Send Us a Minister...

I just got back from a trip to New York City. It was fun...and hot!!! There isn't really much to report on the trip, itself, as mostly we hung out and saw the sights. My wife, kids, and dad were there with me so we walked a lot!

If you haven't already, do check out the Brooklyn Museum (the "Monet's London" exhibit was great!) and the Frick, as well as the Botanical Gardens.

I recently re-read "Send us a Minister...any minister will do" by Walter Cook. I cannot seem to find a copy online to link to, so keep your eyes peeled... Written in the seventies, it contains short essays about the trials and tribulations of seminary students on their first assignments out of Bangor Seminary in Bangor (and Portland) Maine. Some are sad, but most of them are funny. This is particularly true of you are NOT a minister! Otherwise, some of them are too familiar...

Midterm Report

Boy, have I been busy! I have, as previously threatened, been away from my computer and out doing interesting things. Much of it has been spent with my family. Here are some of the highlights:

The family and I spent the majority of the past couple weeks in Lisbon Falls, Maine. This is the town in which I grew up and (slightly more famously) the home of that annual event known as Moxie Days. It was a good time. While I was there I saw a variety of friends and aquaintances. Among them were Mrs. Gamache, my third-grade teacher and Joe Graziano Jr., who used to drive me to school when we were boys and who is now a crucial part of his family's business, Graziano's Casa Mia. It continues to be yummy. I recommend it to all and sundry who find themselves up that way.

We also went to my parent's camp (non-Mainers often call them "summer homes" but in Maine that term is reserved for something both more coastal and substantially less rustic. Perhaps I should have said "hunting cabin"...) near Patten

Also, we took in the action at Hadlock Field, home of the Portland Sea Dogs, one of the "AA" affiliates of God's Own Team (who'd ya expect...the Marlins?!). There I bumped into Seth Warner, old roomate and, of course, young theorbo player.

It was interesting being back home. I was reminded of all that is great about being from a (relatively) small town and state. It was nice. However, when we finally rolled our old Subaru Outback into the parsonage driveway, the flowers were in bloom (including some second-generation Easter Lillies) , the birds were singing, the grass was growing, and I--once again--realized that I am quite happy to live in Natick, Massachusetts.

If you would like to see pictures of our family outing, you can go to Dad's AG Blog and click on the picture links there (they are on the second page)! Soon I will tell you about what I have been reading but for now I must go...

Gone Biking

It is July at last! This month marks, among other things, the very first anniversary of Unity! Well it sure has been fun hasn't it? Like last year, I am mostly off from work until August and am spending a great deal of it not on the computer. I find that, if I do this, then I have time for other pursuits, such as mountain biking.

My reading, as you have probably noted, departs a bit from the strictly religious (although not entirely--see the "biking link" above). One work I finished recently is Heft on Wheels by Mike Magnuson. It is more than a book about a guy getting in shape. It is about someone who completley transformed his life for the better through his somewhat obsessive passion for road bikes.

Also, the Tour De France is on OLN even as I write. I preached a sermon last summer about the tour, I will see if I can find it...