Halloween Is for Children

Communities throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast postponed Trick or Treating this year, including some towns not far from here. But the weather here wasn't bad enough to postpone it, just drizzly and cold enough to make it less than fun.
But we had our Halloween party anyway. Donovan and Jocelyn Weber brought Nora and Ruby to see us, and Grandma and Grampa Verna and Bill Weber came along too. They brought all kinds of good bread and crackers and cheese to go along with Evelyn's vegetable soup and hot cider, and we had a big time.
Even though it was something close to miserable outside, the younger Webers visited several of our neighbors, and Ruby especially was excited to see her stash of goodies after they got home. We skipped our tradition of sitting in the driveway with hot cider for the neighbors and stayed inside to visit with our friends instead. We made the cider anyway, and it was great. The younger Webers especially enjoyed it after being outside in the chill.
Maybe we've established a new tradition.

Our Bit of Sandy Snow

We got our own little taste of the Superstorm Sandy today. They were predicting high winds overnight, so we waited till this morning to put out the garbage cans. It was quite a thrill to open that garage door at 6:08 this morning and see snow and rain blowing down at an angle because of the driving wind.  We  got the garbage out, though, and two cans and two bags full of leaves and debris didn't blow away before the garbage men got there about 7:00. That was good.
By the time I got to work the snow had picked up and was even showing up on rooftops, highway signs, and grass.
It drizzled all day, but the snow disappeared early, and we were left with just gray skies and raw air to drive home from work.

Sandy on our Minds

The constant barrage of political ads has been replaced by constant news coverage surrounding Hurricane Sandy, which is bringing unprecedented flooding and wind damage to most of the Northeast. High winds and record rainfall is predicted for as far west as Pittsburgh, and a front from the west is colliding with the tropical storm to produce snowfalls measured in feet in the mountains of West Virginia.
Of course, we are watching all the coverage because our loved ones are in Philadelphia and New York. Geoff and Lisa live just a block or so from the mandatory evacuation zone in Long Island City, and the CNN report on just now says Philadelphia is going to get socked by rain and flooding soon. (Evelyn just texted Jennifer, and she texted back, "No power, turning off the phone.")
For our part, we're expecting 50 mph winds overnight--maybe higher--with rain. Tomorrow is garbage day, and we're not putting the cans out till tomorrow morning. Can't wait to get up and get out in the wind and rain as soon as I get up tomorrow!
We're putting flashlights on our bedside tables in case we lose power overnight, and we checked the water in the backup sump pump battery. They're saying the worst weather for us may be tomorrow, and memories of Ike (four days without power) are making us as cautious as possible.
This should be behind us by the weekend, although if our power goes out, I won't expect to get it back for several days. We're really hoping that won't happen, while we're really praying for the safety and welfare of our kids.

I grabbed this picture off the Web.
It shows water flowing onto the sidewalk beside the East River.
Geoff and Lisa live across from this river in Queens.

Getting Ready for Winter . . . and for the Storm

Went outside before 2:00 to work in the yard and didn't come back in till almost 6:00. Mowed the grass, edged, trimmed, pulled up the tomato plants, emptied flower pots, took up one of the outside hoses, and Evelyn and I got all the furniture and the grill off the deck. The temperature on our front porch registered 49 degrees  when I went outside, and there was a gusty breeze to make the temperature feel even colder. I pushed "shuffle" on my iPod, and the Christmas carols that came up seemed appropriate! Didn't get everything cleaned up and put away; decided to leave some of the flowers on the deck and front porch, because they're still blooming! But I got a bunch done, and it felt like more than four hours on my aching back when I got inside. That hot shower felt good.
Evelyn raked leaves while I was outside and then came inside to make some wonderful vegetable soup. We had some for supper and we're saving the rest for Halloween. The plan is to have the Webers come celebrate with us and take two little girls trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. The weather report is for chilly with showers, so I hope that doesn't wash out our plan.
Both Jennifer and Geoff called during the evening. They're waiting for Hurricane Sandy to hit right between Philly where Jen is and NY where Geoff is. Things should be pretty crazy by sometime tomorrow or tomorrow evening, a great chance for power outages as well heavy rains and flooding. Geoff and Lisa live about one or two blocks from the mandatory evacuation zone in their neighborhood. They seem to be as prepared as they can be, and it was good to talk with them this evening.

