A meeting and a trip

I wish to begin by thanking the Personnel Committee for the time and effort they gave on Monday. Many of them travelled a long way to be here for this meeting. Their time here was well spent. They were focused and intent on not only finishing what we had come together to take care of, but also on doing it with integrity. You have been well-served by them.

Tuesday, I spent the entire day in Nogales, a border town wherein can be found United Churches Fellowship United Church of Christ.

Rev. Dave Jernigan, a rough and tumble man with a heart of gold and a passion for mission, escorted me throughout the town. We visited the Boys and Girls Town where the Licensed Pastor Emeritus (Emery Boepple) works three days a week as a volunteer; the Old Courthouse and Community College where Dave often teaches; the Wall - a border structure that stands as a monument to our confusion about who we are and how we relate to our neighbor; the Episcopal church and priest; the United Church Villages, a 48 unit low-income housing complex for the aging built by the church in the early 70s; and a few other places in between.

I met with members of the church for a couple of hours in the afternoon, learning a little bit about their history, their commitment to outreach and mission, and their desire to see the church grow (this also accompanied by their concerns about how to do that given a number of circumstances that might compromise their ability and desire to grow).

Dave and I dodged the deluge that poured down while we ate a late afternoon lunch, a deluge that sent flood waters down main streets, canals, rivers, and washes and that made the river crossing that would have shortened our trip back home dangerous - we went around.

I met briefly with a group of women from the church who gathered for an evening meal and would later spend time planning their activities for the year. I encountered one snake (yes, I hate them) and one tarantula (yes, I hate them).

I left as dusk fell, drove about 40 miles before I would find a place to fill up with gas, and promptly, inadvertently, and exasperatingly got back on the highway driving in the exact opposite direction I needed to in order to actually return home. In my defense, it was dark by then (I agree, not much of an excuse). I would return all the way to where I started before the light-bulb in my dim brain would go back on and I would start the journey home again, an hour or more later than it was when I started.

All in all, a good day.