"Alternative" transportation

This is my Kymco People S250 motor-scooter.

Since May of 2013, it has been my primary transportation (well, it and my Specialized bicycle). It gets around 65–70 miles to the gallon; I still fill up about once a week or so, but I pay about $6 (compared to the $50–$70 I paid to fill my Toyota Highlander before). With the top-case and saddle bags, I can bring home as many as 10 bags of groceries; Molly and Jack love to ride on the back, so I can even pick one of them up from school when I need to. It has an automatic transmission, a 250cc engine, and can get me up to 75mph easily (it can go higher, but I’ve never done it; 75 is the speed limit on the interstate here, and I went that fast once—usually I prefer to stay on much slower roads).

Since June 13, it has been in the shop. It’s still not fixed.

This is my second motor scooter in 10 years; in both cases, we reached a point in our family life where we realized that we didn’t need two cars—we needed one and a half. A scooter has been a great alternative to buying another car for us.

Scooters are safer and more comfortable than motorcycles: I sit upright, which is better for my back and also increases my visibility; I don’t have to straddle a large machine, but have a floorboard for my feet; the automatic transmission means I’m not futzing with changing gears and have more attention to focus on the road; and the center of gravity is much lower, so it’s easier to balance and take corners with. Yet, my scooter is just as powerful as many motorcycles, and goes faster than I’ll ever need it to go (and yes, you can get scooters with 500 and 750cc engines, especially for touring and carrying bigger loads). Most of my (so-called!) friends who chuckle when I tell them that I ride a scooter are surprised at how big it is (I think they’re thinking about Vespas, which are fairly tiny).

I have wondered why these are not more frequently considered as viable alternatives to car ownership, especially in more dense urban areas (such as when we lived in St. Louis) or in areas where the weather permits year-round usage (like here in Arizona).  They get amazing gas mileage, are easy to drive, easy to park, and fun. They are immensely popular in Europe and Asia; why not the U.S.?

But now I’ve figured it out—or part of it, anyway.

It’s the shop’s fault

The bottom-line: if those who sold scooters told themselves more seriously, then others would take their products more seriously too.

I bought my first scooter (also a Kymco, and also from their People line) from a shop in St. Louis called—I’m not kidding—the “Extreme Toy Store” (they are out of business now). They also sold ATVs and jet skis. I bought my current ride through a shop in Tucson called ScootOver Tucson. ScootOver’s slogan is “fun in motion” and the front page of their website features a playful (if a little goofy) video featuring a Fine Young Cannibals song that auto-plays when you land there.

In both of these large cities (Tucson has about a million people, metro), these are/were the main dealerships for a scooter like my Kymco. If you’re looking for something more than a beat-up Vespa, you have to go to ScootOver. To be fair, they have a very nice inventory, especially given the somewhat limited showroom space that they have.

When you compare ScootOver’s self-presentation to another dealer in Tucson—let’s look at RideNow, which sells motorcycles (and, yes, some ATVs and the occasional scooter)—you should instantly notice a difference. RideNow looks like a place where people looking for a new vehicle might go. ScootOver looks like a place where folks with some disposable cash might find a new toy.

Repairs matter

While in St. Louis—and within the first few months of owning my brand-new Kymco People S125, my first scooter—it had a problem with the starter. I took it back to the Extreme Toy Store (they had a mechanic on staff), and they took it in for a repair (under warranty). After nearly two weeks, I hadn’t heard anything from them; a call revealed that they were “waiting for a part.” Two more weeks went by, and they still stalled. Only after I filed a report with the local Better Business Bureau did I hear back that the bike was fixed (within three days of filing the report, too! Coincidence?).

Jump ahead to now: I took my People S250 in to ScootOver (again, a mechanic on staff—two, actually) for a repair almost three weeks ago. Also a starter issue, though this was more widespread through the whole electrical system. The mechanic who took it in suggested that it might take a while to get the part, but that he should have it ready in a little over a week. I was going out of town for a week, so that was fine—and I told him that. He reiterated that it wouldn’t be long after I got back for it to be ready; probably that Tuesday (June 24). 

He called on Thursday, June 26, to say that the part would be delivered on the following Tuesday, and he would have it ready on Wednesday—over a week after his original quoted time, and more than 2½ weeks after he received it for repair! I told him that I needed it for transportation (it is my primary vehicle, after all), and that I needed to be able to pick it up on that Tuesday instead. 

That Tuesday came, and around mid-day they called to say it was ready. I go to pick it up and—surprise!—it still won’t start. They fixed part of it, but not all of it. So they took it back into the shop and now (several days later) I still don’t have my scooter.

Fixing the greater problem

Back to my original thesis: if scooter dealers want Americans to take scooters more seriously as a regular means of transportation, they have to start taking themselves seriously. Here’s what that looks like (or at least, a start):

• Quit presenting scooters as toys. As it is, scooters are almost universally seen as something less than a serious daily vehicle. This is because the dealers show them as a hobbyist’s item. They are portrayed as something like the urbanite’s version of the ATV. 
• Take repairs seriously. One way that the U.S. is very different from Europe and Asia is that public transit is fairly unreliable—or at least, relegated to underclass status—in most major cities. So Americans need to know that their vehicles are reliable, and that they can have them repaired quickly if they break down. It is the rare major repair that requires a car, truck, or minivan to be in the shop for more than a day; you can drop it off in the morning, the shop might even give you a lift to work, and pick it up at the end of the day. It is ridiculous that a repair for a scooter (or any vehicle) should take more than a couple of days, or at most a week—even for major repairs. Several weeks is simply embarrassing.
• Figure out the parts issue. It makes sense that no shop has all the parts for every vehicle that they might need to repair; so, sure, a scooter shop will need to have some time to acquire the parts they need. What should they do? Pay for overnight or two-day delivery and factor that into the cost of the part, just like every other serious repair shop would do. Probably the counter-argument to this point is that some of these parts have to come from overseas, and overnight and even two-day delivery isn’t possible. I can accept that for something very heavy and expensive, like an engine or transmission. But smaller and fairly lightweight parts (like my ignition switch) can be shipped from Taiwan in two-day delivery; it might cost $60 or more, but it can be done. This should be an option offered to customers.
• Network with other shops. One way to cut down on shipping costs and times would be to form a network of dealers and shops that can share in these costs by shipping things in bulk, and before they are needed. You need an ignition switch for a Kymco People S250? You may not have one, but a shop in Colorado does—you can get it tomorrow for $28 overnight delivery. Meanwhile, a shop in Seattle needs a part that you have on the shelf, and you sell and ship it to them for another $28—and your costs for shipping are essentially zeroed out; it’s like you had the part on your own shelf, which you sell to the customer for cost + $28. 
• Scale out your business. As the above four issues are addressed, the market for scooters should slowly increase. Maybe your shop is the only one in Tucson, and that positions you perfectly to become not just a retail shop but also a wholesaler for parts for your region. This generates additional profits for your shop, and also improves the market generally, so that the market is positioned to continue in improvement.

These ideas won’t solve all of the obstacles to motor-scooters becoming strong contenders as alternative vehicles—but I promise that, without them, it will never happen.

Scooters could be, and (I would argue) should be, a viable alternative to car ownership in the U.S.—they are relatively inexpensive (I paid just over $2000 for my current scooter, and insure it for less than $100 a year); they are gas-efficient (more so, even, than a Prius); and they are nimble and fun ways to get around town. But some fundamental issues have to be addressed before it can happen.

