At my wife’s suggestion, I drove to Columbus, Ohio on Friday afternoon, grateful that it wasn’t raining, for once. As she is recovering from major surgery, I left my wife at home in the good care of our youngest son “Shorty” who used to be an EMT.
I checked into the hotel around 4 pm, and went to the nearest grocery to buy food for tomorrow. My wife and I have a routine that we go through when we get to Florida on a Friday afternoon. We race to the nearest Publix and buy lots of groceries before sunset, moving through the aisles with all the speed of an Olympic runner dashing for the finish line. When we bump into each other at the intersection of Aisle 13 and the rutabaga section we say “Nerve, nerve nerve !!” hastily glancing at the shopping cart and our watches as we race off. It’s fun and we always make it with minutes to spare (sometimes more than others). (PS. “Nerve, nerve, nerve” means you have a short time to do something important and you have to make every step count.)
This time there was no rush and all went smoothly.
I reached the Convention Center and parked in the east parking lot just in time for another rainstorm. I donned my lightweight jacket with the waterproof hood and charged off in the direction of Abbott Industries (well, it looked like a convention center in the driving rain). When I got to the loading dock, I realized I was at the wrong building and turned around. Nerve, nerve, nerve.
I made it into the Columbus Convention Center and started looking for the GYC registration desk. Walking, walking and walking. Yeah, I could have asked for directions, but that would take the fun out of the search. I found it, and also found some some familiar faces working there — young people from northern Ohio. Got my wrist band, and the girl even put it on for me—just slightly less tight than a radiator hose clamp. I’ll bet her father is an auto mechanic.
I wandered by the Exhibit Hall, and went in. That’s a great place to meet people at GYC or ASI. I saw several people I knew, among them Justin Kim, Kyle Allen and Jeremy Westcott. It was great to see them.
Two questions prevailed in almost every conversation. How is Nancy, and what’s happening with Ron Kelly? I should have kept track of which question I received the most over the next 24-hours. I think it was probably a tie.
I had a brief discussion with Dustin Pestlin about our favorite calibers, and shook hands with the Michigan Conference Sabbath School and Personal Ministries director, and Vernon from WSM.
I went in to the huge meeting room for the evening meeting and saw Andrew Park introduce the Ohio Conference president. At first it looked like the Conference President was wearing a coonskin hat, like my friend Randy had when we were kids. Then I noticed that he was sporting a new ‘do. Just your average Conference President with a shaved side widow’s peak, man. Think of it as a mohawk man bun on a diet. At least there were no cool tats, bro. Not that we could see, anyway (I dislike tats). But I digress.
Andrew Park gave the sermon. He didn’t put a lot of feeling or conviction into it, but it wasn’t bad. Then I went to the hotel. See you tomorrow, dudes.
Sabbath
After a hearty breakfast of popcorn (white cheddar, if you MUST know) I lingered in the hotel posting a news item. Then I raced off to the convention center, arriving during Sabbath school.
I met lots of old friends and made some new ones. I saw JT from down under, AW from WS, TM from UP and Gahrett from GYC. AOK.
Gahrett had invited me back stage to meet some people and get a few pictures. It was good to meet him. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like behind the GYC stage, I can say it looks like ASI backstage. That probably didn’t help much. I’ll post a picture here for you.
It’s pretty dark back there. There is a green room (which is actually made of black curtains), the 3ABN truck, enough cords and cables on the ground to power a new transatlantic undersea cable (almost) and a nice little stairway leading to the stage.
The sermon this morning was by Chester Clark III. It was good. It lifted our thoughts to the only Hope of humanity, our Saviour, our elder Brother, and our blessed Redeemer.
During the sermon, a fellow approached me as I was standing against the back wall and said “I’ve seen you on YouTube sermons.” Well, that was probably me (QVTV or SUM TV or something else). He is from Canada and I was impressed with his commitment to Christ and the Advent Message. So much so, that I forgave him for asking me if I was with AToday. Ehmm…..errrr…no. “Fulcrum7.” “Oh yes!” Sorry.” It’s ok. Canada is a long ways away and it may be hard to keep things straight in the SDA publishing world from Manitoba.
After the sermon I went to my car and got a delicious feast of salt & vinegar pistachios (wrong kind), Gatorade Zero, and what I thought was a large healthy energy bar.
Back in the center I carried my bag of semi-edibles around in search of a place to eat. Hey, I tried. I was accosted by over a dozen people who hit me with those two questions (sometimes accompanied by “What’s IN the BAG?”). Ha. I also got to see Brian Park, who I had not seen since he was in our home for a Sabbath meal 15 years ago (apologies for confusing you with Andrew in the exhibit hall). Fine young man.
A mere two hours later I sat down to eat, reflecting on the goodness of God in people like Chad & Fadia Kruezer, Mike Carducci, and Tim Reisenberger, Brian from Oklahoma Academy, and Doug Houghton, who all prayed for my dear wife. The food might have been a 3 on the 1-10 scale, but the spiritual food was 10.
I met a nice man from the Village church staff, who surprised me when he said “I tune in to F7 to learn what is happening in my own church.” Talk about a mind-bender.. The scary part: I think he was serious.
I also met several of our writers. That’s always a treat.
I spent some time with Sergeant Major, and then did a very un-Gerry-like thing. I took a 20-minute nap in my car after calling my wife. Hey, it was warm out, why not?
After Sabbath I ate supper at Agave and Rye across the street. VERY GOOD food. I couldn’t help but notice the Cincinnati ‘Tigers’ were playing some sort of game on the plywood-sheet-sized TV screen plastered on the wall in front of me. I guess they won, but they could win even better with Christ.
As I walked back in the convention center, Mark Howard saw me walk in and came over to me. We stared at each other for a moment, remembering the good times we shared in Ohio fighting the good fight. On the strength of that friendship and in the hope we share in Christ we affirmed that we still love one other in spite of disagreement. To Mark’s credit, he went first. We don’t agree on how the Michigan Conference is handling the Village Church, but if we can rise above it for a solid moment, we ought to be able to do it on the Sea of Glass someday. You too.
The exhibit hall opened, and it was busier than Times Square during a choreographed flash mob of caffeinated squirrels. I spoke with the GLOW guy and he was kind enough to get me a pack of GLOW tracts to put in our 1969 classic car. We like to pass them out when people come up to admire the car. I spoke with Adam Ramdin who is on the cusp of finishing his awesome van project. Motivation, man. Nerve, nerve nerve.
I spoke with Christian Martin, and as I was speaking with him a fellow tapped me on the left shoulder. I turned. “Thanks for the free advertising” he said. It was Eric Louw who earned a link to his Facebook page last week embedded in an article under the word ‘anonymous’. Nicely done. I love dry humor.
In fact, humor can take some of the edge off of life’s sharp moments. I recommend it in measured doses, friends.
After chatting a brother from Centerville and with Joyce Choe, who runs the awesome Med Missionary page and ministry, it was time to go. And so I went.
Summary
Jesus is still coming back.
Let’s invite people in the SDA building before that grand Event. Let’s also fix the roof trusses before inviting them in so the roof won’t collapse on them (I think you get my point).
It’s ok to smile once in a while. Don’t go through life looking like you just ate a dill pickle.
We didn’t join the Advent Movement to fight (I hope you didn’t).
There are some things worth fighting for, like truth, liberty of conscience, and God’s honor.
The Christ who is Creator is also the Savior as well as the coming King. Nothing could be more Christocentric than that. The three great pillars of biblical teaching: creation, salvation, and redemption all rest upon the person of Christ. You can’t improve on that friends—that’s the way the Scripture has laid it out.
The Adventist faith took shape around the central proposition the same Jesus who made us and saved us is coming back soon. We can not quietly sideline a teaching so central to both our message and mission. Sociologists of religion might see this doctrine as an asset near its beginning, but increasingly as an albatross—for the passage of time makes it ever less defensible.
And Jesus is still coming back. Here’s my advice for us as we prepare for that grand Event, and occupy until He comes:
“Nerve, Nerve, Nerve!”
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