I am not sure what it means, but it seems every time I mention to someone that I, like most clergy, as a busy as all get out this time of year I hear the words “Well, there is no rest for the wicked.” Really? I always thought that this was a reference to hell, and though there are a few weeks during the year we often are all bogged down (like this one), I really have never thought of comparing it to the hot room.

Regardless of course, unless Jesus Himself returns within the next 48 hours, I will still have to work. And, though I would certain rejoice, if He did come back this week, the way my life goes, I would have probably done all the work I needed to do beforehand anyhow! So while everyone else is shopping and wrapping up presents, I am just plugging through my usual get it done before the Christmas services “to do” list. The list is still quite long, and my patience is wearing thin at times, but in the end it is all worth it. Everything seems to get done, and everything seems to go well. And since I tend to forget everything, I will be delivering a sermon in a couple of nights blissfully ignorant of any of the list I had to do at all!

But please pray for me as I finish up! It is a really good work for the Church at anytime of year…..pray for the clergy as they also pray for you! It keeps us all going, but more than that, it connects us in the right way. And I appreciate it more than you could know!

Hang in there…..Christmas is coming! May your “to do” lists be far shorter than mine, and may you at least have the patience of Job….I have given that one back to God personally.

I hope to see you somewhere on Christmas Eve.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Although people SAY this is the shortest day of the year, it certainly does not feel like it. I am exhausted, and it is still before 9. Somehow I still have a whole lot of work here to do on my plate as well. I am plugging away at it, but I feel more like I am treading water than making progress. Some days I don’t need a clone, I need many clones….today is such a day.

I suppose when I look back realistically on the day I will see something far different from how I currently feel. It always seems to work that way, but it is frustrating when in the midst of it. It’s like traveling in fog or a blizzard….it all looks the same until you get to where you are going. I like progress…..but I also like to see how it’s going. Today I apparently cannot have both!

For now however I am going to get Ben to bed, and Scotty and I will take the tables we used for the St. Patrick’s cookie decorating party back to the church. I am excited because it will be a tangible move. Oh for this small bit of clarity! It will be a great way to end the day!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless, on this, the shortest, but clearly the longest day of the year!

Tommy+

Ben, Scott, and I began our day this morning at St. Matthew’s Nashville. We occasionally take this trip together, and generally have a great time. Often we head from there to another stop, either another service or visit, and today was no exception. Today we headed home via downtown Indianapolis so that I could visit one of our parishioners from St. Anne’s who is a patient at the Indiana University Medical Center.

The IU Med Center is a huge place, and we started by heading from the parking garage into the lobby. I got the room number and walked Scott and Ben up to the train. There is a train that runs non-stop between the Med Center/Riley Children’s Hospital and Methodist Hospital a few miles north. It gives a great view of the city and they were going to ride it while I was on my call. They actually rode it three full times, and Ben had a blast, but that is not the best part of the trip.

When we got back to the desk in the lobby, the same fella ho gave me the room number was still there at the desk, but it was Ben who was the observant one, not Scott or I. As I was holding Ben as the man validated my parking pass, Ben said to him, “Hi Santa Claus.” And Holy Smokes, he was right! The man was a dead ringer for Santa! It cracked us up. And he said to Ben, “Be sure you leave me some cookies.” Ad as we walked away Ben said, “Bye bye Santa Claus.” it was pretty cute.

Ben had a great adventure today, and I was happy for him. He is a real trooper and he and Scotty made doing my ministry a lot more meaningful today.

My mind was taken back a few years ago when Stephanie and Scott went with me to deliver Last Rites to a wonderful priest friend of mine at Community North Hospital in Indianapolis. I left them in the waiting room as I went back to his room, they stayed with Bill’s two boys and talked…..Bill was well into his 90’s and his boys had at least ten years on me. But they all shared stories with each other of the adventures of being priest’s kids. You see they too had a life of the same type of experiences with their dad. It was a fraternity that they only could understand, yet one that provided a joy and connection that meant a lot to all of them.

