Grudge Candle and O.S.

One of the better stories I heard during evaluations came from a pastor whose congregation has some internal bickering and sometimes members talk about each other more like plain old brothers and sisters instead of brothers and sisters in Christ, if you know what I mean. He told me that he had an inspiration during the district Christmas worship. He wanted to do this: some Sunday morning, give everybody a little piece of wax that they would shape into a "chip" to put on to his or her shoulder (since so many have one anyway)--and after the sermon, he would have everyone bring up his or her chip, find someway to get the wax soft, press all the pieces together and then for several weeks, light the candle and burn it down to nothing. Don't I have wonderfully inventive pastors???

BTW I am having that dreaded o.s.(oral surgery) tomorrow with g.a. (general anesthesia)--the extraction of a wisdom tooth that has never come in but now is pushing with all its might against the root of a molar--so close in fact that the o.s. person (oral surgeon) thinks they may have become as one...hope that isn't a chargeable offense. Anyway, it's the first time I have ever been under g.a. and I am a skoatchy bit nervous. And of course George W. Bush HAD to pick tomorrow to be coming to visit the Plaza, where the o.s. person is. At the same time. Philip is taking me and Cana is taking care of me afterward. Prayers for the many physical antics of the C-Js are always appreciated. For all HND pastors: I have blocked out all of next week to be off...hopefully I won't need all that time to recover. I hope I never recover from all of your wonderful stories, laughter, tears, anger, prayers, blessings and love shared during the evaluations. Thank you for the priviledge.