Living in the "Clue" house

Marcie and I were talking about my collection of musical instruments (which is not insubstantial):

• Three guitars (one acoustic, one electric, and one dobro-style resonator—though it is currently unplayable, and needs some repairs)
• A bass (also acoustic, but NOT an upright bass)
• A banjo
• A fiddle (yes, a fiddle, NOT a violin)
• A mandolin (also in need of repairs)
• A lap dulcimer
• A strumstick
• A balalaika (I don’t know if this is playable or not, but it’s neat!)
• An electronic piano/keyboard
• A collection of percussion instruments (a djembe, a tambourine, and a handful of shakable instruments)

I also have been promised one of my mother’s spinet pianos, though we’ve never had room for it.

Specifically, we were talking about where we would keep this collection should we actually want them to be available for use. My internal response is always, “We’ll keep them in the music room, of course” (though we’ve never had a room we could designate as such, and I rarely mention this response to Marcie!).

This brought to mind my other rather large collection—books (probably around 4000 volumes)—and the fact that we would probably do well to have a room for these as well! And of course it would be nice, if not quite necessary, to have a designated room as an office/study.

In short, I’ve figured out that I want to live in some version of the “Clue” house: the house implied by the board game Clue, which I played often as a child. The rooms in the Clue house include:

A library

A study

A conservatory

A kitchen

A dining room

A lounge

A hall

A cellar

A billiard room

A ballroom

We could do without the last two; maybe the billiard room would be a small den, and the ballroom could become a family room. It seems pretty obvious that such a house would likely have a second story with at least four bedrooms (maybe five?) and a couple of bathrooms.

Do such houses still exist? What sort of house would YOU live in?

Celebrating the Mac...

This week marked the 30th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, otherwise known as the "Mac." Congratulations, Apple!

I love Macs. Some have "accused" me of being a Mac Evangelist (which, if you didn't know, is actually a thing), but I'm not: I don't seek out opportunities to tell people about my love for Macs, or try to convince them to switch to Mac. I am, however, always happy to field questions when people have them, and to tell them what I love about my Mac (and other Apple products). I see this more a mark of a satisfied customer than an evangelist—in other words, if you were as satisfied with your Windows or Linux computer as I am with my Mac, you would be happy to tell others about it, too.

I have a long history with Apple computers. In fourth grade (or maybe third?) our class went weekly to the computer lab, where we learned very basic (pun intended) stuff on Apple IIe computers. A couple of years later (in 1984), a friend showed me his dad's new computer, which he called a "Mac"—it had this weird thing I had never seen before, which my friend called a mouse, and when he started it up it smiled at us. I was curious.

Though my first computer was a Coleco Adam (the one with the cassette tapes for drives), I continued to use the Apple IIes in the computer labs at school until my junior year, when the school got a Mac Classic. Though it wasn't technically mine, this was "my first Mac"— seriously, I quickly became more adept with that Mac Classic than the computer teacher, and she would often refer people to me about how to do things she didn't know about.

When I graduated from high school, my graduation present was—you guessed it—a Mac: specifically, a Mac LC with the 13" (not the standard 12") color monitor AND one of the new Apple inkjet printers. The whole system cost my mom about $3K, and I used that Mac for years (my first introduction to the longevity of these machines). As a reminder of how far technology has come since then: I was able to be very comfortable with the 40 megabyte hard drive for a long time, and when I upgraded it to have 4 megs of RAM I was pretty sure I would never need more than that. I had a 56K dial-up modem with which I joined AOL (I was a charter member, username: BigEd3) and CompuServe (I don't remember my number; sorry).

Five years later, my mom gave me a laptop computer they weren't using at her office, and I had my first-ever introduction to a Windows-based computer. I came to appreciate the portable nature of that computer, and when my Mac finally was too old to run any of the current applications I wanted to run in '98, I found I couldn't afford a replacement Mac. I built a Windows-compatible computer then, and used that for a few years (also buying a Windows laptop for seminary a couple of years later).

In 2002, though, I once again had the pleasure of a Mac smiling at me when some friends of a seminary classmate offered him their iMac and he wasn't interested (so it came to me). I quickly re-embraced my Apple and Mac roots, and have run Macs exclusively since then.

These are the Macs I've owned (and/or my family has) in the intervening years:

• 12" iBook (2003)
  
• 13" MacBook (2006)
  
• 21" iMac (2006)
  
• 17" MacBook Pro (2007)
  
• 13" MacBook Pro (2010)
  
• 27" iMac (2012)
  
• 13" MacBook Air (2013)
  

I don't see any reason yet to consider other options. Thanks, Apple, for all that you've done to support my technological life for these 30+ years! Keep up the good work.

Getting back to blogging, and an update

If any of my faithful 10s of readers are still around, they will have noticed that my blog went "dark" at the beginning of the summer. But for a single post a couple of weeks ago, I haven't blogged at all since early June.

That's about to change! I miss blogging, as I find it to be a venue for penning thoughts that are too long for Twitter or a Facebook status, but perhaps too esoteric or fleeting to merit an actual article. In the months to come, I intend to blog much more regularly again.

Many of my readers may also be curious about the latest news in my life — there are some major changes to report! (And, in fact, it is related to my absence in blogging.)

In late spring/early summer, things began to take a turn for the church I have served as pastor for the last two years. Over the summer and into the early fall, the congregation discussed the potential and plans for the future, and in the end we agreed that the best thing for all involved would be to close the doors and dissolve the church.

Which means that my "call" as pastor to that congregation dissolves, as well. The congregation generously cared for us with a severance package, and that gives us time to make our plans for what is next.

And those plans are beginning to come together. I will write more about that after the beginning of 2014, but I welcome your prayers in the meantime.

So, look for me to return to regular blogging, now that the stress, demands, and complexity of the last six months is behind me!

Random Personal Stuff, Hallowe'en 2012

I figured out that the finish on the desk is lacquer, which is good for a couple of reasons: first, it is a finish that stays on the surface of the wood, so when I get it off then the wood won't have much or any residual remnant of the previous finish. Second, it responds well to chemical finish strippers, so it is supposed to come off fairly easily. I haven't done a lot of refinishing like this, so I'm not sure how easy "fairly easily" is supposed to be. So far, I've been working on the drawer faces: a round with the stripping solvent brushed on, left for 15 minutes — then scraped off with some of the finish coming with it. But there's still a good bit of lacquer remaining after. So once I got all of the stripping chemicals off, I went back over it with lacquer thinner — a different solvent altogether — and a rag, wiping and rubbing until the remaining lacquer was removed. This was pretty effective: 3 out of 5 drawers are now fully-stripped. I plan to hit the other two with another round, maybe Thursday. But it takes a good bit of hand strength and elbow grease to use the lacquer thinner, so I may try doing multiple passes with the stripping solvent on the larger pieces. It looks like there's a decent chance my timeline for refinishing the desk may move up by a month or so, which leaves me only about a month! (It also means the chairs are second-priority for now.)

Jack and Molly brought home their annual school photos yesterday, so this morning I got to put them in my frames in my study. I borrowed a practice that my father did (which I didn't know about until after he died): in his office at work, he had frames with my school photos and my sister's, and every year he placed the new one in front, keeping the older ones behind it — sort of an archive of the year-by-year changes in his kids. I have 4 or 5 now for Jack and Molly, and it's so fun to look back at the previous years' photos each time I update them. It's something I forget about through the year, even though I often enjoy the displayed picture; but it's becoming one of my favorite yearly traditions.

