Dr. Laura maintains that a persons personality is part hereditary and not just the result of environment. And while Dr. Laura is not an MD or even a psychologist, I think she has a valid point.

The old school of thinking says that a child is a product of his/her environment. That is to say, a good environment will produce a good child and a bad environment will produce a bad child. Yet, we can all point to the child who was raised in a good environment but turned out bad. Likewise, we can all point to the child that was raised in a bad environment but turned out good. Why is this?

I think that genetics plays a role along with environment. If you have a good environment but the genetics are bad, the child will be bad. And if you have a bad environment but the genetics are good, the child will be good.

I notice this the most in families that have adopted children who are raised along side maternal children. The maternal children turn out good but the adopted children are constantly getting into trouble. Granted, there is the stigma of being adopted but I question if it plays that big of a role in the child’s personality.

Today is my wife’s birthday!  I am so glad that she was born.  I love her so very much!  She is my life.  I don’t know what I would do without her.  She is so much a part of me and I need her so very much.

Happy Birthday honey!!!

I bought her a Bow Flex.

When I first started working for the state, we had a simple FAX machine. You just put the document that you wanted to FAX in the machine, dialed the number and waited for the other end to answer. When the other end answered, the machine fed the document though it and FAXed the information. If the other end was busy, you heard the busy signal and tried again later.

The machine that we have now requires us to feed the document into it before you even put in the number to call. Then, once you put in the number to call, it dials the number and attempts to FAX the document. If it is successful, it will print out a completion notice. If it is not successful, it will hold the document in its memory and try the call four more times over a set period of time. If it fails after the 5th attempt, it will print out a notice and dump the document from its memory.

Now, the problem with this is that the FAX machine is a community machine used by about 30 people. And when that completed/failed notice is printed, it might be discarded or misplaced by someone else. So, this means that you can either load the document and check back later and hope that you receive the completed/failed notice or you can wait by the FAX machine for that notice to arrive which, of course, wastes time.

Isn’t technology wonderful!

The other day, I saw a woman wearing a white sweater that had about a dozen tear drop shaped plastic beads hanging on the front of it. She was a large breasted woman and each of her breasts had one of those beads hanging off of the tip of it. When she walked, the beads on the tips of her breasts spun like pinwheels. I wonder if she knew?

The plant manager at Calvin had a .357 that he wanted to sell. He used it for target practice in his basement but got tired of shooting. By chance, one of the warehouse workers at Calvin was interested in purchasing a .357 and soon, the two of them had worked out a deal.

Now, the new owner of the .357 needed a place to practice, so the plant manager suggested using the warehouse on a Saturday. The new owner thought that to be an excellent suggestion and made preparations for the event.

Come Saturday, he set a small table with a large chunk of oak on it at one end of the warehouse. Pacing back about a hundred feet, he loaded the weapon and put the safety on.

At this point, he wondered if the safety actually worked so he squeezed the trigger. The resounding bang confirmed that the safety was, in fact, not working.

Since he was not wearing his ear protectors at the time, he was briefly stunned by the concussion. Recovering, his next task was to determine just exactly what he hit with the round that he had just fired.

Looking down range at the impact area, he noted several possible areas for examination. The first was a full roll of new carpet. A quick inspection did not reveal any holes so the carpet had been spared. Next to the carpet was a pallet of liquid toilet cleaner. But, since there were no leaks, it was obvious that he had missed that also.

All and all, his search yielded no casualties. And while he realized that the bullet went some where, he could not determine where that might exactly be.

A few weeks later, the warehouse staff noticed a puddle of water on the floor of the warehouse. Since it had rained the night before, the staff wondered if the roof was leaking. Sure enough, looking up at the roof, the staff could see day light. The lost round had been found.

The .357 was sent to the repair shop.

So far, this has been a rough year. First, my brother-in-law, Ted, passed away from lung cancer in February. He wasn’t a smoker, lived on nuts and berries and ran 5 miles a day. But cancer picks its victims in different ways. I loved Ted very much and enjoyed discussing theology and technology with him. I will miss him very much.

