Friday, March 22, 2013

St. Louis BBQ Unimpressive to KC Native

So, here we are in St. Louis for my wife's birthday party with her extended family. I get persuaded to try a famous BBQ restaurant that was featured on a television show called "Man vs. Food."  Only it doesn't take too much persuading because there is NO BBQ, good or bad, in our new home of Dubuque (or decent Mexican or Chinese). So I overcame my hesitancy to eat BBQ outside of Kansas City simply because I was IN NEED.

The line of people waiting at Pappy's Smokehouse was about 300 feet long, though moving steadily.  I figured it must be good.

The result?  I am still convinced, and maybe now even more strongly, that the quality of BBQ has an inverse relationship with the distance from Kansas City. And St. Louis is quite a distance. 

So just like I have always maintained, don't bother with BBQ anywhere east of Biffle's BBQ in Concordia, MO, or anywhere west of Topeka or even Lawrence, or south of Bates City, MO or Stillwell, KS, or north of Smithville, MO.  Just don't even bother, okay?

The quality of the BBQ has an inverse relationship with the distance from Kansas City.  If you keep that in mind, you will never be disappointed in that regard.

VM

Monday, March 18, 2013

Dubuque Update

I had said that I would use this blog for status updates for our loved ones, since we don't do the Facebook thingy.  So here goes.  Here is a status update.  And since a lot of people seem to ask the same questions, I will use this status update for frequent questions.  I hope to post more pictures after we get a bit more settled in.

Q: How is Dubuque?
A: Cold.  The weather here is on average about 15 degrees cooler than KC every day.  As I write this today (March 18, two days before the Spring Equinox), we just received about 2 inches of fluffy snow.  The north facing slopes still had snow from the last few snow storms, so this was snow on top of snow in some areas.

The cooler weather will be nice in the summer.  And I am not complaining about the winter.  It actually reminds me of what winters were like when I was younger.  Also the street department here is very good about keeping the roads clear.  We live on a "side street" and not a main thoroughfare, but there are usually plow trucks going down our street within an hour of the start of snow, and they come by regularly as the storm progresses.  Our brick and stone house is warm, cozy and completely free of drafts as well.

The city is very small and very easy to find your way around once you get used to a few main streets.  We are finding the shortcuts as well as the scenic routes.   The shopping districts are close and everything we could ever need is within a few minutes' drive.

The people in the city are very nice.  Most are very devout Roman Catholics, attending mass weekly or even daily.  Catholics are generally hard to witness to but maybe these being nice upper Midwesterners may make them a little more open.

We have lived here six weeks as of tomorrow, by the way.

Q: How do you like your new job?
A: It is great so far (after five weeks today), but I still haven't done any of the real work for which I was hired.  I am still training, not on technical things but more on company policies, procedures and the like.  The atmosphere is professional for the most part and the people in my department are extremely friendly and ready to take me in and help me out.  The managers are great.  The culture is quite different than other large corporations but I can manage to fit in.  I am certainly blessed to be earning more than I ever have before and I praise the Lord to be now more disciplined and diligent about how I manage this stewardship.  I have been through Paul's school of money management:

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  -  Philippians 4:12-13.

Q: Have you gotten everything unpacked, put away, arranged, etc, yet?
A: Of course not.  The last time we moved was sixteen and a half years ago, with no kids and few belongings.  We rented a medium sized moving truck, loaded it up with room to spare and drove 18 blocks from 14th & Orv---- Avenue to 32nd & Orv---- Avenue.  This time was quite different.  We made two 400 mile trips with the largest truck possible and still sent a lot to the trash or to donations.  I remember what Jacob said on his return to Canaan, 20 years after leaving with the clothes on his back:

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.  -  Genesis 32:10.

I am not worthy but I am so glad to be this blessed.

One thing that is delaying our unpacking and arranging is the constant repair and maintenance -- not on our new house, but on our old stuff.  For example, tonight I just fixed our old freezer.  Somehow in the move, the power cable got crimped and shorted out.  We had finally gotten started on arranging the basement and plugged in the freezer on Saturday, but it still was not cold today.  So after I got off work and we had supper, it took me two hours to troubleshoot and another hour to fix and now it is bed time.  So I didn't get around to doing anything else on my list tonight.  Some other evening I need to hook up our icemaker.  And some other time I need to get a part for the dishwasher that was lost in the move.  So the list stays long and the nights and weekends stay busy.  This is in addition to trying to have some kind of social life with church friends, family time and such.

