STUMP
I know I've been quiet for a month now... Sorry. Getting ready to move - and still pastoring - is really time consuming...
Spent most of last week at Annual Conference. For our non-Methodist friends - that's the once a year meeting of all the United Methodist pastors (and lay representatives) in Western PA. It's held at Grove City. Except for an unscheduled drive to Warren, I had a great half-week at Grove City. Nothing really earth shattering took place.
But I was taken aback, again, this year by how quickly and...un-messily we pass the budget. I mean, it's ten million dollars - yeah, that's a one with six zeroes after it. And we spent about 15 minutes talking about it - and THAT was only on a tangental issue... I'm not complaining, per se. It's just hugely shocking to see that kind of thing just go by with barely a nod. All in favor, wave your green card (yeah, I know how weird that sounds...but that's what we do...)
So, now I'm at Pittsburgh Project. This will by my last year of the Project with First UMC. Again this year...I'm roofing...sigh... We spent the morning waiting for materials - specifically, ladders to get up to the roof. So we got basically NOTHING done today.
That is, nothing on the job site. You see, at first, while we were waiting, nobody talked. I tried to get the kids (two from First UMC, three from North Carolina and two from Ohio) to talk a little about themselves... but that wasn't going well. But then, we started playing a stupid game that one of the kids made up two years ago called STUMP.
To play STUMP you need hammers, nails and a stump (or a board). Everybody starts a nail in the board or stump and the goal is to NOT have your nail pounded in - that is, you try to pound everybody else's nails in. So, the rules are simple. You hold a hammer, then you toss it in the air so that it does one complete rotation, and however you grab it, you have to try to hit someone else's nail into the board with the head of the hammer. That's it. Winner has the most nail still showing.
STUMP really got the kids talking to each other, goofing on each other and, when the materials came, they KNEW EACH OTHER'S NAMES (first time EVER on a Monday at the Porject that that has happened).
So, we had nothing to do - but then we did something (not even something significant) that started to form our little community. It was awesome. Then everybody really pitched in when the ladders and rolled roofing and buckets of roofing cement showed up.
You know, I don't think those two stories are really all that related... or maybe they are. You decide. Maybe we need more community at Annual Conference (or IN our Annual Conference...hmmm). Maybe we need to play a massive game of STUMP once in a while.
Well, T-minus 5 days until I get to see my family again...
Spent most of last week at Annual Conference. For our non-Methodist friends - that's the once a year meeting of all the United Methodist pastors (and lay representatives) in Western PA. It's held at Grove City. Except for an unscheduled drive to Warren, I had a great half-week at Grove City. Nothing really earth shattering took place.
But I was taken aback, again, this year by how quickly and...un-messily we pass the budget. I mean, it's ten million dollars - yeah, that's a one with six zeroes after it. And we spent about 15 minutes talking about it - and THAT was only on a tangental issue... I'm not complaining, per se. It's just hugely shocking to see that kind of thing just go by with barely a nod. All in favor, wave your green card (yeah, I know how weird that sounds...but that's what we do...)
So, now I'm at Pittsburgh Project. This will by my last year of the Project with First UMC. Again this year...I'm roofing...sigh... We spent the morning waiting for materials - specifically, ladders to get up to the roof. So we got basically NOTHING done today.
That is, nothing on the job site. You see, at first, while we were waiting, nobody talked. I tried to get the kids (two from First UMC, three from North Carolina and two from Ohio) to talk a little about themselves... but that wasn't going well. But then, we started playing a stupid game that one of the kids made up two years ago called STUMP.
To play STUMP you need hammers, nails and a stump (or a board). Everybody starts a nail in the board or stump and the goal is to NOT have your nail pounded in - that is, you try to pound everybody else's nails in. So, the rules are simple. You hold a hammer, then you toss it in the air so that it does one complete rotation, and however you grab it, you have to try to hit someone else's nail into the board with the head of the hammer. That's it. Winner has the most nail still showing.
STUMP really got the kids talking to each other, goofing on each other and, when the materials came, they KNEW EACH OTHER'S NAMES (first time EVER on a Monday at the Porject that that has happened).
So, we had nothing to do - but then we did something (not even something significant) that started to form our little community. It was awesome. Then everybody really pitched in when the ladders and rolled roofing and buckets of roofing cement showed up.
You know, I don't think those two stories are really all that related... or maybe they are. You decide. Maybe we need more community at Annual Conference (or IN our Annual Conference...hmmm). Maybe we need to play a massive game of STUMP once in a while.
Well, T-minus 5 days until I get to see my family again...
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