Christmas Letter!

Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas letter time! Here’s a little glimpse into my world (outside of ministry) this year.

Cat In On The Hat Pot!

I visited my friend, Rusty, for a couple days this past summer.  He was training his cat to go to the bathroom on the toilet!  It was weird going to the bathroom knowing the cat had been in there before me!  Or walking in on the cat and waiting for him to finish!  omg!

Note: Eventually the training didn’t take.  At some point the cat called it quits on the experiment and started going to the bathroom in a box of shredded paper.  He was soon back to the kitty litter box.  Thank you, Oliver!  One of us had to draw the line. ☺

Lake Retreat

In September, I went to a friend, Steve’s, cottage on a lake in Indiana for five days of solitude, reflection, and rejuvenation.  When Steve bought the place, I remember him telling me he’d love to have people in ministry use his place for personal retreats.  I got to be the first to benefit from his generosity.  Hopefully I didn’t ruin it for future people, due to all the wild parties I threw with the resident retired ladies!

This was a first for me.  It was the first time I’ve gone away and spent five days by myself…unplugged, with no internet or TV!  Going into it, I was wondering if I could last all five days.  I warned people I may be home after two.

When I arrived, I found a small toad in the toilet.  At first glance, I thought it was a turd, not a toad, but then I looked closer and it looked back at me.  I immediately flushed the toilet.  It tried to out-swim the whirlpool, but it was eventually sucked down from whence it came.  Afterwards, I wondered if I should have kept it around for company.

To be honest, between the cat and the toad, I’m starting to become a little skittish around my friend’s toilets!  ☺

Artsy or Fartsy?

While I was at the lake cottage, to satisfy my creative impulses, I attempted to view my surroundings with an artist’s eye and take artsy photos.  It really helped me be present in the moment and appreciate the beauty in the ordinary.  Here are some of my best attempts, with my cheap camera.  Artsy or Fartsy?  You be the judge.

Kyle Got Married!
My nephew, Kyle, married his high-school sweetheart, Stacy, in October.  Yeah!
It was a great party.  The DJ played an extra half hour for free, because he said it was the best wedding crowd he’d ever had.  When you get a bunch of German Lutherans and Irish Catholics together, who love to dance and celebrate, it’s bound to be a good time.

Dad Turned 80!

 My dad turned 80 this year.  The very next day, he fell while taking a walk.  He spent two days in the hospital having tests done, because they were concerned he may have passed out.  He joked that it had been all downhill since he turned 80.  The tests didn’t reveal anything.  Basically, the doctor told him to take one baby aspirin each day and call him in the morning a month.

He’s all healed and doing well.  I’m very grateful.

Favorite Fiction:

I read quite a bit of fiction this year.  I like to try to keep up on what’s popular in our culture.  My favorites:

The Hunger Games trilogy – engaging, fast, fun read about 24 children (ages 12-18) who are forced by an evil government to fight to the death in the annual televised Hunger Games, where there would be only one survivor.  Surprisingly, there were some nice pro-selflessness, pro-inner character, and pro-social justice messages that possibly spur discussion.  I saw it on the best-seller lists.  Embarrassingly, I had to pick it up from the “teen” section at the library.  I practically had to wrestle “Mockingjay” out of a 12-year-old girls hands (much in keeping with the Hunger Games).  She countered with a mutt move.  It was like a Quarter Quell in the Dewey Decimal zone!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy – makes me want to become a tattooed computer hacker…and I would too, if I could just figure out how to turn this stupid computer on!  It also made me want to become an editor, so I could edit these books down.  (Warning: There is some disturbing content in these books.)

The Help – African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 60’s.  I wanted to give those racist white ladies a piece of my mind and piece of Minny’s pie!  Hopefully, seeing prejudice depicted from various viewpoints can help us all wrestle with and release our own prejudices, and move toward love, especially when it involves people who are different from us.  It felt somewhat redemptive.

Blessings:

That’s a little taste of my life this year, outside of ministry.  I can’t wait to hear about yours.

This Christmas season, I hope God meets you right where you are at, learning a new skill like Oliver the cat, being flushed away by some uncaring person like the cottage toad, starting a new and exciting life like Kyle and Stacy, or falling trying to walk your journey like my Dad.  May you consistently be aware of God’s presence, be attentive to what he may be doing inside you, and enter into deeper and deeper communion with him every day.

This is my prayer.

Love to you all,
Randy

Note:  Toad photos compliments of Flickr commons – Tie Guy II and Accent on Eclictics.  I didn’t think about taking a toad photo before I flushed!