Tbt

There isn't much I miss about work, but there were some great sunrise/sunsets from the tower.

This sunrise showed in my Facebook memories from 10/31/2012

Technology is Your Friend

I'm frustrated with my 2 in 1 today because it doesn't want to work in laptop mode and I'm having to use it in tablet mode. For those used to using their phones for everything, I don't imagine this would be a big deal. It's kind of like having to use a giant phone screen that's too large to hold in one hand.

Personally, I prefer the laptop mode. The main reason is the keyboard rather than using the onscreen touch pad keyboard. Hopefully I'll get it figured out.

Overall, it's a pretty small thing and probably something I can live with ... or live without, for that matter. I tend to think of myself as a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to technology. I realize that I under use the capabilities of my cheap smartphone and my 2 in 1 computer/tablet. For the most part, I have the knowledge to use the technology I need and am content with that. I realize there are convenient technologies that would make life a little easier, but they haven't made their way to my need to learn list of things just yet.

I'm adapting, just a bit more slowly than the majority of the population.
Does anyone else feel challenged or frustrated (or maybe even threatened) by the rapidly advancing technologies?

John <><

Monday Motivation

We are now living on the Galloway Creek Greenway trail. We walked a mile to the south and back today. We'll head the other direction next time. I may grab my bicycle from the storage unit. It would be a pretty short ride and is fairly flat, but it is more than I've done since being retired and might be an easy way to begin again.

John <><

Looking Ahead -- NaBloPoMo

Traditionally, November is National Blog Posting Month -- NaBloPoMo.
The challenge is for bloggers to post daily for the entire month. I have participated for the last four years and have plans to do so this year.

Since it is November, there are those that might choose a thankfulness theme and write daily about things for which they are thankful. There are lists of topics to write about for each of the 30 days.
Although I rarely have a lot of comments to my posts, I thought I'd ask for your ideas.

What are some things you would like to see me write about during the coming month?

I'll be a little surprised if I receive many suggestions. I have a few ideas of my own. I have memes for Monday Motivation and Wednesday Wisdom posts. I may have to tap into some of those lists to fill out the month. I don't think of myself as having a very creative nor imaginative writing style, but might entertain some fictional short story type posts.
So...
What do you think?
Help a guy out and leave a suggestion or two.

Have a great weekend.
John <><

Monday Motivation

Busy day today.
Need this reminder to remember that the little things are important things.
Have a great week.

John <><

Packing and pitching

We are just a couple of days from moving nearly all of our stuff into storage and moving into a one bedroom furnished apartment. We have a lot of junk. Time wise the most efficient thing seems to be to move it now, sort it later. However, I think that we used that method years ago when we moved here and never went back to sort.

So much stuff from the kids! Some of the toys and stuff we kept thinking that we would one day have grandkids. That seems less likely now, so it may be time to get rid of that stuff. Some of the stuff is stuff from their school days that Chris wants to keep. I guess moms have more sentimental attachment to that stuff than dads. And some stuff is still in decent condition and you just hate to pitch. And with moving day quickly approaching it will probably just get moved.

I found a couple of now worthless items of my own. Given the events of the past two years, these two certificates hold little meaning or value now.

It was a little sad to throw them out, but they are of no use to anyone now.
We are approaching the 2 year anniversary of when we were told that we could no longer serve the church in any capacity because of our opposition to accepting The Nashville Statement.
This pic came up in my Facebook memories yesterday. I don't know if I posted it before or after we were stripped of serving privileges, but either way works.

I may never find myself in a pulpit situation again, but I am who I am and so I will continue to share God's love by whatever opportunities I have.
It seemed to be a weird sense of timing that I would find those certificates just days after my post on This is Me.
Definitely time to move on without that baggage.

Time to go meet with my Sunday morning people.
God loves you.
Jesus lived for you.

John <><

Magic; What now?

We've been packing up to move and I have boxed up a bunch of magic books, DVDs, and a whole lot of VHS tapes. I have also packed away lots of magic effects -- some that I use often, and others that I have rarely (if ever) used in a show.

