The Search for the Perfect Pumpkin...

Today is a special day in the Higdon clan. In just a few hours, 3 generations of Higdon’s will take our annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Patch at Huber Farms to pick out just the right pumpkins. We will begin the pilgrimage with a stop at the JayC Food store here in Corydon to pick up a picnic lunch of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and whatever else looks especially good from behind the deli counter. We used to actually eat at the restaurant at Huber Farm, but the salary of a pastor and the rest of the family laid off just doesn’t allow for that anymore for the entire crew. After picking up lunch we will head to the Huber Farm and Orchard, which is a sprawling complex in beautiful Starlight Indiana (You have got to love that name).

Some of the activities that the kids especially love to do are jumping on this humongous pillow of air. I’m sure it has a name, but that is the best way that I can describe it. Another thing that the kids love is hiking up the “mountain” and sliding down the giant slide. Last year Andrew wasn’t too sure that he liked that very much but Mary couldn’t get enough of it. I think that my favorite part is feeding the animals. They have llamas, goats, geese, bunnies (Karen’s favorite) horses, deer, and probably a half dozen other animals that I am forgetting.

After exhausting the kids at the petting zoo, we will head out on the big wagon to the pumpkin patch so that the kids can select the perfect pumpkins. This is of course a great time to read to the kids the annual installment of Margery Cuyler’s book, “The Bumpy Little Pumpkin” which is one of Mary and Andrew’s favorite books. The trip to the pumpkin patch is expected to be rather cool today so I would recommend dressing warm:)

After selecting just the right pumpkins, we return to the farmer’s market and try the warm apple cider, sample the endless varieties of fresh homemade breads and cookies and pick up Karen’s favorite strawberry preserves.

By this point I expect Grandpa to be pretty tired and anxious to head for home where there will be a big pot of soup beans simmering in the crock-pot.

Sounds like a good day ahead! Anyone want to come along?

Blessings

Have Respect For Your Elders!

I saw this video on Facebook the other day and thought it was great. So as a part of my effort to lift up traditional family values, here is my first installment, a lesson on why you should have respect for our senior citizens:)

Apparently a woman was video taping her boys while they were skateboarding, heard a noise behind her and well… I will let you figure out the rest on your own.

I will leave it to my cyber detective to determine if this is real or not:)

(Be sure to listen to the laughter of the woman who was videotaping)

Blessings

"To Run Where the Brave Dare Not Go..."

So I guess maybe you noticed that I haven’t posted anything for awhile. To be honest I have actually seriously thought about discontinuing my blog altogether. I have become so frustrated here lately that I have had to ask myself if this is something that I even want to continue doing.

Let me try to explain.

I see our nation going in directions that are almost abhorrent to me. I watch as our Government spends money (borrowed money) that we don’t have, at increasingly exponential rates without any discussion of how we will ever be able to pay the money back. This debt will be saddled on our kids and grandkids but we are told that there is no other option.

I watch as Congress moves ever closer to a health reform bill that I can see as nothing but tragic for our nation and especially for our young people. What happens to a young person who lives on their own, and is barely making ends meet. They will be forced by our government to buy heath coverage which will be at least $200-300 per month. The young person laughs and says, uhhh I don’t have $20-30 extra at the end of the month! “How in the heck do I buy health insurance.” (Of course we are told that there will be subsidies to help, yeah right!!!) So our kinder and gentler Government says oh that’s ok, since you can’t afford the insurance premium, we will go ahead and charge you an additional penalty of say around $1000. So now our young person owes the government a $1000 penalty, they still don’t have insurance and we all sit back in awe at the wonderful "change" that is coming about in our nation.

Now, since our young person can’t pay for insurance and they certainly can’t pay the penalty, the IRS gets involved as the mechanism to collect from this “deadbeat” young person. They garnishee the miniscule wages that our poor young person makes, they call their employer, check with the neighbors (all standard IRS tactics) abscond with their paltry tax refund, pillage their only remaining $17.76 that they had in their checking account (more realistically knowing most young people, the bank account would be overdrawn anyway so the IRS would strike out there) and otherwise make their life miserable.