The Ford minivan is still shutting down intermittently, even after replacing the computer. The day after we picked it up, Marcie called me to tell me it had cut off on her twice. So we've traded cars for a while, and I'm trying to figure out if there's a pattern to it. It seems like there may be something related to the transmission in it: the shut-offs usually happen after the engine has been revving, then levels off. It's like it's trying to down-shift, but the engine stalls instead. It will re-start immediately — even while it's still rolling (invariably it shuts off when going 30 or 40 mph), shifting down to neutral and cutting the switch off, then re-cranking it will fire it right back up. Sometimes it will cut off again within a few minutes, and other times it will go a day or more before shutting off. But it also happens almost always when I've been driving it around for a while. I stopped by to talk to the mechanic about it, and he agrees that it's a real head-scratcher. We can't really afford right now to put more money toward trying to get it fixed, so I'll be driving it (and re-starting it in neutral) for a while, I guess.

I continue to love my new bike, and enjoy riding it to work as well as for exercise. The bike I rode before was a Trek road bike that I've had since I was a Senior in high school, and I've always loved it too; but I can't ride a road bike comfortably anymore. My friend Matt is a pretty hard-core bicyclist, and he was looking for a good steel-frame bike as a second road bike; he's going to buy my old Trek. I'm sad to let it go, but I'm really glad that it is going to someone who I know appreciates it and will give it a lot of use.

We celebrated the twins' fourth birthday last week. It's the first birthday of theirs that I can remember where they were really excited about the presents; I guess it's all downhill from here. As they grow up together, it's interesting to watch how they interact. Most of the time they get along so well — better, I'm sure, than most non-twin siblings do — but sometimes they so obviously get under each others' skin. A single friend was over for lunch recently, and one of the twins was fussing about wanting to be alone; my friend commented that she had never thought about what being alone meant to twins. It puts it in a whole new light! So now they are four, going to preschool three days a week, and constantly doing and saying things that look and sound older. They still love to snuggle with their daddy, though, so that ain't nothin'!

I think the new iPad Mini looks neat, but I can't really picture how I would use one. I don't use my (first generation, full-size) iPad for a lot of typing — my big fumble-fingers can't quite make adequate use of the on-screen keyboard — but I do a fair amount of other things that seem to require the larger size. I suppose if the main reason someone wanted a iPad was for watching movies and videos and playing games, the new Mini might be the perfect size. It seems like it's about the same size as things like the personal Nintendo things. I could be wrong, though; I've been pleasantly surprised more than once with how well an app that I'm used to for iPad translates down to my iPhone.

Jack and I have been talking about an idea that Apple needs to put to work. The more recent versions of all of the iDevices — iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, even Macs — can stream video and audio content to a TV using the Apple TV; they call it AirPlay. All of those devices can also do multi-player video games using Apple's GameCenter, which is a sort of social network. With GameCenter, I can play games with Jack, each of us on a different device, but playing against each other. So we were thinking, they should connect GameCenter and AirPlay, so that you could play multi-player games and stream the video to your TV. Maybe they could even split the screen to show the views of multiple players, kind of like they do for Mario Cart. Who needs a video console when you have your iPhone or iPod, an Apple TV, and multiplayer streaming?

There are a lot of kids in our neighborhood, and Jack and Molly have started playing with them often. This is a first for them, and I'm so glad for it. It wasn't that our neighborhood in Tennessee didn't have kids, but there weren't many on our block, and it seemed like families moved in and out of the neighborhood pretty frequently, so there wasn't much of a chance to build friendships. Plus, neither of them were quite old enough to say, "sure, go ride your bike around the block without me." This neighborhood doesn't have much through-traffic, and the kids play near our home anyway. Both Jack and Molly are starting to spend their afternoons more like what I remember from my own childhood: come home from school, hurry to finish homework, then head out to play with other kids on the block until dinner time.

I finished up book two of the Lemony Snicket novels with Molly on Sunday afternoon. It was pretty good, and I like how they've built in some clever ways of teaching kids new concepts in these books. I started #3 of the Harry Potter books with Jack last night. We made it clear to him, though, that we would probably wait a few months after #3, before starting into another. Marcie and I both think they get very dark after the third one, and he's just not quite ready for that; some of the more intense parts of #1 and #2 made him have a little trouble getting to sleep, so how much more will the others? There's so much darkness in the real world, and he's racing toward it more every day. I don't feel the need to rush him into it in his imagination too.

Random personal stuff, October 2012

I started last night on a project that will take up my focus for a few weeks to come. We have chairs for our dining room set that have fiber rush-woven seats; the trouble is, this is an older set, and several of the seats have worn through. So I'm re-seating them with new rush. It's a pretty straightforward weave, and it's satisfying work. I've somehow developed sort of a thing for chairs: a few years ago I had great fun replacing the cane seat of an antique rocking chair. Slowly, I'm amassing a new battery of esoteric knowledge. My family will be coming to join us for Christmas — my sister and brother-in-law, plus any children they are fostering, and my mother and step-father — so we will have a great crowd for a holiday feast. Marcie and I determined that I needed to get these chairs fixed in time for that, so that's a healthy goal.

Another project, not too dissimilar (in that it also involves old furniture), that I will be starting soon is refinishing a desk. I have a writing desk that, my whole childhood, sat in one entrance hallway or another in the two homes my family lived in. When my sister was in second grade, she carved her teacher's name into it, so it has a bit of character (maybe a little more than I would sometimes like!). The finish on this desk is in pretty bad shape, and I confess I've never really loved the finish as it is. So, I intend to strip the old finish off, clean up some of the surfaces that are more defaced than is acceptable (though it was suggested that I should keep the names of Weez's teacher in it, for the sake of that history; we'll see), and re-finish it in a finish that I actually like (or hopefully love). I've used this writing desk as one of my main study desks for 13 years before we moved to Tucson, and I'll need it again when we get into a more permanent property for the church. Thus, I need to finish it (no pun intended) by the end of this year, I think, to be sure that it is ready in time.

Marcie's main vehicle — our Ford minivan — is still in the shop. It has had problems with intermittently shutting off for a couple of months now, and we've already had a handful of things repaired or replaced on it. She was in an accident during that time (rear-ended), and it took about a week for the body shop to complete repairs on it; after we picked it up last Friday, it cut off for her on the way home! Of course, it never/rarely cuts off when I'm driving it. Fortunately, we've found a great mechanic nearby — near enough that I can ride my bike to pick up or drop off a vehicle — and he's on the job. Unfortunately, he's informed us that it will be a computer replacement this time around. Will that fix the shutting-off problem? Only time (and a Grand) will tell.

I've been going round and round with Adobe for the last half a month. In late August, I bought the (then) most recent version of Adobe Photoshop Elements, which was version 10. Then, less than a month later, they announced a new release, version 11 of Photoshop Elements! So I contacted their customer support within a day or so of the release announcement, and was promised a complimentary upgrade to the new version: "an e-mail with the code for the free upgrade will come in the next week." Two weeks later, still no e-mail; on with customer support again, and this time I'm promised that the e-mail will come two days later (I was given an exact date to look for the e-mail). It didn't come. So last night, I contacted support again, and this time I was sent to a form where I could submit my request as a support trouble-ticket. Why didn't they send me there in the first place? So I was told it should be handled within 48 hours. What a frustration. On the up-side: a friend caught wind of my difficulty, and offered to give me his old version of the full Photoshop — no charge! (Thanks again, Joe.)

