A quick 4:30am rant

I've been up for about three hours already and I'm afraid I'm in it for the long haul, so may as well write something that's been on my mind for weeks.

When shopping this holiday season, be a servant to those who are trying to scrape together a living and find ways to make their jobs easier instead of harder. If you try on a coat, zip it up. If you try on some gloves or a hat, put them back where you found them.

I've been dealing with cold weather clothing for three months solid now and am constantly amazed that people will come into a store, destroy the place and leave with a "Well, they're paid to clean up after me" mentality. From snow pants left half inside out in the middle of the floor to hats that are left laying at the bottom of the shelf instead of being rehung, I spend a large part of my day cleaning up. Before I leave at the end of a closing shift, the shops have to all be cleaned and straightened for the next day's business which means that I am usually there for almost a half hour longer than I would be during bike season and have to shift my attention from selling to cleaning about one hour before my shift ends instead of focusing on helping customers if I hope to get home to spend time with Amy.

I'm not paid to clean up after people at the store. I'm paid to sell stuff. If the shop I'm selling in is a mess, it makes the shop less appealing to shop in and makes items harder to find. So guess what? I wind up having to clean it up. While I am cleaning it up, I am less able to assist customers and sell less. And when I sell less, I make less.

Yes you can certainly make the argument that in a sense I am paid to clean up after people, but pretend you're a guest in their home and don't take advantage of a retailer's hospitality.

Thanks for indulging me.

Post-Thanksgiving weekend and an unexpected conversation

I have officially survived my first post-Thanksgiving weekend in sales and I have to say that I expected a lot more. Friday was a busy day, but no more so than a hopping day in the middle of bike season for me, only I didn't get to sell as many bikes (or much else that is as much fun). Saturday was much slower and Sunday slower yet, so instead of reaping huge sales, I wound up spending the weekend thinking about how much I hate working weekends (which is pretty status quo).

Wednesday was probably my favorite day at work this week. I was fairly relaxed, knowing I'd have to spend most of the day prepping my shops for Friday's onslaught and had an unexpected visit from my friend Tory Larson. Tory and I worked at Citibank together, both with shared ministry background, growing interest in the emerging church and a hope that we'd be able to escape Citi soon. I escaped about four months before Tory and his family moved to Illinois.

We've traded a few messages in the last 18 months and it was great to get to carve some time out of the day to catch up a bit. I think Tory's experiencing a lot of what we've felt over the last three years in terms of a vague sense of calling, a search for meaningful ministry and the hope for purposeful vocation that feeds instead of drains us. I think I've at least found a place that I can grow from in balancing ministry and vocation. I'm praying that Tory will find his niche and that God will unlock the gifts he has and give him greater joy as he discovers what God has been preparing him for.

I got pulled over on the way home from the bar last night

Okay, before anyone overreacts, I was at Nutty's North (a local bar and live music hot spot) for a service that Mercy Church started recently that meets every other Sunday night, so I was not at the bar for ill purposes. More about the service later, but first: the drive home.

I headed out shortly after 8:00 hoping to make it home in time to help Amy put Xander to bed. Nutty's is on a frontage road and I had a stop sign with a quick left turn followed immediately by another stop sign with a right turn to get onto the main thoroughfare. I will readily admit that I made a pretty poor attempt at stopping at the first sign and did much better at the second sign, since I saw the police car. I made my turn onto the main road and immediately the lights came on.

I figured he probably saw me come out of Nutty's and wants to make sure I haven't been drinking. I was hoping for a quick breathalyzer which I would ace since I didn't have anything to drink and then to be on my way. It turns out he wasn't too pleased with my disregard of the first stop sign and asked me why I ran it while I sat in the car next to him. I had no response. He looked up my info and said, "I'm going to give you a warning. Tell Amy and Xander 'Hi' for me." It turns out that the officer was the father of one of Xander's classmates. Embarrassing to be sure, but... Am I lucky or what?