Someday I imagine the story will be told of meeting Santa and riding the train on a cold day in December while supporting their dear old dad. The train, Santa, and a great story……..I am blessed to have been a part of their day.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

She had 20 years on me at least, but when our carts almost hit each other at the Meijer I apologized and offered her the right of way. She smiled at me, not just in a thankful way, but in a flirty sort of way and as she looked at the 8 bottles of wine in my cart mentioned that maybe she should head off with me, because I looked like I was going to have fun.

I didn’t understand of course, not just because I am a priest, but because I am married…..my wife talks to me about craft rooms, baby duty (and dootie) and trash. There really are no suggestive or seductive remarks. But when I finally “got it” I just laughed and confessed that I was actually a priest, and all the wine was for Communion, which I didn’t think was going to be the kind of fun she was thinking of! Maybe I was wrong, but I don’t think so.

She was clearly embarrassed, which I felt bad for, but she laughed it off. We both probably have a good story for the night.

Of course as a priest I have rethought my response time and time again. Maybe I should have invited her to church, maybe I should have stayed around and talked. I do not know. But I have a pretty good feeling it would have not been that effective. She was being funny, and she really was. After all, what are the odds of meeting a priest buying Communion Wine at Meijer?

Anyway, it’s a great story, but with no ending…….just like today apparently. I still have a lot to do before bed, but I am getting there. I just thought I would share my one of my many adventures tonight before bed!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Tonight we had a great time with our spouses at our annual clergy/spouse (before) Christmas gathering. Food and drink, great company, and a time to relax with each other rather than concentrating on the work. It was a great time.

It brings to mind how blessed I am, and really how blessed this ministry is. It’s more than just the guys who are called to work in it, it is a great group of wives who step up and out to support all they do. We certainly don’t recognize them enough, but without them I am certain we would be far less than we are now.

With that insight, I am going to call it a day. The annual “Children’s Christmas Cookie Decorating at Our House and Making a Big Royal Mess Where We Will Find Sprinkles in Our Furniture for Months Extravaganza” is tomorrow. It is a blast, but lots of work. It’s one of my wife’s big things. Pray for us….there will be about 20 kids. It is going to be a wild time!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

One of the challenges of “doing church” the way that we do is that we do not own some big building to store things in. I certainly would love to have one, but last I checked they still cost money, and a lot of money at that. So we store things here and there, and for the most part we get by pretty well. Our house has quite a few things stored here, so when we decided to give up dog breeding for a time, I decided to convert a room we used for whelping and grooming the dogs into a storage room for a lot of the stuff.

With my schedule it is hard to find a lot of time to do what is a pretty significant project. But I worked hard and late, and then just a couple of days ago, when I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I heard Stephanie and Amanda talking about Amanda’s new “craft room.” I of course was fascinated by their conversation. It must have been a dream of hers I thought for when we move……OH NO….they straightened me out! I apparently had been working my tail off on that craft room the whole time! If there was any fantasy at all it was that I was going to have a storage room for all that stuff.

The “craft room” officially opened tonight at 10. It has nothing in it, not even crafts. I knew I should not have painted it with leftover paint she had picked out, or put down that old (but nice0 flooring we had left over. I should have just painted the floor, put up white on the walls, and maybe some Chicago Bears poster to ward them off. It’s apparently all flowers and bunnies down there from this point on. It is hardly worth what I have done to my knees over the past week just to get a cross made from Popsicle sticks and a potholder. (I am just guessing….I have no idea what women do in craft rooms OR craft stores……I really don’t want to either)

As for me, tomorrow I am onto my next project. What it will be I do not know. I apparently need to be careful how I choose. You see, I am not sure what follows “craft room.” But “day spa” comes to mind……Lord we are heading in the wrong direction!

Goodnight and God Bless!