I've been riding my bike to work at least a couple of times a week for over a month now, and it's really great. I got a new bike earlier in the fall, as an early birthday present from my mom. It's a good upright-postured bike, which is helpful with the troubles I have with my back, and it's an easy and comfortable ride. Tucson is amazing as a biking town, for two reasons: for one, the weather here is super for riding, even (maybe especially) as a commute, for well over half the year; probably in the dead of winter and the hottest parts of the summer it'll be less so, but I would guess 8 months or more will be good riding weather. For another, the city is very conscientiously bike-friendly. Almost every road, except the most tertiary residential ones, have bike paths, wide paved shoulders, or a separate multi-use path. I know someone who's been in a few accidents, but he was regularly riding on four- and six-lane roads. Where I ride, I often have the whole road to myself.

I've been teaching Jack to cook. Actually, we decided that one of his regular chores needs to be that he fixes a simple meal for our family once a week. So he's been learning basic stuff that we make from mixes or helpers, like Sloppy Joes, tacos, or spaghetti. He's learning to brown ground beef, how to tell when something it done, and the odd multitasking that is often required by cooking even a simple meal. He really likes it, and it will help a lot with meal-planning to know that he can (and will) do this. Soon, maybe, we'll move onto something with a bit more complexity.

Marcie's new Speech Therapy job seems to be going well; she's working at a place where they offer nursing home care, outpatient rehab therapy, and also home health care — and she'll do some of each. She's worked in nursing homes and rehab facilities our whole marriage, and she's really good with those kinds of patients. The only frustrating thing is the "productivity" demands: because of legal restrictions on what is billable (excluding things like administrative work, which also excludes the paperwork for patient care), all of the therapists have to meet certain demands for how much of their time actually IS billable. I think it's 80%, which doesn't sound like it would be too hard to reach — but it technically doesn't include time walking from one patient's room to another, or going to the therapy office to get another resource, or talking with another therapist or staff member, or writing up the lengthy evaluation that you just completed on a patient. I imagine some therapists fudge a little on some of these; Marcie was actually instructed to by a supervisor at one place she worked. But Marcie is faithful in her integrity, and won't record time as billable that isn't. I can totally understand why this sort of policy is in place, from a patient's perspective and from a business perspective. But the end result is that it creates a culture that is stressful for therapists, is ripe for encouraging deceptive or nefarious practices in billing, and is challenging in terms of befriending and enjoying co-workers. It just seems like there needs to be another way.

Jack and I finished reading the second book in the Harry Potter series on Monday night. Now I'll get started tonight with Molly, on book two in Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books. It's fun to read these to them, and great time to have something special just between us (though Marcie usually comes and listens in too, at least to the Potter books). Jack is, of course, already familiar with a lot of the Harry Potter stuff just by osmosis; whether it is Lego catalogs, Wii games, or his friends at school, he seems to have at least a vague idea of a lot of the content. But the particular delight in hearing the story as it was written by JK Rowling, who builds such a consistent world, is fresh and new to him nevertheless. Molly didn't know anything about the Lemony Snicket books, by contrast, but has enjoyed them just as much.

Pastoral Retreats

[From Pastor Ed… September 16 and 23]

As many of you know, I recently had a personal, pastoral retreat for several days. On this particular retreat, I visited the Santa Rita Abbey, a Trappist convent where they have a very nice "retreat house" for outsiders like me!

I realized (based, in part, on the concerned reactions that some of our congregation had about the fact that I was taking a retreat) that I've never taken the time to explain about my pastoral retreats. So I wanted to do that now.

An idea takes shape

Very early in my ordained ministry — within a couple of months of being ordained, actually — I was listening to a series of lectures by Mike Bullmore, Senior Pastor of Crossway Community Church in Bristol, WI; and he made some passing references to his use of personal retreats for ministry planning and preparation. Then I found a lecture from him focused entirely on discussing how he uses his retreats. (These and other lectures from Dr. Bullmore can be found at the Sovereign Grace Ministries online store — the ones I mentioned are free.) All of this led me to think of how I might begin to take similar retreats in service of my pastoral ministry.

Thus, the following September, I took my first pastoral retreat; I made use of a conference and retreat center in the Memphis area, where they have two wonderful little "hermitages" for private, silent retreats. Because this place was very close, I was able to do it by day trip — I would drop the kids off at school in the morning, and then go to my retreat; I would return in the evening, maybe a bit later than I usually would (after 6PM), and do the same on the following day. I found that three days was a good amount of time — more would cut too much into my ministry and family time, but less was not quite enough to get to where I wanted to be.

My pattern was to take a retreat like this about every six months, generally at the beginning of the fall and at the beginning of the spring seasons. My Session in Tennessee was supportive of these, and the Session at Dove Mountain Church has likewise been supportive. Lord willing, I intend to continue having these about twice a year throughout my pastoral ministry.

Goals and plans

What do I do when I'm on retreat? For starters, I have several goals that are almost always a part of my pastoral retreats. These are:

• Personal spiritual renewal and refreshment
  
• Extended time in devotional reading of the Bible
  
• Longer seasons of prayer
  
• Long-term praying, thinking, and planning regarding my ministries of preaching and teaching
  
• Sermon preparation — getting ahead in cursory and early-stage writing of sermons
  
• Worship preparation — writing and assembling the liturgies for weeks or months in advance
  
• Writing projects — taking an inventory on where I am with the various projects I'm involved with, and what needs to be done next

When I'm on these retreats, then, I'm trying to attend to these various goals as I can. Sometimes one or two will necessarily take very low priority to the others, while other times I find a fairly even spread across them all.

Meeting goals

For example, on this recent retreat I took advantage of the particular setting I was in — especially the extreme quiet that I found on one particular morning — and relished it for devotional purposes. I sat and read my Bible devotionally (meaning, I wasn't trying to study it for the purpose of teaching or preaching it) for over an hour, and followed that by a long time of silent prayer and meditation. I also simply sat and listened, watched, and soaked in the view and the surroundings during that time. Then I spent an hour or so reading for pleasure, in a fiction book that a friend of mine wrote. In all of this, I found some measure of accomplishment of the first three goals above.

Later that same day, I began to think about the preaching ministry over the next year or so. We have a sermon series planned on worship that will take us to spring of next year; I wanted to think strategically also about what to preach after that. Next, I looked over the rough plan for the new series on Worship: I already had the text assignments for the first 4-5 weeks, but one of them didn't work quite as well as another, so I changed that. Then I planned out the text assignments for the rest of the calendar year and into January 2013. After that, I began working on outlines for some of the upcoming sermons — determining the big idea, the main points, the sub-points, and finding appropriate reflection quotes when I can. This requires a good bit of reading, study, and consideration for each. I was able to get about 5 sermons outlined this way, and make a start into a couple of others.

At another point in the retreat, I began to plan out the worship service liturgies for the coming months. When I can work on multiple weeks in a row like this, I like to dig into particular aspects — the Call to Worship, for example — and find many of them at once, each as fitting and appropriate as possible to the themes of worship for a given Sunday. So I planned out the Calls to Worship for the rest of the year, and then started working on Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon.

Throughout the day, I take regular breaks from this kind of study and work. Sometimes I'll take a short walk, praying as I go; other times I'll sit and pray for a longer period, or read. Sometimes I'll get a snack — though often I employ some of my retreat time for fasting, which I've found is a great fit for this kind of time apart.

