Pizza with Jen

Jen was talking with
You Know Who when
I got home.

Jennifer's been in town since Monday night, mainly to do wedding-prep chores, and we've had a good time hearing plans and catching up. She's leaving in the morning. Tonight Evelyn was doing volunteer duty at the Healing Center, but it wasn't my night to serve. She was finished and home after 7:30, so I ordered a pizza for the three of us, and Jennifer told us about her day. She met with Carol Ray who is going to stage her wedding reception. They got on like two lifelong girlfriends, and since we love them both, that makes us happy.

Veggie-topper pizza--
Evelyn's favorite!

Smiling Faces, a Beautiful Day

Marshall Hayden (right) was in the office to meet Peter Esposito, the CEO of CFM Religion Publishing, the umbrella company that owns Standard Publishing. Marshall is chairman of Standard's Publishing Committee. He met with Peter and me and Matt Lockhart to discuss ways the Publishing Committee can advance the ministry of Standard Publishing. We're hoping much of the Committee can meet Peter in Orlando before or after the North American Christian Convention this summer.

I took Marshall to lunch at First Watch after our meeting with Peter. It was a glorious, sunny spring-like day. I'm so glad I wasn't holed up in the office from 8 till 5.

On the way to my car in the early evening, I paused to snap pictures of the daffodils, already showing a few buds on four-inch stems in the flower beds around the trees at our office complex. I'll photograph them again later--either in bloom, or covered with snow, or both! We'll see.

A Night to Remember

I'm no music critic, so I do not have the words to adequately convey the remarkable experience Evelyn and I shared last night when we heard Chris Botti and his band perform with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Music Hall was sold out for the one-night-only performance, and the crowd clapped and cheered and swayed with the rhythm and melodies, or sometimes sat in rapt silence to witness the musical feats performed onstage.
Not only is Botti himself a virtuoso, but he brought with him an ensemble equal to his talent. Billy Childs on the piano is a four-time Grammy winner. Brazilian guitarist Leonardo Amudeo is a star in his own right. Drummer Billy Kilson, described by Norton Wright at the International Review of Music as possibly "the most exciting drummer working today," earned that accolade with his performance in Cincinnati. Violinist Caroline Campbell wowed the audience in soaring duets with Botti and in a tour de force of technical showmanship in her own solo. And then there was vocalist Lisa Fischer, backup singer for The Rolling Stones, who demonstrated a vocal range only exceeded by the enveloping warmth of her sultry voice.
The program was remarkable, not only for its excellence, but also for its range--everything from a Chopin prelude to jammin' jazz. Botti engaged his audience with his low-key hosting of the evening. And he and Fischer performed one whole section from the audience, shaking hands and greeting guests as they meandered  down an aisle.

It's been along time since I've been so blown away by a concert, and attending concerts is one of my favorite hobbies. Indeed, it was a night to remember.

I snapped this picture as the orchestra was
assembling onstage. . . .

. . . and this one as Botti performed
his first number.

A Friendly Welcome

Once a month  Evelyn and I stand at the Welcome Center at our church. Joan Maxwell recruits the Welcome Center volunteers and is always there before any of the rest of us on a Sunday morning to make sure things go well.
She is such an encourager of everyone around her—she spends her Sunday mornings hugging, chatting, smiling, laughing. It would be fun to take a count of everyone she greets on a typical Sunday.
We had a lull in the action this morning, and I couldn't resist snapping her and Evelyn and their pretty smiles.

Every so often I play piano during Communion in either our Blended or Classic services. Today was my day to play in the Blended service, and I decided to snap a picture of the worship team leading the Communion song as I waited "backstage" before walking out to the piano on the platform to play meditation music while the emblems were served.

