A Good Saturday

A good Saturday: Paid bills and brought the checkbook up-to-date for the first time in a couple of weeks. Was happy to verify that we're still solvent. Was also happy to discover why we had stopped getting our Time magazine: our subscription expired several weeks ago, and I hadn't paid the bill!

Skyped with Wendy this morning, and she's looking much better than the last time we talked with her. She's been off the typhoid meds for about a week, but it has been a very busy week for her, and she's exhausted. She doesn't feel fully recovered, but she's hoping some rest and healing of her system and a few more days with the strong drugs out of her system will combine to have her feeling fine.
She leaves for her month away next Saturday. First a break for a couple of days in England with a friend. And then on to our place June 15 where she'll stay till the wedding.
The wedding is four weeks from today. This time that Saturday maybe I'll have a wedding picture to post.

I was running errands today and stopped in at Home Depot to pick up a couple more bags of mulch (actually, it was four bags, and I decided after spreading it today that I need two more--maybe the final two, we'll see!). As soon as I arrived I saw they had a selection of beautiful 4-inch annuals on sale @ $2.50 each. I grabbed 16 of 'em; if I can keep 'em alive for four weeks, they'll be part of the centerpieces at Jen's reception. I'll report here close to the date.

Also had a nice visit with Geoff on the phone this afternoon and nailed down plans for the post-wedding family get-togther at our place he and Lisa are hosting. They chose a yummy, easy (catered-in) approach, and we're really looking forward to it. He's plodding away on research for his doctoral dissertation. I'm proud of him. I don't believe I've ever had that kind of drive or discipline.

Tonight was the final performance of "Cinemagic" with the Ambassadors Choir at Mason Christian Village. Evelyn and I grabbed dinner with Dave and Mary Lautzenheiser on the way to MCV and had a fun time. Evelyn and Mary sat in the back and took it in. The "village people" did well, and the whole experience ended happily.

Daily Faithfulness

As I've been participating with the Ambassadors Choir in their program at Mason Christian Village this week, I've been thinking about longevity and faithfulness. Loren Swedburg, (above, left) is 93 years old. He's been serving the Lord his whole life; he retired to Mason Christian Village after the death of his wife. The two of them taught with distinction at Nebraska Christian College. His son Tom (above, right) and Tom's wife, Bonnell, were two of the first people we met when we went to serve First Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado, in 1976, and they've continued to serve in a variety of roles through one or the other of the Christian churches there every year since then. They were in town this week to visit Loren, and I got them to pose for this picture.
As I stood in the back and listened to the chorus sing, I thought about Loren's faithfulness, and that of so many others on the platform who have lived for Christ for many decades. I thought of all the concerts, programs, worship services, solos, quartets, recording sessions, camp choirs, and more that my friend Dave Lautzenheiser has led year after year, and this program is just a part of the ministry he's performing in Mason this year.  Joanne Hopton who served with unfailing energy for years as the publisher's secretary at Standard Publishing, and for a short while as mine, was on the platform. I wish I could have interviewed all the three dozen or so members to learn more about classes taught, choir rehearsals attended, funeral dinners cooked, money given, and on and on represented in the lives of this chorus.
Much that's accomplished in this world happens because folks get up, get out, and get on with it--faithfully day after day. We can't all do something great or newsworthy every day, maybe not every year, maybe not ever. Very few get their name in lights. But people like some I've been enjoying this week are examples to all of us just to keep at the tasks at hand, because the sum total of daily faithfulness can make a big difference.

Older and Richer

My adventure with the Ambassadors Choir at Mason Christian Village this week has got me to thinking. One thing I've been thinking about is ageism. Of course all of us think older people are those just older than ourselves. I think older people are maybe 75-80. I'm guessing my kids think older people are about my age.
In any case, we tend to think that older people can't do what we do or don't feel what we feel or don't understand what we have figured out.

And as I've watched these lovely people sing all the medleys of Hollywood hits this week, I realize it isn't always true. In some senses it isn't true at all.
My picture doesn't adequately portray the effort and concern for excellence that these folks demonstrate in their approach to their program. Nor can it show the sweet expressions on so many of their faces when they sing love songs or the way they've embraced and mastered difficult syncopation or harmonies.
"Thanks for the Memory" was one of the selections, and I can tell that so many memories are infusing song after song as these folks sing them. Maybe that's the difference between young people and older people; the layers of memory are so much deeper for the older. Deeper, and richer.
It's fun to do this little program with the Ambassadors choir. It's creating memories for me that are making my life richer.

They're Magic!

This is a snapshot of the Ambassadors Choir, a musical group made up mostly of residents at Mason Christian Village, at the end of their rehearsal today. Their big spring program is this week, and Dave Lautzenheiser asked me to be the narrator. It's called "Cinemagic." I've been memorizing like a madman since last week--there are really only a few little spots for narration. although Dave has a way of throwing things in at the last minute. But, typical for me, I just couldn't get to it ahead of time.
I was surprised, frankly, at how good the choir is. I enjoyed hearing them sing, and it will be fun to do the little bit of schtick that's a part of the narration.
We have dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon and then "performances" Thursday afternoon and evening and Saturday evening.
The trips to MCV three afternoons this week are making a very full work week even fuller. It will be fun--if I remember all my lines!
Evelyn and I mowed this evening, and I chopped down all the suckers around the crabapple tree in the backyard. We had a nice shower this morning, so nothing needed to be watered.

New Church Initiative

 Yesterday I attended a lunch hosted at Mason Christian Village with a bunch of Cincinnati-area ministers and other church leaders. The agenda was to share information about a new church-planting start-up group for the Greater Cincinnati area.

They're calling it New Church Initiative. It's goal is to partner with other church-planting efforts and organizations to start new churches between Northern Kentucky and Dayton. 

"Church planting is the most effective means of evangelism on the planet," Jeff Metzger told the crowd. "I heard Donald MacGavran say that in the 80s, and now I've experienced it myself." To highlight the need in our area, which we think of as "churched," he shared some research he did. "On a typical Sunday, 8.4% of the population in Clermont County attends church. In communist China, the figure is 8.3%!"

"We want to create a high-output, no-overhead organization," he said. He will serve as a trustee of the new effort, along with Don Sams, Stephen Sams, and Larry Travis, who will also serve as the director. (Larry is also serving as associate minister with the Riverhills church where he will have his office for both jobs.)

"I believe every church, every Christian should be involved in new church planting," he said. And every speaker encouraged us to remember that the gifts of many Christians throughout the area can combine to make new church planting happen here. 

This is a worthy goal, pursued by men with pure motives, it seems to me. I'm glad I was there to witness something close to the birth of New Church Initiative.