Annual Conference

Hello from the United Methodist Annual Conference located in Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa!

Ok, not quite that excited about it, but it makes for a good introduction. As I'm writing this, the "Praise Band" is banging out this funky beat, to which the old folks are bobbing their heads to in approval....hee hee...makes a good image too! :-)

This is my second conference, my first was an eye opening experience on the political side of the church, blah. Left wing, right wing, and all that stupidity that we deal with on the news came jumping out and slapped me upside the head. I was pretty unhappy with the whole thing, other then listening to our Bishop speak. Dude could preach!

For the current conference, I feel a little more prepared for the left/right/center parts of things, which makes enjoying the people and the various services more enjoyable. Plus, the Bishop (a different on from my last time) can talk it up too!

I'm not what you would call a God fearing man, far from it. As a kid, things really never made "sense" to me, and it was only amplified as I grew older. After the tragic loss of my father in law in a farming accident, and seeing how people reacted to that (oh it's God's plan), that pretty much ended any true belief. And seeing my mother in law die less then two years of cancer just reinforced that feeling.

However, both times here at conference, I've felt a sense of renewal just by listening to the good that people do. True, it done because of a belief system that I don't buy into (ask me about what I think of missions sometime! LOL), but yet, there is great good being done. If that good could be channeled into our country, our cities, our towns, I would be more likely to make more donations towards those causes. As it is, we do make donations to those missions who serve the poor and downtrodden in our state/country, but when my brother leaves his 1 year old daughter and pregnant wife to wife to go on a mission trip to Africa to pass out tooth brushes and candy, I have a huge problem with this. And no, that wasn't all they did, but it was a part of it, along with trying to convert people to Christianity. Don't get me started.

Anyway, I guess my point of all this is, there is good in the world. It's all around us, but we have to look for it, and seek it out, and savor it when we do find it. A church, preacher, or "amen" isn't always needed, just a belief that people are capable of doing great things when aimed in that direction, regardless of their belief systems.

Finally, our Bishop just played Wii tennis and bowling on the jumbotron here in the coliseum, pretty freekin cool!!! LOL!!