My retreats are often providentially timed, meaning that I will need them when they come around (sometimes more than I realize until I'm actually retreating). But they aren't a sign of burn-out or trouble, at least not so far, and I don't want them to be mis-read in that way. Rather, please think of them as — and pray for them to be — times where I am seeking the Lord for how He would use me in ministry to His people.

And let me take this opportunity to say thank you: to all of you, for allowing me this time away; to those of you who have asked about my retreat, and who prayed for me during it; and to the Session in their open and generous support. I realize that not every pastor gets to take this kind of time away (though I believe it pays great dividends throughout the rest of the year), and I don't take it for granted.

Ankylosing Spondylitis

[From Pastor Ed… September 2 and 9]

It's been about 13 months since Marcie and I flew out to Tucson from Tennessee to interview with Dove Mountain Church! Here's a lesser-known story from that trip, and how it has had a major impact on my life.

The Session and Search Committee had seen fit to rent a car for Marcie and I to use while here, so on that Monday, prior to going to the airport, we had to return that rental. Bob an Kim Ritt met us at the rental office, and we loaded into their van to ride out to the airport. I was glad for one more opportunity to interact with Dove Mountain folks before leaving.

I could tell when we got in the van that something was troubling Kim; this was toward the beginning of the time of her father's (still ongoing) battle with cancer, and I supposed that perhaps this was what I detected. However, while en route she received a phone call. Without trying to eavesdrop, I nevertheless heard her say something to the effect of, "that's not the diagnosis you wanted." Her heavy-heartedness seemed to increase after that call, though she still generously gave us her attention.

A few days later, in an e-mail including other matters, I asked Kim about that phone call; I wanted to know if there was some particular way I could pray for her. She told me that her daughter, Katie, had been diagnosed with something called AnkylosingSpondylitis, which Katie's father also had, and that it would likely mean lifelong complications for Katie.

Backing Up…

Before this point, I had been having trouble with my back for about two years. At first it was just gradually-increasing pain and stiffness, but eventually it reached the point where I had physical trouble getting out of bed each morning — I had to use a hiking staff that I own to push myself up with my arms, as my legs and lower back couldn't do it. Interestingly, though I could barely walk upon rising from bed, by the time I hobbled to the bathroom I didn't need the staff anymore, and by the end of my shower I was "loosened up" enough that I could move (mostly) normally, though with pain at times — particularly when I had been immobile for a while. There were other complications too, and I tried a number of different approaches to handle them.

Eventually I went to the doctor, when it became clear that this was more than just stiffness or temporary muscle tears or something, and that things like ordinary stretching wouldn't address it. One doctor I saw gave me steroids, which offered some temporary relief from some of the pain, and initially explored a diagnosis of gout. Another doctor didn't dismiss gout outright, but upon closer examination of x-rays believed I was dealing (mostly) with a combination of early-onset arthritis in my back, along with extreme tightness in a cluster of muscles in my back and upper thighs.

I started a standard anti-inflammatory drug for arthritis, and also went to a Physical Therapist for a couple of months. He taught me a battery of stretches to do every day, and also assigned me some workouts using specific machines (which I did at a local fitness center). Occasionally I missed one of my doses for the anti-inflammatory drug, and I could "feel" it when I did: I was stiffer and a bit sore. More or less, though, the pain was significantly reduced — almost eliminated — and I figured that we had kicked it.

During a few weeks of travel, however (when I was away from the gym and not as attentive to stretching), some of the pain came back as well as some new pains. This was actually right before interviewing in Tucson — some of the pain gave me a bit of difficulty during my interview weekend, but mercifully it wasn't too bad. Still, this time resuming my stretching and exercise machines didn't address it as effectively, and one of the new pains (in the ball-joint of my hip) made it very difficult to do some of the exercises I was used to doing, like walking on a treadmill.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

My response to Kim was yes, of course I would pray, and I was sorry for Katie's diagnosis. Meanwhile, I had no idea what Ankylosing Spondylitis (or AS) was, so I Googled it; I thought it would be helpful to know a little bit about the trouble that my (hopeful, at that point) future fellow staff member's daughter had.

In reading through the descriptions and symptoms of the disease, I was floored; one of the websites I visited listed some basic symptoms that indicated likely diagnosis:

• Onset is usually under 35 years of age
• Pain persists for more than 3 months (i.e., it is chronic)
• The back pain and stiffness worsen with immobility, especially at night and early morning
• The back pain and stiffness tends to ease with physical activity and exercise
• Positive response to NSAIDs (non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

There were other symptoms, I found: pain in the lower back, buttocks, and sometimes knees, ankles, and other joints; onset was "insidious" (slow coming on, rather than "acute" or sudden); it mostly manifests in men; it can cause increased fatigue and reduction of energy. ALL of these symptoms described me. (There is also a genetic marker that 60% of men who have AS also have, so they believe the two to be related in some way.)

The more I read about it, the more I saw myself in the descriptions. A few days later, I told Marcie, "you know me— I'm not typically a hypochondriac, looking for a disease to own. But I'm about 95% sure that this disease is what I have."

What do we do about it, she asked? I told her I would need to see a Rheumatologist, who would give a firm diagnosis, and that I thought it would take a while to get an appointment. By this point, I had accepted the call to move to Tucson, and thought it might be best to wait until we moved. Meanwhile, though: if this IS what I had, then treatment usually consisted of an anti-inflammatory drug, stretching, and exercise — all things I was already doing. So it probably wouldn't hurt to wait.

I still had this increasing trouble with my hip though; soon enough I went back to my doctor about it, and while there I mentioned my suspicions about AS. She looked at my x-rays again, and said my spine looked like a textbook case for it. She wanted to do the bloodworm required to look for the genetic marker, but agreed that I should definitely see a Rheumatologist when I get to Tucson.

Confirmation

It turned out that I didn't have the genetic marker, but that doesn't rule out AS as a diagnosis. I still needed to see a Rheumatologist.

Shortly after we moved, I was talking with a Deacon whose wife has Lupus; she has seen nearly every Rheumatologist in Tucson! I told him this story, and he offered to ask his wife to help me get an appointment with her doctor. She called the next day, and had spoken to her doctor's office manager; they had agreed to take me on as a patient. I needed to call the office manager to set up an appointment.

When I called — on a Wednesday — I was told that, technically, the doctor wasn't accepting new patients, and his next regular appointment was in April (this was early November). However, they would try to work me in sooner.

She called back on Friday: they had an appointment for me on the following Tuesday! So in I went, and began to confirm the diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis. Officially in late winter, the word came back: I do, in fact, have AS.

What This Means

AS is not curable; as of now, it appears that I will always have this disease. Once upon a time, this meant that I would eventually become severely stooped and immobilized as my back did strange things. Richard Riley, who was Governor of South Carolina when I was a kid, had AS; he died in 2001, and essentially he suffocated from his back bending him over so much. AS is not easy on the body.

More recently, however, some great advances have come about. While it can't be cured, there are medications available that treat many of the symptoms drastically. My doctor has told me that, using certain drugs, I could basically be symptom-free.

These drugs have complicating side-effects, though, and I'm not ready to start them. For now, exercise, stretching, and my regular anti-inflammatory drug are largely sufficient. My pain is well-managed, and most days I have very little struggle with it.

