Over the past few months I have been reminded that pain is God’s way of showing us that there is a problem. I was reminded of this when I began to have pain in my neck. The pain was intense when I moved in certain ways, and I couldn’t help but think of an old TV show (“Hee Haw”) where a patient goes in to see the doctor about a pain that showed up when he moved in certain ways. The doctor’s response was, “Well, don’t move that way!”  I suppose that’s one way to deal with it. After a month of pain and discomfort, I decided to make a trip to the doctor and was surprised to find that I had a major problem. He suggested that I needed surgery. It wasn’t urgent, but I had to have this problem fixed.

It’s said that “true confession is good for the soul.” While we are right now in the middle of a week of meetings with the regional superintendents and the Executive Council, I must confess that during the two weeks leading up to the arrival of our denominational leaders here in Charlotte, I have been “sluffing” off a bit. On August 29, my son, Wayne, and I flew to Juneau, Alaska, to join Clio Thomas and Joe Iriana for a few days of fishing and sight seeing. It should be noted that Joe caught the biggest fish, a halibut weighing in at 175 lbs. Each of us brought home nearly 100 pounds of filleted halibut and silver salmon.