In yesterday’s mail I received the registration packet for our Annual Conference coming up at the end of June. I must say that it really got me thinking about all of the changes taking place in this year’s pilgrimage. First of all, it is going to be in a new location this year. Instead of being held on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington, it is going to convene on the Ball State campus in Muncie IN.
I was looking through the packet, trying to figure out where I would be staying in relationship to the auditorium and I was trying to get a feel for how far away parking and more importantly food services were from the dorms as well as the conference. What I realized was how much I really don’t like change. I was just getting so that I could find my way around the IU campus without getting lost, I knew where I was supposed to stay, how to get checked in, where the Executive Session would be, how to get there, where to go for lunch afterwards, where the best places to sit were in the auditorium…
And now, I have to start all over again. Absolutely none of that information gleaned from all those past Annual Conferences will do me any good at all. Oh I know that everyone is in the same boat as me, and there is the possibility that I will enjoy this location even better, but I am the type of person that goes to a specific restaurant because I want a specific food. I usually don’t even have to look at the menu. You name the restaurant, and I can tell you what I will order from there. If I experiment, I usually wind up disappointed and wishing that I had just ordered what I know that I like.
One good aspect about Annual Conference this year is that Karen will be going along with me. It will be very nice to have someone to help keep me heading in the right direction or even better, to have someone else to put the blame on when I get lost, although I am afraid that she might not find all of the meetings and business sessions too awfully exciting. Hopefully she will be able to spend some time with some of the other pastor’s wives that she has had the opportunity to get to know and not feel like she has to sit through meetings that are sometimes less than exciting.
The big day this year will be on Thursday when I will be voted on by all of the pastors in the Indiana Conference. Even though I have watched this vote in the past and no one has ever been rejected, I will be glad when it is over, and then Sunday, I will be on stage for the first time ever to be Commissioned as a Provisional Member of Annual Conference. Talk about change, I am really in uncharted water now :)
Blessings
I was looking through the packet, trying to figure out where I would be staying in relationship to the auditorium and I was trying to get a feel for how far away parking and more importantly food services were from the dorms as well as the conference. What I realized was how much I really don’t like change. I was just getting so that I could find my way around the IU campus without getting lost, I knew where I was supposed to stay, how to get checked in, where the Executive Session would be, how to get there, where to go for lunch afterwards, where the best places to sit were in the auditorium…
And now, I have to start all over again. Absolutely none of that information gleaned from all those past Annual Conferences will do me any good at all. Oh I know that everyone is in the same boat as me, and there is the possibility that I will enjoy this location even better, but I am the type of person that goes to a specific restaurant because I want a specific food. I usually don’t even have to look at the menu. You name the restaurant, and I can tell you what I will order from there. If I experiment, I usually wind up disappointed and wishing that I had just ordered what I know that I like.
One good aspect about Annual Conference this year is that Karen will be going along with me. It will be very nice to have someone to help keep me heading in the right direction or even better, to have someone else to put the blame on when I get lost, although I am afraid that she might not find all of the meetings and business sessions too awfully exciting. Hopefully she will be able to spend some time with some of the other pastor’s wives that she has had the opportunity to get to know and not feel like she has to sit through meetings that are sometimes less than exciting.
The big day this year will be on Thursday when I will be voted on by all of the pastors in the Indiana Conference. Even though I have watched this vote in the past and no one has ever been rejected, I will be glad when it is over, and then Sunday, I will be on stage for the first time ever to be Commissioned as a Provisional Member of Annual Conference. Talk about change, I am really in uncharted water now :)
Blessings
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