Here I am nearly two months after retiring from Boeing and I’ve been silent here for a couple of weeks. I guess it’s time I gave a report. I had intended to be more frequent with my posts but obviously have not been. I tend to be overly cautious about my words and how they might be interpreted (read ‘misinterpreted’). I also want my paragraphs to be grammatically correct and come acrosss as reasonably intelligent. So it takes me a while to complete a sentence. This realization becomes an inertia that must be overcome before I can convince myself to place my fingers on home row and just start typing. Usually the inertia breaker takes the form of guilt over how long I’ve gone without writing.
To avoid dragging this out all day I’ll continue in outline form.
So, what have I been doing?
- Reading
- Scripture (currently reading through the Gospels)
- The Da Vinci Code (see below)
- 20/20 Vision, Bill & Amy Stearns – great description of what God is doing around the world
- Breaking the Da Vinci Code, Darrell L. Bock (skimming)
- Secrets of the Code, Dan Burnstein (selections)
- The Habits of Highly Effective Churches, George Barna
- Listening to sermons
I download these to my MP3 player and listen while doing manual stuff - Da Vinci Code series at Southwest Church, Indian Wells (Bob Thune, Senior Pastor)
- Core Doubts series at Rock Harbor
- The Theology Program at Bible.org
- Researching
- Emerging Church
- Gnostic gospels
- Early Church
- Thinking & note taking
- Tipping Point – This is the new “Life Group” for post-college age adults
- I’m taking on a role as a resource, mentor or catalyst
- We have just begun a six week discussion of The Da Vinci Code
- Bethany Web Site
- I’ve met with several of the team members and reviewed the process of posting to the site
- Ephesians Sermons on line
- Celebration Videos
- Currently developing an approximately 9 minute DVD for a 50th birthday
- Exercise
- Yard work
- Walking
- My To Do List
- Reading stack (not necessarily in this order)
- Wild at Heart, John Eldredge
- The Barbarian Way, Erwin Raphael McManus
- Velvet Elvis
- Global Partnerships, Hank Paulson
- Unveiled At Last, Bob Sjogren
- Finding God in Unexpected Places, Philip Yancey
- Bethany Web Site
- Needs major cleanup. Over the years its file arrangement and the page formatting have evolved rather
- Needs to be moved to more versatile server
- Add podcasting of sermons
- Add leader & member communication tools
- Add more efficient calendar
- This Blog
- Post my thoughts on various topics
- Search for Truth
- Theology
- Marriage
- Science
- I may just start posting what I have with minimal editing, just to get it out there.
I know there is more, but I need to get to work on some of it now. I’m resisting the probable need to review and edit what’s here before sending it.
Gary
