this is no longer my blog

I try not to blog during work. It brings lots of feelings of guilt to the surface. I think about the stuff that needs to get done, the stuff that I should be doing, the stuff that they're paying me to do, and here I am blogging instead. So I try to blog only when I'm at home and not when I should be being productive. But today is a slow day. I don't preach this weekend, and since it's the fifth Sunday of the month it's a Youth Sunday, so the youth in the church are responsible for most everything during the service. So I don't have a lot of prep work to do to get ready for the weekend. Wednesday is not one of my visitation days, so I don't need to go to the hospital to check on people. There are no looming deadlines or unfinished projects lounging on my desk.
So I thought I'd write about an experience I had yesterday.

The weekly text study group of area Lutheran pastors (and one Methodist) meets at my church. They are usually a group of fun people, although there are a few that dominate conversation. There is this one man who attends who is a retired pastor. Inevitably, he will stay for 45 minutes after everyone has left cornering whomever he can to talk. There have been times that I have been trapped in my office by this man as he talks and talks, and I'm frantically searching for a possible route of escape.

So, in one of my finer moments yesterday, I made myself scarce after the text study. I refused to go into my office while I could still hear this man's voice, for fear of once again being trapped. First, I went back to my house. I drank a glass of water and ate some marshmallows. I grabbed a couple of things that I knew I would need back at church, then I strolled back over. He was still there. I put the things in my office, quickly, and then went to use the restroom. On my way back up the stairs, I could still hear him. So I went into a class/conference room and began looking at the bookshelves. A certain book caught my eye: The Acorn People.

I have heard of this book before, but have never read it. So I decided that I would borrow it and take it home with me and read it. It's a short little book about a man's experience as a counselor at a camp for disabled youth. He captures each of his campers' personalities wonderfully, and shows disabled people for the wonderful, complete people that they are. The only problem with the book was that it was too short. I could have kept reading for a long time.
The author is very up front in the beginning, sharing how he was scared as the youth arrived at the camp. He had signed up to work at camp to run and play and be active, and here were a group of campers who had a difficult time even making the trek from their cars to the cabins.
But as time progresses, he begins to see what makes each of his campers special, and how they are capable of achieving SO much, regardless of their physical limitations.
It's a pretty moving story, and a good one, about how all people are children of God, not just those of us with "able" bodies. If you have a chance, I recommend reading it.

Part of my morning today was spent on the internet trying to find the movie version of the book. Every website I visited did not have this movie in their catalogs. It was kind of disappointing. I might visit some area stores and see if they have it, which is highly doubtful, but I will keep looking.

Anyway, I suppose I should get back to striving for productivity.
Blessings!