Saturday at Home

It's the first Saturday at home alone for us in several weeks, and we've enjoyed it. A typical low-key day, but it's nice to have one of those, at least every so often. It's the last one for awhile. Next Saturday our good friends Byron and Katie Cartwright will be with us, and we'll be having fun together. The next Saturday I'm at the Stone-Campbell Dialogue in Dallas, Texas (and Jennifer will be here between trips enjoying herself with Evelyn). The next Saturday is the Missionary Convention, I mean ICOM, and after that Thanksgiving!
So . . . a weekend at home was definitely in order.
We ate breakfast out this morning, which we almost never do on a Saturday. It started like this: Evelyn was going to bake some cinnamon biscuits for us, but then she realized she was out of butter. And then she remembered she had credit for two "sweets" (cookie or muffin or cinnamon roll, etc) on her Panera frequent buyer card. "Want to go over there for breakfast?" "Sure, let's have an adventure." (You know  you're old when a trip to Panera is an adventure!)
Well, I drove in the direction of the Panera at Union Centre Blvd.; I'm not sure why, because the Panera at Voice of America is certainly closer. But when we got over there, I said, "Hey, we haven't been to Original Pancake House in quite awhile."
"Drive by and see if there's a line."
There wasn't--at 8:45 when we showed up. So we figured we can use the Panera card another time, and we indulged ourselves in their wonderful almond cinnamon French toast, which I can't remember ever seeing on anyone else's menu.
We came home and Skyped with Wendy Wagoner while I cut up apples for applesauce and Evelyn did a few other tasks, all while we kept up the conversation with Wendy.
I spent more time than was probably necessary finishing preparations for my Sunday school lesson tomorrow ("Attractional Vs. Missional") and practicing music to play during Communion in the blended service.
We grabbed some lunch (I made a salad with the first of the fall lettuce patch growing on the deck, and sliced one of the last tomatoes from our garden), I finished my Sunday-morning preparations, and then I went to the grocery store. (Stocked up on candy and apple cider for Halloween Wednesday night.)
By that time it was almost 6:00. I read in the book I'm supposed to finish for the Dallas retreat while Evelyn took her walk, and then took a shower after Evelyn while she fixed supper.
We watched the Weather Channel while we ate supper. This is not a sign of our dotage but of our concern for Hurricane Sandy, which is forecasted to come ashore with damaging winds and rain squarely between the Johnsons in Philly and the Taylors in New York. The height of the storm is supposed to be Monday night. Evelyn texted the kids today, and Geoff said they were stocking up on gallons of water and canned goods. I think it's going to be a challenging week for our East Coast kin.

We had grilled pork chops and StoveTop stuffing for
supper to go with the applesauce we made in the Crock Pot today.
The apples came from NorthCarolina.

Nasty Weather, but a Good Day

A somewhat different day. A good day. Wrote a draft for my December editorial this morning. (About time--we give it to the printer Wednesday!) Handled a bunch of other details, including a meeting with our events person about arrangements for our January contributing editors retreat. Then I took the afternoon off. Left the office after 1:00 and went to the office of the people who are managing our retirement money. Worked with one of the assistants there to get signed up for online access to my accounts. It seemed so simple when she helped me do it! I don't know why I had so much trouble trying to do it from home. Met with two of the financial planners for a quarterly update and discussion about some future plans. Enjoyable and reassuring.
Got home after driving through crazy, jammed-up traffic and relaxed for awhile. And then left for an early supper with Terry and Shirley Wuske. Today is her birthday, and we celebrated together at P.F. Chang's.
Some will remember in yesterday's post I mentioned the possibility of going to a high school football game tonight. We wimped out. The rain started before noon today and NEVER STOPPED. Meanwhile the temperature kept falling, and even by the time I was outside at 1:00 and again after 3:00, the air was cold, damp, raw.
Shirley had called to invite us to eat dinner with them, and by the time Evelyn and I both got home around 4:00, we decided that was a far better option than the cold, wet night our neighbors were to "enjoy" at the Lakota football stadium.

My picture can't do justice to the sweet
layers of chocolate, nuts, marshmallow, and other
delights in the pie Terry brought for dessert.

After dinner we came back to our house and enjoyed conversation, catching up, and a wonderful turtle-pie concoction from Perkins that Terry brought for us.
A good day ended with a good evening with good friends.
And the nasty weather didn't bother us at all.

Celebrating with Diane

Shawn McMullen snapped this pose
of Diane and me with a carving of some unnamed
Ohio native guarding the back door of the restaurant.

In the midst of my pretty productive day, we took a break and went to lunch to celebrate the birthday of our associate, Diane Jones-Dunham. She was traveling to a friend's wedding last weekend, and was still gone for her actual birthday, so we picked today for our little celebration.
Last year I began the tradition of inviting the whole staff (of Lookout and Christian Standard) to go out for each person's birthday. The person celebrating picks the place, and I treat him or her. It's been a nice way to force us to go out together and have fun.
For the second year in a row, Diane picked Montgomery Inn. It was great!
Today was a perfect day for an outing. Almost summer-like weather, but with a nice breeze and beautiful leaves on the trees. It's supposed to turn cool and rainy tomorrow and stay that way through Saturday. We promised the neighbors we'd go to the Lakota football game tomorrow night (their son is in marching band), but I'm probably going to wimp out if it's pouring. We'll see.

