feels like the 80's

I don't remember too much about the 1980's. I was a kid wrapped up in playing with my friends and trying to stay out of trouble. I can't remember specifically any particular shows I watched, or movies I saw, or music I listened to. I apparently lived a rather sheltered life. I do remember watching basketball though. My dad grew up playing baseball, so basketball was not really his thing, but he did like the Boston Celtics. Perhaps because they had the same colors as his Alma mater or because he admired the skinny, homely looking white guy from French Lick, Indiana. In the 80's, the powerhouses of the NBA were the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. From 1981 - 1990, the Celtics were in the NBA Finals five times and the Lakers seven times. The Celtics won the championship three times and the Lakers four times. Then the Bad Boys of Detroit finally emerged from their shadows. And that is when I began watching basketball. In the 1988 playoffs, a changing of the guard took place. The Pistons defeated the Celtics in the conference finals and then took the Lakers to seven games, ultimately coming short. The next year, they would have their revenge. After defeating the upstart Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, the Pistons took on the Showtime Lakers in the Finals. They showed no mercy as the swept the Lakers in four games. The next year they went on to defeat the Portland Trailblazers for a Back-to-Back title. This year, 2008, nearly twenty years after watching my first game, the Lakers, Celtics, and Pistons are all in the hunt again. The Pistons have been solid the last few years, making the conference finals five years in a row. The last couple of years have not been good for the Lakers as they have not gotten out of the first round in their last two tries. They were dominant early on in this new century as they were NBA champs in 2000, 2001, and 2002. The Celtics, on the other hand, have not been in the playoffs since 2005 when they were knocked out in the first round. Now, in 2008, the Lakers are #1 in the West, the Celtics are #1 in the East, and the Pistons are close behind at #2. It sure feels like the late 80's. Maybe the Bulls will reemerge in a couple of years.

flying

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I experienced the joy of flying again. I hadn't flown since our honeymoon almost 3 1/2 years ago. I really do not enjoy flying, and yet it was a necessary evil this past week. I had four flights, which in total, lasted less than four hours. I spent about six hours waiting to fly. I felt sick on the first three and then I bought some air sickness prevention medicine for the last. It tasted awful, it made me drowsy, but I felt much better on my last flight. It was wonderful stuff. Actually, the flights were not that bad. Every flight was on time and my layovers were rather short, although long enough for me to figure out where I needed to go. As I was at O'Hare, that task can sometimes be daunting. I also had the chance to do some reading and just watch people. What is amazing to me, and somewhat tragic, is that there were hundreds of people around me and almost all of them were ignoring the people next to them while talking on a cell phone to someone likely many miles away. What a crazy world we live in.

There was a good reason for my flights. On Tuesday, I had an interview in Iowa with three men who made up a sub committee for the MidAmerica district of the Alliance. All three are pastors and one, named Ray, is a pastor of another alliance church in the Boone area. They are all great guys and did a great job interviewing me. I was a little nervous, but I really enjoyed the interview. And I passed with flying colors. (Where does that phrase come from I wonder?) So, now we have jumped through the final hoop. Now, we can move out there and begin our new ministry. Actually, we have one more thing to work out. We will be living in the parsonage in the near future, but for the first two or three months, we will be living somewhere else. That still has to be finalized. When that is determined, then we can move out. We are very excited. While it will be hard to say goodbye to our families and our church, we are ready to take this next step.

a busy weekend

This weekend was slightly busier than normal, although all of our weekends are usually chocked full with activity.

On Friday, Kendra had a doctor's appointment. Everything checked out fine and the baby is looking good. Her mom met us in Big Rapids (where her appointment was) and they went shopping and out to eat while I went to the local Christian bookstore and and got caught up on some reading. Javan hung out with his aunt Nicole so we got a nice break from him for a while and she got to spend some time with her favorite (and only) nephew.

On Saturday, I went with my dad, two brothers, and another fellow to a men's conference in Gaylord. I had to take off from working for Cadillac News that day, but it was worth it. The speakers were pretty good. Steve Chapman (successful musician and avid sportsman), Luther Ellis (former player for the Detroit Lions), Newell Cyrak (associate pastor at the church and co-author of Mistaken Identity), and a guy named Michael (who was on the second season of Survivor) all spoke. Each speaker has some great things to share. Even though I'm not really a Steve Chapman fan (he's older than my dad), I enjoyed him the most. Maybe I can even learn something from hunting stories.

Yesterday, of course we went to church and afterwards we went out to eat and enjoyed a drive through the countryside.

Well, life is about to get even busier. I fly out to Iowa for a couple of days for my last interview. If that all goes well, we should be moving out in a couple of weeks. We have been busy packing and making small improvements on our house.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on our transition. Thanks for reading and praying.