Weekend in Ohio

I took my first Sunday off this past weekend. Lisa and I attended her college roommate's wedding, about 30 minutes from our college town of Ada. Lisa was a bridesmaid, I was a bridesmaid's husband (i.e. gopher), and we saw lots of people we rarely see. The weekend was a blast, the wedding was a blast, and it reminded us that we're now back within driving distance of many of our college friends. We also got to see Wayne and Fern Albertson, the pastor of the UMC in Ada
and his wife. He officiated our wedding, and they've both been dear mentors and friends to Lisa and I over the years. We love them and love the people at their church. We attended there Sunday morning and saw many folks from the congregation that we should keep in touch with and simply don't. It was probably the last chance in a long, long, long time that we'll get to attend Ada First UMC, since it's hard for me to justify taking too many of my precious few Sundays off to spend the weekend surrounded by Ohio cornfields. While there, apparently the person preparing the communion elements can't count, and cut the bread into fours and set out four chalices. Well, there was only supposed to be 3 sets of servers. Anyway, when Wayne saw that, he decided to invite "The Rev. Erik Hoeke and his wife, Lisa," to be additional communion servers. We weren't expecting it at all, but it turned out to be a memorable moment for us, as we got to serve many of the members who served nurtured us as we began dating and as we began the journey towards ordained ministry. It was special.

Now, September is in full swing and there's meetings practically every night at the church for the next 3 weeks. There's 2 tonight back-to-back that I'll be leaving for shortly, another one tomorrow, 3 next week, 3 the week after that, and so on. It was so smart of me to plan a 7 week Bible study in the midst of charge conference planning. But it was now or during Nov. and Dec., when the holidays tend to keep people from committing to evening studies. That's all for now.

What are you smoking?

So, two things happened in the sports world in the last 2 days that are utterly ridiculous.

1. I don't follow the NBA, but apparently they have a rookie transition program designed to help players adjust to life as a professional athlete making a 7 figure salary. I guess it's a code of conduct orientation -- don't get in trouble and make the league look like it's just a bunch of thugs. Well, two players were found in their room at this conference with marijuana and --gasp -- girls. Both drugs and girls were against the rules of this conference. It all sounds like a high school band camp drama. Anyway, the punishment was to send them home from the very program trying to keep them from making such errors in moral judgment. Does this make sense to anyone? How will this teach them a lesson? It's akin to sending youth home from a church youth retreat because of breaking rules. Usually, those are the kids who need to be at the retreat the most.

2. Chad Johnson, flamboyant receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals, has legally changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco. This is so utterly ridiculous I have no words for it. I'm just waiting for the offseason, when Ocho Stinko demands a trade again, and it's finally granted. Only, he discovers that he's been traded to the Lions or Rams, the only two teams in the NFL that have retired #85. After that, he'll have to legally change his name again. This time, he'll choose a more fitting last name: Ocho Idiot.