Football and Church News

     Let me start by talking about the Colts, who defeated the Steelers today, who were 3-0. The Colts started on fire and quickly built a lead, but Anthony Richardson, our quarterback, left the game with a hip injury, and Flacco finished the game. Pittsburgh made a valiant comeback, but it wasn't enough for a win. I'm concerned about Richardson since he was injured in his fourth game last year and was out for the rest of the season. Today's injury was not as severe, but is he prone to injuries? Does he try too hard, and can he be a franchise quarterback? We should know by the end of this season.

    We watched the IU-Maryland game yesterday. IU is on a winning streak, and it was fun to watch. Even though IU had four turnovers, they dominated the game, winning 42-28 and are 5-0 for the first time since 1967 (the year they went to the Rose Bowl). 

    We were disappointed that the Fever couldn't advance past the first round of the WNBA playoffs. However, they ended their season, finishing 20-20 after a 1-8 start. Caitlin Clark needs a vacation! After competing in Iowa and playing in the national college championship game, she went directly to the WNBA as the top draft pick in mid-April and began playing a month later. 

    On the local sports scene, high school football games were canceled Friday because of rain and high winds triggered by Hurricane Helene. The games were rescheduled for Saturday. I've noticed many leaves, twigs, and branches on the ground. Some friends had power outages for a few hours. We had two power outages that only lasted for a few seconds. 

    This morning, after our regular church service, the congregation met to call a new pastor. We have been without a pastor for the last fourteen months. Earlier this summer, a call was extended to a pastor from Missouri. He declined the call mainly because of his family situation—his wife was pregnant (a high-risk pregnancy) with their sixth child, and we didn't have any children the same age as their older children. Since they are home-schooled, that was a problem for them. 

    The committee presented four names on the original call list to the congregation. In addition to the pastor who declined our call, another of those men recently accepted a call, leaving only two names on the list. After considerable discussion, the vote was taken to call a Michigan pastor serving dual parishes. Interestingly, he is a chaplain in the Army Reserve, and one weekend a month, he will be away with a two-week training session in the summer. In the fourteen months without a pastor, there was no Sunday when we didn't have an ordained pastor leading worship. We have been blessed. The meeting lasted 90 minutes, and I was home in time to see the beginning of the Colts / Pittsburgh game.

My Everyday Life - September 22-28, 2024 

Signs of Fall

     After 50 days with barely a drop of rain, today's prediction was rain beginning at 1 p.m. Because of the threat of rain, the annual church picnic was moved indoors. Ironically, when we wanted to host an outdoor event, we couldn't. We drove home in a light drizzle. Let's hope we'll get some real rain later this afternoon.

    Today is the Fall Equinox, and I've noticed signs indicating the seasons are changing. A few trees drop their leaves, but most are still very green. Also, I note the change in the sun's angle when I'm out early in the morning. On Tuesday, my shadow was directly in front of me, but two days later, my shadow was no longer in front of me. It had moved several degrees to my right. When the sun comes through our windows in the morning, there's a big difference between June and December. The sun's angle keeps changing, reminding me the season is changing.

    The Colts won their first game of the season this afternoon, defeating the Chicago Bears. The quarterbacks for these teams are the two youngest in the NFL, and they both threw interceptions. 

    The afternoon, the WNBA Fever played the Connecticut Sun in the first playoff game for the Fever since 2016. Unfortunately, the Sun defeated the Fever 93-69. This is the first game in a best-of-three series. The Connecticut Sun is coached by Stephanie White, an Indiana native who played college basketball at Purdue and led them to the 1999 Women's College Basketball Championship. She played for the Fever and even coached the Fever and other college teams before joining the Sun.

    Caitlin Clark has more awards and firsts than I can post here. She has made a significant impact on the WNBA. 

My Everyday Life - September 15-21

Yesterday Wasn't My Best Day

    It would have been a rant if I had written this blog 24 hours ago. But after sleeping, I felt much better. Let me explain. I discovered a charge on our credit card that didn't make sense. It was for $18 at a local microbrewery. I couldn't recall ever visiting the place. I talked to an agent at the credit card company, and they suggested calling the brewery. I called them and had a good conversation with the man who answered the phone. He agreed to check their records and called me back to tell me they had no record of us. I thought having the charge taken off our account would be simple, but the conversation deteriorated when I couldn't understand the agent. She had a decided accent and spoke fast. I asked to talk to someone else and was transferred. I regret how I spoke to the agent. I tried to be respectful but failed. The end of the story is that they determined fraud was involved and will issue us a replacement card.

    At the same time, I was trying to log into our xfinity account and kept getting a 400 error, which added to my stress yesterday afternoon. xfinity uses chatbots on its website, which is frustrating because they aren't smart enough to understand what you want. I finally picked up the phone and called them, but that didn't go well. After several minutes of getting nowhere, I finally told the agent that I was too tired, and she suggested I go to the xfinity store to get an answer to my question. All I wanted to do was to change the credit card to a different one. That should be simple. However, they are concerned about security, and I guess that's a good thing.

    An update: A few minutes ago, I successfully logged into my xfinity account and changed the credit card payment. It was easy, but why did I have so much trouble yesterday that left me stressed?

My Everyday Life - September 8-14, 2024

    Today, the Colts lost to the Green Bay Packers. They didn't play well. The Fever game wasn't available on TV; the good news is that they won their afternoon game 110-109!

 

First Week of September

    Last Sunday afternoon, we were at the reception following Rebecca's wedding to Kevin Leonard. 

Ceremony at St. Paul Lutheran Church

Bride & Groom enter the reception hall.

    We stayed overnight at an Airbnb not far from the church and reception. On Monday, Labor Day, we were up early and began our drive back to Indiana after a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for a bite to eat. When we got on the road, we never stopped until we parked the car in the garage. We should have stopped halfway through the trip for a quick stretch of our legs.

    Have I mentioned before that we enjoy watching the WNBA Fever games? The Fever have achieved a playoff position for the first time since 2016 and won overtime this afternoon against the Atlanta Dream. Unfortunately, the Colts lost their season's opening game at home against the Houston Texans. They haven't won a season opener since 2013. Both games were in downtown Indianapolis this afternoon. We enjoyed watching the Texas vs. Michigan game yesterday since we knew a few Texas fans in the stands and how they must have had a fantastic time cheering the Longhorn team. 

    Yesterday evening, we were invited to a surprise birthday party for a bridge friend. The party was held in a clubhouse, and after the meal, we had time to play a few rounds of bridge and had cake and ice cream before heading home.

    Today, Jayden celebrated his 17th birthday. A big crowd of adults and young people enjoyed today's mild weather at Joe's house. We enjoyed tacos and birthday cake.    

Ruth, Dustin, Jayden, Joe, Kylie, Ray

My Everyday Life - September 1-7