Well, since the government has now taken their wages, they can’t pay for anything, they lose their apartment, and their 1986 Chevy Corsica gets reposesed because they can’t make the payments, they still owe the government and they still have no insurance, they end up moving back home with Mom and Dad. (Yeah, like you didn’t see that one coming)

But now they have another problem, this has unfortunately turned into a criminal case (YES, THIS IS IN THE HEALTH CARE BILL) they will now be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year in prison and fined $25,000.

This is the lunacy of the health care reform supported, encouraged, loved, embraced, and drooled over by so many of my “friends” and colleagues.

I have tried, pleaded and even begged for a civil conversation over these issues. I have written about it ad nauseam and tried to help my “friends” look at these issues though a different lens if only for a moment.

You may ask, what this has to do with writing my blog? Just after my last post, I challenged something one of my friends posted which was bitter and mean spirited. He agreed with me that it was and in writing his response, which I know was his very best attempt to be fair and magnanimous he said that he had always considered the Progressives to be the adult in the debate. So there you go, my progressive friend, doing the best he could to be fair, can’t keep from calling conservatives, children. Even in a message of reconcilliation we can't keep from calling the other side names.

So honestly, I give up! I don’t want to spend all my time arguing, I also don’t want to spend all of my time writing about trivial, personal things, (as much fun as it is to write about Andrew and his drums) I am not smart enough to reflect as theologically as some of my colleagues that I have such great respect for, and whatever I have to say about these issues that are of extreme importance, I am either made to feel that I am somehow being childish or I am belittled for maintaining the set of beliefs and values that I have accumulated over the last half century on this earth. (Which is extremely frustrating when it comes from someone younger than my own children)

So I have a decision to make, do I give up, crawl into the comfortable cocoon of my churches…
(which is exactly what I have been doing)

Or, do I strike out like Don Quixote de la Mancha, tilting at windmills and striking blows in a quest for chivalry and the values that I believe in...

I know, Don Quixote was a little crazy, and I have been accused of that as well. But like Don Quixote, I also have an impossible dream and perhaps it might be just a bit too early for me to give up.

Blessings

Oh My! What Have We Done?

Next week will be a momentous occasion. Our little Grandson Andrew will turn 3 years old. As we were deciding what to get him, there was really only one thing that came to mind that he truly couldn’t live without and that is a drum set of his very own. First of all let me explain that Andrew is not just an everyday boy who likes to beat on pots and pans with wooden spoons. Andrew is already an accomplished musician.

There is nothing that he loves to do more than drum, much to the chagrin of his parents. He drums when he gets up in the morning, at the meal tables and he even drums when he is asleep. He drums with cool whip bowls and cooking spoons or drinking straws on the table at restaurants. Once, when he couldn’t find suitable drum sticks, he took the legs off his sister’s Barbie’s and used those. The remarkable thing about his ability is that he is actually very good, for a 3 year old. He looks like a drummer when he plays, he acts like a drummer, and if he plays along to music (which isn’t necessary to make him happy), he can even keep a steady beat. (Karen was impressed that he seemed to enjoy playing along to Barry Manilow, Copacabana is his favorite:)

Of course as a Christian we certainly don’t believe in reincarnation, but if we did, there is no doubt in my mind that Andrew would have been a famous drummer in a past life:)

So with that in mind, Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa decided that it was time to put away the childish Cool Whip bowls and wooden spoons and give the boy an official drum set. Yes, you heard correctly, Mom and Dad not only supported the decision but recommended it. (I think that we may need to pick up some ear plugs for Mom and Dad) You have to believe me when I tell you that drumming is this boy’s life and no one knows that better than Mom and Dad and they knew that there is nothing on earth that would make him any happier than his own drums.

So, this Sunday at 2:00, if you hear a very loud excited scream, followed by a loud incessant banging sound coming from around Ben and Crystal’s house, don’t worry, it will only be Andrew taking his musical talent to the next level.

May God forgive us for what we have done:)

Blessings

I Think My Brain Is Cluttered...

