It has been a sober week around Cono. Teachers have been working hard at preparing for classes. I have been putting in long days, trying to get each of my four classes prepped and get other things done as well like cleaning my classroom. I have pulled out of this week ahead of the game however. I've got my classes prepped with very "Bill Davis-esque" syllabi printed out and ready to hand out to the students. My classroom is in order and I finished seating charts this afternoon. Now I just have to wait for the students to get here so we can start orientation.
But all of our hard work has been overshadowed of course by the news of the Duble tragedy. That is affecting every staff member at Cono due to the fact that Eric Duble is our pastor. He is here today and he gave us all an official report on how Noah died. Eric and his son Matt were actually the last to be with Noah, as they were playing football with him by the lake where they were vacationing. The cause of death continues to be mysterious. Noah did not fall in the water or suffer any kind of physical injury. He merely collapsed as he ran to pick up a football. Eric's last memory of Noah was of holding a football and smiling.
Eric will leave for Chattanooga tomorrow with his family for Noah's funeral service to be held at Rock Creek Fellowship. My thoughts are heavily with my home church right now and I very much wish I could be in Chattanooga. I feel that the Lord must be working very powerfully at Rock Creek to be sending so many dramatic trials into the lives of its leadership. Eric Youngblood's sickness was very traumatic last fall and led the congregation to pray in ways that it never had before. We were all very scared and shocked. And now Troy, one of Rock Creek's elders, is suffering one of the worst tragedies imaginable. I remember that Eric Yougblood prayed very specifically and very often that Rock Creek would become a praying church. He taught on it intentionally and frequently, and in many of our personal conversations Eric would talk about the importance of prayer as if it were truly "the" work of the church and of a pastor. Well I think God is answering Eric's prayer in a powerful way because Rock Creek is becoming a praying church through these trials, and I feel that Rock Creek will continue to be a praying church for a long time.
Cono had another scare just yesterday when Becky Brown and Jenny Brown, Eric Brown's mother and sister, got into a serious car accident, flipping their car twice and then into a ditch. They were miraculously unharmed. So that incident turned into a major praise to the Lord.
So Cono itself is a praying place these days. We have been given a lot of reasons to pray which is something to be thankul for I think, even when the things we are praying about give us sadness.
On a lighter note, I am getting my CDL so that I can become a school bus driver. I had to go to a three hour course where I watched a number of videos, one of which was called "Dont Veer for Deer." Yes, you are required in the state of Iowa to hit a deer if it comes across your path. Did anyone else know that the deer population in the US is on a major uprise? Bambis of the world, watch out!
I do appreciate every one's comments and every one's prayers!
Posted by todd at August 12, 2005 05:40 PM