I’m home from the retreat with all those preachers. Being out in the quiet woods for three days brightened my spirits as did eating great meals with preacher pals. Some of the speakers were great while others must have thought they were preparing for 19 year olds who were inexperienced with Bible study. I note this disparity between my interests and the presentations only because I know that being a speaker, far from home, works well at times or flops. Maybe the speakers weren’t told much about our group or were given nebulous instructions about the retreat.

My head cold meant I wasn’t my best self. Snorting and blowing into tissues while my head feels like it’s enclosed in a plastic bag of water means I may be a tad more critical than when I feel good. I’m not much better this morning although being home helps.

I had one blast-out flare-up with my focus group which was useless. Not proud of it. Wish I’d kept quiet. Between nose blows I lost my temper over the light-weight, airy discussion of how great it is to help with AIDS orphans overseas. I’m in favor of helping all children. I want AIDS orphans to have what they need: happy homes, good support as they grow up and so on. However, we have suffering children here at home. Happy slappy evangelicals strike me as unwilling to get involved with the public health issues of AIDS patients in our neighborhoods. Could be help our children and families here with all the physical, political needs our citizens need AND be available to help children around the world? Why not? It’s scandalous how we believers do next to nothing for the vulnerable among us but make sure we send cartons of Bibles to far away places.

Sanitized, manageable Christian work. Yuk. Ewwww. Gross.