Doug Van Pelt

I am behind

Wow. Time is a flying. Even after a somewhat relaxing weekend (spent recovering data from a notebook gone bad as well as playing volleyball with some church friends), it seems that life (and the HM deadline) steamroll ahead.

We should have had the new issue updated on the website by now (but the rush of getting ready for Cornerstone and the dilemma of trying to solve the "subscribers don't all have their passwords" problem kinda prevented me from getting that taken care of. Now we're in deadline for the next issue -- with only two weeks to get it all done.

God is good and it's good to know we're in His hands (whether we want to be there or acknowledge it or not).

I thought of the Prodigal Son story this weekend and how the exploits of the wayward, younger, prodigal son were known by those in the vicinity. It says he went to a "faraway place" (if I remember correctly), which I'm told doesn't always translate a long distance, but rather the place of the Gentiles. I'm reminded of the Paris Hilton exploits that are all over the news. I have not been paying attention, but I've ignored plenty of instances where her name was in the news. When the older brother is ranting to his father after the prodigal returns, he points out all the rotten things the little brother had done. Apparently is was big news how this young man was foolishly spending and wasting the inheritance that he demanded (which was an amazing "I wish you were dead" kind of insult to his father) and somehow received. If it were a modern day parable, I'm sure his exploits would have been fodder for the tabloids and late night comedians. We'd all be sick of hearing about him. His return would probably not make the paper, though, as sometimes restoration stories aren't "juicy" enough -- except for those papers who value "human interest" stories highly.

I like that kind of news sometimes. I remember being in Australia and hearing a news report on the radio about puppies being born; about a garage fire in which a guy lost his Harley. It amazed me how "small town" this news seemed. It made me feel good that there was not a lot of evil, violent, crime news for them to report -- so it came down to simple life stuff. That's precious.

Life can be really different depending on where you live, that's for sure. Some of us live in a slower context; and others live in the hustle and bustle of inner city living. Both parties can certainly learn from each other, I'm sure.

I received an invitation / letter of interest about travelling to Kenya early next year. That is very exciting. I hope that comes about. Lord willing, I will blog extensively about that trip.

Do you wanna know who's on the cover of the next issue of HM?

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at July 9, 2007 11:12 AM