With the coming out of my previous post, it occurs to me that I really no longer have a familiar venue where I can perform magic. With only an occasional exception, all of the magic shows over the past two decades or so have been at churches, church camps, or church sponsored programs.
I few years ago I bought a school program, but have only used it once. Some of that program's props and set-ups were lost when I lost my show traveling on my bike a couple of summers ago. I could still rework the show and use it; I'm just not sure that's what I want to do now.

So...
What do I do with all of this stuff?
Do I work on some close up stuff and look for a walk around gig at local restaurants?
Do I rework my stand-up show and find gigs for corporate parties?
Do I start over with kids' birthday parties and low paying gigs?
Or do I just sell it all and hang up the old top hat and magic wand?

I suppose I have plenty of time to figure something out. All of that stuff will be in storage for the next several months while our home is being built. I suppose that I can access some of the DVDs if I want to work on some new stuff, but probably won't. I had kept out the props I usually use in my typical church show, but won't be needing that now.
In any case, it will be spring before I have my stuff and can work on a new magic me or sell it off and become a new me sans the magic.

It may just be the wave of the wand, a final *poof* and the Magicianary vanishes for good!
We shall see.

John <><

This is Me

I really want you to listen to something. It will take 35 minutes of your time, but everybody needs to hear this message. This link will allow you to choose to watch or listen. Pick the one that suits you. If you watch and want to skip the music, jump to the 30 minute mark. If you are reading this well past today's date, the message is from 10-13-19.

I believe that Pastor Phillip's approach to presenting a difficult topic was excellent. We (Christians) have been wrong before.
It's not that God was wrong.
We were wrong.
God hasn't changed, but perhaps our understanding of God and God's ways needs to change.

For a good number of years I have been preaching in Southern Baptist Churches as an itinerant evangelist. I have preached revivals, pastored camps, filled pulpits, taught classes, and performed magic for outreach events. Although the calls to preach have kept coming over the past two years and I have preached revivals and on Sundays, the truth is they are coming less often.
When I left my Southern Baptist church over philosophical differences two years ago, I knew that this day would come -- the day when I would no longer be asked to preach in the churches where I have been preaching.

Because my simple message of God loves you and Jesus died for you hasn't really changed*, I welcomed the opportunities to preach. However, I know that simple, insignificant (to me) things about me would be enough to disqualify me preaching in most evangelical churches -- like drinking alcohol.
Yeah, I'm fond of a bourbon, rum, or tequila with a good cigar. I enjoy a good craft beer with my kids or on a hot summer afternoon. I've kept pics of my drinking off of social media because of the few pastors and church people that still follow me.

But really, what's the point?
This is me.
I smoke cigars, enjoy a good bourbon, believe that God created, loves, and affirms the LGBTQ+ community, and I love God and strive (but often struggle) to love others as Jesus did. Although much of my core beliefs about God and God's great love for us (all of us) haven't changed much, the peripheral beliefs are enough to exclude me from preaching in the places that I've been preaching.

Last Saturday I served the LGBTQ+ community as a Faithful Ally during Springfield's Pride Fest.
Next month I will be officiating a same gender wedding for two friends that demonstrate love as well as anyone I know. That will pretty much seal my fate as far as preaching in most churches.

Honestly, it makes me a little sad.
But then again --
This is me.

Cheers!

God loves you.
Jesus lived for you!

John <><

*Changing my way of thinking

It's a Good Day to be John Hill!

It's October and the Cardinals are playing postseason baseball!
This afternoon I'll be making the trip to St Louis to meet Aaron for Game 1 of the NLCS against the Washington Nationals. It will be chilly at the ballpark with temps in the mid 40s.

It will be a long day since I'll be driving home after the game -- too much to do tomorrow.
Today is just Breakfast Venues this morning, lunch with Pastor Ben, drive to St Louis, ballgame with Aaron, and drive home. I should be in bed around 2am.
I'm not worried about the late night drive home. I am pretty good about stopping for a power nap if I find myself getting tired.

Time to get busy!
Go Cardinals!

John <><

Broken ground!

