Kontakion

I meant to post last week but it got insanely busy with the addition of our newest family member. Don't worry Katie's not pregnant. We bit the bullet and bought Olivia a puppy for her birthday, say hello to Tracker (Olivia's choice of name.) She is a Basset Hound. The tallest she can be is 14 inches, weight 60 pounds. So they're short and solid dogs. We have launched into potty training, and I have been working on training her to come to me without a leash outside. Bassets are direct descendants of Blood Hounds and just like Blood Hounds often have difficulty coming back if they are on an interesting scent. I'm hoping since she is 13 weeks old, I can start training her on coming when called without a leash early. She has also been fitting in very well with Katie and Olivia as you can tell by this picture. Tracker and Olivia have been learning how to play together and sometimes both of them get carried away but their learning, that's the important thing.

When I walk through the hospital and see the people in their beds I wonder how many of them see me as death walking through the hallways. There I am in my shirt and collar, trying to minister to people, and yet I wonder how many of them see me as death coming to collect my own, I am collecting the person for their funeral. It doesn't feel very healthy and caring, I know its part of Gods call upon me to care for those who are both spiritually and physically hurt. May God help me to do what I need to do.

Yesterday was my anniversary, Katie and I celebrated 6 years of marriage by staying home with Olivia and ordered pizza. Today I'm making steak for dinner, as we slowly continue our celebration. I have been married to a beautiful and wonderful woman for 6 years now, we've had our fights, we still have our fights but I love her regardless of anything else. She stood by me through all the seminary crap I went through and continues to stand by me today. I thank God for this woman in my life.

Just to give an update, I meant to post yesterday but things got away from me. My first Sunday here at Emmanuel went very well, at least I thought so. I did change some things in the service but I think everyone reacted very well to that. Things have been going okay, I've been trying to work at a basic level change in this church. They are in survival mode, everything unfortunately is going back to money at the moment. I have been taking the time to redirect people to the mission and ministry of the church. This change will take time, but my prayer is that God will bring about a heart change within this congregation. Besides that (of course its the most essential thing) I have been playing with several new toys. The church has a laptop for the pastors use only, so that's what I'm blogging with right now. Also when we moved we decided to get a new TV, so I have a 40" Sony Bravia with surround sound now. This has been a lot of fun :)I'm also slowly working