No Coincidence

From Keith,
To the Congregation.
Mark 6:31 “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Coincidence, I don't think so. The week we are to live with the Amish, TLC releases a new series called Breaking Amish. It follows the lives of four Amish teens on Rumspringa. It is the time just before baptism where Amish kids are allowed to "sow" their oats in the world among the"English". Do you think D and I are going to believe this is all just coincidence or is this a twisted attempt to lower our self esteem. A whole community and lifestyle that have practiced their faith since 1476 abandons their way of life just because we are coming.

Okay, perhaps it is mere coincidence.


This past week has been filled with painting and minor repairs. I am about 3/4ths finished with the house. "Amish Keith"has been hard at work. "Amish Keith" is my version of "Flat Chuck" made famous by Chuck Lofton and the NBC Olympics. (Flat Chuck was featured in pictures all around the Olympics village with athletes and gold medals.) Don't worry, as we go on the trip there will be more exciting pictures and videos,but this little fellow will follow us all the way. I also took off about 30 lbs of honey today. I love working with bees and honestly have been so negligent in the past two summers. I lost two hives over the summer to bee moths. That is just neglect. I was so frustrated. A silly side benefit of the sabbatical has been working with my bees. The honey was mostly  Locust honey which is a nearly clear and light tasting.






Tomorrow morning I leave to go north to be joined by Delaine on Thursday. It is oddly humorous, we are more nervous about this homestay than we are about taking off to follow Paul's footsteps.

Without waxing too introspective let me share a couple of observations. Being out of contact with you all and still in the community is very hard. We went to another church yesterday and I had many conflicting thoughts. I have not moved out of the evaluation role. The message was very good but I still evaluated it from the perspective of a pastor and not a worship participant.