It has been a weekend of extremes. A wedding and a memorial service in the same day. Friday, I worked from 6:30 AM to 11:30 AM, then drove up to Mt. Hood and dropped off a group of high school guys for a backpack trip (3 hour trip), then went to a wedding rehearsal. After the rehearsl I got to talk to my best bud Scott for about an hour on the phone, I always feel blessed after taking to him. Saturday I went to the wedding of Mr and Mrs Paul Somers, the bride was a friend that we have known most of her life. It was a wonderful service. Then I went to the reception and told Ruth Ann that I was going to the memorial service for the father of some old friends of ours. I went out to Gresham and talked to Mag at the memorial service for his father.
I was struck by how as we celebrate the start of a new life together, we also mourn the loss of another. We know that we will see Ray again in heaven, but there is still a hole in our life that can’t be healed while we are still here on earth.
It was fun at the wedding to work alongside Mark MacLurg in the sound booth. Mark’s parents Allan and Cindy MacLurg had led the college group at our old church, when I was in it years ago. Marc was born while they were the leaders. Cindy told me they had pictures of me holding Mark. Life goes on.
It was good to see so many old friends at both the wedding and the memorial service and deliver salutations in all directions. On the phone Scott and Kelly told me to say hi to Mag and Lynn. Then at the wedding Allan and Cindy told me to say hi to Mag and Lynn and Scott and Kelly. Then at the memorial service Mag and Lynn and Mike and Leah told me to say hi to Allan and Cindy and Scott and Kelly. So consider this the hello to everyone.

Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich; 2005; St. Martin’s Press; 310 pages; fiction Evanovich 7/27-7/28

The eleventh (duh) Stephanie Plum novel with the same basic premise as the other ten. However there is a promise of a change as Stephanie has quit working for her cousin Vinnie and is now working for Ranger. I think Evanovich has about run out of ways for the Burg to be messed up by Stephanie. What I especially didn’t like about this book was the way everything was tied up neatly in the last two or three pages. The conclusion seemed really rushed. I will approach the 12th volume with a slight bit of trepidation. I really like the characters in these adventures but Stephanie needs to be learning some things and she does seem to be, but not quickly enough. RRRr

I started the day at the Multnomah County Courthouse. This is a story that starts way back in May. On May 14 I stopped at Mall 205 to look at baseball cards, when I came out I set my wallet on top on the car. I pulled away and didn’t realize what I had done for a mile. I retraced my steps and couldn’t find the wallet. I came home and cancelled my debit cards. On the following Monday I found out that the evil genuises had charged $41 of stuff at a gas station. On the 17th I went and got a new license which was typically hurry up and wait. A week and a half later I came home to a letter from an insurance company, stating that they needed information for an accident I had been involved in on May 23(except that I was at work and Ruth Ann had the car). Then a couple of weeks ago I received a letter telling me that a judgement had been entered against me for $273 cause I hadn’t shown up in court on the date on the citation (which I didn’t have, cause I wasn’t at the accident). So I called the courthouse to see what I had to do, I had to show up in court and get a trial date, so the officer can say yes this is the guy or no it isn’t. So now I get to wait another couple of weeks for a court date. Aargh, it has made me realize how easily it is for someone else to become me.

Ruth Ann and I had been praying about whether or not to stay at our church or try and find a new one. We hadn’t had any clear indications or great reasons for leaving. We have decided to stay and be advocates for some different kinds of ministries and also to be advocates for the youth of the church.

At The Crossroads, An Insider’ Look at the Past, Present, and Future of Contemporary Christian Music by Charlie Peacock; 1999; Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, TN; 219 pages; 781.64 P356a; 7/20-7/25

“Creation is useful because it is good. It is not good just because it is useful.”

Music is like water, it is there, it can be enjoyed just looking at it and it is good because God created it. There are a myriad of ways that music can be used. Peacock makes the point that “Christian” music is not really a genre, because genres are based on musical styles and not on lyrical content. Christian music basically differs from other music due to the lyrical content.
The big question Peacock asks is what should the purpose of music performed by Christ followers be. It is hard to express the content of this book, but those who ask the question of what the mission is of each of us as Christ followers, will be moved to think more about their lives. Two people that I thought about as I read this were Kelly and Clark. RRRR

I was just leaving a comment on my dear friend Kellys’ blog and I started to cry. It had nothing to do with her blog, all though we miss her and Scotty terribly. Yesterday I came from work and found that one of my 19 year old sons’ friends had hung himself. Dan said that he couldn’t sleep last night because everytime he closed his eyes he saw his friend. I haven’t told him but I sometimes have that problem of not being able to sleep. It is when I haven’t heard from Daniel in several days and have no idea where he is, I see him on a cornorers slab. It might be different when he is not living at home and I don’t expect to see him daily. I love him and would miss him very much.
We have talked about the suicide and Dan feels that he would have some one to talk to if he got really depressed. Dan has hope for the future.
I flashed back to my graduation night as we talked. The three years I went to South Eugene High School was the longest time I had been at one school. I made a friend sometime while I was there named Dave Gallup, we had a bunch of classes together. I remember a picture that was taken of us in one class, with our feet up on a table while we listened to Mr. Paul. We decided that we would march into graduation together. Came the night of graduation and Dave never showed up, teachers kept telling me that he was stuck in traffic.
The next day I was listening to the radio when I heard the news. David had been rafting and fell out of his raft and his lifejacket brought him up under a rock and he drown.
I have told that story to Dan a bunch of times and he nows says that he understands how I was feeling.
Please pray for Dan, Crystal, Boomer and especially Carson.
I have to go hug my little boy. Actually my big man he’s 6 ft 4 inches tall and about 250.