Friends by the Fire

It was a relaxing evening by the fire at our place with Terry and Shirley Wuske. We enjoyed dessert and coffee and laughs and catching up after enjoying dinner out together. The day was bookended with their visit in the evening and Skyping with Wendy Wagoner in the morning. She's back to her feisty, cheerful self, after a second round of medicine to cure the malaria that has attacked her in the last couple of weeks. We're praying that this treatment did the trick and that she'll be able to enjoy her mid-term break from language school feeling perfectly well.

A Beautiful Sunrise, a Blustery Evening

Evelyn and I had a typical Friday "big night" after work this evening. Dinner at Olive Garden and then on to Costco. After spending $189+, we now have enough grape juice, toilet paper, paper towel, Greek yogurt, cans of low sodium V8 juice, and plastic bottles of orange juice to keep a Tea Party rally going for a week. Plus coffee, almonds, a package of cookies, a huge bag of naked pita chips, and organic tomato basil soup. (The latter is a special treat.) We never really started going to Sam's Club or Costco till our kids were grown and gone. Now we have a stocked pantry of these "bargains" and no one to use 'em except Evelyn and me. Give us a call if you'd like a snack or you have an emergency requiring paper products.
The day started with a beautiful sunrise. I stopped to snap it from the parking lot of our church building. Those clouds soon thickened, and the sun was covered up, never to be seen again the rest of the day. Blustery winds blew angry showers of rain and snow across asphalt and sidewalks intermittently through the day. After two days of almost-60 degrees, we shivered this evening as we ran from the car to our Friday-night destinations.

But the weather did nothing to discourage the crowds at Olive Garden and Costco.

Oh Say, I Can See!

BEFORE

GETTING FIXED

The big news today is that I got my glasses fixed! New temples, the guy called 'em, the left and right handle things that keep the glasses straight on my face. I've been getting along with only one of 'em since Tuesday, so I was glad to get back to normal today. At the right--the BEFORE picture. At the left--the glasses being fixed picture. Below--the back-to-normal AFTER picture.

AFTER

Leadership Lessons

They came, many if not most of them, to hear Anthony Munoz. But the presentation that struck me most was from the other main guest of the afternoon.
The event was the annual Leadership Luncheon today, sponsored by Cincinnati Christian University. NFL Hall of Famer and former Cincinnati Bengal Anthony Munoz told about his rough upbringing in Los Angeles and the transforming power of his decision to become a follower of Jesus. "I could stand up here for three hours and tell you football stories," he said. "But I wanted to tell you what is most significant. The biggest decision of my life was inviting Jesus into my life."
It was a wonderful testimony from a man who has used his celebrity as an opportunity to do good and tell about Jesus in one situation after another.
But the first guest of the day gave one practical example after another to show how a committed Christian can transform a whole business and the thousands of lives it touches.
Dee Ann Turner is vice president of talent at the Chik-Fil-A corporate office in Atlanta. She is a CCU graduate and a wonderful spokesperson for the company's mission to glorify God through its business.
Her title comes from her conviction that "human resources" focuses on having enough people. "Talent" focuses on having the right people. She shared founder Truett Cathay's conviction that "if you select the right person, that takes care of the other problems." Chik-Fil-A seeks to hire key operators who will stay with the company for 30 or 40 years, she said, not 3 or 4.
She shared the company's acronym for developing great leaders. They are those who
See and shape the future.
Engage others; work as a team.
Reinvent themselves continually; they're lifelong leaders.
Value results and relationships.
Embody our values: 1) integrity, 2) generosity, 3) loyalty, and 4) excellence.
Lest all this sound too warm and fuzzy, she made clear that "without profit, we don't have people." Expectations for each store are high. "Our strategy is to create raving fans," she said. "We have to have great product, or saying 'It's our pleasure to serve you' won't mean much."
Expect to see some of this in a future Christian Standard editorial, because the implications are so manifold not just for every business, but for every local church as well.