Pursuing Truth

Spent some time this evening previewing the video that we'll watch tomorrow and next week in our Thursday-morning men's group. Two of our members have participated in a class based on this video series produced by Focus on the Family called "The Truth Project."
Each session is 55+ minutes long, which makes it impossible for us to watch and discuss in our hour-long time frame. So we've been watching the sessions a half at a time so we have some time for discussion and prayer.
The material is good--but it's much different than the typical Bible studies we've been doing. There are 13 lessons in all; we'll see if we decide to stick with this through most of our season for meeting.

Dinner with the Gals from Third Rine

Evelyn and I hosted a simple dinner tonight for girls on the dorm floor she's "sponsoring" this year. Eight of them came, and amid much laughter, talk, giggling, and smiles, we enjoyed Evelyn's chicken casserole, green beans, and our old favorite, applesauce Jello. (It always makes a hit, seeming much more exotic than it really is.) Evelyn had made brownies with chocolate chips on top,and we had ice cream (vanilla and chocolate chip/vanilla) to eat with them for dessert.
After dinner Evelyn pulled out "Apples to Apples," and the giggling continued as they sprawled on the floor with their cards and their guesses until they left to return to the dorm after 8:30.

 Evelyn let them take with them a brownie in a baggie, and a few took her up on the offer. But there's a nice bunch of 'em, plus chicken casserole for dinner tomorrow, leftover  for us.

What a Friend!

Every Monday several of us at work get together for a brief prayer time, and those who attend take turns leading it. Today was my turn, and I didn't have a better idea than a passage mentioned in yesterday's sermon: John 15:13-17. These few verses are from the long discourse Jesus delivered to his disciples on the night before he was crucified. Here he says, "You are my friends if you do what I command. . . . I chose you . . . to go and bear fruit. . . . This is my command: Love each other."
I read the passage in sections, paragraphs, with about a minute of silence after each one. Then I distributed a handout with the following four headings and asked those who attended to jot down prayers they would pray or challenges they feel under each of these headings as they meditated on the passage.
     Commands to obey
          Fruit to bear
             Thanksgiving for my Friend
                 Love to demonstrate
It seemed to be a meaningful time.
I spent most of the day cleaning up some loose ends and then jumping into proofreading for our December issue. I really don't like proofreading, and it's hard for me to keep at it--especially now with these 64-page issues.

Evelyn is a "floor sponsor" at CCU, and she invited the students on her floor to come for dinner tomorrow night. So far, 10 have said they're coming, and we spent much of the evening getting ready for them. Evelyn did most, getting food ready for tomorrow's dinner. I brought in some flowers for the table. We still haven't had a hard freeze, and many of our flowers outside are still beautiful. (Picked some tomatoes yesterday, too.)
Tonight a picture of the bouquet. Tomorrow a picture of the young ladies!
As I write this the presidential contenders are arguing with each other in the last of the presidential debates. The election is only two weeks away. It's difficult to believe it will actually happen and be over. It seems it has dominated the news for as long as I can remember.

A Good Day, and New Days Ahead

It's been a good day. I spent both hours in our Classic Praise services, because I was playing piano for the hymn singing today. I sometimes wonder why I'm doing this with so many others in the church who do it so much better than I, but I'll keep playing as long as they keep asking me. (But I won't be upset if they pare down the list, and I'm not on it!)
Tom Moll preached a good sermon about friendship. The point that stuck with me most was his reference to John 15:14, 15:

You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

It IS amazing, isn't it, that Jesus, who oversaw the creation of the universe, would call his followers friends? The sermon challenges me to be a better friend to Jesus!

As Tom preached, I got to thinking about all he's done for Christ's Church at Mason--the growth from several hundred to well over 2,000 in the years he's been here, the faithful pastoral and evangelistic calling, the excellent national reputation he's enjoyed (and deserved!). When he came we were a somewhat discouraged large church with waning attendance, needing direction and leadership. Now we are a thriving megachurch full every week with happy disciples of all ages. During the years Tom has been at Mason, churches all around us have languished or divided or dissolved. We tend to take for granted, I think, his role (and Kay's role!) in getting us where we are today.
But nothing stands still, and growth always means change. In the case of our church, that change will come as we welcome a new minister, because Tom and Kay have decided to retire. So many will hate to see them go, but Tom has already worked past traditional retirement age, and he deserves to turn the page on this next fulfilling chapter of his life.
This morning the church distributed a beautiful four-color brochure introducing us to the ministerial candidate to fill the pulpit after Tom leaves. In many ways, this young man is nothing like Tom.

