Funkyjimmer's Blog

Thursday, October 27, 2005

LIFE IS CRAZY RIGHT NOW

With only a week in the office after having been gone half of last week and before being gone the next two weeks for work (except for weekends and one day during the second week) it has been difficult to keep up. And I have been taking one day off from work to study and work at home to prepare for my messages at church on Sundays. The latter part of this week has been very busy at work and it is one of those weeks where I have had to be gone 3 out of the 5 nights with didn't leave much time for preparation time in the evenings.

I leave Sunday afternoon after church and won't be back until Friday night. Gone again the following Sunday after church and back that next Friday. It's going to make it hard to be able to prepare for those following Sundays. There will be some long nights.

Karon is going with me this Sunday afternoon and she'll come back home Tuesday sometime. I hope getting away will be good for her.

My schedule hasn't left me any time for blogging or for keeping up with my friends. To all of you who haven't heard from me in any form for a gazillion years (it seems!) I am still alive and occasionally kicking. None of you are out of my thoughts nor are you out of my prayers.

Because I haven't had any time to read Blogs and Journals, I feel so out of touch with all of you Bloggers and Journal-writers. I am sorry. I don't like life to be this way. Hopefully this will not last more than a few weeks. But who knows?

Karon had her Oncologist appointment and chemo treatment yesterday. We didn't really learn anything except to have confirmed how disorganized that office seems to be. They don't get the proper tests ordered, they couldn't find her chart yesterday, they didn't know what to have her do when she first got there...on and on it goes. She's only been going their a little over a year! Hopefully tomorrow or Monday we'll know what effect the chemo has been having on the bone cancer. The doctor did persuade her to increase the pain medication. She is so reluctant to do so. But she agreed to try. He said there was no need to go through each day suffering pain. He also said she didn't need to be concerned about becoming addicted to any of the pain medication.

I guess this Post sounds whinny and complaining. Sorry about that. I guess that is the result of experiencing the componets of my life right now.

The next two weeks I'll be virtually out of touch as far as internet is concerned. I'll be able to check email probably only once a day and answer emails, but I will not have time or much access to my friends' journals or blogs. I'm not looking forward to that. But ya'all will be in my prayers just the same.

God bless us everyone! (That sounds familiar, eh?)

Jim

posted by jim 4:45 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

ON THE ROAD

I am going to be a traveling man once again. They delivered my car from the car rental a while ago--a 2006 silver Ford Taurus. I think it will be okay. I'll only have it this week. Later when I travel for a 2-week period I'll probably have another kind of car.

Second-guessing doesn't work! Most new cars have a CD player rather than a tape player. Few have both the CD and tape player. Our Honda has both and the CD player is a 6-CD changer.

But figuring I'd have a CD player in the rental car, I prepared to listen to a number of CDs I really like while on the road. Wouldn't you know? This car has a cassette tape player only! Oh well, I have a great portable CD player that I can play through the radio. But you can never tell what to expect.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'll be heading for Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the rest of the week. The first two weeks in November I'm out almost constantly. A couple of Sundays I have to leave on Sunday afternoon to get where I'm going. I'm in the office at a meeting only one day the first two weeks of November.

I hope the weather stays nice. At least it's not December or January-February in the Mid-west!

Jim

posted by jim 2:30 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

YEA!!! I PASSED

Everything went smoothly. The test site was were it was supposed to be and they had me registered and were expecting me. The testing site was pleasant enough and the staff very friendly and helpful.

It was tough because the questions didn't look like a lot of what I had studied all these weeks. They used different words and some different concepts.

But it is over and now I can turn my efforts and attention to other things.

Thank you all who said they were praying for me. And thanks to those who prayed and I didn't even know it! All your prayers were needed. There were a couple of times during the test I really got panicky because I really didn't have a clue what they were talking about or what they were wanting on the test. Those times I remembered all who were praying and I prayed as well.

So there you have it! I passed! Thanks be to God.

Jim

posted by jim 2:29 PM 1 comments

Monday, October 10, 2005

A REPLACEMENT

The certificate I need to take my test in the morning was not at my office. In fact, it still is no where to be found. So I want to the Course Office and got a replacement for only a $5 charge and absolutely no hassle.

You can be sure I know where this second certificate is housed!

I haven't yet gotten much studying done today in preparation for the test tomorrow. I have been able to listen to a couple of CDs several times that are overviews of the course material which is a good review. Right now I am feeling more confident about being able to pass the test. But that feeling is easily and frequently replaced with thoughts of doubts and feelings of unpreparedness. Hopefully this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow morning before the test I can get in some good review. I just hope that I am reviewing the right material in the best way!