My day didn't start well

I was checking Facebook and to see if anyone had responded to my blog, so I just ate some yogurt while I was doing that, instead of a banana in the car, which is my usual breakfast. Then it was time to get to work, so I went to the kitchen to brew the one cup of coffee I can now brew in the one-cup coffee brewer Evelyn got me for Valentine's day. When I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I took off my glasses to comb my hair again, and the frame broke off in my hand. Bummer! I had just had them adjusted yesterday, because they weren't sitting right on my head.
I went back to the kitchen to discover that I had poured the cup of water in the brewer and pushed the "On" button--but had NOT set the cup under the spout to catch the brewed coffee! So the counter was covered with a big, brown puddle. (I'm glad it was just a cup.) Thankfully there was no mail yesterday, so no bills or anything else important was sitting in the brew. (I can replace the issue of Christian Standard whose tan pages were dripping coffee when I picked it up.)
In all the hubbub, after I wiped up the counter and brewed another cup of coffee, I forgot to take my pills.
So I got to work with elevated blood pressure and glasses hanging precariously on one ear.
For a fee (more than I'm willing to post), the nice man at the eye doctor's office has ordered new earpieces and will install them for me--probably tomorrow.
Like Evelyn said about the coffee pot, "That's one mistake you will probably never make again." I hope not. If I do, I'm not sure I'll admit it here!

Commercial Success?

For some time I've thought it would be fun to do voice-over work—for commercials or educational projects or talking books, that sort of thing. I've done some of that off and on through the years here at Standard, and maybe this would be a fun pursuit come retirement.
So when I saw a class offered at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park that included instruction in doing voice-overs, and when I saw that my schedule for the 7 Monday nights was open this winter, I decided, "Why not?"
Well, the main thrust of the class is acting in TV commercials, although the instructor said we'd spend the whole session tonight on voice-over work.
He gave us a script to memorize and have ready to record last week. And then he said to develop a different premise for the same script and have it ready this week. I decided to try to record myself as a practice run this morning. (I FINALLY figured out how to use the iMovie program on our computer.)
So, would you buy a calculator from this salesman? Probably not. But you can't say I'm not willing to put myself out there and give this a try!

Friends at a Wedding

Tom Wellage married Liz Pavone at our church yesterday.
Jan Cummins was just one of many friends with us there.

 Writing in the Wall Street Journal yesterday (Feb 18), Alain de Benton suggests alternatives for religion to help contemporary nonbelievers experience a sense of community. I can only wish he did not have to research and write a whole book to propose what I and my wife and so many people I know experience weekly, simply because we have not given up our religion. (His Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believers Guide to the Uses of Religion will be published March 6. I doubt many who read this will rush out to buy it!)

I'm posting this entry toward the end of a weekend that illustrates how Evelyn and I have enjoyed the community we find in the company of other Christians. I can't imagine what our life would be like without them. I feel sad for so many around us, like de Benton, who do not know the support--and fun!--that comes with keeping Christian friendships.

I already posted that we went to the Cincinnati Pops concert Friday with friends Bill and Verna Weber, who were Evelyn's colleagues at Cincinnati Christian University until they both lost their jobs in a significant cutback there last month. It was good to enjoy a "normal" experience with them, even as we  discussed their options in a world that for them has turned upside down.


Yesterday we attended the wedding of Liz Pavone to Tom Wellage at Christ's Church at Mason. It was a happy time, made happier because we have such a high regard for the faith and witness of the bride and groom--and underlined by the friendly banter with longtime friends who attended the wedding with us.

Jan Cummins went to business school with Evelyn long before I knew her. They were roommates after that, and a few years later, Jan was in our wedding. She knew Tom at the church they both used to attend, and she was one of several friends bustling around the fellowship hall and making sure the reception went smoothly.

Four more friends were Dave and Mary Lautzenheiser and Dan and Cindi Cooper, and the fellowship started at the afternoon wedding continued at the Coopers' place where Cindi fed us a wonderful supper followed by more laughing and sharing.