Then, we got a doubt double whammy on good Friday. First, an old high school friend of mine and his wife, Tom and Nancy Reed, were killed in an auto accident around 1PM. They were on their way to visit relatives in Nashville, TN, when their car crossed over the median and was hit by two on coming cars. They were both pronounced dead at the scene. They left behind two daughters 19 & 22 who were not with them at the time. The funeral was this last Friday the 13th.

Jim Kenyon, another classmate of mine, and my self attended the double funeral in Battle Creek. It was an extremely sad event. Tom was a retired Battle Creek police officer and a member of the Civilian Air Patrol. Nancy work for the City of Battle Creek as a legal assistant. Both were respected members of the community.

Since Tom was a U of M fan, their burial vaults were Maze and Blue. Police officers from all over the 5 state region attended the event.

The second double whammy occurred later that afternoon. Two grand children of some friends of ours, Bob and Ilene Woldhuis, were killed when the van that they were riding in slide sideways into a tow trunk. They died at the scene. They were 10 & 11. Their two other brothers, 8 & 9 were also in the van but were uninjured.

A memorial service for them was held yesterday. Their classmates, along with friends and family, attended the service.

I am not sure that I have any more tears left in me, but I know that God has a plan. Right now, we are totally exhausted.

As Solomon would say, “All is vanity.”

The other night, my wife and daughter went to a special church meeting with a church counselor. The church that we presently attend is having problems and needs an outside counselor to help. The church counselor is like a marriage counselor except that he works with congregations and not couples.

The counselor had the people fill out some survey forms and then began asking questions. In an effort to put a positive spin on things, he asked my wife what she liked about the church. She was the first person to be asked this question and it took her by surprise. Since she couldn’t think of anything that she liked about the church, she said nothing. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words

Shortly after I started donating directly to the sound ministries, the deacons asked if they could eliminate taking up special collections for sound and I told them yes. As long as I could donate directly to the sound ministries to fix the equipment damaged by Calvary Renewal, there was no need for special collections.

Then shortly after that, the $1,000 donations to sound were delayed, postponed and then eliminated entirely. Then the deacons instituted limited special collections.

Limited special collections are, well, limited. Here is how a limited special collection works. The deacons announce that this collection will be for the sound ministry and collect $100. BUT, they only give $50 to the sound ministry. They keep the rest for themselves. Neat huh! Kind of a cross between a money changer and a pimp!

So, the sound ministry is now no longer receiving the $1,000 that it once was promised, nor is it receiving any special offerings. Again, no problem. I will just make donations directly to the sound ministry so that I can fix the equipment damaged by Calvary Renewal.

Ah, but there is a new twist with the Deacon Empire. It seems that they are now taking money, $2,500.00, that has been donated to the sound ministry and are using it for other things. In short, they are stealing the money that has been donated to the sound ministry. What next? Are they going to start stealing from the widows and orphans?

Well, it looks like I have been put in a loose/loose situation. The Deacon Empire has assumed the authority and left me with the responsibility. They are now making the decisions but I am the one who will get blamed for their actions.

In the past, when some one complained to the former sound guy, he would respond by saying that he needed money. And if they complained to the deacons, the deacons would respond by saying that they needed money. And if the person donated the needed money, the deacons gave it to the sound guy. But, the Deacon Empire has eliminated that option.

Now, the authority/responsibility situation also exists where I work but I have to accept that dichotomy if I want to have a job. But not so with the sound ministry. It is strictly a volunteer position which I am going to relinquish at the next council meeting.

Life is too short for this kind of crap and this place ain’t the only church in town.

As Calvary Renewal continued to roll along, it became apparent that the equipment for the audio/visual system was being damage by the Renewal activities. The antenna for one of the microphone receivers got busted off, a CD recorder quit working and a camera was damaged. All and all, there was probably about $5,000 worth of damage caused by Calvary Renewal.

