Thursday, September 2, 2004

September 2, 2004


10:07 PM Today’s entry in the Crosswalk weblog is called A Memo for Bug-Watchers. 6:48 PM Bob Johnsen just sent in some vital information:

WHEN I STOPPED AT THE WONDER BREAD OUTLET STORE AT 6625 W.ROOSEVELT ROAD TO PICK UP WHEAT BREAD I DISCOVERED THAT THEY HAVE A DISPLAY WITH CARTONS OF MOON PIES FOR SALE. I BOUGHT A CARTON OF CHOCOLATE FLAVOR PIES. THEY HAVE BANANA AND OTHER VARIETIES. THOT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED.

9:27 AM Happy days, sad days … The mighty elm tree is no more. When I got to church a few minutes ago, the crew had already cut down all the limbs. The only thing remaining was about fifteen feet of the trunk, and that is already gone. What took a century to grow took less than two hours to cut down. There’s a lesson in there somewhere. John Sredl and I were talking about how bad it feels to see that massive tree gone. It stood guard over the church buildings for generation. The front of the church feels bare somehow. “We’re just another concrete and asphalt church now,” John said. We had to do it. When they cut down the tree, you could see that the disease had hollowed out the top part of the trunk. It was only a matter of time until a storm blew the tree down, and probably damaged property or injured someone in the process. Still it’s hard to see it go. Will we plant another tree? Unlikely because the enormous remaining root system under the parking lot would make it difficult for a new tree to thrive. So we’ll probably replace it with a sure sign of 21s-t century progress—two more parking spaces. On a lighter note, happy 25th anniversary to Ed and Betty Dylong. To celebrate, Betty (who works in the church office) brought a bowl of fresh cantaloupe for all of us to share. And I found out this week that Davis and Kathy Duggins are celebrating their 25th anniversary in a unique way. Davis loves to run, so he is running across Illinois. He plans to run from Savannah (near Galena on the Mississippi River) to Chicago—about 180 miles. He’s doing it in 20-mile chunks. Last week he and Kathy checked into a motel on Friday night, on Saturday morning he ran his 20 miles from Savannah to “some little town,” Kathy picked him up, and they drove back to Chicago. This weekend Kathy says they will probably spend Sunday night in Freeport, then go back to that little town, drop Davis off, he’ll run 20 more miles, she’ll pick him up, and they will drive back to Chicago. Weather permitting, they hope to do that every weekend this fall until the run is completed. Kathy had a smile on her face when she talked about it. Kind of cute and fun and romantic—except for the running part. 7:07 AM Counting down the days … 6 days until the Concert of Prayer for “God Speaks Today” 10 days until the “God Speaks Today” series begins. 21 days until “First Watch” begins.

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