This morning I have a bunch of random thoughts floating around in my head so, I am afraid that you will just have to bare with the hodge podge that is my brain today:)

First of all, I am continuing along on my “Swim the Ohio” journey, I have now completed 144 out of the 1023 laps for a total of around 4.3 miles. So far so good! One continuing benefit is that I have also now lost 20lbs since graduation from seminary. It is a slow process and it isn’t like I am working that terribly hard at it, so I am pleased so far.

The next thing that I have been thinking about is Bible Study. I am just thrilled with both churches. We have been averaging around 35 in attendance between the two churches and what thrills me the most is the depth of the questions that they are asking me and each other. We have really been covering a lot of theological ground, and I hope that I am asking more questions of them than I am giving answers. (you may have to think about that last statement for a minute) In addition, I have now had a request to add a third Bible study that would meet during the day. Hmmmm, I better jump on that while the iron is hot, it’s not everyday that people are requesting more Bible studies:)

I am also very excited about the choirs in both churches. Oak Grove jumped on the choir thing very quickly and we have averaged about 9-10 people at each rehearsal. Wednesday night I actually got a chill during one moment that we were singing. I mean, they have harmony and everything:) Not that it is a contest, but I would be happy to put them up against any church choir that I have heard since I have been here in Harrison County, and I have heard several area church choirs.

Fountain was a little slower to jump on the choir wagon. The first rehearsal was just our piano player, her husband and me. But, we persisted and the first Sunday was a duet. Last Sunday we had 5 in the choir and last night at rehearsal we had 6 and I was just amazed at the blending of sound and harmony that they were doing after such a short time of practice. Both churches are very blessed with talented people.

Karen and I are also preparing for an exciting month of October. Our son Ben is running in his first 5K race that he has been training for, we are looking forward to going back up to Seymour for Oktoberfest which is an annual event for us, my sister is coming to visit for the first couple weeks, and we are very much looking forward to that, of course my birthday is October 6th and since I have made it a half century, that is worth mentioning:) We are planning a Pet Blessing service sometime in mid October and when we take my sister back home, we will pick up Karen’s mom and she will stay with us at least through the end of October, and oh yeah there is that little thing called Charge Conference that will involve many meetings through October. Sounds like a busy, but great month ahead:)

So do you get the feeling my mind is a bit jumbled this morning? Yeah, me too! Oh well, I am sure that after I spend the night tonight at the Youth campout at Fountain church, I should be back to normal thinking clearly tomorrow! What? You don’t think so? I know, me neither! But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it:)
Blessings!

Lesson Learned: Some people aren’t even remotely interested in my opinion:)

Yes, I know that this may be hard for you to believe, but I found out in no uncertain terms that not everyone values my charming insight, loveable, sarcastic wit and humble, sage wisdom. :) I was pursuing through Facebook the other day when I ran across a rather long but interesting thread submitted by a friend of mine. Somewhere toward the end, there appeared what I thought was a rather rude departure from the thread, where some guy (actually an MTSO Seminary student) that I didn’t know, seemed to be (in my opinion) bullying a woman, who I also don’t know, but have grown to admire as I have read her Facebook responses. (She is actually the Aunt of one of my “friends”)

Her comment to him was that she thought his critique of the issue he was discussing was rather harsh. Well, let’s see, he used the words Nazi, concentration camp, ghetto, and stated that we as Americans are all culpable in the genocide of the Palestinian people, so I think that those words might possibly qualify as harsh.

Of course me being ready to jump in and help this woman out, (and certainly not having a dog in the hunt) I pointed out to him nicely, (at least that’s my story:) that his words were not only harsh but incendiary and that perhaps he could win more friends and influence more people to his cause if he tried to tone down the harsh rhetoric. I think I have mentioned to you before that if you sit down with me and simply tell me your side, I am much more willing to listen than if you try to beat me over the head with your viewpoint.

Believe it or not, he didn’t seem to find any wisdom in my thoughts, as a matter of fact he didn’t find me wise at all:) (maybe a wise… well you know) He accused me of putting words in his mouth, not reading what he wrote, and basically saying that if I find the use of those words incendiary then it was me that had the problem, he was just speaking the truth.

