Rehearsals began last night for "Annie Get Your Gun", which will play for 2 weekends. The first weekend is April 4-6 at the Nathaniel Center in Kingwood. The second weekend is June 20-22 in the Hobby Center, which is the crown jewel of Houston's downtown Theatre District. I'll be in the featured role of Charlie Davenport, general manager of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. It's the role I hoped for after reviewing the options, so I am pleased.

I was sad to hear that John Stewart died this weekend, of a massive stroke. For me, before there were the Beatles, there was the Kingston Trio, whose music goes back so far in my memory, it was nearly pre-verbal. OF course John didn't join the group until later, after Dave Guard left, but he was a perfect fit to continue the trajectory of the band. He was a great songwriter; I'm humming "Chilly Winds" even though most people would recognize "Daydream Believer" better. Though John's death is sad, he had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and I am glad he was spared the ravages of that degenerative disease.

A Confession: We Neglect Your Power

God, Forgive us.
Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.
Holy Spirit, help us.
We have neglected you.
We believe in You, and in the truth of Your Word -

But in our day to day lives,
We doubt that You really have power to offer us-
Power that can make a difference in our lives
Or the lives of those around us.
We lean on our own strength, which is no strength at all.

We cry out to You:
Convince us anew
That You are here, always with us
Strong and powerful, Mighty to save us,
Faithful and able to complete the work You’ve begun in us.
Bring us to a new depth of knowing and experiencing
Your power for our lives. Amen.

A Sad Day

Here at CTK we are experiencing a deep sense of loss. A very fine man of God was taken to be with His Lord very suddenly.

Jim Eggers suffered what I understand was a tear in the aorta. He was life flighted to the hospital where he stabilized enough to begin surgery, but in the early hours of this morning the surgeon's efforts concluded. Jim crossed the finish line.

We know he is with his Lord, but he leaves a wife and 6 children ranging in age from 13 to 23. This causes me such grief.

I doubt that Jim ever had a hint of how much I admired and respected him.

December 6

ElenaClaire lost the hearing in her right ear - apparently due to nerve damage and apparently permanent. In a hearing test they were sending signal to the ear and she said she could feel the vibration so she figured they were sending signal, but she heard nothing. That was 110 decibels.

They did an MRI and found that there was no mass pressing on the nerve causing the loss - this was what we expected but was a relief nonetheless. She will continue to see a Dr., now an otologist, until he says there is no further benefit. At this point there is an unlikely possibility that the otologist might detect something that might restore functioning. In the meantime college and work as a pharmacy tech is going well for her.

Miles is continuing incremental improvement both physically and emotionally. He was in the 5th grade's performance of "The Nutcracker" and did a great job. On Dec. 19 he will be a featured player in the church Christmas program.

This weekend is the church Cantata, this year a self-selected set of songs with a narration script I composed. Alicia will narrate. Our title song is Chris Tomlin's "Glory in the Highest".

I am toying with auditioning next month for "Annie Get your Gun".

and life rolls onward...

Long-Overdue Update

Blogging has taken a back seat to other concerns of late. Let me bring you up todate.

Miles is showing signs of incremental improvement. He is on two medications for clinical depression. Since a test revealed normal gastric emptying we are operating on the assumption that gastroparesis is not the pressing G/I problem. His doctor ran out of ideas and so referred us to a colleague who decided to assume that eosinophilic duodenitis was at fault and started Miles on a medication that can help with that.

Meanwhile Miles had missed so much school that the state of Texas was (ill-advisedly) sending us boilerplate letters that inform us of heavy fines and/or prosecuting charges against us. We negotiated with the school a 3 week period in which Miles would arrive an hour later and leave an hour early, but would attend every day, no matter what his health was like. And, surprise, surprise, he actually made it to school almost every day for the past 5 weeks now.

ElenaClaire had been preparing for her first open water dive in a scuba class but was unable to do it because of a cold that turned into an inner ear infection, outer ear infection, and bronchitis. She was on several oral and injected antibiotics, several oral and injected steroids, topical treatments for the ear, nebulizer breathing treatments etc. Her health improved but the hearing in her rigth ear did not. Last week we learned that the 100% hearing loss in her right ear is probably permanent and due to nerve damage. She is still on steroids and will have an MRI to make sure nothing is pressing against the nerve but the news has been a great discouragement to her.