This afternoon Evelyn and I are catching up on housework, grocery shopping, and grading (Evelyn) and editing (Mark). Without our friends we would probably be done with all of that by now, having succumbed to what de Benton labels the "ruthless anonymity" of our time. But we wouldn't be happier for all of our accomplishment. I'm so grateful that God provided the church to create  bonds of community that so many outside of the church continue to long for.

Pops Goes the Decade

We arrived at our seats for the Cincinnati Pops concert last night to find a card on each of our seats thanking us for 10 years of subscribing to the Pops. 10 years! I didn't realize. I'm not sure if we'll be going 10 more years--not even positive if we'll subscribe again next year. But we have had the privilege of seeing some wonderful artists--Kristin Chenoweth and Marvin Hamlisch (sp?) come to mind, and I know there have been many others.
Last night's concert was a tribute to Disney, and I felt sort of ho-hum about it going in. But it was wonderful, mainly because of the four vocalists--two young women and two young men--who sang and danced through many of the songs. So talented, such vocal ranges, such versatility. Their singing, combined with the magnificent orchestra, and film clips and stills from the Disney movies on the screen above the orchestra, all made for an evening of warm nostalgia.
We went with our friends Bill and Verna Weber who have had a long week tending to Verna's mother, Mildred Holmes, who is on the mend at Jewish Hospital. She was admitted last week, but they say as soon as her white count gets low enough they'll send her back to Mason Christian Village. She'll go to the nursing wing instead of her apartment--at least for now.
We Skyped with our "adopted daughter" Wendy Wagoner this morning who is s-l-o-w-l-y recovering from her second bout with malaria. I guess it's really the first bout that recurred this week. Today's prayer request: No more parasites! Go, go out of Wendy's system!

This beautiful chandelier hangs above the lobby in Music Hall.

Pre-nuptial Prayer

Yesterday at my Thursday morning Bible study, we prayed for Tom Wellage who's getting married tomorrow. After we gathered around him and laid hands on his shoulder and prayed, I persuaded the guys to pose for a picture. Tom is seated. Behind him is Lloyd Bradshaw, Dave Wick, Brad Comerford, and Dave Kruger. Three other regulars who weren't there this week are Mike Browning, Ron White, and Alan Guttman. 

"May Christ be at the center of this marriage," Brad prayed. And I think all of us decided that's a good prayer for OUR marriages too.

I hope to have a POST-nuptial picture for my diary Saturday night or Sunday. 

Volunteering

The Healing Center is a ministry of Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati. It offers a wide range of programs to help people with many needs. Most who come are having trouble surviving, and they need food, clothing, job training, help finding a job, help filing their taxes, and more. The Center is open several times a week for folks to come get assessment and advice and to visit the food pantry or clothing store. The Center offers computer training classes, posts job openings, hosts 12-step groups, and more.

After I became acquainted with their ministry some time ago, Evelyn and I decided to find out about volunteering at the Center. She's there every Wednesday evening as "floor manager," helping guests find the services they're looking for then. I show up, usually two Wednesdays a month, to serve clients who can apply for government and other benefits through a computer program called Benefit Bank.

I snapped Evelyn's picture last night with Rich, one of our Benefit Bank volunteers.

Love and Laughter

We've established a tradition! This is the third Valentine's Day in a row we've had dinner with our friends Dave and Mary Lautzenheiser. We arrived before Mimi's was full and stayed and talked after most of the crowd had left. I hope we can do this again next Valentine's Day!

Encouraging Words

Encouraging words are too few and far between--for any of us! So when I opened my e-mail this morning with an e-mail from an old friend, Mike Mack, I was buoyed through the day by the nice things he said about me. Mike was quoting a blurb I had written about his new book, Small Group Vital Signs. Then he went on to review how our paths have crossed—over the past 25 years! I told him I had forgotten some of the incidents he mentioned—but I've never forgotten him!
So, gratefully, I'll link to his glowing words so I'll have 'em here in my digital diary to encourage me some day when no one else will.
Mike is groups minister with Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and founder of SmallGroups.com.

