Things I Learned Yesterday

Well, Amanda and Marie went to Fairbanks to visit Roxie Stickle because she could not make it to lectureship and Amanda thought she could use the company for a few days. From what i hear, they are having a great time up there (even though Marie has a bit of a cold).

I am ready to have them back. Pure and simple. I prepared everything to preach and teach class yesterday, but it seemed that all the best laid plans of mice and men (or just bill in this case) did not follow through too smoothly. The class I prepared was interrupted by the Paden's having an "ox in the ditch". The tarps that were on their roof were being ripped off by the wind which would not have been too big a deal had rain not been forecasted to come in the afternoon. So nearly all the men who were at the church building made a mass exodus to their house to secure the tarps on the roof trusses. In just about 45 minutes all was secure and some efforts were put in place for it not to happen again. (class preparation not used so next month is already in place)

Then back to the building. We arrived at the building too late for me to run a final check on my powerpoint presentation, so we just jumped right into services. As I arrived at the pulpit, I noticed my computer had messed up. So with a slight delay, I began my lesson. As I began to talk I was (in my mind) frantically searching for my notes and guess what... left them at home. Too late now to go get them, you just got to continue on. Afte just a couple moments, Kevin Henderson flags me down and informs me from the back of the auditorium that my lapel mike (which was hung on my tie, so is it a tie mike?... anyway) was not functioning correctly. apparently (we figured out later on) someone turned off the portable mike which normally turns off with the rest of the system. So I am stuck behind the pulpit at the regular mike, which is no problem usually but guess what...I do not have my notes and I can't see the wall where my power point is being projected easily without having to be very obvious in turning to look at my lesson on the wall. Then, after about 10 minutes, my computer messed up again and I had to leave the pulpit and walk to my computer to fix the computer.

At the end of the lesson, Jon Paden made an announcement thanking all the men for helping at their house, then commented on how Amanda being gone really effected how together I was. And I had planned so well.

This all to say, I have been wanting to begin a study on pride in my personal growth to be more humble of a person. Since I have been procrastinating in beginning said study, it looks as if God wanted to give me an upfront lesson in being more humble as a preacher. Here endeth the lesson... for now.

Thank you for enduring this long post with no pictures. God bless you in this day.
Bill