It does impact my life in some significant ways. When I was in high school, I played basketball and ran track and cross-country; now, I can't do either, because they are high-impact sports. I have trouble with long walks (like many hiking trails), and I wonder about things like shooting sports (I used to be an avid hunter) and how they would affect my back.

Overall, I'm blessed that my AS doesn't affect me more than it does. While AS isn't common, I've met several others who have it (or someone in their family does); I'm aware that others struggle with their AS much more than I do mine. While I pray for their healing and recovery, I'm also thankful that my AS isn't nearly as bad as it could be.

I don't have any reason to believe that AS will keep me from doing what is most important to me: enjoying my family, serving the church as a pastor, writing, playing music. I have a good life, and I'm grateful for what I have.

If you think of it, I would be grateful for your prayers: that my symptoms would continue to be manageable, that I wouldn't be hindered from serving God or others, and thanksgiving for how God has provided great support and care for me throughout all of this.

Jobs revisited

[This is an updated repost; the original post appeared in January, 2009]

I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life. Part of that is due to the fact that I started working fairly early-- #2 began when I was only 14, while #3-7 all happened while still in high school. Part of it, too, is due to the fact that I’ve sometimes had to hold more than one job at a time. And part of it is because I had a few jobs that just didn’t work out.

Mostly, though, I’m pleased to say that most of the people I have worked for have expressed gratitude for my work, and indicated that they were sad to see me go. I’m grateful that my father, my mother, and the man who discipled me through college-- along with some better managers and bosses-- instilled a strong work-ethic in me fairly early on.

So, here’s the master list: all of the jobs I’ve held, starting with the earliest regular job I had (mowing the lawn and cleaning the pool for my family, which I started doing when I was big enough to push the lawn mower at age 11!). These are only the jobs I had for pay; there were other “jobs” or positions I held, but only as a volunteer, so they are excluded from this list.

1. Lawn mowing/pool cleaning-- to “earn” my allowance, once it was no longer an allowance but pay for this work. I also mowed for the office building where my father’s office was. (6 years)
2. Janitor-- in the building where my father’s office was. (3 years+)
3. Handyman’s Assistant-- helping with room additions, plumbing, carpentry, other various tasks. (1 summer)
4. General manual labor-- for a neighbor, moving gravel (9 tons) and sand (7 tons) from his driveway, uphill, to the drainage ditch around the pool he was building, with a shovel and wheelbarrow. (2 months during summer)
5. Gutter-cleaning/Yard work-- good money going door-to-door in my neighborhood. (2 summers and falls)
6. Clown, juggler, and magician-- I started doing this as a volunteer with a fellow magician friend at a festival, and we were offered paying work at a party. It turned into a regular thing, and was great fun. (3 years)
7. Host/Server/everything else-- California Dreamin’, a restaurant in Columbia, SC. I started as a host, but I also ran food (=delivered it to tables), worked as a “bar back” (washing glasses mostly), washed dishes, worked in the kitchen, waited tables-- pretty much everything but tend bar (I wasn’t legally old enough) and manage. I consider this my first “real” job, even though I had earned a lot of money already by this point (I was only 17 when I started this one). (14 months)
8. Server-- Garfield’s, another restaurant. (1 summer)
9. Timothy’s/Bailey’s-- yet another restaurant; this one was my first introduction to “fine dining,” as it was a really swanky place. The ownership changed right before I started there, and thus the name change. (6 months)
10. Typist/Transcriber-- “independent.” In 1991 (my freshman year in college), I was one of the only people in my dorm who had a computer of their own, and a handful of guys in my English Composition class hated typing their papers (or simply couldn’t type!). I capitalized on this by offering my services for 5¢ per word, which they gladly paid; since I was already at about 50-60 words per minute, I made pretty good money with this. Even better, when they were assigned the task of editing the papers, they brought the edits to me to prepare-- and I had saved the originals, so they paid twice for many of those words. (Just so you know: I disclosed this fact to them, and they were unconcerned.) I did this for two semesters. (10 months)
11. TGI Friday’s-- yes, another. This one was weird, as we took a three-week family vacation about a month after I started, and they basically replaced me before I got back. (2 months)
12. Computer Lab Assistant--University of South Carolina. My first job using my burgeoning computer interests. (6 months)
13. Theater Technician--University of South Carolina. I worked in the scene studio; hung, focused, and ran lights; worked with the sound systems; organized props; even a little bit in the costume studio here and there. (6 months)
14. Server-- Key West Grill and Raw Bar. A quick job, mostly because it was so far from where I lived. (3 months)
15. Landscaping-- for a friend and colleague of my mother’s. I had dropped out of school at this point, and took any work I could get-- clearing lots mostly; my first exposure to a chainsaw. (4 months)
16. Construction-- again, through my mom’s friend and colleague. I was just about useless to them, so they had me scraping spilled mortar off of concrete slabs with a flat-end shovel-- what a loud and annoying task. (1 month)
17. Sales/Stock-- Structure. This was my first dip into the retail world, though I spent most of it in the stock room. Nice clothes, but not my style, and there was a lot of pressure to wear them (as well as participate in the employee stock purchase program), and it was a 45-minute drive from my house. (2 months)
18. Sales-- Be Beep, a Toy Shop. Was a great job, selling toys, putting them together, delivering larger items to some customers, and generally playing with kids and grown-ups alike. I loved this job. (18 months)
19. Cook/Sales-- Little Caesar’s Pizza. After I left Structure, this was my second job. I learned how to toss dough, and I’m pleased to say I’ll still eat Little Caesar’s pizza even after working there. (8 months) [An aside: it was at this point in my life that I began to learn how to handle multiple tasks and responsibilities simultaneously: I was working two jobs, going to school full-time, serving with Young Life as a Volunteer Leader, and leading the worship team for Fellowship of Christian Athletes-- AND I had a girlfriend.]
20. Youth Minister-- Southeast Presbyterian Church/Rose Hill Presbyterian Church/ Covenant Presbyterian Church. I started out with Southeast part-time, while still working at Be Beep. (Jobs #21, 22, 23, and 24 also were concurrent with Southeast.) Southeast eventually merged with Rose Hill, and shortly after that I also began to work with Covenant in a united youth ministry. This job was formative in more ways than I can enumerate here. (4 years)
21. Server/Sales-- Columbia Bread and Bagel Co. I opened, which meant (for a bakery) I went in at 4am. Still, it was a good job, and I learned a lot about bread. I needed something full-time, though. (3 months)
22. Sales/Lab Technician-- Jackson Camera and Video. I worked mostly in the lab, and I learned a ton about how color photos are processed (prior to that, I had only done B&W in a lab); I also sold cameras, mostly when my co-worker wasn’t there. (10 months)
23. Sales/Lab Technician-- Columbia Photo Supply. This was a great improvement over Jackson Camera, in part because I did mostly sales here. Great folks to work with and for, and they helped me re-emerse myself in photography as a hobby and business. I only left because I was moving to full-time with the church. (18 months)
24. Photographer-- "independent.” I mostly worked with one guy, who took me under his wing, doing wedding photography. Ironically, he had learned photography from my father, who had taken HIM under his wing. He taught me a ton; I still did this occasionally until a couple of years ago, even though I “retired” about five times! (14 years?)
25. Writer-- “independent.” I started writing a long time ago, but I started getting paid for it in 1998. Since then, I’ve continued to write as much as I can, and every now and then I still get paid for it! (11+ years)
26. Website Developer-- “independent.” Really, I was a subcontractor for my mom, who needed someone to handle this for the family company. I only did it until she found someone in-house to do it. Still, this was 1998, so there weren’t many folks who could take this on at that point. (7 months)
27. Youth Minister-- Westminster Presbyterian Church. Having finally finished college, this was my first post-undergraduate ministry job, in Roanoke, Virginia. There were some great folks there, and I still miss a number of the students and families that I worked with, even though it has been almost 10 years. (19 months)
28. Basketball Coach-- Faith Christian School. A local school in Roanoke asked me to do this while I was serving at Westminster. It was fun, even though we lost every game: almost none of the kids had any organized sports experience, and many had never even played pickup games. We drilled on skills, sportsmanship, and being a part of a team. (5 months)
29. Construction-- M&M Construction Company. When we first moved to seminary, we were flat broke and still looking for a job for Marcie, plus there were a couple of weeks before my teaching job started. So I worked construction, working on a deck, insulating and drywalling a room, and doing demo. Nice folks, too. (3 weeks)
30. Yardwork/Landscaping-- “independent.” Again, during the first weeks in St. Louis, I was looking for work wherever I could find it. I found a couple of households that needed some yardwork and landscaping done, and I served them for most of the first semester. (4 months)
31. House-cleaning-- “independent.” And again-- ad-hoc work during seminary. While I had never planned to return to janitorial work, this family paid well enough to coax me back into it. Unfortunately, they hit financial trouble and couldn’t afford to continue. (2 months)
32. Teacher/Consultant/Administrator-- Wildwood Christian School. I worked here throughout seminary, and for a year after finishing. I taught Logic, Advanced Literature, Rhetoric, Bible, and a Senior Research Seminar. I also helped them plan for marketing, did a staff evaluation, and organized the administrative side of things for a while. I’m glad to be out of the education world-- at least for now-- but it was a good place to work, and they were good to us. (5½ years)
33. Photographer-- Covenant Seminary. Apart from a variety of ways that I’ve worked as a photographer “independently” I was also on the staff of the seminary as a photographer for the Advancement department. For a while, many of the shots that were featured in seminary promotional materials were taken by me-- that was pretty neat. (3 years)
34. Sound Technician-- Francis Schaeffer Institute. The Schaeffer Institute ran a program called “Friday Nights @ FSI” that (ironically) was hosted by Borders bookstores, and they would have speakers address a variety of topics. My job was to run sound for them, record the lectures, and participate in hospitality. This was fun, but it got a little tedious after a while-- every other Friday almost year-round. (2 years)
35. Adult Ministries Pastoral Intern-- The Covenant Presbyterian Church. This started as a volunteer internship, but after a semester or so the church graciously began to pay me for my work. Mostly, I served one of the Associate Pastors for the church, handling a number of administrative, organizational, and service tasks so that he could focus on teaching and counseling ministry. (2½ years)
36. Teaching Assistant-- Dr. Philip Douglass, Covenant Seminary. I graded and evaluated a lot of Dr. Douglass’s assignments for several years, and also occasionally worked with students more individually than he was able to do. (4 years)
37. Consultant-- Douglass & Associates. My relationship with Phil Douglass graduated from T.A. to associate, and while I suppose technically I still work with him-- though only vaguely these days-- I haven't done any hands-on work with Phil or with his consulting work in several years. My work with him as included hands-on work with churches, writing and editing, website development, marketing and promotion. (6 years)
38. Computer/Productivity Consultant-- “independent.” During my transition from seminary into ordained ministry, I began working with several families on their Apple Macintosh computers, as well as with productivity and organization. I officially "retired" from this about two years ago, and I can't say I have missed it. (4 years)
39. Pastor-- Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church. My first position as an ordained pastor, this was a great pleasure and a privilege to serve in. God showered us with many blessings during these years, and in His mercy enabled much fruit to bear from my ministry there. (4 years)
40. Principal/Co-Director— Doulos Resources. Right around the time this list first appeared (in 2009), one of my best friends (who I worked with in #20, Richard Burguet— he was the pastor of Southeast Presbyterian) and I began a ministry to support the church through producing resources that were needful, and/or that might have difficulty finding their way to production otherwise. In this capacity, I've functioned as an editor, publisher, website developer, marketer, counselor, and a number of other "hats". (3+ years)
41. Pastor-- Dove Mountain Church. Which brings us to the present. God continues to bless me with the service He allows of me in ministry, and I'm so thankful to be where I am, and serving in the role(s) I do. (6+ months and counting)

