Funkyjimmer's Blog

Thursday, June 23, 2005

GOING ON VACATION

We work today and tomorrow (Thursday and Friday). We will go to Countryside Sunday where I will preach. Then we are on vacation! We’ll use Monday to get ready to go. We’ll do things like stop the mail and the newspaper, do laundry, pack and get the car ready.

I have it in my head that I want to rent a car for the trip. The reason is to save money in the form of wear and tear on our car. The government allows $0.405 cents per mile for business miles reimbursement. Studies I have read say that it costs $0.615 cents per mile to replace a car. For the miles we are traveling it would cost a lot of money in car replacement costs to drive our car. I can rent a car for less than half that cost. Either way I have to buy gasoline. So why not buy gas for a rental car and make my car last longer. We’ll see how it all turns out.

We will leave Zionsville Tuesday morning and go to Lexington, Kentucky, where we will attend a church convention, the North American Christian Convention. It is a preaching-teaching convention. It is also a time of reunion with others we have known over the years and the Christian colleges will have receptions for alumni to get together.

The Convention is over Thursday at noon. Then we’ll head for the Atlanta, Georgia, area to visit one of our daughters. Our oldest daughter will fly to Atlanta to spend the weekend with us. She’ll ride back in the car with us. We’ll be back to work Wednesday, July 6th.

I hope to get some rest. Although I don’t know how much resting can be done when you spend all that time in a car and visiting with lots of people. I plan to take a book or two that I want to get read as well. I hope it will be a good time. We pray for safety in travel. And we hope our health is good during the trip.

The good news is I’ll have some access to email and the Internet while I am gone. I am happy I don’t have to have a long separation from my friends with whom I have regular email contact and I can read those web logs of my friends that I regularly access. But I probably won’t update this Journal until I get back. Hopefully I’ll have some interesting things about which to write.

Jim

posted by jim 4:08 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 20, 2005

ANOTHER DAY OF WORKING AT THE SPEEDWAY TRACK

Saturday I spent another long day at the Race Track. Doors opened at 7 a. m. so we had to be there at 6 a. m. This time we were assigned to Gate 3 – a walk-in gate. At first I was a little disappointed to be at this gate. The last time I worked at the track I observed that this gate was not very busy all day long. I thought that Gate 2 where the majority of the cars entered was much busier and much more enjoyable as far as the work.

I may have been wrong in my previous observation, I just don’t know. But I do know that last Saturday this gate was very busy. It was enjoyable working there with 7 other people from our church. The Speedway officials told us that they had over 90 volunteers that day from various church and other non-profit organizations.

We took turns doing various tasks at the gate and had numerous breaks from our posts. Some of the time I stood at a table and inspected back packs, coolers, and other carry-in containers. We were looking for glass and anything else “suspicious”. Except for any glass containers, what was considered“ suspicious” was pretty much left up to us as the “inspectors”. Everyone was cooperative. I had a few people who had to throw away unopened bottles of beer. Some chose to just throw them away but some stood there and drank the bottles empty!

Part of the time I took tickets or inspected passes to be sure they were entering with the correct day pass. Much of the time I stood with others from our church and handed out programs (until we ran out) and kept people from walking on the ramps where the vehicles drove and got people to use the sidewalk. It was surprising the number of people who wanted to walk in the street rather than on the sidewalk!

During breaks there were qualifying of cars to watch and also a few races were held Saturday. The big race (United States Grand Prix, of the Formula 1 cars) was supposed to be Sunday. It turned out to be an embarrassing experience as 14 of the 20 drivers boycotted the race over some controversy about the safety of the Michelin tires. So everybody is angry and upset and fans are demanding a refund.

But Saturday was good. It was perfect weather. We got to deal with a lot of people from other countries. It was interesting to hear the different languages being spoken. Some could not speak any English. Many spoke very broken English.

It was also interesting to see those who chose to wear their native clothing. Some of the men from my church couldn’t believe that Scottish men wear those “skirts”, which were really kilts.

During lunch break I again had a “Brickyard Burger” which is a very large and very thick hamburger. It was good. I should have stopped there but I didn’t. Located a short distance from the gate where we worked they were cooking those huge turkey legs on the open grill. After smelling those things cooking all day, (they are one of my favorite foods) I yielded about 3 p. m. and had a huge leg. Was it good!

So it was a long day (up at 4:30 a. m. and back home at 6 p. m.) but it was enjoyable work and very enjoyable working with folks from our church.

