There is a major shortage of news. I realized that last night while I put pajamas on Grayson...the tv was on and CNN was running the footage of the Hatians bailing out of that overloaded boat that grounded itself off of Florida. Gray (5) looked at me and said "they showed this yesterday morning, and last night, and again today...". Pretty sad when a five year old finds CNN too predictable.

Okay, this feels weird and I can't explain why. Turns out Chevrolet is sponsoring a Christian music tour....3rd Day, Michael W. Smith, and others will play at "Chevrolet Presents: Come Together and Worship". Again, I am not making this up. It opens the brain to all sorts of special edition Chevy's (and the question What Would Jesus Drive?). I can see the showroom now...The Disciples 12 Passenger Van. The Astro becomes the Cellestial. The Blazer becomes the John the Baptist TrailBlazer. I am taking submissions for other models.


Paul Wellstone's funeral drew 20,000 Minnesotans last night, 16,000 into a main hall and another 4,000 in overflow. Those numbers sound impressive but one must take into consideration that it is late October in Minneapolis, and all that one needs to do to fill a venue is turn the heat on...it will fill to capacity within minutes. I heard this morning that there are partisan rumblings about the content some of the speakers' remarks. I'm no Wellstone supporter by any means, but for crying out loud...it was HIS funeral. When the grumblers die, we promise to say something nice about them too. It's the Funeral Way. Apparantly the crowd booed Trent Lott and other Senate leaders...more of a show of Minnesota's lack of respect for the moment than anything else.

I'm meeting Church Planter Extraordinaire Charlie Matthews for lunch. Charlie and Angie are great folks...their enthusiasm is infectious. I can't wait to see what God has for them in the next twelve to eighteen months. Drop me a line and say howdy. rb

I see in the news that now that we caught the sniper, some guy in Arizona went off at his nursing school and shot three people. See my post of 10/24/02 9:15 AM. And keep zig zagging.

Also in the news, today's Creative Alibi Award goes to Wynona Ryder. Quick thinking, girl.

Incident at Wounded Knee update. X-rays came back from the underaged doctor. (see last Friday's post) The result? No real bone chips in there. So why does my knee make that sound? Seems she attributes it solely to age. As if my OTHER knee was younger or something. I want a second opinion.

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25-26

I have a friend who's wife is struggling with aggressive melanoma that has spread to her liver and other organs. He's a quiet fellow who serves God in a key volunteer role...if you didn't know him well, you'd never know the battle they face. In recent days, things have taken a very bad turn. In the email he sent to friends, explaining the situation, the scripture above was included in his signature line...it made me stop and stare. There are giants among us, and we don't know who they are until pressure is applied. Please pray for Shari and Jim.

For you speed freeks, be aware that at 2:30 AM on a Sunday morning, I-71 is available for your high speed testing needs. We woke up about 2:15 AM to hear Grayson having what we thought might be an asthma attack - it was awful. Kels tried to call the doctor while I loaded him in the S.S. Family Truckster.

We pointed it south and made like an ambulance towards Childrens' Hospital ER. For the first time in our lives, I heard Kelsey asking "can we go faster?" The truck was already creeping past ninety, so I figured we'd better not. Note to self: At that speed, the rack on the roof makes an awful noise in the wind.
Childrens' took us right in and gave him a breathing treatment...turns out he has croup. The treatment worked pretty quickly but they held us 'till nearly 6 AM to make sure he'd be okay. He's recuperating this morning with a Blues Clues video.

We had a houseful of friends last night...the Amazing Kelsey had spread a huge feast and decorated the house wonderfully. Slug I am, I walked in at the last minute from the Alpha retreat to enjoy the food and compliments on the house. She's a jewel. :)

What could a 37 year old doctor possibly know? Remember how old doctors were when you were a kid? I remember Doc from Gunsmoke, who had to be a seventy five, and spent most of his time hanging out at the Long Branch Saloon jawing with Festus. Then there was the doctor on Little House on the Prairie...he was no spring chicken either. Now I've got this doctor who is close enough to me in age that we might have been in high school together, and this is not right.

Did I mention I had a doctor's appointment today? Feeling fine, but my right knee is starting to sound like it's got gravel in it, particularly when I go down stairs...the doctor's primary diagnosis is that I have apparently chipped off some bone and it's rolling around in there. Her secondary diagnosis was even more frightening: "You're getting old." Thanks, Doc. Next time, I'll go to the Long Branch. For medicinal purposes, of course.

There is something inhumane about children needing to meet the car pool at 7:10 AM. 'nuff said.