Smiles for Miles/Miles for Miles raised a grand total of $9,000 this year.

Alicia and I are doing well but struggling to keep our heads above water in all the stressors of our lives.

Ministry continues to go well at CTK. We have begun mentoring a small church plant who are presently without a pastor after their planting pastor left (after only 2-3 years) and part of what that means is that several of us are preaching there. We provide preaching 3 Sundays out of 4 for them. I preached on November 4 (reprising the Lost Sheep/Lost Coin piece and video, plus additional material) and am scheduled there once a month. In December I will preach at the 9:40 service at CTK. That's the weekend of the Cantata, which is presented Saturday night and at the 8:20 and 11:00 services, and for which I am writing the script.

Lost Sheep Lost Coin - the full drama and Video

SMILES FOR MILES REPORT

Last week was so much work preparing for SMILES FOR MILES. But in the end it was a smashing evening, more than doubling the money raised for diabetes reseaarch. We had a great turnout, all three bands did a fine job, comedian Chuck Montgomery was terrific, and the raffles were well supported. We had a live auction of two items: a signed Houston Texans football helmet, and a Christopher Radko baseball-themed ornament signed by Roger Clemons.
In the end, $4000 was raised - add to that the $1000 in sponsorships on the back of the T shirt and $1100 raised by the Creekwood Middle School kids selling paper sneakers last week with our help, and we are standing at over $6000 - with more than a month before the walk. That is awesome!

Miles

His quarterly endo exam went pretty well. He needs to gain weight. His biggest problem and prayer request is about the pain and nausea caused by gastroparesis. I never imagined myself saying "Diabetes, by itself - those were the good old days..." It's September 6 and he has already missed 50% of school days this year. Hopefully we have nowhere to go but up.

September 6

• Of all places in the world, why here? Who knows? For that matter who ever expected it would make a comeback 25 years after spectacularly collapsing in 2 years? For whatever reason, the DeLorean Motor Company is starting up again, in our own Humble, Texas. They envision rolling as many as 28 cars a year off the assembly line, each with a $57,000 price tag. Attention, Marty McFly: why didn't you tell us this when you got back from the future?

Too Cool - Google Earth Flight Simulator

Stevie Baby had a link to this secret "Easter Egg" on the newest version of Google Earth. I had to download FlightSim.reg (a 25 second task) and restart Google Earth, then hit Ctrl-Alt-A. Here's a picture of me, buzzing over my hometown of Davis. The house I grew up in is actually right there on the screen, lower right corner. This could be a real time stealer. I gotta get back to work. Thanks Stevie Baby!

September 5

• Yesterday was Dad's birthday. We had a good talk and we sang to him over the phone. The link will take you to an article about Dad on daviswiki.org - taken originally from The Davis Enterprise. It's a very inspiring article (to me).

• Imprimis, the outstanding journal of Hillsdale College, has a great feature speech this month on the topic of global climate change and the dubious claim that it is caused chiefly by human activity. The author, S. Fred Singer, is professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, a distinguished research professor at George Mason University, and president of the Science and Environmental Policy Project. So he has the academic clout behind his words. Other recent publishing on a US Senate Committe website also notes the growing dissension from the "consensus" view.

• When will the name-calling stop? Oh, the humanity!

Wednesday, 8/29/07

• Miles had a great first and second day of fifth grade. Our major concerns were obviously his health, but also his attitude and his connecting with a boy who can be a friend. The good news is that in every way his first two days went very well. Today, unfortunately, gastroparesis is causing him severe discomfort and he is at home. We hope maybe he can get in for the afternoon.

• Meanwhile ElenaClaire has begun at Kingwood College and is enjoying that a great del. Especially the scuba diving course. Her big task is now to secure a job as a Certified Pharmacy Technician.