For one thing, he IS young--about 32 years old if I've figured right. Although he has had many ministry experiences, including many opportunities to lead, develop volunteers, and preach, he's never been the senior minister of a church. Nevertheless, he comes to us from a church close to twice our size. (And so often a church calls a minister who has never led a church as large as the new church he's going to. That's a problem Trevor won't have if he comes to Mason.)
Some things about Trevor's appearance may be a little surprising at first, and although he and his wife both have degrees from Lincoln Christian University, they've had hobbies and experiences not typical of every Bible college graduate.
But in all the crucial ways, Tom and Trevor are very similar. Tom came to us committed to lead, and Trevor has proven himself a leader. Tom has faithfully preached the Bible, and Trevor's commitment to the authority of Scripture and the biblical plan of salvation is sure and sound. Tom has a passion for lost people, and Trevor has already dreamed dreams about how our church can penetrate the culture around us with the beauty and transforming power of the gospel.
Tom came to us with a sterling reputation and the recommendations of many who knew him. And I wish that brochure we published would have included the endorsements of those who have worked closely with Trevor. His spirituality, his work ethic, his family, his leadership ability, his giftedness in the pulpit--all these were lifted up for us by members of his current church and from others who have known him through the years.
As I listened to Tom preach today, I remembered discussions among our search committee about how difficult it is to get one megachurch preacher to come preach at another. But more than one church has found a sharp preaching associate from a megachurch to come take the helm as the most public leader of their congregation.
That's the course we're pursuing, and many of us believe Trevor can lead us to dynamic new days of evangelism, outreach, and growth--both in numbers and in depth.
I suppose one of the most impressive things about Trevor is the way he engages those he meets. That's why I'm praying as many as possible from our church will be able to meet him before he preaches his "trial sermon" on November 4. I'm glad our leaders are planning opportunities for folks to do that, and I'm looking forward to that weekend.
Yes, it has been a good day today. The beautiful autumn sunshine and colorful leaf display all around remind us that God is the author of beauty, joy, and order. And he's established the church, congregations like ours, to show a lost world how that joy can characterize every life. I'm ready for new challenges to do that, and I believe Trevor will bring them. That may be what excites me most about him.

Friday and Saturday with Colleagues and Friends

By the time we were ready for bed last night, I was too pooped to post, so today's diary entry will need to cover two days.
Had a full day of work yesterday: a productive meeting with the marketing folks about plans for marketing the magazines in 2013. I'm as encouraged about those efforts as I've been in a long time.
The four directors in the product development depart at Standard took our boss, Matt Lockhart, to lunch as a belated Boss's Day thank you. We went to BD's Mongolian grill; it's a place where you get a bowl that you can fill with your choice of meat, seafood, and vegetables arranged salad-bar style in two long, double-sided buffets. Then a third buffet holds a whole host of various sauces: sweet, savory, or spicey. You get a little cup into which you ladle whatever combination of the sauces you'd like. Then you give your bowl of food and the sauce to a cook working around a six-foot diameter round grill. He stir fries your food and just before it's finished pours your sauce over it and then scoops it onto a platter. You take it back to your seat and eat it with brown or white rice or tortillas. It's a big meal and a fun, different way to choose your meal.
But I managed to be hungry for supper. Bill and Verna Weber came over--we didn't eat till almost seven. For dessert I had picked up a pumpkin cake roll from Graeter's. We'd never had one of those from them before. It was yummy!
Today was my first Saturday at home in awhile, and it was good to be here. A low-key day: paid bills, Skyped with Wendy, went to the grocery store, practiced piano (I'm playing at the Classic service tomorrow), started reading a book assigned to those participating in our Stone-Campbell Dialogue retreat in November.

This evening we went to Jim and Becky Snyder's place for their annual bonfire and picnic. It was rainy and raw this morning, but the clouds cleared and we had a perfect evening for the bonfire: chilly enough to enjoy the fire but warm enough to be comfortable. We cooked hot dogs over the fire and ate goodies brought by the several who were there. It was pleasant fellowship and good food. The mood was made a little somber by another round of layoffs at CCU yesterday. "I feel like I'm on Survivor," one of the professors at the bonfire said. Evelyn and I wouldn't have been surprised if she had been among the cuts, especially since she's planning to retire at the end of this year anyway. But she, too, has survived for now.

The inimitable Jim Snyder is NOT a hot dog,
but he dressed the part at the bonfire
he and his wife hosted tonight.

Highlights of the Day

Evelyn went to the Healing Center tonight, but I was free, so I grabbed the chance to go visit Pipkin's Market in Blue Ash. I don't really want to buy any more mums, but I knew I needed a picture for my blog, and I knew they'd have something beautiful to photograph. I wasn't disappointed!

