Catching Up

Boy, catching up can be hard to do.

October culminated in my serving as head cook on a Walk to Emmaus. I must say, that was a rather rewarding experience.

Next on my agenda (which took up quite a bit of computer time) through November and December was co-teaching a Bible study of Charles Swindoll's Hand Me Another Brick, based on the Book of Nehemiah. This turned out to be a rewarding learning experience, as it was a teaching experience.

Most dominant in our lives were two hospitalizations for my wife, S, due to pancreatitis. While the typical symptoms of chronic pancreatitis tend to be less severe than those of acute pancreatitis, one who suffers the disease is still prone to flare-ups. So was the case here. All in all, S worked a total of one-and-a-half days during the month of November. Fortunately, December has gone much, much better.

I've been busy musically as well. The first Sunday of November found our church choir singing Josef Gabriel Rheinberger's Requiem (with movements from another of his masses) in celebration of All Saint's Day. That service turned out to be quite glorious. The first Saturday of December found our praise band performing Christmas music prior to Phoenix's Electric Light Parade.

Naturally we have been in preparation for Christmas Eve services. Silly me - in addition to my usual participation in the Sanctuary Choir, I also volunteered to sing with the contemporary singers. So with Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday this year, I will be singing in six services - two in the morning, and four in the evening. That's okay - I knew what I was getting into. Actually, I felt that I was up to the challenge, and I look forward to it. Both directors have chosen some really wonderful music this year. Should be fun.

Our Sanctuary Choir has grown a little this fall. We have some new blood which has contributed much to the success of our choir. In fact, I've found that I don't have to sing as hard as I'm accustomed to, and that's a blessing. So in spites of singing six services on Sunday, I'm not too concerned about my vocal stamina.

Work has kept me quite busy, but that's okay, too. I was fortunate to have a week off a couple of weeks ago and I managed to get a bit of Christmas shopping done. And now I'm pretty much done with my shopping except for one more item - and I'm even done wrapping - woo hoo! We just have some house cleaning to do tomorrow - after rehearsal.

'Tis the season!