Monday Again!

It was a pretty decent weekend.

I thoroughly enjoyed attending the severe weather workshop Saturday morning in Norman. Members of the National Weather Service were on hand to give a presentation on storm spotting….how to do it carefully and what to look for. There were around 5 of my REACT team members there with me as well. It started at 8 am and ended around noon. It was very informative and I was able to see some good video of tornadoes and the people that were chasing them. It has always interested me to see “behind the scenes” when a chaser is chasing a storm. Unfortunately, if you are not careful, the storm will catch you off guard and you can get stuck right in the middle of it. We saw a couple of videos showing storm chasers getting way too close.

While at the workshop, I did some shopping. I bought a couple of Emergency Management stickers for the back of my truck and purchased an Emergency Management cap to wear. The lettering on the cap is reflective, so it is easy to see after dark. After the workshop, myself and a couple of other REACT members drove to Moore and ate at Furrs. The rest of the afternoon was spent at home, resting, watching TV and listening to the fire department on my laptop.

Yesterday was ok, but I am still not happy with what I am doing at the church. I am still stuck upstairs either doing the power point or running the sound system. I am so ready to be downstairs with the rest of the congregation, worshipping and sitting with the students. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I am so burned out on doing the power point and so burned out on running the sound. I used to get lots of satisfaction doing the “behind the scenes” stuff, but now I am ready to leave it behind and go on.

We are still having a problem getting more students involved in our student ministry. Our attendance for both Sunday morning and Wednesday night has really dwindled down. We have very few to no students on Sunday night. The fact is, for a long time, we have not had anything planned for the youth on Sunday evenings. Now that we have our new youth pastor, Andrew, he is trying to get things going again, but with not much success. It’s not his fault. We found out about a month ago many of our students go to other churches on Sunday night and Wednesday night because these churches have live bands (which we do not have) and they serve free food (which we don’t do because of our small budget). Our hands are tied. We are feeding the Word to these students, but they are wanting to eat real food, not spiritual food.

This is not a new problem. A couple of years ago, we had a couple that attended our church and worked with our students. Every Wednesday evening, they would bring something for the students to eat. Whether it was chicken, pizza, or just sandwiches, they brought something every Wednesday night. Then, they left and went to the mission field for about 6 months. They have returned, but they are not as involved with the youth anymore, so there have not been any more meals. Most of our students come to church hungry, so if there is another church they can attend…that will feed them…they will go to that church. I would love to buy food for the students each week, but I do not personally have the funds. Right now, prayer is the only answer I can think of. We have to pray that we can get these students in the habit of coming to Sunday School again and to Sunday night discipleship training….as well as Wednesday night services.

Well, after church on Sunday morning, I went home. Karla wasn’t feeling well, so I popped in a microwave pizza and had that for lunch. Then, I decided to drive to my office to print off some tax forms for Gayla’s income tax. On my way to the office, I came upon an accident at I-44 and Airport Rd. It seems as if a lady had missed her exit and over-corrected, causing her to roll her SUV. When I pulled up and got out of my truck, several bystanders had already freed her from her vehicle. I made sure 911 had been called and then checked on the driver. She had some cuts and bruises on the outside, but could not tell if she had internal injuries. A nurse had stopped and offered her assistance, so I just stayed back. The driver asked for some of her possessions, so I grabbed my work gloves and carefully retrieved the items she asked for.

About 10 minutes after I arrived, OCPD arrived. I filled him in on what was going on and he went to talk with the driver. By then, OCFD, EMSA and OHP arrived on the scene. Since the accident was not blocking the road, traffic control was not necessary. While the trooper spoke to the driver in the back of the ambulance, I stood by the accident scene. Once he was through with the driver, he released me from the scene.

I arrived at my office, but for some odd reason, I could not get the tax forms to print for me. So, I decided to just head back home. I took a nap and then headed back to the church for the evening service.

http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/OCFD_Citizens_Fire_Academy_Alumni_Association

http://www.okcentralreact.org/