I do like the blessing of being busy and seeing the result of my work, even if it is just fixing something that used to work before.

Q: How are the churches there?
A: There are five churches in town that, based on their name alone, we might have tried.  After looking over church web sites, we found that one of these five seems to be leaning contemporary and is using a less accurate Bible version.  Another we also determined not to visit after I looked over their web site and saw a strong leaning toward the man-centered cultishness represented by the Hyles-Anderson crowd.  Another we visited once and found a very nice pastor and people, but I suspected that he was a Baptist Brider, which he confirmed when he visited our home.  A fourth church we will probably not visit based on the church's well known history and testimony of contentiousness, strife and pride.  So we have landed for now into the only remaining option in the city.  I don't want to sound like we "settled" out of desparation though, because this seems to be a church with great preaching and very humble and kind people anyway.  Without any of the issues of the other churches, we probably would have ended up where we now are.

We have not yet joined this church and it will be a while before we do just because I want to be careful.  But I have no reason at this point to think that we won't eventually join.

Q: Do you still like your new house?
A: We still *LOVE* it.  When I helped make the bed with clean sheets just a few minutes ago, my wife said, "It's even easier to make the bed in this house!"  We find things all the time to comment on and praise the Lord for.

Q: What's with the poetry on the blog?  Are you really that lonely / angry / happy / sad / whatever?
A: No, I am not.  I am very content with my situation and my emotions are stable and healthy.  Our marriage has been extremely rewarding for quite some time, especially as we drew closer together in the midst of much surrounding turmoil over the past year.  I am making friends, growing in Christ, trusting God daily and looking for that Blessed Hope, Titus 2:13.

So my poetry is not necessarily an exposition of my current state of mind.  I can write based on what I have experienced in the past as well as the present, or even based on feelings that others have expressed to me.  I can even write, and often do, from the standpoint of what I *might* be feeling, or what I might be *tempted* to feel, if I were to let my flesh go there.  My poetry may express the victory that I have in Christ, or it may express the potential defeat I can point to and say, "There but for the grace of God go I."

So, as I wrote in one recent poem, "Don't try so hard to get inside my head."  Many of the problems we went through in the past year were complicated and made worse by people trying to do exactly that.  I try hard to be as transparent as I can be, but I am still a very complex individual that only about five people understand very well.  I am grateful that one of those is my wife.  And I am thankful that the One Who made me understands me perfectly, AMEN!

Q: What are you doing about the ministry?
A: I am doing the same thing I did while I was the pastor of a church, and before, and since; the same thing every Christian ought to be doing: serving the Lord as He allows and leads, in whatever capacity I am able.  I do not know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future and I am content to leave the matter in His hands and follow His leading.  There is much I don't know, but I do know this:

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!  -  I Corinthians 9:16

VM

Monday, March 11, 2013

Islands of Snow

It's early March and now, wherever I go,
I find little, lonely, stranded islands of snow.
The sun came out, you see,
And cut them off (like me).
With no friends left behind that they know,
They're little, lonely, stranded islands of snow.

They saw their danger and they hid so well.
Around a wall, beneath a tree, behind a hill.
But their friends remained behind,
Or maybe on the front lines.
So were these hidden the cowardly, or wise? I don't know.
But now they're little, lonely, stranded islands of snow.

They must be so lonely. That's easy to see.
They've been weeks without contact. They remind me of me.
They reach out but find silence.
They're almost tempted to violence.
What was it that caused all their fellows to go?
Who will answer their questions? For I'd like to know.
What's the reason they're little, lonely, stranded islands of snow?

I think I finally understand their woe.
This is just the natural process flow.
Some friends conspired.
Some just grew tired.
It happens in cycles; the same wherever you go.
Sooner or later, we are all little, lonely, stranded islands of snow.

Victor Mowery
Monday, March 11, 2013.