I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
Thursday morning at 400am, Karlie and I took Mary to meet up with her missions trip group and send her on her way to Nigeria. It sounded like a crazy day for travel, because when they got to the airport, Delta had canceled their flight (my hunch is that it was a MD-88). So there they were trying to figure out how to get to Nigeria. Initially, I thought that they lost their fight from Atlanta to Lagos, but it was the DTW to ATL flight. She called and said that they were possibly flying Air France to Rome for a 2 day layover then to Lagos. Then a call late in the day said that they drove to Toledo and flew to Atlanta, in plenty of time for their flight to Lagos.
So we went about 24 hours without hearing anything, then as I was working my way through the afternoon traffic in Gaylord, my phone began to ring with a really weird number on it. My hunch was right as it was Mary calling from a borrowed cellphone in Lagos. The connection wasn’t great and we got cut off twice, I knew she was there.
Today, as I was beginning my shift at work this afternoon (I swapped shifts), she called again with a much better connection. Mary had been at an orphanage most of the morning and had just gotten back from a church service. Here is a copy of her email to me:
Hi Family from Africa!
Hello everyone!
I am typing this email to you live from Lagos, Nigeria Africa! We arrived Friday morning and now it is Saturday evening. All is going very well! Sara and I have been blessed to be able to visit the orphanage twice so far! We had the first visit scheduled, but today’s visit was not! It is such a blessing to be able to go and love on those kids! We were able to take them many gifts, like toys, clothes, shoes, and such. And today, Sara and I gave out our Lifesavers and Starbursts! They loved it!!!!! The head of the orphanage, Deborah, is doing an amazing thing there, and Denny (from Gaylord) has been able to raise several thousands of dollars over the past few years to help build it further! What an awesome way to build God’s kingdom!!!! I will have many pictures to share when I get home!
If I don’t get to email again, God bless you all my family!
Especially you Jeff for taking care of everyone while I’m gone and holding down the fort! And for allowing me to come on this amazing mission!
I love you and miss you all!
Mary
So she is doing well, and we are holding down the fort. Trisha came over last night with Ethan and she and Kara were in the midst of fixing supper for us when I got home. A far cry from the chaos that reigned on Thursday when I got home, but that’s a story I’ll leave off.
We are going to try to do something for Brandon’s birthday tomorrow and Kaleb leaves early in the morning from Traverse City for England. Spring Break is this week for our teens so I won’t have to worry about bus duty this week much. If everything goes well, my mother-in-law will help out with that the following week while I am on midnights. Mary comes home then at the end of my Mids (Yeah!).
Things have been tight financially, recently. I won’t go into all of the long litany of things, but suffice it to say that we are running on the edge of red and black ink. Well, to top things off, yesterday (Friday), I took Brandon to the Mountain for work, it’s about a 1 or 2 mile drive. About half way, the oil pressure gauge went to low. There was now smoke or anything so I dropped Brandon off and went home. I opened the hood and the oil level was full. So I didn’t lose any oil. In the past, I had a bad sensor on the truck and so I thought that this was what the problem was. I was wrong. I forgot that there is a pump that maintains the oil pressure in the truck and that it failed. So when I went to work in the afternoon, the truck started, but as soon as I began to drive down Elm Street, the engine died. I tried to restart it but it wouldn’t go. I called our roadside assistance and the Ford Garage in Gaylord and made arrangements.
Once at the garage, I got a rental car and proceeded to work. Then the phone call…they pushed it into the garage and tried to start it, but the engine had totally siezed. It wouldn’t even try to crank like it did for me. A remanufactured engine with labor would be $4000. So we are looking at options. We have a great one from inside our family here that looks like we can do. We just have to wait until Monday to work out the paper work.
However, I’m still a little down. My little Ranger has been with me for 9 years. I’ve driven that thing all over the eastern part of the US. I know that it is just a truck, but sometimes you run into one that just seems special, and this one was one of those. Goodbye old friend…
I feel like a nearly drove Mary over the edge this year. A lot had to do with the fact that by the end of November, I was feeling a deep sense of conviction with the whole Christmas thing. It started around Thanksgiving when we were buying the food for the feast. We were in the Wal-Mart parking lot and somebody was beeping their horn for some unknown reason and I began making up some song about consumerism to the tune of “Silver Bells.” Mary started to call me Scrooge. I then started having flashbacks to a time in my childhood, when Dad would make remarks and Mom would get on his case by calling him Scrooge.
I tried to explain that Scrooge in “A Christmas Carole” didn’t believe in Christmas. I believe in Christmas and Christ for that matter, but I feel that we are getting so far away from the meaning of what this time of the year is supposed to mean. As Rick McKinley, pastor at Imago Dei church in Portland, OR, said in one of his sermons, imagine you are at your birthday party and everyone is giving gifts to everyone else. As I listened to various sermons, from our local church to Mars Hill and Imago, the more I felt convicted.
It’s not that giving is wrong, but with all of the money that we have here in the US, I think we still do a poor job at helping others in need, whether they be here or overseas. The commercialism and the consumer mentality of the season has been making me realize that our focus is on ourselves and not on who Christ said that we are to help: the poor, oppressed, widowed and orphaned. It is there in the Bible from the Old Testament to the New.
