And there was that mastodon...

Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:9-10 ESV)

Took this pic on my walk this morning.
There's no context to share... Just some
stuff behind a shed that begs this
question: Trash or treasure?
(click to enlarge)

This morning's death march was a most idyllic one; we went in different directions so Carole could run and I followed the jogging/bike path on the Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne campus along the St. Joseph. It was about 8am, overcast and cool, and there were only a couple of other people out-- it was quite enjoyable! I encountered a juvenile chipping sparrow bouncing from branch to branch within arm's reach, chipmunks, rabbits, the obligatory squirrels, a deer in the distance, and a redheaded woodpecker that was hopping along the path in front of me for a few paces...oh yeah, and there was that mastodon. It's a beautifully maintained campus... Go Dons!

Afterward, we were on our way to IHOP (to use a giftcard that, when all was said and eaten, we forgot to use-- it's tough getting old) when Carole's dad called to check in. He related this incident: As he and my mother-in-law don't drive anymore, Carole's sister takes them grocery shopping and on errands. They were in a Meijer (the Michigan Kroger-- we have one down the street here) and an older man fell asleep at the wheel and mashed my sister-in-law's car. That left Carole's folks without a ride home, so the police gave them a lift... I wish I had a picture of them being loaded into a police car! (And even better, I'd like to have seen the expression on their neighbors' faces when they were dropped off!) (Actually, kudos to the local police for helping them out-- hopefully they didn't have to cuff 'em...)

Speaking of grocery stores, we stopped by a store called Fresh Thyme, much like the Sprouts Farmers Market chain. We noticed a display for Mad Anthony beers-- Mad Anthony Brewery opened in 1999 and is in downtown Ft. Wayne. We've been here nearly two months and never heard of it. So we picked up a six-pack of Auburn Lager to try tonight...

And, speaking of tonight, it's movie night. We Redboxed Miracles From Heaven, the film based on the book by the same name written by the mother of then 9-year old Ft. Worth area native Annabel Beam who had an accident that purportedly not only cured her pseudo-obstruction motility and antral hypomotility disorders (I have no idea what either of those things are), but after regaining consciousness she reported seeing her grandmother and Jesus (who spoke to her) in heaven. I enjoy faith stories; however, time after time I am irked by the theology in "Christian" movies and its potential impact on the increasing number of people who, sadly, get religion from the media. (Back in the day, if you didn't go to church, at least there was Linus and his scripturally sound Luke 2:8-14 explanation of what Christmas is all about on the tube every year.)

What with the 2nd midterm on Tuesday and all, it's been a week, brothas and sistas. Carole flew back from a two-night trip to Minneapolis, so Colby and I had to batch it again. Since Tuesday, I've had my fill of subjunctives, imperatives, and pot pies. Oh and I actually passed (yea, God!) Thursday's quiz (our 21st!), so I'm STILL not dead yet. Monday begins week 8.

Yesterday I hedged a bet and went off to Gemutlichkeit hoping to catch the professor that coordinates the Field Worker program* and grease the skids (as we used to say in the Navy) so that when the time comes for assignment I will get the congregation we visited last Sunday. As it turned out, he and I were the first two there, so we sat outside in the breezeway with a beer and a cigar and chatted-- he told me the probability of being assigned there is good, unless a family with children requests that church because it is also a Lutheran school. I have a good feeling about it. Now I just need to meet the pastor tomorrow and set up a time to visit with him and go over my background (so, if he's willing to have me, he'll know he's not getting some young kid right out of college who's never been on the other side of the rail... I have a good feeling about meeting the pastor, too. Anyway, God's got it, so whatever will be will...be.
*Ironically or poetically or whatever, this is the professor that opened my failed theological interview almost exactly 6 years ago with the question "Did God die on the Cross?" Man. What a difference 6 years makes. And I told him that my interview with him was a turning point for me-- which it really was; that it caused me to SERIOUSLY ask myself just what I was trying to do. And as hindsight is 20/20, I can clearly see God's handiwork in a trip to a seminary I had never been to before to meet with two professors I had never met before (while going further into debt to do so), only to go down in flames and leave dejected, wondering why I was even led there to begin with... I think we (the professor and I) see each other in a different light now.

[big sigh here] I ordered books for my fall quarter classes yesterday and dropped 7 C-notes! What a racket the textbook industry is!

Well, that's the state we're in in the state we're in on a sleepy Saturday here in The Summit City. Things seem to be progressing as they should for now.

As usual, more later...

С Богом!

P.S. I'm anti-Facebook. Everybody knows it. This Non Sequitur cartoon from today's paper reflects my sentiment: