NO SMOKING SECTION

Our neighbors as well as all public housing tenants received word last week that they would not be able to smoke in their apartments or even outside of their apartments. They have to be fifty feet from their front door which is in our yard or the church yard. :) Anger is not a strong enough word to describe the emotion. At a meeting where the new policy was explained, residents asked why a new rule was being added when other rules are being ignored. The next day a flier went out reminding residents of all the rules and the day after the evictions started, mostly for having live- ins(people not on the lease). Let's just say the mood right now is tense. To make a difficult week even worse a ten year old neighbor was hit by a car. He was life-lined to Indy where he was put back together. They did not think he would make it but it appears that while out of the woods he will have a long recovery. The no smoking rule goes into place on new leases. Everyone signing a lease today will agree to the no smoking policy. Present residents sign new lease in January. We are hoping to offer some smoking cessation classes once things calm down. Please pray for our neighborhood.

Last week at the cookout we had a group bring hygiene packs(toothpaste, toothbrush, hand sanitizer and band-aids). They had a four question quiz about tooth brushing and hand washing. Kids that got the answer right got a star on their paper and those that missed were given right answers everyone got the hygiene pack. Very cool way to educate.

Last night we had local parish nurses do blood pressure checks. They were busy the whole time only checking adults. It was a great night.

Tonight there is a VBS meeting to make final plans. Grace UMC is bringing their kids to Trinity to join neighborhood kids. This is going to be cool.

Mary and I are meeting with representatives from a church in Logansport next Monday to talk about bringing Sidewalk Sunday School to Logansport. Looking forward to that.

We attending a wedding at Hillsdale in their garden(outside worship area) it was great. The garden area was purchased and planted when we were there back in the early 90's. We also saw some old friends from our first church.

Tomorrow my friend David will be here. We work together(long distance) doing podcasts each week (TwoMiddleAgedPastors.com). We will be working on updating a new(old) website called umsource.net at that site mostly Dave but sometimes I chime in as we discuss Missional United Methodist. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

It's Monday time to blog

I can't believe it is Monday already. It has been a roller coaster week. Last week was our Annual Church Conference at Purdue. Lots of interesting debate there. In the midst of that I received a call that a friend died. The friend's name was Chuck, he was the pastor of the church before me. We met every Tuesday with a some other guys for coffee and conversation. He went into the hospital for routine heart surgery. Due to doctor error he died. When they inserted a drain tube they inserted it directly into his intestine and when it was removed poison spewed throughout his body. He was on life support for about 15 days and died. I will be attending his funeral today, I have the privilege of reading the scripture. We were unable to attend all of the Conference because our youngest son Andrew graduated from high school. The graduation was a joy and a sorrow all at once. It was a week of ups and downs.

However, in the Cassville Church the new Church I pastor along with Trinity, I met a four year old girl for the first time. Her name is Madison. She is very, very bright and as cute as a button. During children's time she was great. The sermon was based on Acts 2 where Peter quotes Joel and the gist of the message was that God is pouring his Spirit on all people young and old, male and female, rich and poor. At the end of the sermon we had communion. For some reason I felt led to invite Madison to help me. I held the cup, she held the bread. I instructed here that as people broke off the bread she should say, "This is the body of Jesus". I had the cup and I was saying "the blood of Jesus given for you". She did a great job, but I think she thought her line was too short, after I said a longer line she changed her line to "the is the blood of Jesus, he loves you". She talked loud and clear and with confidence. There was not a dry eye in the house. Thanks for your prayers. Jeff