My first encounter with Mike Rupe was when he diagnosed the issue with our dishwasher. Over the phone. In about eight seconds. And then he had it repaired  in about eight minutes. That made me really appreciate this self-professed back row Christian at GCR.  What makes me love Mike is that he has shown up at our new house here three evenings in a row to help us knock out the grueling task of hand-scraping  all the popcorn off the ceilings of our new house here in Midland.

Mike had all the right ideas, all the little tricks, and the necessary elbow grease to make this daunting task a much more realistic thing for us to accomplish – we got it finished about three days earlier than I thought we might. Working with Mike during these evenings meant getting his unique perspective on some of the history of this great church on Golf Course Road. And it also involved more conversation about Revelation than would be expected.

Mike, brother, I am so grateful. The popcorn is gone and now we’re into Phase Two. A couple of walls have gone up today and a couple of doors installed to seclude the Whitney Wing from the rest of the manor. All the carpet is gone, the wet bar in the entry has been removed, and the texture guys are going to start on the ceilings this next week.

And if the dishwasher doesn’t work, I know who to call.

Peace,

Allan

Congratulations to Brandon Meeks who took the championship in our GCR staff miniature golf outing yesterday afternoon at newly-renovated Green Acres Mini Golf. I was fortunate enough to be playing in Brandon’s group and was able to witness first-hand his unique combination of athletic gift, exquisite skill, and gritty determination. And his ability to putt a golf ball up a metal ramp and through the swinging doors of a little windmill.

While Brandon was making noise with his scorecard, Tim Neale was making noise – literally – all over the course. He hit six holes-in-one throughout his round, prompting huge roars of approval from within his foursome and anyone else who happened to be near. The problem is that Tim also scored at least half a dozen “sixes,” the highest tally allowed on each hole. He’s like the baseball player who leads the division in both home runs and strikeouts. I reminded Tim that those are the guys who get traded to the Rangers.

Thanks to Jason Allen for organizing this quarterly staff get together and team building outing. I picked up some extra slang and learned a little more about what makes my co-workers tick. Putting Andrew, Cory, and Mauri in the same group guaranteed we’d all be finished a half hour before they were – that was a mistake. And somebody needs to explain to Jessie the difference between trash talk and godly encouragement.

Peace,

Allan