And the Speedway personnel complimented us highly on our work ethic. They had to almost insist and beg us to take breaks. Some groups (so they said) they have to continually “prod” to get them to do what they are supposed to do. It was a good witness.

August 6th for the Brickyard 400 is our last opportunity to work this year. Anyone “out there” want to join me at the Track? You are welcome. You don’t have to be from our church. Just put a comment on this Blog or if you have my address, just email me, call me, someway let me know you’d like to join me at the Track.

Jim

posted by jim 4:30 PM 0 comments

Friday, June 17, 2005

MEDICAL UPDATE

Over a week ago Karon and I made our most recent visit to the oncologist. It was not an encouraging one. The oral chemotherapy is having no effect on the cancer and it is very harmful to her hands and feet, in addition to the other side effects. The drug had the cancer count reducing for a time. But now it seems to have flat-lined and is even increasing a bit.

So…We all decided it is time for a change. Dr. Birhiray obviously subscribes, at least in principle, to the classic definition of insanity. “Insanity is to continue doing the same things in the same way and expecting different results.” We do this far too often in church life and wonder why our churches for the most part aren’t healthy and don’t grow!

So a change in the approach to Karon’s treatment is at hand. She and the doctor agreed that she could go on a little “medical leave”. She is off of the oral chemo drug and waiting for her hands to heal once again. The healing is very slow this time. We will do nothing further in the way of treatment until the middle of July.

The week after next we are going to the North American Christian convention in Lexington, Kentucky. Following the convention we will go on to the Atlanta, Georgia, area to visit our daughter, Anita. We’ll come back to Indianapolis July 5th. July 13th we go back to the oncologist. She will likely begin her new treatment that day.

The next line of treatment is to use a stronger chemotherapy drug that can only be given by infusion. That’s introducing the drug directly into the blood stream through the veins. She’ll have to go to the treatment center to have the drug administered. The doctor has decided on which drug to use. We have to decide if she wants to take it once a week for three weeks and then off a week or if she will take the stronger dose once every three weeks.

There will be side effects either way. Taking the lesser dosage more often may lessen the side effects somewhat. The two main side effects are loss of body hair and destruction of the immune system. Neither is pleasant to endure. There are additional drugs they will administer to mitigate the other side effects.

We are going to try to enjoy our vacation and Karon’s “medical leave” as much as possible and try not to think too much about the future at this time. We just pray this treatment will be effective in destroying the cancer—and not the patient!

Jim

posted by jim 10:30 AM 1 comments

Friday, June 10, 2005

GONE AND GOING

Our short-term mission team going to the Ukraine, left Wednesday, They flew to Detroit, then to Amsterdam and on to Kiev, Ukraine. Then they had a 10 or 12 hour van ride to Bereyzdak. My heart, thoughts and prayers are with them.

The team going to the mission work camp in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, leaves Saturday at 1 p. m. They have a long ride ahead of them as well. My heart, thoughts and prayers will be with them also.

Saturday, June 18th, the third team leaves for the mission work camp in West Virginia. They leave the day the Pennsylvania team returns. So I'll be praying for this team as well.

The Ukraine team is due to return June 22nd.

Nineteen people from a small church like ours! Given our size, that's a phenomenal number of people. Most preachers are disturbed by a lot of people missing from church. We will have a lot of people missing from our congregational worship Sunday. But rather than disturbed, I am thrilled and excited about that. I am glad to have them gone because I know what they are doing.

Some of these missionaries will be repairing houses for people whose buildings are in need of such repairs but are unable to do it themselves and unable to pay someone else to do the work. They will also be witnessing for Christ and the Gospel to the occupants of these homes and to the neighbors in the neighborhoods as well. They will study the Word, have devotions and have great worship experiences also.

The missionaries in the Ukraine will be working in youth camps where they will present the Gospel using puppets. They will be directing games, leading Bible studies and leading music in worship services. They will also work with a campus ministry and lead worship for young adult worship.

These people are on anything but a "vacation". They will return tired and emotionally exhausted. But they will also return blessed. We are all praying that these missionaries will not only be a blessing to those among whom they serve, but that these missionaries will be blessed and that their lives will be profoundly changed.

Yep! It is an exciting time in our church all right! It will be great when they all return and we can have a great sharing time when they can tell the whole congregation (as best they can) how God used them and how they were blessed and changed for His glory!

Jim

posted by jim 3:00 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 06, 2005

WORKING AT THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Our church has a money-raising project for our youth mission trips. During the months of May, June and August we can work as “volunteers” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In May it is the Indianapolis 500 race, in June the Formula One Race and in August the Brickyard 400.