Jim

posted by jim 3:30 PM 1 comments

Sunday, October 09, 2005

WOE IS ME! I'VE LOST A VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT

At the end of my class Thursday they gave us a very important document. It was a certificate without which we cannot take our test. They instructed us, "Whatever you do, don't lose this. You need to present it to be allowed to take your test. Put it where it is safe--where you know where it is located."

So I put it (I thought) in my books with my notes and all the other papers I had pertaining to the class. Now I can't find it! In all my studying and reviewing for my test this coming Tuesday I sort of forgot about my certificate. When I thought about it I just knew it was in one of my class books with my other class papers. When I looked, it is not there. My other papers are there but not the certificate.

So I have spent the weekend (when I wasn't at church) looking for it and praying to find it. I told them about it at church this morning and asked for prayer to find it. I haven't gotten much studying done because of the busy weekend at church but what time I had I have looked for the certificate. If I can't find it at my office tomorrow, my only alternative is to go to the study course office and beg for another one. They said they could be reproduced for $5.00. I don't mind the $5.00 but I just hope they will give it to me so I can take the test Tuesday.

So if I find the lost certificate, or if I get a replacement, I am scheduled to take the test Tuesday. I report to the testing location at 11:00 a. m. I should be finished by 2:30 or 3 p. m. and know whether I passed or failed. I'd appreciate any prayers anyone wants to offer on my behalf that I pass!

As painful as it might be, I'll let you know. I'll post it on this blog Tuesday afternoon.

Jim

posted by jim 8:40 PM 0 comments

Friday, October 07, 2005

CLASS DISMISSED

I made it through the review class sessions. Were they helpful? VERY! The instructors were very good. The instructors wrote the books we studied and that was a positive. Also they have been doing this for a good many years. They were professionals in every sense of the word.

So it was a good four days, although very intense and tiring. I take the State Exam next Tuesday. Will I pass? I haven't a clue! The study I have done, the classes and the study I'll try to do over the weekend and Monday will help. Am I nervous, scared? YOU BET! But this is a good time because it is a time to exercise my faith. Satan puts all kinds of doubts in my mind every time I turn around. But then I remember the promises of Scripture and I send him off for a little while. But he comes back!

Gotta head for work. I'm not speaking at my church this weekend. I haven't had time to prepare because of the coming Exam and the classes. So I'll have some time to study over the weekend. Not a lot, though. One of my daughter's is coming into town from Atlanta, Georgia, and it is Pastor Appreciation week throughout the country. We're having a dinner and a Southern Gospel Quartet concert at church Sunday night. So it'll be a busy weekend.

Jim

posted by jim 7:25 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 03, 2005

IT'S GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT

My first day of class went well. I took some self-administered tests at home tonight and at least passed them. The class seemed really helpful to fix in my mind what I had read and studied before hand. I just hope that I will be able to do okay on the part of the book I haven't read yet when we come to that part in the class sessions.

We have a different instructor each half day. Tomorrow morning we'll have the one we had this afternoon. Then a different one tomorrow afternoon, and so on. So far they have been really good. The setting is great. A large, well-lighted room with very comfortable chairs are lots of breaks and they furnish coffee and different kinds of hot tea.

Many, many people are having much difficulty over when and where to take their state exam once they have completed the refresher course. As it turns out, I am okay. The location I looked up last Friday night is the correct place. The reason I couldn't locate it Friday night is because it is locate within another business. So I know where I am going and it's not going to be hard to get there. Some people are actually going to have to take their exam in the back of a semi trailer! It really is a mess. I am blessed and very grateful. I'm praying this old brain can absorb and retain what is being put into it. Prayers are definitely solicited.

Jim

posted by jim 11:10 PM 0 comments

Saturday, October 01, 2005

OH MY, NOTHING THERE

Things often aren't as we hope or expect. That's not a new revelation to those of us who have lived awhile. We should expect the unexpected. So why are we surprised, shocked, upset--whatever emotion fits the situation--when the unexpected happens?

Thursday I registered to take my 3-hour exam. They gave me a confirmation number and the location. Last night I decided to "scope out" the spot. Nothing there! The business was there that was supposed to be next to the location where I am to take the test. But nothing to indicate the company that gives the test.

So I guess it's back to "square one" after all. I can't check anything out over the weekend. I may have to drive 3 to 5 hours, depending on where I can take the exam. I definitely want to take it as soon after taking the course as possible. The course is designed only to prepare you to pass the exam. No sense in waiting until everything "seeps out" of my brain!

Oh well......!

Jim

posted by jim 8:30 AM 0 comments