I confess that I went skiing last week with my family and didn’t get any blogging done. I had a couple of posts ready to go ahead of time, but the internet connection at the place we stayed was impossibly slow and I could never get them posted. My apologies for disappearing for a week. However, it was a really good week with my family. I confess to feeling so very fortunate to get to be roped together with these people – the four of us. I sometimes have to pinch myself.
I confess that on the way out we had fun watching the consistent pattern of cars being pulled over for speeding in the East bound lane of I-70. West bound was free and clear. I went 10 over the whole way. Judging by the number of cars being searched, my wife and I were guessing that they were stopping cars coming home from Colorado looking for pot.
I confess that the final big edit for Shrink is over and done. The manuscript went off to the publisher last week. We made one quick rewrite over the weekend to improve a section of the chapter on patience. This is ironic, given the fact that I struggled with patience all week long. The most glaring of my issues come in regard to what we call rolling road blocks. A rolling roadblock is when two cars, or more often trucks, are going about 60 in a 75 and yet feel no obligation to clear a lane for faster moving traffic. They just roll along for a couple of miles letting cars build up in their wake. Patience indeed.
While I’m airing travel-grievances. I confess that I resent the need to answer a short questionnaire every time I want to pay at the pump. What’s your zip code? Do you want a car wash? Do you want a receipt? Do you have a super-saver card? Have you had your wisdom teeth out? What’s your mother’s maiden name? Did you wash your hands after you went to the bathroom? Are you currently stealing gas with a card that doesn’t belong to you? …I miss full service. At least then they’d wash your windows after asking you a bunch of questions.
I confess that on the way out and back we listened to Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. This is my 4th time through the book. Personally this means that Jayber Crow surpasses all other fiction rereads except for A Prayer for Owen Meany. I confess that the introduction to Shrink uses part of Jayber Crow as the central metaphor for an ecclesiology central to the books thesis.
I confess that I’m officially attempting to switch my Sabbath day from Monday to Friday. I confess that this puts a wrench in a really good day together each week for me and Kristin. Patterning our time on the kind of routine Eugene Peterson kept with his wife, Kristin and I have enjoyed the time together, and have found a way to really relax nearly every week. However, sermon writing has been consistently bleeding over into Saturdays over the past few months. I find myself working from 6am until after lunch nearly every Saturday. Saturday morning might be the singularly best block of time with my boys that I can have throughout the whole week. I can’t afford to keep missing it. I confess that I’m making the switch with some trepidation, partly because Mondays have been so great, and partly because Friday Sabbath cannot include an all-day excursion with Kristin, at least not until next fall.
I confess that I’m headed to Conception Abbey tonight for a couple days of solitude, prayer, and a chance to meet with some other practitioners and academics as a part of a friends Dmin. support group. Hoping to get a jump on my sermon so that I can spend Saturday with my kids.
Okay friends, I’ve made my confession. Time for you to make yours…
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