• Brad Bergfalk is getting a lot of positive feedback for some writing he's done on pastoral service and transitions. This is great stuff Brad. Worth reading are his posts on

What a pastor needs in a congregation

The Exit Interview

Open Letter to Churches seeking a pastor

Myth of the Pastor Call Process 1 and 2

Reasons the pastoral call process is broken

Strategy for a Meaningful and Effective Pastoral Call Process


• This is a ticket to a dance held in 1922. It was in a book that belonged to my great grandmother. Note the phrase in the bottom right corner. Either the phrase has changed in meaning, or she was quite the party girl!

Miles and Rick's Excellent Adventure

Miles Update

Yesterday Miles went to see the GI doctor. A decision was made to change the medication Miles is prescribed to deal with his gastroparesis (chronic partial paralysis of the muscles that contract to empty the stomach, causing cramping, stomach pain and nausea - a slow emptying of the stomach).

It's more than a little unnerving when a physician tells you that there are extremely few therapeutic alternatives left - or in simpler terms, we got no more ideas after this.

Last night Miles had very severe stomach pain in the hour or two after dinner.

This boy needs prayer and a miracle.

SMILES FOR MILES

We are moving into the time of year when we raise funds to find a cure for diabetes. September 14 will be the date of "Smiles for Miles", a fun evening of food, music and entertainment. These Guys Here , the kids from Centre Stage Theatre, possibly a stand up comic and some magicians will be performing - as well as a one-night-only Beatles Tribute band called "Sgt. Miles' Find the Cure Club Band". It's made up of a bunch of friends from church, but the artwork, as you can see, was all a family affair.

JDRF video

I was just sent this link to the JDRF video from this year's Houston gala, which raised a million dollars.

Gearing up for "Smiles for Miles"

It's the event we do in the fall to raise money for JDRF. Last year was the first one and this year we're adding some acts to the entertainment, as well as adding to the food offerings. And I'm assembling a second band...

Vacation fever

• Our brief family vacation starts in a day and a half and we're focused on getting ready. Corpus Christi, TX is our destination. Beach time, movies, aquarium, USS lexington tour, restaurants, and who knows what. We'll keep you informed and post pics when we get back.

• Geoff and family are back. Stand down, Department of Homeland Security.

• Covenant President Glenn Palmberg has announced his retirement next August after 10 years of service. He's provided excellent leadership. My only sadness: I was voted off the island by Renton just before Glenn began his service (Thank God he was there as a supportive Superintendent during that tumultuous year of 1996-97), and if I am to return to the Covenant, I had hoped it would be during Glenn's tenure. But who knows. Maybe I have found the place where I am to stay right where I am. I am certainly not at all saddened at the prospect of staying here - I love CTK and all its people. I just miss the connections of my Covenant family. But I digress... Glenn is a good friend and I wish him all good things.

July 13

• 3 D Ministries is the home of Mike Breen, the anglican guy who developed a series of geometric images as discipleship tools, called "LifeShapes". But 3D is more than 8 simple tools to help people think and talk about their walk with Christ. It's an organic movement of biblical discipleship and missional churches. This is the group with whom CTK is connecting, in what appears to be an evolving relationship in which we will be a "hub" church where eventually, leaders can come to receive training. The process is stillemerging but it is exciting to watch where the winds of the Spirit are blowing.



• Geoff must be on a really slow airplane. They left Zurich 16 days ago and as far as I can tell, they are still in the air.



• ElenaClaire's first experience in opera is now history. It was great, and I'll get video up soon.

July 3 Update

Awfully rainy in Kingwood these past couple weeks. July 4th doesn't hold out much hope for dry weather either. Scheduled - Morning: The local parade. Afternoon: These Guys Here playing at a block party. Evening: Fireworks. We can move the block party indoors and play without drums if need be, but the parade and fireworks can't move inside very easily...

ElenaClaire got home from the mission trip Sunday night. These two snaps were taken by my buddy Spencer. While she was arriving home, Alicia and I were in the Theatre District enjoying "Sweet Charity". Cute show, well done. Very much a throwback to the

groovy Sixties. Quite a change from what we'll be doing next

weekend: going to hear ElenaClaire sing opera.

(I had some content in here about politics but I deleted it. My interest in politics is more like a morbid fascination, but more accurately, the more I see, the sicker I feel.)

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