Resignation

This is the letter that was mailed out to my congregation last week:

Dear HWPC family,

Our Lord has blessed us with His great mercy and grace, building, growing, and sustaining us as His people! I trust you join me in finding rest and peace in Him.

Four years ago, the congregation of Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church voted unanimously to extend a call to me to serve as the congregation’s Pastor. These several years have been a great blessing to all of us as the Lord has done so much work in our midst: an anniversary celebration, election and ordination of a number of new officers, calling Doug Barcroft as Associate Pastor, and of course the addition of so many of you! (Nearly 75% of our current congregation have come since I’ve been here.)

It was clear to both Marcie and me in August of 2007 that God was calling us Hickory Withe— as Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” The Lord gave us love and commitment for this congregation, this community, and the work He called us here to do. When we moved to Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church, we came with the hope that this might be our only move!

Just as that calling was clear, however, what is also clear to us at this point is that our time here is coming to a close, as the Lord is now calling us elsewhere. I have received and accepted a call to be the Senior Pastor of Dove Mountain Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona. Having prayerfully considered this course and calling together, and sought the counsel of a number of wise friends, I am able to embrace this new call with full confidence.

I am therefore resigning as the Senior Pastor of Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church. In order to most effectively prepare for the time of transition before the congregation, I am committed to remain for two months; my last Sunday will be October 23. During that time, I will be working closely with Pastor Doug, the Session and Diaconate, and the administration volunteers to make the transition as smooth as possible.

We will have a congregational meeting on Sunday, August 28, in order to have a vote to accept my resignation. During that time— or anytime— I’ll be happy to answer any questions that you may have about what is next for the Eubanks family. (Questions about what is next for the congregation should be directed to Pastor Doug or the Session.)

Though my relationship with you as your pastor will change, our love for you will not change. I am thankful that one day all believers will be together in the New Jerusalem. Meanwhile, I trust that the future for Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church is bright, and that the Lord has great things in store.

In His love,

Ed Eubanks, Jr.

A new call

After almost exactly four years as the Senior Pastor of Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church, I have received (and accepted) a call to serve Dove Mountain Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Tucson, AZ as Senior Pastor.

Marcie and I visited Tucson and interviewed with the folks at DMPC in late July, after numerous conversations and dozens of e-mails exchanged. In every step of the process, and with every new relationship forged, it was clear to both of us that the "fit" with that congregation was a great one. We were also stunned by the beauty of Tucson and of southern Arizona in general.

The ministry at Dove Mountain Church is (and will be) in some ways very different from Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church, and in other ways it will be so very similar. We have great anticipation for what the Lord will do with both— we look forward to the new ministry in Tucson while remaining greatly interested in how God will continue to prosper the work in Hickory Withe, TN. We consider it a great blessing to be associated with both of these congregations, and of course we are sad to be leaving our family in Hickory Withe, even as we are excited to join with our brothers and sisters in Tucson.

We are making plans to move in late October, after attending to many details in Tennessee. Not least of these is the hope to effectively "hand off" the work of ministry here to the Session and other leaders, and set things in place for an ideal transition to the new Senior Pastor. Of course, we will also be hoping to sell our house, get everything packed, and visiting as many of our friends and family as we can before leaving.

