I really did ride on the little yellow school bus in Havana when I traveled with a Friendshipment Caravan in 2007.  And folks in Colorado have saved four buses now from the junk yard.  Three are already in Cuba and the fourth will get there this summer.  One of them is being used by the Juan Diaz Ortopedica Hospital in Havana.  It is a good thing that we have done and I am proud of and grateful to those who have made it possible.
     The story is also, as you may have guessed, about Ben.  All too often when peope retire they are no longer considered to be of value.  Ben knew that is simply not true--and so should you.  The best to you as you decide on your adventure, whatever it may be, when you head into your golden years.
   

Jenny advised Forest Gump to run whenever he was troubled.  If you remember, he ran to the coast three times.  Although I hardly ever ran because I was troubled, running was calming.  The picture on the left was probably taken after I had run about 16 miles in the Omaha Marathon.  I admit that, by this time, peace had given way to pain but I'm still glad I did it.  One of the ideas I took away from my running is that runners create their own environment.  So it is with life in general if we so choose.  We can't control a lot of our extenal circumstances.  We can control our disposition toward them.  Works for me.

I was appointed as a student pastor to a circuit of four Methodist churches.  My first Sunday, I preached at Isabella Methodist Church.  The Jenkins family was in attendance.  That evening I preached at Maplesville and lo and behold the Jenkins showed up.  I preached the same sermon I preached that morning.  Following the Service I did something I have never done since; I apologized to the family for having to hear the same sermon twice.  Carl said, "Preacher, I always tell my wife that if the soup is good the first time, it's good warmed over."  I thanked him for that.  Later, I realized that he never said it was good the first time.  Maybe you've heard my story about my visit to Spain before.  If so, I hope you will still find something in it that will brighten your day.

The Talmud says we see things as we are not as they are.  I can only guess the number of times I assumed that something was true about someone only to find out I was wrong.  Thank goodness I didn't always act on my assumptions.  I regret the few times I did.   I've discovered that when I've taken the time to ask questions, that time was not wasted.  And of all the questions that come to mind, the question "why?" is without doubt the most important.