Meterological Prayers

We have been worried that it would be 103, classic August weather, on the day of our wedding. Because this summer has been crazy with rain and weather I made a bold prayer often for 84 degrees. Well, here is the revised 10 day forecast for August 9th that had me tear up. Link...

No Mas Por Favor

I am a national statistic. Not the celebrity I wished to gain but I get to join the cast of Americans who were introduced to salmonilla. They finally found where the outbreaks where coming from, the serrano and jalapeno peppers. I can't believe that a place that is so near and dear to my heart would treat me this way but I was introduced to this lovely virus by my dear friends at Mi Ranchito a.k.a. the Ranch. A lovely Sunday lunch of chimichangas turned into a hellish Monday.

I hate throwing up. I despise throwing up, I dislike it more strongly than being nauseous. ( My day long nausea had me declaring out loud that I would never have a baby at one point and can't imagine three months of that). It is amazing how much the nausea can color your world and you think about how people could even consider eating food at a time like this. Now, I have had a healthy second run at my non-vomitting string since 2001 incident and of course previous to this great '01 streak there was over 15 years of not letting them fly known as "The Streak". I hate throwing up and i got good at not doing it. I don't have a weak constitution so I can weather most things but this Salmonilla monster decided that Monday night it would let me know how they party south of the border.

My dear dear future wife is encouraging me to throw up and I refuse to do this but I go to the bathroom with a huge knot in my stomach and I am shaking and shivering. I find out later she is praying for me in the other room to just throw up. The Whole Trinity must have tuned into this prayer because I decided, against all my instincts, to start pushing on this knot. Leslie's prayer was answered once for the Father .... and then the Son.... and then the Holy Spirit.... and then Estele Gette ( she went before her time).

I have to give a ringing endorsement to the shower curtain that my aunt gave use because it cleaned up so well with just a little bleach. I'm almost 100% but sad that the place Leslie and I had our first date was the cause of another first for her as well, "in sickness or in health." I can hear wedding bells or maybe I am still dehydrated.

Learning from the best

I love reading Eugene Peterson. He has a ton of wise experience as a pastor and a great way of expressing it. I am only working about 10 hours at the church and I already don't know how people could do this 50 hours a week. It's pretty extraordinary to think about and there is a great deal of pain and glory all together. I preached this Sunday and it' s a really tender place to be after the sermon and I can't imagine doing that week in and week out. Much to be learned on this front. All that aside I found great encouragement and a laugh in this Peterson quote:
"Sometimes I feel like a back-woods fundamentalist or somebody carrying a sign around Times Square that says REPENT. But I've been a pastor for thirty-five years, and I don't trust people one inch in defining what they need. We don't know ourselves. We need God to tell us what we need."