My biggest problem was that I felt that it would be nearly impossible to bring the family on board and I grew increasingly frustrated. Well, I came to terms with the conviction after talking with Mary several times. We are going to try and do something different for next year.
To see some ideas for next year check out the Advent Conspiracy page.
It’s been about 3 weeks since the last post. Things got so busy here, especially with financial decisions, that Mary and I haven’t had a chance type anything so to catch you all up on everything, here are some highlights.
There’s more, but these are the highlights. So sorry for the lack posting the last few weeks.
We went to the Big Ticket Festival this weekend. Still a bit tired this morning, as we get ready for church. We’ll have pictures up later…
Well, it’s official. Kaleb has now joined the ranks of those who can drive an automobile. I sat in with him on his driving test last Wednesday. He did well. This was actually a retest. During his first test, Mary was riding along on that one, he missed a stop sign on the open road test. A sign that is not the most conspicuous stop sign. I’m guessing that they bring them through the street to see how well they are paying attention. I went this time, partly because I had the day off and partly because, these things don’t make me nervous. While riding along the parent isn’t allowed to talk during the test, which believe it or not isn’t difficult for me either.
Since then, Mary and I have let him use the van and the truck to go to events and run our errands, like picking up his brother. It has been a little less stressful with the extra driver. We have to get together with his dad sometime and talk about a car for him sometime as well.
Karlie’s next, having just turned 15 she asking about when she can take driver’s ed…
My life just keeps moving along at 60 mph.
It’s been pretty good with Brandon here. We got his room ready and “closed” off. I’ll get a picture of it some time. He is very gracious about being here, at the house, and we have had good discussions about what he wants to do and what some of his next steps will be. The two of us were relating to each other on the way back from his probation officer about things and how the Bible describes the same things, like what it means to be free. He pulled out his Bible, which I didn’t realized he brought with him and said that he liked the way that the Message Bible translates Galatians 5:19. He has come a long way from last year at this time.
Otherwise, our Memorial Day was spent with the Ben, Trisha, Ethan, Brandon, Kaleb, and Tishia coming over and Ben and I grilling burgers and potatoes, playing volleyball and then having a bonfire in our newly expanded fire pit.
Karlie arrives today from NYC. They were supposed to see the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway last night before boarding the bus and driving 16 hours back home. Mary is coming home early so that we can gather everyone this afternoon, just in case Karlie’s bus gets back when I’m picking up Kaleb from school.
Tomorrow is another big day with Kaleb taking his road test for his driver’s license and Brandon has a short court date in Emmet county.
Phewwwwww!
Happy(?) Memorial Day! (I’m never sure if you are happy remembering people who died in the wars of the US.)
Mom called the other day and I haven’t gotten back to the family. Sorry! I’ll get a call in soon. If you have read Mary’s blog, you know that we picked up Brandon and he is here. Saturday, after we dropped off Karlie for her trip to NYC with her band, then back to the house where Kaleb and his girlfriend; Ben, Trisha, and Ethan; and Brandon were here. We were busy all day. Yesterday we went to church, ate out (!) and then dropped by Ben and Trisha’s for a bit. Before napping and then over to Trisha’s inlaws for a bon fire. I might blog on some insights from the sermon yesterday. I’m still formulating the freedom from and our job to help those that are imprisoned in my head kind of idea, balanced by the tension of non violence. Check out our Flickr page to see some recent pictures of the E man.
This last weekend, we, the McLutz family, went with our church’s youth group to Ford Field in Detroit to see the Acquire the Fire/Battlecry Event of 2007. We had a great time, listening to speakers, singing with Hillsong United, and watching concerts of bands like P.O.D., Skillet, and Hawk Nelson.
I will have to say that this one wasn’t as good as last year’s, in my humble opinion, but the purpose of it was for spiritual renewal with the kids and to get them energized for the upcoming year at church and I believe that from there it hit its target.
Ron Luce, the founder of TeenMania Ministries, the organizer of the events, spoke this year about plugging into the Bible more and what you can do to make a difference in the lives of your friends, family, and community. He brought out people who are doing just that with the likes of Zach Hunter who is now a 15 year old and has been raising money and awareness in the US and overseas about slavery.
Kaleb and Karlie always look forward to this event, not to mention Mary and I. They are a lot of fun.
It looks like they are done with the stadium events here for now as that they are offering 2 dates next year and I hear that we are attending the one in Grand Rapids! Yeah!
On a cold windy day north of Harbor Springs, MI, Kaleb McNamara, qualified for the State Championship Ski meet for the Slalom event. Kaleb said that he did okay at the Giant Slalom, but his times were a bit slow. He placed 11th (not bad dude) out of 90 skiers.
However, the Slalom was another matter. He was one of the faster skiers that could stay upright while going through the challenging course.
“Yeah, the terrain kept changing. One turn you go up, the next down,” Kaleb said after his first run.
Check out the videos of his slalom runs, below.
The second run was different, but none the less challenging as the whole group of skiers were about 2-3 seconds slower on their second runs. He ended up 6th overall qualifying as an individual.
Way to go!