While I was there I bought some fresh green beans for our dinner tomorrow night and a handful of small gourds to add to our fall decor.
As I predicted yesterday, I spent most of the day today looking through unsolicited manuscripts and unused manuscripts with a view toward where they'll fit in future issues. I have some more of that to do tomorrow, along with some assigning, along with a meeting to think about some next steps in the budget planning process.
Other highlights: Ate lunch with Robb Faust and posted a column at ChristianStandard.com that got some nice comments at its link on Facebook.

A Beautiful Wednesday

Today was beautiful, with a high temperature in the mid-70s and bright sunshine. It gave me a great chance to chronicle the progress of the sugar maple in the back yard--all red now. They're predicting rain and probably some wind the next day or two, so Evelyn thinks we'll be raking Saturday. We'll see. I found some leaf lettuce seeds a few weeks ago and decided to try a fall crop in a flower box on my deck. It has sprouted nicely. We'll see if the hard freeze holds off long enough for us to get a salad!

Spent a lot of today debriefing yesterday's budget meetings. Met with The Lookout folks and our marketing manager and web guy about The Lookout's new web site that went live for the first time today. Did my part on our weekly e-newsletter and wrote a draft of my column that goes live tomorrow (better than writing it tomorrow, don't you think?).
Tomorrow I need to do some planning, manuscript reading, and assigning. I need a big block of time to give to that, and I believe I'll have it tomorrow. I'll let you know.
Previewed the video we'll watch in our men's Bible study tomorrow morning ("The Truth Project," 2nd half of Lesson 2) and visited with Jennifer on the phone till she had to go help Nina with her homework.

Plenty to Eat on Boss's Day

Guess what today was? Boss's Day! I had forgotten that till I got to work today and found nice cards on my desk and then a spread of breakfast (and lunch!) goodies and sweets to celebrate the day. Then at lunchtime the adult department folks also brought food--plenty for their lunch and then baked beans and barbecue and potato salad and more for anybody else who wanted to enjoy their bounty.
I spent most of the day waiting to be called into a budget meeting, but I didn't actually go into the meeting till 5:30 and didn't speak to my own budget in that meeting till about 7:00.
But we had a free and animated discussion during the next hour, and I really appreciated the time I was able to spend with the president.
I'm writing this with one ear listening to the president and Governor Romney in the second presidential debate. I won't venture a guess about who's "winning."

The Magazines staff at Standard Publishing:
Shawn McMullen, Diane Jones, Jim Nieman, Sheryl Overstreet

The Production Continues

The November issue of Christian Standard has been printed; copies should be in the mail now. The boxes of samples arrived Friday, and my copies were waiting for me when I got in the office this morning. Doug Priest, one of our contributing editors and the leader of Christian Missionary Fellowship, Inc., helped assemble the articles, and much of the photography, including these two wonderful shots, were supplied by missionaries and missions agencies. We'll be distributing samples of this issue at the International Conference on Missions in November, and we're pretty pleased with what this one contains.
Even after just one day out of the office, there was catching up to do today--mainly correspondence to handle. Today is the deadline for most of the copy for our January issue, so, thankfully, a lot of the material was coming in via e-mail throughout the day.
I spent some time looking over the Magazines budget for 2013. I'm "on call" to come defend the budget  sometime tomorrow.
Evelyn mowed most of the yard before supper this evening. She saved just a little (most of the front) for me to do. After I mowed I put down some grass seed in a couple of bare spots, threw away some plants that are done for the summer, and picked tomatoes. Yes, for the record, on October 15 we are still getting ripe tomatoes from the garden. (The skins on some of 'em are pretty thick, but Evelyn was able to salvage enough of one to liven up our salad for supper.) It's supposed to be cold tonight, down to 39 degrees. I'm thinking temperatures like those may be contributing to the thick skins on these tomatoes. If it doesn't freeze this week, though, we should have several more ripe by the weekend.

A Big Bang of a Reunion

The nicest thing about the weekend was the reunion with the people.
We drove to North Carolina Friday to participate in the Fourth Final Budfest hosted by Dean and Anna Hinson and Bob and Sue Willson. Bob and Sue have been friends since we first moved to West Chester almost 30 years ago. Anna is their daughter, and I performed her marriage to Dean several years ago. The Hinsons live in Seagrove, NC, on Bud Lane (hence the name "Budfest") not far from Asheboro, and the Willsons live in Pittsboro, NC, not too far from there.