Driving back from scenic Batesville this afternoon, I listened to 700 WLW as they trumpeted the capture of the DC sniper. Apparently, the long-haul trucker who reported the suspicious car in Maryland was listening to WLW's overnight show, "The Trucking Bozo" (to quote Dave Barry, "I am not making this up") when Bozo alerted all the truckers to look for a specific car. Immediately I began to wonder about the health ramifications of living near 700 WLW's tower, which we now know can broadcast all the stinking way to Maryland. If they ever remake Carl Sagan's movie, Contact I think they should forget having the aliens rebroadcast Hitler's speech and have them rebroadcast The Trucking Bozo instead, because surely aliens have a sense of humor.

It appears as if they've caught the nutcase of the month...although if you think this signals peace in our time, you're dreaming. It always surprises me how people assume things will go 'back to normal' after one of these situations gets resolved...as if this situation - a sniper on the loose - were the world's real problem. Granted, it's an issue to be dealt with, but the issue runs deeper than one situation. If you haven't noticed, the world is a screwed up place, and will remain so until Help arrives.

I'm off to Batesville this morning, to work with the leadership team of a church plant...great crew with a real heart to reach their own community. Big fun.

As a parent, I've said it before..."I'd rather be sick than have on of the kids sick...". Today I don't get to choose. Zion is fighting an ear infection and I've got a head cold that leads me to believe that my brain may soon come out my nose. I'll figure out a way to post pictures if that actually happens.

It was an early morning at the watering hole this morning with good friend Kevin Wiethe. Kev's a cohort from our church planting days...he can set up a sound system in the crappiest conditions and give you pretty fair audio quality in less than fifteen minutes. If you're planting a church, don't call him. He's set up enough stuff for a lifetime.

I'm busy this week with the Alpha retreat...my favorite time of Alpha. We've got a great team of leaders who work incredibly hard. Alpha's the best seeker oriented study I've seen - especially because it doesn't program out the Spirit. Amazing that something God ordained would still be relevant....(what's the html code for sarcasm?).

Randy

Big old honking moon. That's what was staring me in the face as I navigated I-275 this morning. The moon was huge and bright, throwing more light than the feeble lamps of my VW. It was there, staring at the monster moon, signaling that I was about to exit onto Mosteller, when it dawned on me...I live in a city that has never been bombed. Now, I'm not given to such revelations on a daily basis, so this may seem pretty basic to you, but THINK about it. Find a city in Europe that, over the course of the centuries, hasn't had a first-hand account of war. Go to the orient and look for a burg that has known uninterupted peace since the first settlers settled. Granted, we've been IN wars, but we've never hosted one. All the holes in I-75 were created under peaceful conditions. Our children don't hide from airplanes. The ramifacations our endless. Okay, so maybe it's just profound to me...

Back in the office today. Contrary to most of the world, I love Mondays. Most of the office takes Mondays off, so it's a great day to get things done (or reappopriate office supplies...).

Randy

Back home again. Had a great time with the church family of Hosanna Fellowship, near Johnson City, TN. Just a bunch of young people singing their hearts out and hungry for an encounter. How cool.

On the return trip, we stopped at Max & Erma's in Lexington. While walking across the parking lot, I cut in front of friend Steve Eklund's Suburban (we were caravaning it) and gave that sudden deer in the headlights I'm gonna die stare before they cruised close and I dove out of the way. Only then did I realize that Steve's Suburban was parked elsewhere. Oh well...gave the strangers something to talk about.

The last twenty miles or so, Kelsey and I listened to a recent tape from the Kansas City House of Prayer...sobering, indeed, as it revisted much of what God spoke to Kelsey five years ago regarding coming judgement. Our nation has played the part of the golden child of history...a favored nation, indeed, but favored by who? I'm reminded of a drama piece I did for competition in High School....just two characters, myself, playing a recently deceased man, and my spirit guide, Watson, played by Allison Olsen. In the piece, anything I asked for, my guide would produce...food, entertainment, etc. Eventually, I grow bored and irritable and demand "What kind of place is this? I'm bored! I want to go to hell!" At that point, my guide said "Where do you think you are?"

I don't know html. I don't know if I'll get consistent enough at this to make it worth reading. I do know I tried blogging once before and did so religiously for about two days before something stole my attention....what was I saying? Anyway, here goes my second attempt. I'll try it for a week or two before letting people know I'm actually blogging...especially all the cool hoity-toity bloggers with fancy pages with their picture and stuff.

We're in Tennessee tonight - going home tomorrow. Kelsey (beloved wife) has been teaching at a prayer and worship conference - did great as always. It's fun to see others get a picture of how incredibly cool my wife is. Joke of the day - one little old lady at the conference saw me and asked Kels "Is that your father?". I'm THREE FREAKING YEARS OLDER than she is.

Well, I'll post this and see how it looks...After all, at my age...I'll probably forget the url.