On a far less serious note, let me record that Tie Tuesday here where I work has no gender barriers, as the picture to the right proves. Congrats to colleague Margo Wilhelm for joining us in our fashion statement!

Going Political

OK, so this is not a blog about politics; it's my diary. But as such, its function is to record not only things I'm doing, but also things I'm thinking and talking about. And I'm recording all the above to help me remember what I was thinking and talking about--and to see what's happening with those items a year or two hence when I look back on these posts.

So this week I, along with much of the rest of the nation, am thinking about the health care plan Congress passed last year and the Administration's mandate that church-run institutions pay for birth control, even when it is against that church's religious faith to do so.

This weekend, I shared one editorial that pointed out why the Administration's compromise on this decision is inadequate. By forcing insurance companies to provide the birth control free of charge, the policy will ultimately result in higher rates for the organizations refusing to cover the birth control in their health care benefit. The insurance companies will simply raise the rates. The result will be that the institution WILL be paying for the birth control, just in a more round-about fashion.

But a column in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal deals with an even more basic problem, related to the problem of the health care legislation in general. Why should health-care policies be required to provide birth control? They aren't required to provide toothpaste for tooth health. Auto insurance policies don't provide for oil changes or new wiper blades. I'll do the column a disservice by trying to summarize it, but it really helped me think more clearly about this issue.

Maybe you'll be interested in reading what it has to say. And I'll be interested a year from now to see if the health-care legislation passed last year will still be on the books then.

Two Different Evenings

Last night we welcomed Sev and Paul Friskney (right) and Shirley and Terry Wuske (below) for our Valentine's dinner party. The evening was full of laughter--and good food!

But we were sorry our other invited guests, Verna and Bill Weber, had to cancel at the last minute because they were tending to Verna's mom, Mildred Holmes, who had been sick all week. They ended up following the ambulance to Jewish Hospital where Mildred spent the night. Verna and Bill waited in the emergency room and admitting room of the hospital till 10:00 p.m. while we were relaxing and eating and enjoying ourselves.

We ran up to Jewish after church this morning and were able to visit with Mildred (she's our friend, too!) who smiled weakly at us as we tried to make jokes and small talk with her and Verna, who arrived shortly after we did. Mildred is a remarkable woman, 95 years old, still spunky and strong, which is why she has survived this week of serious illness. We're praying for her and the Webers.

Party Time!

I'm posting this just a few minutes before our guests arrive for the Valentine's Day dinner Evelyn and I are hosting. Three couples will join us for pork roast, asparagus, Kirsten's yummy potatoes, and a new lettuce salad dressing Evelyn found. Spiced apple juice and bruschetta will be the appetizer, and sundaes with peaches and raspberries and shaved chocolate will be dessert. It's going to be yummy!

The table is set with four miniature roses as the centerpiece. They will each go to one of our guests as our gift.

We Skyped with our "adopted daughter" Wendy Wagoner this morning. It was afternoon where she is attending language school in Tanzania. I could write posts and posts about Wendy, but suffice it to say she is recuperating from malaria, and it was so good to see and hear her back to her perky self this morning!

Snow Business

It's snowing. The weathermen all said it would start after 3:00, but it was spitting snow when we left for lunch before noon. By 1:00 the wet snow was still melting on the sidewalks and streets, but it was clinging to the grass and starting to paint the tree branches white.

Evelyn and I had our typical big Friday night out. This week it was Indian food, then a trip to Kohl's to use our Kohl's cash. We bought some new 12 oz juice glasses that we're going to use for dessert at our Valentine's Day dinner tomorrow night. (Watch for pictures Sunday!) We had $20 to spend and we got the glasses for free with a 2-cent credit left on our Kohl's cash coupon. We decided we didn't need to spend that.