Many autumns Bob and his fellow pyrotechnics (Bob is a licensed fireworks shooter) invite all their friends and neighbors to a giant potluck with a magnificent fireworks finale on the acreage the Hinsons own. It's a low-key, down-home event, complete with a wonderful bluegrass band. Bob has said several times that he was doing this for the final time this year (thus the "Fourth Final" label), so we decided we'd better go experience what we've heard so much about for years.
We enjoyed the weekend very much. The food was wonderful. The fresh air and crisp autumn evening were invigorating. Exploring an orchard outside of Asheboro and several of the potteries in Seagrove was enjoyable (and gave us some stuff to bring home), and the drives through scenic highways in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Appalachian Highway in Ohio were beautiful.

Rita and Wendell Dunn were two of the
Christ's Church at Mason friends who
trekked to Seagrove for Budfest.

But the best thing about the weekend was the people.
We arrived after 6:00 Friday night to find two or three carloads of friends from Christ's Church at Mason who were graciously waiting for us to arrive so we could go to dinner with them.
Most of them were there Saturday morning for breakfast at the Fairfield Inn where we all stayed. And with them, Ron and Linda Ford (former Christ's Church at Mason members, and I worked with Linda at Standard Publishing) and Allen and Sharon Lennon (also fellow church members before they moved away) as well as Bob and Sue. We ate and laughed and table hopped and enjoyed much of the morning together.
After doing some sightseeing in the area we got to Anna and Dean's house after 4:00 in time for the pot luck supper at 4:30. It was great to see Anna and Dean in their element and to give big hugs to Jim and Annie Willson--Jim and our Jen grew up together here. Jim and Annie had driven up from their home in Florida for the big event. And John and Heather Turner arrived in time to visit with so many of us who had worked together with them at the Mason church almost two decades ago.

Sharon and Allen, former fellow church
members in Mason, drove from
their home in Florida for the party.

After the fireworks (and these fireworks were as good as any you've ever seen--a 28-minute show beautifully coordinated with a wonderful sound track), we gathered around a camp fire. After awhile we retreated to the lobby of the Fairfield where a bunch of us sat and drank the hotel's decaf coffee and visited till almost 11:00.
I'm thinking there will be meals together in heaven, and a wonderful reunion with friends and family we've known in many circles in this life--laughter and talking and sharing memories. And maybe something as good as, or even better than, fireworks.

We drove through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. The most beautiful trees were along one stretch of the Appalachian Highway in Ohio, but I was driving then and didn't get a picture! But many of the highways through the mountains offered beautiful vistas.

10-11-12

The bad news: After going to my men's group this morning and then filling my tank at the Kroger's pumps on Mason-Montgomery Road, my car wouldn't start; wouldn't even turn over.
The good news: The man filling up at the pumps ahead of mine said, "I think it's your battery. Do you have any jumper cables?"
The bad news: I don't have 'em, because I don't know how to use 'em.
The good news: The Good Samaritan who reached out to me found some cables from a kid two bays over. He jumped my car like a professional and gave me advice about where to buy a new battery.
The bad news: There was no way I was going to buy a battery and try to install it myself.

The good news: The mechanic I've learned to trust, Dale Barnes in Mason, was open for business when I arrived at his shop a little before 7:30. He tested my battery, determined it was dead, hooked up the car to an auxiliary battery so the car's computer wouldn't reset, and replaced my battery with a new one. And I got to work by a little after 8:00.
The best news: The battery didn't fail at a Quick Stop somewhere in Kentucky or North Carolina while we're on the road this weekend. I felt really blessed as I tooled down Mason-Montgomery Road on my way to work.
And after work I ran the car through the car wash--first time since the wedding in June, I guess it was about time. My Camry is a little beat up on the outside, but I still take it to the car wash because of all the work those fellows do to clean up the inside, including the windows. We should have a clear view of the changing leaves on what promises to be a pretty day between here and North Carolina.

My view of the swishing car washers through the windshield from inside the car.

The Cleaning Clerk and the Begonias

"The price is $36.84."
The teenager at One Hour Martinizing read the tab to me.
"Well, I have this Groupon. So I'll pay what's left after you deduct this."
She punched keys on the computer/cash register. "OK, so that's $29.15."
"No, the Groupon is for $20."
"Well, it says here, the Groupon is for $10 after expiration."
"Right, but it hasn't expired yet. $20 off."
"Oh, I'm still learning how to do Groupons," she apologized. She punched more keys on the cash register. "That's $19.95," she announced.
"No the Groupon is for $20 off," I said.
She returned to the keypad. "$10.15!" she reported.
"$36 minus $20 is $16," I reminded her. She stared at the mess she'd made with all the numbers she had entered and punched a few more keys. The machine produced a receipt. "$15.50," she said.
I smiled, handed her a $20 bill, and wished I'd stopped at $10.15.
Not the most significant part of the day, but probably the most memorable. At work we had another art meeting for December, I handled a bunch of correspondence, tied up some loose ends on our December issue, had a good conversation with Matt Procter about NACC articles for Christian Standard and his idea that we offer student subscriptions of CS to Christian college students, prepared for a couple of meetings tomorrow.
This evening watched the Reds lose their second of four games to the Giants and previewed the Truth Project tape our men's group will watch tomorrow morning.
They're predicting a 32-degree overnight low, just as the begonias in front of the house look their prettiest. I decided to take a couple pictures of them before they freeze.