Hmmmmm so what do you do? Well, I first looked and found out that this young man was younger than my kids. I know, go figure that one, young and already knows all the answers, now there is a combination that you don’t see every day:)

So, being the pastorally and mentorly type I am, I thought. “You know something, I bet he doesn’t even realize that he is being rude and totally insensitive,” and quite honestly, if he doesn’t understand that before he enters ministry, the people in his churches, or perhaps the Board of Ordained Ministry will help him to figure that out very quickly, and usually painfully.

Hoping to save him that potential career ending error, I sent him a message and pretty much just shared with him that he could do much better for both his cause (which happens to be the Palestinian people) and for himself if he dropped the incendiary rhetoric, and actually made an attempt to help people to understand the plight of the people that he was concerned about, that making the people angry who could potentially be allies in the struggle is really not a good idea, and in defense of my friend, shared with him that there is a big difference between the theoretical debates of seminary and the give and take of ideas in the real world and that you can catch a lot more flies with honey if you only try.

Well, our young friend took considerable exception to my fatherly advice, told me that I wasn’t worth his effort to respond, questioned my intelligence (which he may be right on that one) called me several things that I had to go look up in the dictionary (He really is an intelligent guy) and told me something psychoanalytical about me trying to act superior to cover my inferiority complex, or something along that lines. I may have to go look that one up as well, you never know, he may have something there:)

So, I thought of a thousand ways to respond and then decided that no response was probably in order.

Ok, here I go with the superiority thing again, or perhaps he would say condescending attitude, but I really do feel sorry for him. I don’t even know him, but his words were really seething with anger, he responded in a manner that I perceived as anger to the woman who was simply stating her understanding of the issue, he responded to me in anger (And I am certainly not saying that I don’t deserve it) but, past experience tells me that there is always a better way.

I really do wish him the best, he is facing a very long and difficult road ahead, the people in his churches are not always going to agree with him, and somewhere in his journey he will have to learn that lashing out in anger isn’t the best option, and I will tell you that speaking from experience it has never worked out well for me.

Hopefully he will learn these lessons along the way, I know he won’t learn them from me, He thinks I am a……… Well, I will let you fill in the blank on that one:)

Blessings!

Maybe I should hit the reset button...

Yesterday was a very challenging day. To begin with, after I left the YMCA, I had that feeling that you get when you feel like you are beginning to come down with something, but you really aren’t sure what it is yet. (Thank goodness I feel much better today)

Then, when I got home, I had a phone call from someone who was experiencing a personal crisis, followed immediately by someone else whose 18 year old daughter suddenly dropped out of college and moved to Ohio with a boy she just met on the internet. (It is times like these that you understand why some of the animals in the animal kingdom eat their young.) Please keep this young girl and her family in your prayers.

Yesterday afternoon was spent at a car dealership with Terri as she is looking to buy a car. My past experience with these places is that you better hold onto your wallet because they will do everything they can to take advantage of you, and yesterday was no exception. So, a couple of hours later and still no car, we left to regroup for another day.

I am also struggling with the apparent inequity in one aspect of the changeover of insurance as we merge from two conferences into the one Indiana Conference. There is an issue which seems very unfair to those who are on the bottom of the United Methodist pay scale and it seems to be something that will potentially continue to affect those families for years to come unless it is addressed.

Then, last night, in the middle of working on about 3 different projects, the internet suddenly went down. Then I realized that our cable TV was out as well. Uh oh, did the bill not get paid? LOL That was my first thought anyway:) But, the bill was fine, there was some sort of outage in the area, that didn’t get restored until sometime in the night.

So, I am hoping for a better day today, perhaps even a quiet day would be nice. Oh and while I am at it, I will share one joy with you. I mentioned that we had 25 at Bible study last week at the Oak Grove church, well Fountain church, not to be out done, had 61 in worship on Sunday, which was by far their best Sunday since I have been there. In addition, we now have 2 baptisms scheduled. So, maybe I shouldn't hit the "reset button" after all :)

Blessings!