 Instead, we drove over to Kroger's and got the meat for tomorrow's dinner, in case Evelyn needs to start it (in the Crock Pot) in the morning before I venture back out to the grocery for the weekly run. It's supposed to get down to 19 degrees overnight with slick spots. But it should be clear by noon.

The snow had started to stick in the courtyard outside
our office at 1:00 this afternoon.

Meet with Me

Today was meeting day. I'll go in reverse order. At the left is Jared Alexander, the assistant marketing manager who handles marketing for The Lookout and Christian Standard. We met after 4:00 and decided to plan another meeting tomorrow to talk about plans to introduce Christian Standard as a monthly magazine, with digital options.

That meeting followed my weekly one-on-one meeting with Matt Lockhart at 3:30.

That meeting followed a meeting Matt and I had at 1:30 with Peter Esposito, our president and CEO, about possibilities for meeting with Standard Publishing's Publishing Committee this year. It was a good meeting!

Got gas for $3.109 a gallon with my
Kroger discount card today. Hmmm,
I wonder what it will be a year
from now.

Some people hate meetings, and I've been in plenty that were boring and a waste. But if I have to sit at my desk all day with my papers and computer and no human interaction, I get antsy and unproductive. But today was a productive day!

On a Mission

Gayla Congdon with Amor Ministries

was one of the couple dozen folks 

there today.

I was invited today to attend a meeting of planners and leaders for the International Conference on Missions (ICOM, formerly National Missionary Convention). It was a blessing to spend time with so many fine people committed to spreading the gospel to the whole world.

ICOM, like so many ministries in our fellowship of churches, is coping with how to serve and lead our "tribe" while stepping away from the sectarianism that our culture has disavowed.

 The issues raised today have more questions than I'm ready to answer, in print anyway. Maybe later, either here, or actually in print.

Dave Empson, executive director
of ICOM,  presided at today's meeting.

Tuesday Tie Day

Lookin' good, wouldn't you say?

It's a new tradition in our office: Tuesday Tie Day!
Well, sort of a tradition, that is. I counted four tie wearers (plus at least one guy who never went the "casual dress route." Every day is tie day for him!).

Anyway, I caught one of my colleagues, Rick Baltzersen, at the end of the day, and he gamely posed to help me remember that at least this Tuesday was special.

Maybe we'll have a few more next week who will "tie one on."

I used to love wearing (and buying!) ties. I have to admit that by the end of the day, the thing was feeling a little constricting, tight around my neck. I'm glad I'm not wearing one tomorrow.

Today Jim Nieman, the managing editor at Christian Standard, laid out all the color proof pages for our March 11 issue for one final check before giving the issue to the printer. This is a big one, a 32-page issue, all about Christian colleges. Actually, we're dealing with Christian colleges in two issues this year, and both of them (if I do say so myself) are worth reading. Gary Weedman wrote the lead article in this one, about the 21st-century challenges to biblical higher education. A lot to chew on for anyone in our movement interested in our schools.

Doctor Day

I am not the proud owner of a new crown--on my tooth! I 'm guessing a tiara might not cost much more than this acrylic addition, but I'm glad to have the experience behind me.

This was my view from the dentist's chair this morning.

Then at noon I went to the rheumatologist. You know what a rheumatologist does; a rheumatologist takes blood. Sometime I may try taking a picture of my blood going up a tube into the test tube, but I chickened out today. Maybe it was because I hadn't eaten lunch yet. I never watch the blood flowing out of my body. 

This doctor diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis about a year and a half ago, and the two medicines I'm taking have eliminated virtually all my symptoms. 

Being sick isn't fun, and going to the doctor takes time we don't want to give up, but aren't we glad to be living in an age where so much help is available to us! If the apostles or Christopher Columbus or Benjamin Franklin had a cracked tooth or swollen joints, they would have just had to suffer. I'm glad I don't!