While I was given a yearly budget of $1,000 plus special collections, a new microphone was $800, a new camera was $2,000 and a new CD recorder was $300. I certainly didn’t have the funds to fix everything that needed repair.

So, I asked the minister if my budget was also to cover repairs. He told me “no” and said that if I needed anything repaired, I should get it repaired and give the invoice to the deacons. They would, in turn, credit the sound account. So, I proceeded to purchase a new CD recorder to replace the defective one as it is cheaper to replace the equipment than to repair it.

The next Sunday when I saw the chairman of the deacons, I presented him with a copy of the invoice for the replacement equipment. That is when I got that deer in the headlights look. He had no idea what I was talking about so I explained to him what the minister had told me. He said, “oh, OK, I’ll take care of it.”

Week after week went by and still no reimbursement from the deacons. Finally after a month went by, I again approached the chairmen of the deacons. He didn’t remember the conversation so I reexplained the problem. I also presented him with another copy of the invoice and again he said that he would take care of it.

Well, apparently “taking care of it” meant that he threw it into the waste basket as that money never materialized. Oh well. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

I could see that asking the deacons for help was going to be a total waste of time. So, I came up with the idea of donating my own money to the cause.

While I was still receiving the $1,000 plus special collections as my yearly allotment, I also started saving money from my bi-weekly allowance so that I could donate it to the sound booth when needed. Soon, I matched their $1,000 with another $1,000 that I had saved up by not buying a cup of coffee during my coffee breaks.

With $2,000, I could finally start addressing some of the critical Calvary Renewal damage done to the sound booth. I didn’t need to bother the deacon with bills and I didn’t have to beg for money to fix the equipment. The deacons didn’t seem to object and the system worked smoothly. I donated the money, the deacons deposited it, I received a tax credit and the defective equipment got repaired or replaced. What could be simpler.

Down on sound – the empire strikes back. The dirty tricks the deacons play.

The hardest part of this post was coming up with a title that best summarizes its content. Down on sound says it all.

We visited the church, that we presently attend, several years before we started attending it regularly. During this visit, we noticed a paper thermometer hanging on the wall with dollar amounts for its scale. It was part of a fund drive to replace the audio visual equipment used for the worship service.

When I asked about the fund raiser, I was told that the deacons wouldn’t budget for the purchase of this equipment. But, they would allow a fund raiser for the equipment, thus the paper thermometer.

Zipping ahead a few years, the new equipment has been purchased and installed and was now 5 year old when we started attending this church regularly. The sound tech who headed up the original fund drive was still the head of sound. Zipping ahead another 5 years, the sound tech resigned and left for another church. This is where Kathy and I stepped in to help out on sound.

At the time that we started doing sound, the church was going through a remodeling project that included the sanctuary. It was called Calvary Renewal and was a bricks and mortar project. Low interest loans were acquired and financial pledges were made by the congregation.

Part of the Calvary Renewal project required the relocation of the sound booth. Since I was coming in during the middle of all of this, I wasn’t sure what arrangements had been made with the sound team. Noting that the new sound booth lacked carpet on the floor, I inquired if carpet was a part of the plan. I was reassured that it was.

Realizing that carpeting the sound booth was not a high priority, I didn’t say any thing for several months. Finally, concerned that the sound booth carpet was going to be over looked, I inquired again. And again, I was reassured that there would be carpet in the sound booth. In fact, they even showed me the boxes of carpet squares that were going to be installed. They were sitting right out side the sound booth door. Great! I will wait patiently.

Then one day, I noticed that the carpet squares were gone. When I inquired about them, I was told that the sound booth was not on the list to have carpet and that all of the carpet was used up. Well, I can see that talk at this church is cheap. After waiting 5 years for the promised carpet, I went out and bought some cheap carpet at the lumbar yard and installed it myself. It cost $80 dollars and not the national debt.

This was just the first of many promises that were made to the sound ministry but not kept. Part 2, the return of the Jedi, will go into what seemed to be a win/win situation between the deacons and sound.