Welcome, May!

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The past few weeks have been stressful. Training new employees, dealing with difficult customers, not sleeping well, not exercising (I’ve gained 20 pounds in the last two years), getting through family drama (two life-threatening events in the same day, 2000 miles apart: my dad’s heart attack in NM and a 9 year grandchild starting the rest of his life with Type 1 Diabetes) . . .  My CrossFit lifestyle withered into oblivion when I lost my job at the University in 2020, as Covid got going. Deep depression brought me to a standstill as I took a few months to try to reset. Since then, my physical status has been on steady decline. Now my daily schedule looks something like this: Work 3-11 pm (on a good day), Go to bed at 4 am, get up between 10:30 am and noon, get booted up and go back to work. If I get one day off a week I’m fortunate. At least I don’t have to work all night for now. That was the worst.  So I haven’t had time or energy to do much, even read, much less write. And since my

"No Discharge in the War"

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Echoes of Kipling usher us from the close of our Intensive period in the Seminary through the rest of the summer and march us onward toward fall. (see his poem, "Boots").

We are holding our Vacation Bible School in a non-traditional format this year: each Wednesday night in July our church is hosting "Nick at Night" at the downtown public park. Though it carries supplies plenty of water games in the style of Nickelodeon, the premise is basedon Nicodemus'visit to Jesus. So each Wednesday night Leslie will be manning the First Aid booth and I will be involved in evangelism and counseling. I pray for cool weather.

I will also be preparing to teach two classes this fall: at church I will be spending 10 weeks journeying through "Pilgrim's Progress" on Sunday nights and 18 weeks wrestling with Ethics on Tuesday nights in West Columbia. Pray for me. I have a lot of writing to do and plenty of reading besides!

Leslie will be working a little each day and will be finishing her study in the Prophets.

The children are certainly growing--there seems to be less children around the house each day. With one son and two daughter pressing into and through teen-hood (and all implications forth-with), the level of seriousness is on the rise.

I am taking a week off from work, partially out of necessity (IT is taking my office computer for a few days) but certainly out of need.

CANNONBALL!

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