Tommy+

Museums apparently make Ben sick. At least that is my take I have on it. Amanda and Ben went to the Children’s Museum this morning along with our babysitter and another little girl, and after having a blast for an hour or two Ben got sick in the middle of the food court…..all over his mom.

Of course getting barfed on by your kids is just a normal part of being a parent. But in these times of pretty scary flu going around, you can imagine our concern. Ben came back home where I already was waiting, and he hung out in the basement with me while I did some work. He got some juice, some Motrin, and some rest. And although he still is running a fever, we are thankful it has been relatively low. He will be sleeping with us tonight, not just because he is sick, but because he has his mom in the palm of his hand!

It doesn’t surprise me. He’s pretty smart, hanging out in the museum and all. I will head up to bed and see how he is doing. I probably can learn a lot from him……last time I was that sick she talked to me through the door! He is a pro I tell ya!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Today Deacon Conley and I met with a group of students we will be launching a Fellowship with in January. It was a great time, and a great lunch! Afternoons like that are hard to beat.

But my day finished with the call out meeting for the high school lacrosse team of which I am the Head Coach. We were missing quite a few of our veterans, but all our captains and a great mix of all the classes joined the many new girls who came to sign up for the team. We have a great group of girls and it is truly a blessing to be able to coach them. The President of the Board came and opened the meeting, and it was a very successful night. I am so very thankful for all of it.

I am now home and beat. Amanda is off work tomorrow, and I am not even sure what is on my schedule other than trash day! (I am certain there is more!) But for now I will just thank the good Lord for getting me through the day! It has been a long one and I am beat. It is off to bed I go!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I was reading today about some flashcards that help you learn about doing your part for the environment. One of the questions asked, “which is greener, to be obese and out of shape or slim and healthy?” I’ll admit, I got this one wrong. The answer said it was obese people, because they die younger and therefore use less resources over the course of their lives!

Here’s the cards:

see more Epic Fails

Dear Lord, I am so confused because I realized I may, by my dieting (and especially when surrounded by Christmas cookies), making choices which are unbelievably politically incorrect. Who knew that God giving me this body and taking care of it was such an irresponsible choice?

Of course I do not find this bit of news as disturbing as the part right above it that mentions that flushing unused medications down the toilet is creating addicted fish. I can think of no worse problem than that. Drugs in schools should disturb us all, especially schools of fish. How can we all just say no to that?

Clearly the lunatics are attempting to run the asylum, and I am not willing to let that happen. It is a big reason I have made many of the life-choices I have, and clearly a good reason to continue.

Pray for the insanity to stop. And as for me, I will continue to diet and exercise. My apologies to the lunatics……I intend to be around for a long time!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

As it almost always is, I made it to two of our churches today……Christ the King and Holy Spirit. We do not have one named for just the Father, so I suppose I will always fall a bit short on these Sundays in terms of a full-Trinity tour. It was however a great day, and one that I leave tonight feeling quite satisfied with.

Stephanie got her acceptance letter from Purdue yesterday, so she is “in” at least somewhere. We have some lacrosse coaches looking at her, and she will make some visits I am sure, but it gives me chest pains because it is a lot to do in just a few short months. Stephanie is just like me at this age…..she will let the pressure get real high and come out smelling like a rose. I have confidence in that, though I hate it. I think I am going to make a few calls and visits and apologize to my family for putting them through it 30 years ago.

Scott, on the other hand, is ahead of the game. He, like I did, doesn’t take high school as seriously as he should, but he is really into the college thing. He has already been to a college fair and receives stuff all the time. He already thinks he would like to attend Ball State and that makes my chest feel much better. Ben is quite a few years to go before any decision is made, but at this point he will probably be entering the Star Command to protect the universe from the Evil Emperor Zurg. He is all about Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story. So an engineer, a teacher, and a space ranger. I am doing well as a dad.

But for now I think I will call it a day. They are still all my kids tomorrow, and I am going to need my energy!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+