Reverend Ref +

HANG ON

It's hard to believe that this time next week I'll be working on GOE Set 3, a half-day question on church history. My family will have moved out for the week and I'll be trying to remain calm and breathe. I don't know how others are perceiving it, but it seems to me that the overall stress level is relatively low. In years past you could feel the tension building as the test got nearer. Maybe it's just a different perspective, or maybe my class has done a better job at keeping everyone relatively relaxed. Don't know.

This week has been filled with preparing lesson plans for my Children's Chapel replacements, bouncing a few sermon ideas around, reading old GOE questions to get a feel for them, putting some last minute bookmarks on my computer that might come in handy and scanning through the collection of books on my shelf. I'm pretty much resigned to the thought that if I don't know this stuff by now then maybe I should find another line of work.

In other news, I got to practice my pastoral skills when I broke the news to The Kid that Keiko (aka "Free Willy") died earlier this month. For someone whose love of animals can be traced directly back to that movie and who cried over the death of our Beta fish Elmo (of which I was forced to bury last winter somewhere on the frozen grounds of SWTS, BCP and everything), she took the news relatively well. Seems that the old pessimist motto reigns true: Always prepare for the worst, that way you'll be pleasantly surprised.

And speaking of animals, we are coming to the end of her tour of duty as the pet sitter for the block. The owners of one dog come home today, as well as the owner of two cats and one fish. That leaves her with one dog and one cat (not including her own two cats and two guinea pigs). I will be glad when the whole thing is finished. You should see her though, with the keys to two houses, one apartment, and her own building on one massive ring clipped to her belt loop. Looks just like the Security Dude at SWTS, except without the cool boots.

Today's agenda includes thank you notes, a bank run, more Children's Chapel prep, a sermon outline and some GOE reading.

Peace.