A Hodgepodge Day

A hodgepodge day. Finished editing the December issue. Did a second round of work on art for the December issue in preparation for our second December art meeting tomorrow. Did some correspondence related to the Stone-Campbell Dialogue that meets in Dallas in a few weeks. Did some preliminary work relating to our display at ICOM the weekend after the Stone-Campbell Dialogue. Requested an estimate for 5,000 brochures featuring the Christian Standard's NACC preview in a promotional piece the NACC will use this spring (if I get permission to print it).
Came across two Web articles today that I decided to share on Facebook.

One, about Tyndale House's lawsuit claiming exemption from the government's mandate to cover contraceptives and abortifacients in health care plans:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/2/hhs-bible-publisher-not-religious-employer/ 

The other a blog at Christianity Today proposing a different attitude toward gays and gay marriage by Christians:
http://www.outofur.com/archives/2012/10/gay_rights_reli.html?utm_source=leadership-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=879746&utm_content=138747196&utm_campaign=2012

The Reds are playing their third game against the San Francisco Giants as I write this. I started listening to it on the radio on the way home, and we decided to turn it on while we ate supper, washed dishes, prepared lunches, etc. etc. This is totally unlike us, but, hey, this is the Division championship game, and the whole town is dressed in red today.

Evelyn made spinach burritos for supper tonight. She hadn't told me to buy frozen spinach (which the recipe called for), and so I had bought fresh. She used it, since that's what she had, and it made the burritos really good. We think we'll use fresh spinach for this recipe all the time.
As I was finishing off the last bite, I realized I had eaten vegetarian today: frozen macaroni and cheese for lunch and the meatless burritos for supper. Makes me feel very virtuous.

Still Growing, Still Mowing

Yesterday was gray and cold. Today was sunny and a few degrees warmer, so we mowed grass after work before supper. Actually, Evelyn mowed most of it. I finished up when I got home and then trimmed and swept. The afternoon was sunny and bright, but at 50-plus degrees, we were mowing in sweatshirts.
Evelyn put supper together while I was finishing up outside. She had made a new soup recipe yesterday: pasta bean soup. It was great. We had it with a salad that used the last of our cherry tomatoes with some mozzarella I had bought on a whim at Fresh Market Saturday. I grabbed some flowers from the backyard before I came in. They're saying frost warning tonight, but I figure it won't come. (They usually warn several times before it actually happens.) But if this is the last bouquet of the summer, we'll enjoy it.
I know this was just another Monday. But when it's possible, it's refreshing to make meal time a special time, and tonight's was.

Sunday, Sunday . . .

After so many busy weekends in September, it was nice to have a "normal," quiet Sunday spent mostly at home. We went to church this morning, of course, and then tried breakfast at a new Frisch's on Yankee Road. I ran to the grocery and then to a second Kroger's with a Fifth-Third bank whose manager was on duty today to provide a "Medallion Signature" guarantee on a form I need to sign and send to Standex.
Then I came home and retreated to the kitchen table where I did some editing for a couple of hours. Later in the afternoon I switched out a pile of summer clothes for warmer ones. It's always a chore, but always sort of fun, to pull out the off season clothes--sort of like greeting old friends. I always forget some garment I forgot I had. And usually come across at least one that I wonder why I'm still saving.
This evening we're eating supper in front of the TV, and after getting ready for tomorrow (lunches, clothes, etc.), we'll watch some program we recorded last week before heading off to bed and starting the new work week.
Only four days in the office this week. It's a trip to North Carolina for "Budfest" Saturday! (Keep watching for details.)

Our sugar maple in the backyard is starting to show its beautiful colors. There's a freeze warning for tonight, so it will probably be getting prettier in the next week or two.

Happy Birthday, Evelyn . . .

Yesterday was Evelyn's birthday, and she celebrated by NOT driving to her office at CCU. Thursday and Friday were fall break for students, and Evelyn decided to grade papers at home those two days (plus tomorrow) and save herself the commute.

Appetizers

She met me for lunch at Servatti's on Montgomery Road, and then we went across the street for her to use her birthday 20% off coupon at Stein Mart (a perk of being a Stein Mart preferred shopper).
We had thought about going out to eat that evening, but an invitation from Bill and Verna Weber trumped that idea. We had a nice time visiting and laughing and catching up with them, and Verna cooked a wonderful dinner.
I said I'd bring the cake and ice cream, but Evelyn and I liked the look of the pies better than the cakes at Servattii's. (Well, actually, the cakes looked beautiful there, but they were all very large; they would have fed 16, and there were only four of us.) So we had birthday pie (apple) and ice cream to celebrate Evelyn's big day, complete with cinnamon and/or vanilla ice cream from Graeter's. It was a low-key but a very enjoyable celebration.