We as individuals don’t get any money but the racetrack makes a donation to the volunteer organization in the amount of something like $7.00 per hour per person for every hour the individual works.

Our church has been on a waiting list for this opportunity for several years. Finally our name made its way to the top of the list this year. We worked a couple of Saturdays in May. I worked the second Saturday. I was at a college graduation ceremony the first Saturday the group from our church worked. I am glad, too, because it rained everything out that first Saturday by 3 o’clock! I understand that until then most everybody got pretty wet and some of the group caught colds and stuff as a result of standing out in the weather most of the day.

The second Saturday was a gorgeous day as far as the weather was concerned. I have to admit to having a lot of apprehension about doing this before I actually participated. I kept thinking, “I don’t have time for this; I don’t need this.” But I knew I needed to do it. Having done it, I am ready to go back. I’m already signed to go June 18th and I’ll sign for August 6th also.

There were seven of us from our church the day I worked. It was a long day. We had to be at the track at 7:00 a. m. and worked until 5:30 p. m. There were breaks during the day but otherwise we stood on our feet. Our job was to take tickets as people drove in the main gate. There were a few walk-ins but most came in cars.

It was a good job because for the most part the people coming in hadn’t started the heavy drinking so we didn’t deal with a lot of drunks. Some of the people working inside the track as the day progressed weren’t so fortunate!

We saw a variety of people-types and cars as we worked the gate all day long. Both fascinated me! There were “old clunkers” of cars and there were Porsches , Corvettes, BMWs, Mercedes Benz—all variety of automobiles.

The people were fascinating, too. Most were pleasant and happy to be going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some people were unresponsive to our friendliness. I don’t think I encountered any real grouches. We were told to be pleasant, friendly and encourage people to enjoy themselves at the Speedway so they would want to come back.

On our breaks we got to watch race cars practice or qualify for the race. There were lots of activities in the infield, also. We were able to take in part of a Christian concert on the coca cola stage. Christian artists Sarah Groves. Orlando Ortega and Bebo Norman performed. I only got to hear and see Ortega and Bebo Norman. They were good. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chaplaincy program presented this concert.

It was a good day. I’m ready to go back. ANYONE OUT THERE WANT TO GO WITH ME? WE HAVE ROOM FOR MORE WORKERS. It is a good way to get to see some Formula One racing or some Brickyard 400 NASCAR racing.

I don’t know what our job will be next time. Our leader from our church is going to request we be assigned to the main gate again but that doesn’t mean they will honor his request, They really liked us, though. Several of the Paid Speedway Staff complimented us on the way we did our work. Maybe they'll let us work at the main gate again!

Jim

posted by jim 3:10 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

A GRADUATION DAY EXPERIENCE

A few weeks ago I was privileged to attend the Graduation Ceremony for a young lady in our church. She graduated cum laude from Cincinnati Christian University. The ceremony was held in the College Gym. It was comfortable and there was room for everyone in attendance. The sound system was very good for both music and speaking.

It was an excellent service with good music and interesting and intelligent short speeches by three graduates. One of the outstanding features of the ceremony was the excellent way one of the professors read the Scripture. In my opinion it is seldom that you hear Scripture read well. This man did an excellent job in that department.

After the ceremony had concluded people were just leaving the stands. I had gone down on the floor to talk to someone. We had just begun our conversation when without warning the lights went out. It was somewhat of a shock. We all thought they would come right on again or there would be back up lighting. Neither occurred.
When it became apparent there was not going to be any lights, two impressive things happened. First, no one panicked. There were no screams or stampede to the exits. (Even the exit lights were out.)

The second occurrence took me by surprise. It seemed that everyone in that large crowd who had a cell phone turned it on! Most of them weren’t calling anyone. Apparently they were just using their screen as light! My cell is an older style with a very dim screen that provides virtually no light. But it was interesting to see everyone “light up”. Pretty soon we all headed for the exit nearest to us. It was funny to observe people trying to meet up with their family and/or friends in the dark. Believe it or not, it was easier to do than I would have thought. Eventually everyone got out doors to the light and found their friends and family.

I never did hear why the lights went out. I only learned that they were out over that entire area of the city. I suppose they were off an hour or more at least.

It is hard to believe that a large public building on a good-sized college campus could be constructed without any type of backup lighting in case of such an occurrence. But that building has no backup lights. I am thankful that no one panicked that there were no harmful results.

Jim

posted by jim 3:10 PM 0 comments