Slava Bogu!!

After my rant "a la Nihongono" I thought it would be a nice change to do a more upbeat "anti-rant" "a la Russki" this time.

Unbeknownst to me, last week my Pastor (knowing my difficulty in preaching) called our future assistant Pastor and asked him to come preach last Sunday -- which he did -- both morning and evening services. They were good messages; I enjoyed them both immensely. My vociferous concerns, while perhaps not baseless, were proven unnecessary. Of course, I wasn't immediately informed of the assistance I was about to receive, but one "bonus" was the 2 partial sermon preps I was left with -- one of which I used earlier this evening (Wednesday, 28 Nov), and the other is waiting for this coming Sunday night's message.

When I was finally notified he would be filling in form me (Saturday -- the day before) the phrase that immediately came to mind was Russian: "Slava Bogu!!" which means, "Praise God!!" or "Praise the Lord!!" At the time, my brother-in-law was visiting for Thanksgiving break (from BJU). I was able to enjoy most of our last full day with him.

Another "Slava Bogu!!" was this evening's message went well. Everyone seemed to like my, "Don't try to be a 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Sheep' and stand against the 'roaring lion' without the Good Shepherd" illustration.

Oh yeah, lest I forget, there's one last "Slava Bogu!!" I should announce: There's a new "Little Varmint" that should be added to our family sometime around the middle of next July. We've told most of the in-laws & out-laws, and the rest of the family isn't online -- so it shouldn't matter that I've spilled the beans here... who reads this anyway? Not any "family" I know of... unless you count spiritual family... "saved" friends... that have nothing better to do. =)

PS -- We're "high risk" for a "multiple" birth, so our "Slava Bogu!!" could be a "double" double-edged sword. Pray for my wife... she doesn't get "morning sickness," instead, she gets "all afternoon and most of the evening sickness."

wakarimasuka? wakarimasen.

I used to live in Japan. Dad was in the US Air Force, and that was his last duty station. I had the privilege of receiving my HS diploma from the DOD school there on the base (Yokota High School). I've always thought that was pretty cool -- how many people can say their diploma is an official government document?

Anyway, since I transferred into the school midway through my Junior year, they only required me to take one year of a foreign language. (Which is a good thing, as I'm a linguistic flop.) Since I was in Japan, I decided Japanese would be a cool language to know. It is an interesting language. It's also somewhat difficult. I still remember a few words and phrases, "Tabemasho!" was always a personal favorite ("Let's eat!). Another was, "Wakarimasu." ("I understand.")

One of several interesting things about Japanese is how a question is asked. If "-ka" is added to the end of the word it becomes a question. So, "Wakarimasuka" is, "Do you understand?" Another interesting ending is "-en." When it's added to the word it denotes a negative. So, "Wakarimasen" means "I don't understand." It always seemed neat to me just how easy it was to know if someone was really asking a question, or making a statement.

Just this week my mind went back to a few Japanese words I did learn. Since our pastor has gotten sick, I've been filling in preaching on Sunday nights. While I did get an Education minor with my BS in Bus Admin, and I've been teaching Sunday School or some type of kids' club continuously since 1988, I'm no preacher. In fact, it's very difficult for me to put together a sermon; it's even harder for me to deliver it.

Let me sing, play a harmonica or a trumpet, and I don't mind getting in front of small (1-9), medium (10~100), large (100~1,000), or even huge (1,000~5,000+) crowds.

Let me teach a Bible story to kids, and you can rest assured the kids will be interested and learn something.

Schedule a time for me to preach to mostly adults, and you can pretty much guarantee I'll be nervous... oh yes... and at least one person in the audience will be sleeping (sometimes several) regardless of the amount of time I have to prepare. So, for me to "volunteer" to preach once a week is a pretty big deal.

Everyone at our church knows this, so when the other guy that fills in had our Pastor ask me to take last Sunday morning's service (in addition to that Sunday night I was already scheduled to preach), at 9.30 pm Saturday night, it was a big deal.

Then when he informed me after that Sunday night message that I would be preaching this coming Sunday, because "He'd been planning to go out of town for several months" -- it was an even bigger deal. (Especially since he didn't tell me he would be gone all those months in advance -- as I try to do for him.) Then I received an email from him Wednesday afternoon... informing me he'd be out of town the following Wednesday as well (right after this full Sunday that's coming up). Really -- not only is he in my cell plan -- my name is on the account! When he or his wife call my house MY name is on the caller ID! Yet he didn't hit speed dial and give me a call??? Instead I got an email: "Oh, by the way," and "Why don't you have XXXX fill in for your Wednesday night kids' club?"

The icing on the cake was actually the fact that he planned the coming Wednesday night trip that Wednesday -- yes, a last minute "business" trip. I talked to his boss -- the trip isn't something "necessary" to complete on Wednesday -- it could be scheduled any day of the week, or done completely by phone. It's a sales call to "talk" to a lead -- on a Wednesday.

The first word that came to my mind -- you guessed it: "WAKARIMASEN!" I really don't understand. If my responsibility is to fill a position, I make every attempt to fill it, and plan a contingency as far in advance as possible.

Every possible motive for this type behavior that comes to my mind is repugnant. I sincerely hope that it's only an oversight. Something that can be attributed to inexperience rather than deliberate intent.

OK, I vented.
Feeling better.
Now I need to attempt to finish 2 of 3 messages -- none of which is "flowing" as I'd hoped.

weathering life's rough seas

Many people here at my church are sick -- or have been sick in the last week(s).

My wife was sick. The Pastor was sick (yes, beside the terminal cancer). The Youth Director was sick (the worst of everyone I know). I was... ah... make that: I "was" and "still am" sick. Even the "3 varmints" are sick. Even now I can hear one of them coughing in the other room. (Sounds like Tank, hopefully he's asleep, since he's been in bed about an hour.) Thankfully (I think), I happen to be the least sick of all the men in church that preach, thus it has fallen to me to fill in while the others are "under the weather."

I skipped helping out in Jr. Church Sunday morning to preach (it went surprisingly well), and then preached my "regularly scheduled" time slot of Sunday Evening (it also went well). It's not 100% confirmed as yet, but I believe I'll be preaching tomorrow (Wednesday) evening as well. Which means we'll most likely be canceling King's Kids, but we'll see. Maybe a couple of the college kids can handle the "wild bunch" without me in there.

Funny how "corralling varmints" is easier for me than "teaching the sheep" is. It takes me less time to prepare for the varmints, too. I'm not really sure how "bi-vocational pastors" keep their sanity... or get any sleep.

(working) Around The Church In 80 Days

My Pastor has terminal cancer. He's had it for 8 years (I think). They keep giving him deadlines, and (praise The Lord) he keeps outliving them. He is, however, growing weaker. He now preaches once every week -- for the Sunday morning service. Every month our church song leader switches off with my neighbor for the adult Sunday School hour. The Youth Director (ages 13+) preaches the Wednesday evening services (and fills in if the Pastor is too sick to preach the Sunday AM service). I get to preach Sunday nights. (I'm the Director of Youth Ministries, which is all children 12 and under.) Since I'm teaching Sunday School, Jr. Church, and our Wednesday night King's Kids program, Sunday Night is the only service I'm available to preach. We've been talking to a young guy about coming over here to become our Pastor's assistant. He's from Seagate Baptist Church in Naples.

We found out last month he and his family are tentatively planning to arrive here in the middle of January (between the 12th & 19th). JFYI, I'm hoping he'll be doing some preaching soon after he arrives... at least the Sunday night services. =) Anyway, from the time we talked to him, that gave us approximately 80 days to prepare for his arrival. We plan to get the house he'll be staying in fixed up first: replace the carpet, remove the popcorn from the ceilings, repaint, and a few other cosmetic things to make the house more "livable" for them.

We're getting close to 60 days remaining now, and with the holidays coming up, and people (myself and others) going out of town to visit relatives, we haven't gotten as much done on their house as I'd like. Granted, getting sick hasn't helped, but hopefully things will go smoothly when we actually "start" the actual work. [Somehow, the "Williamson Corollary"** to "Murphy's Law" always seems to apply to estimating how long a job will take and finishing it.]

So, to start working on the house, I first had to empty it. Which means, of course, that I needed to find a place to put everything in there. The only logical place to store furniture is in the church's utility building. After looking through it, I discovered the very best place to store furniture really needed to be cleaned and straitened first. It took me 4 days to "make a hole" and move everything into it. I still have a few odds and ends to move, but it's complete (for the most part). And, wouldn't you know it, the guy I'm working with plans to go out of town next Saturday for 10 days. **sigh** I don't mind working by myself, it just takes so much longer.

Since I'm sick, I think I'm going to stay in bed most of today. Hopefully I'll be well enough to preach Sunday.


** [The "Williamson Corollary" to Murphy's Law states, "The more important it is to complete any process within a certain time frame (or by a specific &/or inflexible deadline), the higher the probability of multiple, complex, unexpected problems arising to hinder (or stop) the progression of work and completion of the task "on schedule" and "within budget."]