The Family Letter

Thanksgiving this year was far from traditional. I did have family here: My brother Tim and his significant other, Michelle, have been here for a few days now. But rather than thawing and roasting dead fowl, they elected to head out to a luau this evening. And so we did!

I am thankful for a forgiving brother, who got a bit of a surprise at the luau. He became part of the pre-dinner entertainment. Yes, I volunteered him.

I am thankful for other surprises that went very, very well. Oh, for example, a certain moment in front of all 1,200 revelers at the luau:

And thankful that I can indeed sleep in tomorrow, because it was a long and good day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was looking over the church's insurance coverage today and came across a line that made me laugh. It loses something when translated into English. Or, maybe, gains a whole new meaning.

"NOTE: Property Damage only applies to Hired/Non-Owned Autos and Autos Specifically Scheduled for Property Damage."

I just hope my car isn't scheduled for damage!

Autumn is in full swing here in Hawaii. The days are shorter–not as much as on the mainland but still noticeably so–and the evenings cooler. In a week or two I may start shutting more windows at night, as we've dipped down to 60° a few nights in the last week. Feels great.

The remarkable thing is that this year I'm noticing autumn. In the smells, feel of the air… All those things I haven't associated with a change of season the past two years. It'll be interesting to see if I can sense winter and then spring as they roll in, too. The changes aren't as dramatic as they would be where I grew up, but time has enabled me to sense the subtle things.

In other news, I came across this piece by a well spoken conservative this morning and was highly impressed. Some lines that caught my attention:

"If you should pray for your enemies, should you not pray even more for friends with whom you disagree?"

"But the solution does not lie in breaking more commandments. The priests who voted overwhelmingly for secession this month had taken an oath of loyalty to the Episcopal Church at the time of their ordination. That oath holds whether our guys win every battle or not." (I've often wondered when I met seminarians devoutly and actively opposed to the ordination of women… Seminarians preparing to take a vow to uphold the "doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Episcopal Church…" How can they be opposed to that doctrine and stand there and take those vows? Always seemed like a disconnect to me.)

"Secession is not the biblical pattern of resistance to flawed authority. … When St. Paul was beaten by the high priest he showed him deference, not contempt."

"Martin Luther didn't leave the Roman Catholic Church; he was kicked out. He decided to "stand" and fight. It's ironic that Bishop Duncan quoted Luther's pledge to "stand" in order to justify his intention to "walk.""

And I know I shouldn't be shocked, but I am when I hear a bishop ordering someone not to pray for someone else. Oi.

I'll let you read the rest for yourselves.

Last night before going to bed I did a quick check of the weather forecast. The last few days we've had more rain than we've had in a very long time, which isn't saying much… It was a dry winter last winter, and has been very dry since. So I was glad when I saw a bit more rain in the forecast, even if that meant coffee hour indoors today.

I was completely shocked to see a chance of thunderstorms. I haven't been aware of a thunderstorm here since winter of 2006 (February). That's kind of cool, since I like thunderstorms. But I didn't have much hope, since they usually fizzle before they storm.

Yeah, right. Through the night I woke up several times to pouring rain and, yes, even some crashes of thunder. I enjoyed the sounds. As I woke up, same thing. I love lying, waking up slowly, listening to rain. Then I noticed that it was getting harder and harder. I finally got up, and it kept getting harder. So first thing, I checked the radar. (See below.)

I took food into the cat, but by this point it was raining so hard that it was a general ROAR and Zoe was panicked. Wouldn't eat, and even crawled under a piece of furniture for a bit.

The rain's slacked off in the last 30 minutes or so, but it is still falling. Even heard some thunder and saw some lightning a bit ago. Given the radar I think it'll peter out completely before too long… The heaviest is over. But still. Wow. Regular tropical storm there.

The parking lot between me and the church is under water. Not much, but enough that I'll have to wear flip-flops to get over to church and take a towel to dry off. I'll change into shoes before the service. And I think coffee hour will be indoors today!