Considering the Enchanted (Rain) Forest

One of the things we have historically done on vacation is head to the Enchanted Forest/Water Safari Park in Old Forge, NY.  Late August is not typically a good time to go to a water park.  My brother-in-law and I deal with the chilly temps by making jokes.  This is what we do best (yes, pretty pathetic).  I was not excited to see that today’s projected high, yes high temperature, in Old Forge was 63.  I don’t know about you, but the thought of a water park in 63 degrees does not fill me with joy.

It was about 63 when we left just before 8 am.  I drove my brother-in-law’s G6 with CavSon in the back seat with a few of his older cousins.  My brother-in-law and I enjoyed some Rez Band.  I hadn’t heard much Rez Band recently since my Rez Band CDs were stolen in 1995.  I’d forgotten how good a guitarist Glenn Kaiser is.  I may have to pick up a few discs.

Along the way I had to slow down for a doe in the road, and her fawn.  I wish I had a camera.  They were beautiful.  The fawn scampered back into the woods as we drew near.  Later we saw a young buck with small velvety antlers grazing along the side of the road.

When we arrived at the Enchanted Forest it was 60 degrees, tops.  Real exciting.  Thankfully there are other rides not involving water there.  The kids wanted to ride the Sky Ride, so their uncle and I took them.  It may have taken a few years off of my life.  Suddenly I’m a dad knowing his squirmy son is liable to do something really stupid and plummet to the ground.  Not so much fun.  But they enjoyed it.

Then they wanted to ride the train to the other side of the park.  We neglected to tell CavWife when we passed overhead the 2nd time.  Oh well.  On the other side the kids suddenly wanted to ride other rides.  They have crossed the line- suddenly rides are exciting to them.

Tilt-a-Hurl

On the other hand, I’ve crossed the other line.  Suddenly the Tilt-a-Whirl nearly became the Tilt-a-Hurl.  That was added by the operators giving rides 2x (at least) as long as normal due to the smallish crowd.  A few years ago I realized life had changed after riding the Tilt-a-Whirl, Scrambler & Round-Up consecutively without waiting in line nearly made me lose breakfast.

The little girl suddenly wanted to go on the  Bumper Cars.  Huh?  Where did THAT come from?  On the way they went on the helicopter ride.  By now CavWife had caught up to us.  Then, the bumper cars.  Somehow I was the only man on the ride.  I shifted into alpha dog mode, wrecking havoc on the women and girls while an evil sounding laugh persistently came out of my mouth.  Yes, the great evil in my heart had erupted in destructive, dominating driving.  It was sweet.

The kids rode a few more kiddie rides, and that is when the first wave of showers passed by.  Now it was wet, and chilly.  More chilly in fact.  We enjoyed a snack during the rain.  All the kids wanted to ride the train, so 10 kids took to the train- with 1 adult.  Yes, we dumped them on the single woman.  Didn’t mean to…

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Considering My Flight Home

I was off to the airport a bit early this morning thanks to the 5 inches (and counting) of snow that fell overnight and into the morning.  I had a 12:30 flight home.  The snow made slow going, which was not helped by the driver’s incessent need to look around and see damage from last week’s ice storm.  He slowed down even more.  A few times we were caught behind snow plows or caught in an accident slowdown.  So, the time before my flight decreased as my anxiety increased.

Shortly after 11 we pulled into the Albany airport.  There was no curbside check-in so I had to endure the line inside.  Anxiety level (sinfully) rising.  After checking my bag, I went up the escalator to security.  I still needed to go to the bathroom (I had a cup of tea earlier) and grab some lunch before hopping on the plane.  Predictably (?) the usually quiet Albany airport had a fairly lengthy line that was moving sslloowwllyy.  Finally 2 more TSA employees showed up to get it moving faster.  Yes!  The x-ray machine broke.  No!!  But I still got through with plenty of time to take care of my ‘errands’  before heading to the gate.

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Considering the Last Week of Vacation

Joined at the Hip

The last week seems to be a blur.  We are now back in hot, humid Florida.  The travel day was filled with way too much whining and crying.  Seems to put a damper on a good vacation.  Returning also means a return to my responsibilities- first of which is finding a way to support my family.  Yes, puts a damper on the whole thing.  But let’s ponder more interesting things!

Here are the “highlights”.

Monday night I learned that a church has begun checking references.  This is great news!  The result of the process is not certain, but the process has begun and maybe that will result in something really positive.

Tuesday we missed Tropical Storm Fay.  Our home got plenty of rain, but we did not experience the flooding many other communities in Florida and elsewhere did.  Better than that, CavWife and I stole away for a lunch alone.  A quiet lunch!  No crying, complaining etc.  We enjoyed each other’s company and talked about a few things- including my impressions of Job this time through (2nd time in a year).

CavWife

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Considering How to Love My Family

9 Mark Ministries compiled some ways for pastors to better love their wives (we’re talking a plurality of pastors, not polygamy) and kids.  Some of them are very good.  Some make me wonder “how?”  I’ll put my comments, silly and otherwise in brackets and in red.  Since they are compiled, there are some that sound inconsistent, go with it … they are suggestions.

IN RELATION TO YOUR FAMILY…

1. Take the initiative and establish a plan for family worship. Then follow the plan! (Don Whitney encourages “brevity, regularity, and flexibility” in family worship.)
2. Come home at the exact time you say you will be home; and prepare your heart to serve your family, not be served.  [this is very difficult to do regularly, at least for me.  there is that sinful sense of entitlement that plagues me when I return home, I want to rest not parent/husband.  i need grace.]
3. Take responsibility for your children’s education and discipline—don’t leave it to your wife to figure out.
4. Share with your wife and kids some of the good things that are going on in the church, and then thank them for helping to make that possible.
5. Use every hour of your vacation time. And take a vacation that does not involve extended family; restrict it to just your wife and kids.  [All of our vacations have involved extended family.  We can’t afford to go anywhere else- I’m a pastor!]
6. Take a two week vacation.  [this is wise, i’ve heard it takes about 10 days for you to actually begin to relax.  our 3 week summer vacations, though with extended family, were very relaxing.  if you go  to vacationing spots, it is hard to relax since you are going to theme parks and events.]
7. Diligently guard your days off.  [lay leaders love this, not!  it can quickly breed a sense of envy on their part, or assuming you think you’re better than them or special.  you have to work had to communicate this priority well.  but if you’re guarding your days off, they should be able to guard theirs from church business, so maybe they really feel convicted of their lack of attentiveness to their families.  who knows, but it can get messy, folks.]
8. There are times when it seems like you have to choose whether to be a good dad/husband or a good pastor. Good pastors choose to be good dad/husbands.  [What makes this difficult is the success-driven culture of many of our churches.  They want you to be a successful dad, not necessarily a loving & involved dad.  Loving involvement will mean less time to building the empire.  I know building my relationship with my daughter ‘cost’ the church some of my time/energy that might have resulted in a different outcome for the congregation- and my family.]IN RELATION TO YOUR WIFE…
9. Get up early and have your quiet time, so that you can take the kids in the morning while your wife has her quiet time.  [she’s up way before the rest of us, so this is a moot point for me.]
10. Give her flowers and a hand written card when she least expects it.

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