Today we had a great church service, but at the start of the second service I noticed something was up. It’s unusual for our pastor to change things up the second service, and he grabbed a stool and moved it to the side of the stage before service. No big deal, maybe his back is hurting and he wants to take a load off.

After the sermon, he said a prayer and I knew right away what the stool was all about. Our pastor is preparing to resign. You see, for weeks now several of us have been talking about that God was ready to do something big in our Church. We saw a change in our staff and we knew that they were feeling something big too. We didn’t realize that about that same time our Pastor was reconciling a new call on his life to plant a church and leave the Church at Lake Guntersville.

Ann and I feel a little like a curse on churches. Everywhere we go, the pastor resigns or is moved to a different church. Of course, we know it has nothing to do with us, but it’s hard for us to get really connected with pastors because of the eventuality that one of us will be called somewhere else. In the last 2 years though, we had connected with Pastor Keith and his family. His wife, Amy, is  a total hoot, and a fantastic Piano player. Keith is a great pastor, and I have had some conversations with him that I would have never thought I’d have with a pastor. That’s the sort of thing I think most of our  congregation will remember about our time together.

So, today marks a new beginning. The search committee will be formed in the next few weeks and the hunt for a new pastor will begin. My prayer is that we will be able to focus on what God has in store for us and not jump in on a new pastor because we “need someone now”. We have a great staff who can carry the load until God presents the right person. I don’t know what that looks like, but I have been talking with some folks who just went through this process to get a feel for where we are headed, and I know they will give some great counsel.

So today, we have some uncertainty, but there is no confusion: This is the direction God wants us to move.

So, we’ve seen how the new administration is going to be:  Spend, spend and spend some more. Unfortunately, in different ways, so was the last administration. That’s one of the BIG disagreements I had with GWB, and it will be one of the things I will have a big disagreement with BHO about.

The problem I have is that I just can’t take it. I can’t watch them put our country in a stupid place where we continue to spend more than we make. To be fair, i’ve been against that all along, but with the increasing spending on things that fly in the face of my values it makes it even harder to swallow. Why should I work to pay for abortions all over the world? Why should MY tax dollars go to support people who wouldn’t work in a pie factory?

I have a hard time turning on the news or even reading about it online.  I have to assume that others are feeling the same way, and the problem is that if we don’t stay aware of what’s going on how can we stand against it? So I have to make the decision: do I watch the news with a bucket nearby, or do I just take my Soma and tune out what the Government is doing to my country’s future? How do I strike a balance? I’m not an activist, it doesn’t fit me.

What are we supposed to do? I know the responsible thing to do is to pay attention and help vote out the clowns who take people like me for granted (and I think that most people are like me: Hard working, tax paying and have a moral compass).

I can’t help but feel like our voices have been silenced and we are past the point of no return. I’m tired of fighting, but the cost of not fighting is just too high.

How do we cope?

…than pageant moms? I’m not talking about when little Suzie wants to be in the school pageant and you buy her a dress and some flowers… I’m talking about people like on this stupid TLC show “Toddlers and Tiaras”.

Honestly? I mean, you really want to raise your child that the most important thing is how  you look (and by the way, you’re making your children look STUPID…)

I can’t even watch frickin TV with out these commercials. It makes me so sad for those people.