I stepped in for Wolf Creek’s 8:15 a.m. service this morning. It was a cold morning with wind chill advisories in place, as well as some overnight snow. Driving wasn’t bad; the roads had been cleared fairly well, although G heading west toward the St.Croix River had blown snow in some places so going along that stretch was slow.
Wolf Creek has been experiencing some dissension lately but I was given a very warm welcome. I’d pastored that congregation for 11 years from 1997-2008 and I’d also substituted while one of its pastors was on maternity leave this past summer, so it wasn’t as if I were some unknown or long-lost person. Today’s theme was witnessing (1 Corinthians 9:16-23) and Mark’s Gospel section (Mark 1: 29-39) saw Jesus witnessing the Good News in a variety of ways in the ordinary lives of ordinary people. The question: what will the witness be of the Wolf Creek congregation? Can they handle their issue(s) in a manner Jesus would approve of? People do watch; they want to see integrity–can we live out what we say we believe? I may be there next Sunday, too.
Yesterday I finished the first draft of “Sinner Ella”, the latest “Mangled Fairy Tale” and have one more story to go before being able to publish my fifth short story collection. That also means I have five more stories to go for the next paperback. One by one they come and, per usual, they come between 3-5 a.m.
My computer printer is misbehaving and I’m tempted to replace it. Tonight also brought a nice, lengthy conversation with our son, Aaron in Portugal.