In recent weeks, many of our Divinity family received an email from someone who insisted they were a certain pastor and needed prompt assistance with gift cards to improve…whatever sob story was given. Granted, this isn’t the first time for us. And such a scam is making its rounds amongst nearby ELCA congregations and other communities of faith and well…pretty much anywhere is fair game. Of course, on the church office front, we do our best to reinforce the reality that we would never request financial or any other similar form of assistance through electronic means; or to always contact us directly if you’re ever unsure. Then again, that won’t stop others from still doing their best to improving the tale to hopefully reel in some of the more compassionate and always-willing-to-help-out-at-all-possible-costs people around.
This Saturday, August 30, the usual fanatic-level-attention will start being paid to Columbus, where over 100,000 people will flock to a stadium built to appear as if it was the Roman Colosseum itself right here in Ohio. In its over century-long history, the “Horseshoe” has gone through its fair share of renovations to keep up with the growing popularity of collegiate football, and more touch-ups are expected to be on the horizon as the sport continues to soar in financial success (for better or worse). One most prominent figure who will be in attendance could very well be one of the reasons why the Ohio State Buckeyes and hundreds of other programs across the country have benefited tremendously in the last three decades especially.
As we are only a few houses down from one end of our street, there’s a traffic signal bringing vehicles to a halt before giving their occupants the green light to go on about their day. Every once in a while, there will be quite a few car horns unleashed that can be easily heard through our open widows: some of the blaring is in a staccato-like (short and detached) fashion; others are more long and drawn out, which makes me wonder if it’s even going to work the next time the driver wants to use it. Now, I’m obviously not setting up shop at the end of our block to take notes in some unscientific attempt to psychologically analyze human beings in their respective vehicles as to what all the fuss is about.
Last week, I noticed this rather immense collection of cars in the parking lots around the Methodist church just down the road from our home. It wasn’t on a weekend though. So, something was obviously amiss. All I saw was this little sign at one of the entrances: “Celebrating Methodist Missions in Ohio, Korea, and Beyond.” That seemed like an…interesting connection to be made with a country nearly 7,000 miles away. So, of course, that led to some internet researching:
I have the utmost respect for many in career paths that I could not even begin to imagine making them part of the 9-5, Monday-Friday routine. But for some, the work cannot possibly be contained to those 8 hours each day. Teachers must be all-in attentive to their students during the day, but must ensure they grade papers and tend to whatever preparations for the days ahead, especially the ones who want to go beyond the bare minimum curriculum adherence. Then, there are the social workers, who must be in constant contact with such students who may be facing their fair share of struggles on the home front, all the while facing constant criticism at the possibility of even slightly altering that home front in hopes of nourishing the child’s life for the better. No pressure at all with such dedicated-beyond-belief impacters on some of the most vulnerable lives in this world.