Main course

Birthday pie for dessert

Today I was at a meeting at the church all morning, Evelyn was at a baby shower in the afternoon, and then the two of us were with a church group for dinner this evening. The church is on the brink of some exciting new days in the future, and I'm looking forward to seeing how God will work among us in the coming months and years.

Good Tastes

Spent much of this morning writing the my weekly post for Christian Standard. We promised that my column would appear every Thursday, so Thursday morning was none too soon to actually write the thing. Some of what I said there, I had said here, but for a little different account of my time on the campus of Hope International University, you can check it out for yourself.
Midmorning was spent in a meeting called by the president to explore options for increasing magazines revenue, the guideline being we can spend money only for measures guaranteed to bring a payback (which effectively eliminates experiments with digital technology). I was frustrated, but then encouraged after lunch when our VP of marketing came by with a couple of fresh ideas for stimulating subscriptions--one solid idea for each publication. So the lasting taste in my mouth was a positive one, and that's good.
Spent the afternoon doing some editing for web-only content and catching up on correspondence. In between other tasks I deleted old e-mails. Our e-mail server shut down twice in the last 24 hours because it's just too full. So strict guidelines for allowable amounts to store will be coming down, and I'm guessing mine will be one of the accounts that will regularly be close to the line.
Grabbed dinner at Panera with Evelyn tonight (finally tried their macaroni and cheese--it's good!) before we both did our volunteer stint at the Healing Center. I talked to two people who really need help--and I think they're going to get it!
Took a walk around the building in the 70-plus degree sunshine at lunchtime today and snapped this picture of the mums in one of the planters by the parking lot.

The Grass Is Always Greener . . .

The grass is always greener . . . when you pay a guy to dump fertilizer on it, when he spreads gypsum and lime and then aerates and adds grass seed. THEN the grass gets greener. And as I was mowing tonight, just 5 days since Evelyn mowed it while I was gone this weekend, I was looking closely at the neighbors' grass so I could feel good about all the money I'm pouring onto my lawn. The issue, of course, isn't just GREEN. It's green-ER. No pride here, of course, it's just a desire to upgrade the environment, you know.
Anyway, while I was mowing, I looked carefully at the lawn just beyond my driveway, and I felt a slight sense of satisfaction because I do believe that one neighbor, at least, has a yellow tinge to his lawn that I'm just not seein' in mine.
Of course several days in a row of steady rain hasn't hurt anybody's lawn, and I have to admit that a quick drive through our neighborhood shows everyone's lawn looking a lot like spring.
We had a 70-plus degree afternoon today, with green lawns under trees turning gold and maroon, and it was just beautiful. I even enjoyed mowing the lawn!

I got out of the office at lunchtime, because my buddy Robb Faust needed someone to pick him up from the car rental office after he returned the Toyota he drove to the NACC meeting this week. I was glad to be in the warm autumn air. But tomorrow I think I'll stay in all day.

Men in Red

Christian Standard's managing editor, Jim Nieman (right) spread all 68 color proof pages of the November issue on the counter for the second time in two weeks today. We began our final checks before the issue goes to the printer tomorrow. Mark Haas, Standard's creative director (left), has served as our art director for more than a year, and he's been a huge help in upgrading the look and design of the magazine. He was there with us today, making recommendations for color and suggesting other tweaks to the layout. We realized when we gathered around the counter that we'd all chosen red shirts today, and everyone walking noticed it too! 

The November issue is all about missions, and we'll be distributing it on the chairs at the International Conference on Missions in Indianapolis next month. But we won't be wearing red shirts!

Fall Is Here!

The weather predictions on my last day in California called for triple-digit temperatures in parts of Los Angeles, but I flew home to discover that autumn had come to the Ohio Valley.
As the plane was descending through a thick cloud cover last night, there was still enough light to see the landscape below. It was dotted with brush strokes of amber, maroon, and gold--the leaves are turning! The changing landscape and the chilly temperatures outside tell us all that autumn is here--and it's a wonderful time of the year. I love not only the fall flowers, but the excuse to make hearty food and the need to pull old friends out of the winter clothes piles stored away in the basement. I'm not looking forward to winter. But beautiful autumn can stay for as long as she wants!
I was surprised to look around outside our office building and see that the landscapers had switched out the summer flowers for beautiful yellow mums and ornamental purple kale (or is this cabbage?). Yep, no more petunias or begonias for us. Fall is here!