We drove by the property yesterday evening and there is now a hole in the ground where our new home will be built! It was just past sunset so we didn't get any pictures, but we were happy to see the excavation equipment and the hole they had dug. I'll try to get out there later today for a pic to keep a pic record of the process.

Here are some rough drawings of the floor plan and house. There will be some variations in the actual house as we have moved a couple of walls on the inside and posts on the outside, but it is pretty close.

The garage is over sized a bit to accommodate my motorcycle. There is 4.5' to each side of the standard 16' door.
The small room to the right of the living room will serve as a butler's pantry.
My favorite feature is the 10' x 22' screened in porch. The porch has a southern exposure and should be shaded during the summer months and sunny in the winter. I expect it to be a regular place to enjoy my morning coffee or an evening cigar.

In the basement (below) there is no space under the garage. The basement will be unfinished and primarily used for storage and a place to set up our exercise equipment that we both plan to use.
There is an overhead door in the upper left corner for a John Deere room to park the lawn mower and to store the yard equipment. We'll need to have the builder add walls to keep that area separate. There will also be a rough in for a possible future bathroom.

This shows the back (top) and front (bottom) elevations of the house. Below that are the west (top) and east (bottom) side views.

In a couple of weeks we will be moving our furniture and stuff into storage and moving us into a 500 sqft furnished one bedroom apartment for the next four months. I think the whole apartment would fit into the space of our current living room/dining room/kitchen area. That should be fun!
It's a good thing we like each other!

There is lots to do in the next two weeks. I'd better get busy!

John <><

Wednesday Wisdom

Two Weeks and Monday Motivation

Two weeks
That's how long we have before we move from our 4br 2b home into a furnished 1 bedroom apartment.
That's how long we have to pack up and move our current stuff into storage.
Ugh.
We'll be in the apartment for four months while our home is being built.

While I am not really looking forward to living in a small apartment for several months, I am trying to think of it as an adventure and a necessary part of the process of moving into our new home. The location is close to a walking/biking trail (literally across the street), not far from a nice park, and walking distance to several restaurants and a couple of breweries.
Since it is also close to church, we stopped at one of the restaurants for lunch yesterday, just to check it out. My burger was very good. Chris' chicken entree was decent (not really to her tasting) and the service was okay. I'm sure we'll be back to try out a few other menu items. It is the business located right next to the apartment building.

Even though the apartment kitchen is small and there are restaurants nearby, we still plan to have most of our meals at home. The cooking/cleaning rhythm will just take some getting used to in a small, one butt kitchen.
Another thing that will take getting used to is being together in such a small space. Chris is retiring at the same time that we're moving, so navigating our changing schedules comes at the same time as the change to our living space. Since we have pretty different tastes in what we watch on television, we usually watch tv in separate rooms. That's not going to be an option in the smaller place. My laptop and earplugs will be used for watching hockey and the fights. I'm sure that we'll work it out; it'll just take some getting used to.

Well, I have lots to do today, so I'm going to finish my coffee, take a walk, and get busy.

If you came looking for Monday Motivation, how's this:

John <><

Peace

At the close of Thursday night's Downtown Venues, Pastor Ben asked us to write down what peace means to us or where we find peace.

It is a pretty chaotic world in which we live. Peace can be pretty elusive. Even when we are able to shield ourselves from the news or find a place away from others, there are still the voices in our heads that clamor for our attention. Simple quiet time often isn't enough to help us find a place of peace.

I feel pretty fortunate to spend little time around energy draining people. I might read too much negative news during the day, but at least I have control over that. I've become pretty good at utilizing contemplation or meditation as a means of focusing my thoughts and energy on important things rather than just urgent things.
Although I don't think of myself as being very materialistic, I have to admit that I am looking forward to spending mornings drinking coffee in the screened in back porch of our new home. I expect that those quiet mornings will be wonderful, peaceful times.

What does peace mean for you?
Do you have a peaceful place?
Do you find peace in an activity such as running, riding, or listening to music?
Do you find peace in prayer or meditation?
Or has peace simply eluded you and you find yourself yearning for the rest that a few moments of peace might provide?

And I was wondering --
Can we help others to find peace or is that peaceful rest purely an inside job?

John <><

Wednesday Wisdom