I am a blessed man. I have a wonderful and generous mother who has shown me faith in God and in myself. I also have a loving, patient, and encouraging wife who is an incredible mother to our three boys. Mother’s Day reminds me of these truths, though I see them in action every day. Thanks Mom and Sue for making me a blessed man, husband and father.

One more college year has come to an end. This year differs because it is the end of my first year teaching at Evangel University. People often ask newlyweds questions like “how’s married life?” In much the same I have had a lot of people ask, “How’s Springfield?” wanting to know how my first year at EU has gone. My answer? I don’t really know. It has been very different. I have been far less busy and almost invisible; which is drastically different than what I was used to. In some ways this has been good but in other ways not so good. In any case, neither will last forever. I have had a great deal of time to read and do research, and this was a primary reason for moving. The worst part is that we are still in boxes. For some reason we have not been able to find a home. That may sound odd considering the fact that it’s supposed to be a buyer’s market and we should be able to name our price in a gut of “for sale” homes. Not in Springfield. The housing market doesn’t greatly appreciate here, and the reverse is also true. It’s also the case that we do not want to have a school change for our boys, and thus we have had to limit our area of search. The weather here is also very different for us. I don’t mind the extremes that characterize Midwest weather, but I do not at all like tornadoes. Knowing that you are in tornado country is just part of life here. Many people I ask think little of it and some give no response to the sound of a tornado siren. This year has been very active, and although Springfield has for the most part dodged the bullet, there have been those tense afternoons and evenings when I stay glued to the radar. Saturday afternoon (5/10) was one of those times, today is supposed to be another. I don’t know if I will ever get used to it.

One last little situation: I don’t diet well, but I've found that if I run for an hour a day I generally keep my weight reasonable. I run in the evenings, usually after dark. Over the last few months I have had this situation with a few of the neighbor high school boys. Apparently they believe antagonizing runners is sort of a sport. Completely unprovoked they curve over to my side of the road and floor it as the go by, often yelling some comment or another. Their behavior has grown bolder lately and I am getting the impression that they may want to take things to another level. It is hard to know how to respond. Do you go to their parents, call the police, or just carry a canister of pepper spray? For the summer months I have decided to quit running after dark hoping their behavior will be different in broad daylight. Sometimes I think I am getting old; I just cannot remember a time in my life when I would have thought of such behavior as being funny.