a schedule change

So, Sunday, the minister was out (kidney stone). We had someone who could fill in (he filled in for months and months when we were between people).

I guess the kidney stone isn't any better, because last night I got a call from the church secretary:

"You said you'd be out of town Friday and Saturday* but back Sunday, right?'

(Oh, what now?)

(*my friend Laura and I are doing an East Texas meetup and I am going to get to meet her menagerie including what she describes as "five orange things that say they need to be petted a lot" - one of her cats had a litter of kittens earlier this summer)

Yup, he's still likely to be out. So could I do a devotional? Really, only a short one....it's going to be a songfest service (we often do these in the summer when people are on vacation).

Um, okay? At least I have a little notice?

So I said I'd look at the lectionary and see if anything there spoke to me. Which I did immediately. (It didn't. One of the scriptures was the David-and-Bathsheba story, and I was like REALLY?) Finally I hit on the alternate Psalm for the day - 145 (the Catholics use part of it as their liturgy for this week, as do the Episcopalians) and it kinda sorta fits with the vague idea I had - about the value of music to both groups and individuals, but also the larger idea of doing things for the glory of God (in whatever sense you take it; I consider that even doing things in a way that is compassionate and helpful to people, rather than selfish, does that).

I'm working on it, slowly, this morning. I have three pages and a bit (in 14 point font, because it's dim up at the pulpit and my eyes are not as young as they once were). I tied in the bit from I Corinthians 10, but I need to think more on it....

I'm just...I'm supposed to call the secretary again this afternoon and I'm really hoping to hear the minister is much better and will be here on Sunday. Not that I don't WANT to help out, it's just....I've kind of hit a wall on this and it doesn't help me that I've got plans for Friday and Saturday so I can't do last minute work on it...she suggested "oh, think on it while you drive" and I was like "I'm not [guy that has filled the pulpit that can do that]!"

I dunno. Maybe I put it to bed for a little bit and think about it more tomorrow. (I'm also responsible for running the service, so to speak. This is what happens when you're Head Elder and I keep hoping someone will offer to take it over for me....I've hinted, but either I've not hinted strongly enough or no one else is able)

***

Edited to add: called the secretary to give her my Scripture and to work out details. I was REALLY hoping I'd hear of a miraculous recovery on the minister's part but it still sounds like they're going to have to go IN to get the stone OUT so....no. Well, shoot. So this is going to totally be one of those "Okay, Lord, you gotta take over and give me the ability to do this again" things. 

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Edited, about 4 pm: And our new intro bio textbooks came in and wow, are they a big mess. Lots of stuff we had cut out on the grounds of relevance/confusing is in these again. And of course I am going to have to update every lecture for the class. And fight with the publisher's webpage because getting the chapter art (which is more or less all I really WANT) is an effort. I am old enough to remember the days when publishers sent out CD-ROMs of the chapter art and you could just preview all the .jpgs and pick the ones you wanted and pop them in your lecture, easy peasy. I'm sure this new method is a combination of more-tightly-guarding IP and also the fact that some people don't even HAVE machines with CD-ROM drives any more (but golly, flashdrives are cheap enough, they could make flashdrives of the stuff, and just send one to every department using the book, and faculty could download off of that).

But sometimes, I admit, especially when I'm tired, it feels to me like stuff like this is a conscious effort to make faculty go to more work and spend more time and labor on all of this. (And we all get paid for the same number of hours per week, no matter how long we work, AND I am not getting paid for the summer - the checks I got the end of June was just my regular pay held back and divided up).

So the afternoon has felt a bit like screaming into the void.

And the mail came while I was eating lunch. Amazon had claimed my Rowlet that I ordered back in MID JUNE would be here by today, but, nope. It's a Japan-based seller so there's no tracking info (though, mysteriously, Amazon now says, instead of "will be there on July 24," they say "will be there on July 25" and I have a sense my leg is being slightly tugged on there and am wondering if tomorrow the date will change to the 26th). At any rate, I'm going to give it a couple more days before I try to grieve the order, but I bet if it doesn't show it's going to be a pain to, as it's a third-party seller. (I need to learn: NEVER BUY FROM THIRD-PARTY SELLERS. And yes, before you ask: the Rowlet is legit, or at least the one being sold on the page is a legit Tarkara-Tomy one.)

But yeah, I'm tired and cranky and realizing the summer is nearly over and I haven't had much fun nor have I completed as much work as I wanted to and I feel bad on both those counts. And I don't even have anything nice for dinner to look forward to; I used up all my leftovers and I am drawing a blank as to what I even want to eat. (what I SHOULD do is just heat up a couple different vegetables and eat those. I would be happier if I had a call from my doctor saying all my blood numbers were good; then I might feel justified just going out and getting barbecue or something, but I don't know. I doubt if I even hear before my appointment that I would hear this soon as the blood was only drawn on Friday. Mainly what I am worried about is hearing my blood sugars are too high and I need to overhaul my diet - not that I eat a great deal of sugar now, or even refined carbohydates like bread - but there are other things that could make me worry.)