This Side of the Pulpit | This Side of the Pulpit

Back with Both Feet In

January 3rd, 2012 | Add a Comment

Something about returning from vacation and being up to your neck in work and church and family schedules… it makes you want at least another week just for decompression. Ease back into it, you know? Maybe I should be preparing better. In happy news, Christmas Eve worship was beautiful, Christmas Day was wonderful, St. Nicholas was good to us, God was good in providing safe travel, the in-laws were doing well, all things considered and we … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Merry Christmas and Auf Wiederlesen!

December 22nd, 2011 | 2 Comments

An early Merry Christmas to all of you. This will be my last post until after the new year. I’ll be spending time with the family until Monday, when we will all load in the car and drive, drive, drive to Tennessee to see my in-laws. I’m looking forward to being offline for the next ten days. I may go through Skyrim withdrawal, but that might not be a bad thing either. I have mixed feelings about being gone next week. We have a number of folks here having surgery and going through some heavy trials, and part of me wants to be around or available. But I want and need to see my in-laws who are having health issues, and Marjorie’s uncle who is ailing with MS. I commend them … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Gettin’ Down on Friday and the Weekend

November 18th, 2011 | Add a Comment

The plan is to clean the garage out thoroughly this weekend, while it is still nice, or nice-ish. Mom and Dad are coming next week to spend Thanksgiving with us. I am taking a few days off before and after the Feast, and Dad and I plan on doing some trim work in the kitchen and dining room and then addressing the dining room table which needs to be taken apart, cleaned, sanded, rebuilt and … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Uh oh. Skyrim

November 11th, 2011 | Add a Comment

The Elder Scrolls V:Skyrim is out today. Yes, I am a gamer geek…at times. I actually used to do much more computer gaming than I have the last year or two. But I really got immersed in a previous Elder Scrolls game and now I’m hooked. The great part of this game is how open-ended it is. The game does not control where you go or when you go there. There are hours of quests and things to do outside of the main storyline. It is a completely open world. It’s like playing around inside a novel. Needless to say, I’ll have a new distraction these winter nights, but my freelance and fiction writing may take a hit for a while. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Working from Home

November 10th, 2011 | Add a Comment

Day three of working from home. Olivia was one sick little girl, but is doing better today. I plan on finishing my sermon for Sunday and working ahead on a few more sermons, which will free me up next week to make some shut in visits and focus on some other projects too. It is nice having a job which allows me to do some work from home, but I do miss going into the office and having the interaction there. I wouldn’t want to work from home all the time, but I appreciate the flexibility. How many of you have jobs you can do from home (in part, at least)? Are you more or less productive? … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Working Out

November 3rd, 2011 | 2 Comments

A good workout can make a big difference. I woke this morning sluggish and aching and tired and wanting to huddle under the covers and continue the lovely dream I was having. But life moves on and I hunted down clothes for Jack, made coffee, oversaw the breakfast party and hustled the children out the door to school. Awake, but not happy about the day. Then the workout at the Y. It went well, even though I … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal, Theology

Baby Escapes…then Destroys Surveillance Footage

October 25th, 2011 | Add a Comment

Too Funny. HT: Creative Minority Report … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Saltwater, Electricity and Me

September 21st, 2011 | 3 Comments

A simple GFCI outlet saved me from taking 120v and 15A last night. I’d installed it five days before for the fish tank, thinking that the only thing worse than water and electricity is saltwater and electricity, given its superior conductivity. All the while installing it, I kept thinking, “I’m doing this really for Marjorie.” She’s the one who has nightmares about the house burning down around her children. Did I really need it? I mean, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Twenty Days

August 29th, 2011 | 1 Comment

Yep. That long since my last post. I think it may be time to put up or shut up. Seems like too many blogs are closing down and the pros are taking over. They are consolidating, I guess. What have I been doing the past twenty days? Working. Preaching. Administering the sacraments. Playing with my fish tank. Writing some fiction. Getting the kids ready for school. Lamenting my girth and trying to figure out a good time to get back to the Y … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal

Signs from God?

July 9th, 2011 | Add a Comment

I had a bad time writing the other day. It was late afternoon, I had a few moments of quiet and tried to write a little on a project I am working on and immediately got stymied. Stuck. Like mud. No, more like quicksand with a bunch of fifth-graders laughing at me. It was really bad. No more than an hour later a friend confided that he was meeting someone in the industry to talk about … Read entire article »

Filed under: Personal, Theology, Writing&Books