me in the office at TCE.  It is the day I can spend more time on this campus where Penny and I are providing administrative leadership (we are co-principals).  It’s the last day before Thanksgiving vacation for the students.  They are sharing pies of all kinds with each other—lots of calories floating around here today.  Personally, my day was mainly consumed with minutes, agendas for the TCE board meeting next Monday.  We’re running a little behind this month, but there are important items that need to be discussed.  Monday should be a good meeting.

I will be attending my first choir practice tonight for the AWC Christmas Cantata.  I have a solo part that I have yet to learn, but I’m getting close.  My relationship with AWC has been going through some transitions lately.  I have not been able to attend regularly due to out of town commitments, so it will be nice to be there tonight and get to know the people in a different setting.

Penny and I got back late last night from a two-day tour of the Tucson schools.  There are some very large challenges at one of the schools and some sticky challenges at the other.  It keeps me on my knees (or at least in prayer) a lot more nowadays.  There are some immense financial needs that require a large infusion of funds into some of these schools.  I know the money is out there: tax credit and otherwise.  What is missing is a passion by sufficient people to lead the charge.  There are people who are beginning to step up and ask how they can help, but we need more!

On a personal note, I need a break!  The bare thread is beginning to show and I need to find the “refresh button.”  I will have a couple of days next week to be with family: nuclear and extended.  That will be nice.  But I need more time to regroup and catch up (which is not the same thing!).  In all honesty, I do not know where I am going to find it.  I have drastically scaled back my preaching—even at AWC, but that creates a whole other level of guilt.  I appreciate any prayers you can send up on my behalf.  But I have to find a way to reconnect and renew, while still doing what I need to do without missing a beat (How is that possible!).  And while I try to figure it out, I will cling to the words, “My Grace is sufficient.” Prayers are appreciated. (221.6)

Wednesday at the Inn

In spite of my best efforts I have failed miserably to blog consistently.  Tonight finds me at a Country Inn and Suites in Tucson, Arizona, with Penny.  I attended SHACS school board meeting earlier tonight.  Tomorrow I am at SHACS and DVCS for observations and another school board. It is amazing the level of sacrifice required to keep a school alive when the trends and indicators have turned south.  I watch these school board members dealing with run-of-the-mill tasks that are anything but that in the challenging context in which they must function.  But they refuse to fold.  They press on in spite of the many challenges.

The challenges facing our schools are bigger than the local churches that support them.  That statement has been repeated ad nauseam but to little, if any, avail.  Many churches have gone into survival mode as well, and they cannot fathom how they can be expected to help rescue the educational system from imploding.  It is a matter of time before this will happen unless we change the way we conduct business, locally and as a system.  If our schools go, soon the churches will follow. 

But not unlike those involved in other more mundane pursuits, there is a reluctance to act without concern for the personal cost.  There is however, in its place, a willingness to pass the challenge along to the next generation to address, when it may be too late to rescue.

I must cling to the belief that God is in control, even when humans are clutching to the helm and moving closer and closer to a catastrophe.  In any case, here I am in Tucson.  Good night! (221)