So, back to the service. I ran sound for the service which had about 15 people in attendance and hopefully will grow into the vision of an outreach service that we all have for it. It started with a couple of songs with Bobbi, Nich, Corey and Mike (all regulars on our worship team) followed by a testimony from Bobbi, short message from Shel, an open mic discussion time on the topic (forgiveness) and a few closing songs. This was only the second run at the Nutty's service, but we're hoping to fine tune some things before advertising it on a broader basis. I think it has a lot of potential and it will be interesting to see where it goes.

Xander's Birthday

Today is Xander's eighth birthday. It's been a fun day with him. He's been in a great mood all day and I was able to surprise him by showing him the Gameboy that he lost back in August that I found this afternoon. He's also got the day off from school tomorrow, so we're letting him stay up late while we watch Spiderman 3. I hope all of his birthdays can be this good!

God is good (and then some)

Yesterday was a great day of blessing. I had just had my third day of good sales in a row at work when I got the word that Sanford Hospital decided to forgive the over $13,000 bill from my appendectomy in August. God answers prayer!

Church Merger Vote

We are about to set out into some territory that none of us has ever experienced before at Mercy Church. We have been in discussions for almost a year with Good Shepherd Community Church (where Mercy Church meets) about the possibility of merging the churches in an effort to enrich the ministries of both congregations. Good Shepherd is an older congregation, traditional in worship style and Mennonite by denomination. Mercy is a younger congregation (in terms of existence and average age), very progressive in worship style and a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination.

We had our vote on Sunday and Mercy passed the merger with 83 percent of the vote while Good Shepherd passed it with 60 percent of the vote. There was some question as to whether a simple majority was enough at Good Shepherd or if they needed two thirds majority to pass, but after much discussion, consultation of the church's constitution and getting feedback from the moderator for the process, it was decided that simple majority was enough.

It was no surprise that the vote at Good Shepherd was that close. They own the land, have over 50 years of history as a congregation and will become the minority in this partnership. Giving up control and trusting a baby congregation to help you move forward into future ministry had to be a very difficult decision to wrestle through.

We will keep two distinctly different worship styles and become dually affiliated with both denominations. There are a lot of other things that we will need to work through, but we'll figure it out along the way. I will admit that it would have been easier and probably far less messy had the merger not passed, but as it has, I think we have a great opportunity to break down walls between communities, denominations and generations as we seek to serve together.

More on this to come as we forge ahead.

Trip to the Farm

We managed to escape Sioux Falls on Friday night to head to Mom and Dad's for a Friday-Saturday stay. We also managed to see my grandparents as they came from Fort Dodge to help us celebrate Xander's birthday. As always, we had good food, lots of conversation and even had a chance to check on the progress of the conversion of the old chicken coop as it is transformed into an art studio. There's still a lot of work to be done, but a new roof, windows and exterior work are coming nicely. New electrical, interior work and a new furnace are coming up and should make it a really great studio space.

I did take the opportunity to get a ride in. I took the Rig out for some gravel road riding in sub 40 degree temps for about 17 miles. I didn't necessarily intend to go that far, but the extra miles allowed me to see a few deer and a red tailed hawk that shot out of the long grass at the roadside about ten feet away from me. The single speed is a good ride for around there as there are some hills going in and out of the valley surrounding Waterman Creek, but nothing extreme.

I love riding in the valleys around there. There's a beauty to the type of rolling, grassy hills that's hard to explain. It's not like the majestic, overpowering beauty of the mountains, but a more subtle, soothing beauty that eases the spirit and encourages peace. The valley serves as home to a variety of wildlife and provides a sheltered resting place for hawks, eagles, herons and a great number of other birds that visit the many feeders at the house.

After lunch we had presents and cake for Xander, more conversation, a quick nap and I spent some time tuning up Mom and Dad's bikes. We headed home after putting the kids in their pajamas so that we'd be home in time for a good night's sleep before church in the morning.

Too quick a trip, but hopefully it won't take us as long to make it back for another visit.