Please keep us in your prayers, as well as these two congregations in their respective times of transition. Our Lord is great and He is good, and will carry us through this to His glory!

Another book

Earlier this month, my latest book was released: From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry.

This book is a guide and reference for seminary students who plan to enter pastoral ministry upon graduation; it takes them through all of the stages of getting ready for candidacy, finding good opportunities, gathering and providing the right information, making decisions, and beginning well. It is the result of seven years of work, including a research survey, follow-up interviews, gathering case studies, and also plenty of personal experience.

Obviously, it's not for everyone-- but there are perhaps one or two people I know who will benefit from it, I hope.

If you are one of those two, you can buy it at the Doulos Resources eStore; it is also available through the Covenant Seminary Bookstore, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, the Apple iBookstore (coming soon, hopefully), and a few other places.

Endorsement for Grafted Into The Vine

T. David Gordon is Professor of Religion & Greek at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania; he is also the author of Why Johnny Can't Preach and Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns-- two books that have skyrocketed in popularity due to their poignant critique of much of our church culture today. T. David is also ordained as a Teaching Elder in my denomination, the PCA.

He was gracious enough to offer an endorsement for my recent booklet, Grafted Into The Vine: rethinking biblical church membership. Here's what he said:

"This volume clearly, gently, and biblically addresses why believers should care about and be members of Christ's visible church on earth. It is convincing without being argumentative, and instructive without being pedantic. Thoughtful Christians will be rewarded for the small amount of effort it takes to read this good book."

Thanks so much, T. David!

A new book(let)

I have a new book-- a booklet, actuallly-- that is getting released this week: Grafted Into The Vine: rethinking biblical church membership.

Doulos Resources, a publishing ministry that I've been involved with for a few years, is releasing this booklet as a part of a new series, entitled Strengthen The Church. For more information about the booklet (and about Doulos Resources), visit this website: Doulos Resources -- Grafted Into The Vine

I have repeatedly encountered misunderstandings and unbiblical practices in the church today regarding membership. So many people in many of the different congregations I have served have held to a view of membership that was completely out of accord with Scripture! I wrote this booklet out of that need, and out of a desire for others to reach an understanding of what the Bible teaches about membership in Christ's church.

There are three basic principles that I put forth in this booklet:
All Christians need membership in the local church
Church membership is nothing less than your public profession of faith in the Gospel
Church membership is nothing more than your public profession of faith in the Gospel

Following that, I briefly address two hard questions that often arise when people are confronted with these three principles together.

It is my prayer that this booklet will minister to God's people, giving them hope, encouragement, comfort, and security.

Check out my new booklet, Grafted Into The Vine: rethinking biblical church membership!

Happy anniversary!

Happy anniversary to my dear, sweet Marcie!

You are my true love, my favorite companion, and my heart's true friend. I love you with all of my heart.

Happy 13^th anniversary-- I'm looking forward to dozens more.

Article about us (sort of)

Half of the Eubanks family was featured in an article in today's Memphis Commercial Appeal, entitled "Driven by Love: Shriners' medical charity for children is 'best-kept secret around'".

The writer, Patsy Keith, was working on the piece when Abbey went for her recent procedure, so she took the opportunity to interview us and snap a few pictures. Thanks, Patsy!

Abbey's latest trip to Chicago

If you've been following my family for more than a year or so, you'll know that my daughter Abbey (one of the twins) went to Chicago, IL about a year ago for surgery. She had a cleft palate repair performed by the Shriner's Hospital in Chicago, and their care for her has been outstanding.

When she went for a follow-up visit in September, they found that one of the tubes they had put in her ears had fallen out. This is typical, because as her body grows they will naturally pop out. But for now, she still needs them IN, so they told us they would do it at a later scheduled date.

We initially hoped that we might be able to have it done locally; this would save all of the trouble of getting to Chicago again, and would be one less thing we were depending on the Shriner's Hospital to do. But the cost of the procedure locally was prohibitively expensive.

So yesterday, Marcie and Abbey left for another trip to Chicago. She is having the (very brief) procedure today, and they will return tomorrow.

Please pray for little Abbey as she faces anesthesia again, and for a safe and trouble-free trip for both she and Marcie.

Here's Abbey on the plane to Chicago:

Vacation...

We're going on a trip...

We'll be in Charlotte and in Columbia for a little under a week, then traveling and resting in Tennessee for another several days.

While in Charlotte, I have the privilege to give a couple of lectures at Reformed Theological Seminary. If you think of it, please pray for me to be of some use to those in training for ministry.

We'll also get to see our families, and have a few days just to rest and relax as a family ourselves. Please pray for our travels, our rest, and our relational re-connection on several levels.

Be back soon!

Pastoral retreat

Today, I'll begin a three-day break from my "routine" to take a pastoral retreat.

From now until Wednesday, I'll spend a lot of time in quiet, alone. I'll read a lot, pray a lot, write a lot, and think a lot. I'll study the Bible, I'll study some books, and I'll study my own heart.

This is the second such retreat for me; I found some similar time last fall, when Abbey's surgery was cancelled the first time. I found it to be refreshing in ways that, until then, I didn't know I needed to be refreshed. I came away renewed in my vigor and excitement for my pastoral ministry at Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church, and with a heart given-over to the people of my congregation.

This time, I'm praying for the same. I'm also hopeful that I will be productive in my retreat in more concrete ways (last year's was, too). Here are a few goals for me:

• Pray through the entire congregational roll
• Develop outlines of sermons for the next 4-6 weeks
• Write notes of encouragement to at least 6-8 families in our congregation
• Plan our six-part Advent sermon series
• Lift up the officers and their families in extended prayer
• Write the liturgies for the next 2-3 weeks of Sunday worship
• Journal about how God is renewing my heart
• Finish 2-3 chapters of a book (writing)
• Read through Acts, Genesis, and Romans

We are blessed to live near a conference center (its about 45 minutes from our house) where they have space set aside for this sort of retreat. Thus, I'll drop Jack and Molly off for school, go to the retreat center all day, then come home around 5:30-6pm each day.

If you think of it, I'd be grateful for your prayers during this retreat. God can use it powerfully, and I pray that He would.

My dental nightmare

Right now-- as this is being automatically posted by my Blogger account-- I'm setting out on the next steps in my journey to dental overhaul.

Ever since I was a teenager I've been told that, remarkably, all four of my wisdom teeth were fine; I didn't need to have any of them removed. Even when I would ask (several times later in life) about the fact that it feels a bit crowded in my mouth, I was told not to worry about it.

Now here we are: I began to have problems with a tooth back in January, and finally got in to deal with it late in March. It turns out that its problem arose from -- surprise! -- the presence of my wisdom teeth. They are too close to the adjacent molars, and make it impossible for those molars to get clean which leads to decay. I was blessed with a root canal for that problem tooth, with a crown forthcoming. I was also informed of the problems in the rest of my mouth.

So today, I'm having all four of my wisdom teeth removed. Then in a week and a half, I'll fly to South Carolina where my cousin (who is also an Endodontist) will complete three root canals in a single sitting. In the weeks and months to follow, I'll get the crown for the root canal I've already had, the three for the teeth my cousin is doing, and probably one other as well. Oh, and I also need a filling elsewhere.

So that's what I'm up to today. In a few months, about a third of my mouth will be some sort of synthetic dental work. Woo-hoo!