From Muffins to Sacks

A good night’s rest is what was needed last night, and I woke up this morning feeling I received just that. I needed it, too, for tonight is similar to last night in that regard. BJ pulled off a good showing this morning at Grace Church of the Nazarene. Our host in Kansas City, Joey Condon, is also the pastor of this church. Joey was the facilities manager at Belhaven (yet another Belhaven connection; see any patterns growing on this trip?) several years ago, during my tenure there. There was a crowd of around 65 today, and from what I could tell, they thoroughly enjoyed the service, as a good many of them came to greet BJ after the show to commend him. Perhaps what I liked most about this church was the diversity in people. There were all types of ethnic groups gathered today in one voice in worship. I have been to many places in this world where such a scenario would not be possible, but one good thing I can say for the people Grace Church, and the people of Kansas City, is that this is a place where it can happen.

One of the neat things that happened today seemed almost biblical. As mentioned in an earlier blog about the WhaleBone Tour, we ran across a desert called Friendship Bread. We took some of these muffins from our hosts in St. Louis and will give them to friends on our way to California. We had four of them. We gave one to Bethany Herron yesterday, and will give the other three to three other people (who we will name when the time is right). Back to today…there are several missions Grace Church is involved in, and one of them is going to Panera Bread at the end of the day and collecting the bread that’s not going to be used. After they collect the bread, Grace Church will distribute the bread to people in need. However, last night Grace Church received an inordinate amount of bread, and after everybody in their church got the share they wanted, there was still three large hefty sacks worth of bread left over. So we had access to the bread and decided to take it the party at the Kelly’s house. Our thoughts was that it was now our responsibility to make sure people were given the bread. Therefore, our three muffins had increased to three large sackfuls of Panera Bread; similar to the story of the feeding of the five thousand with only a handful of fish and several loaves of bread. As John Wesley would say…

Praise be to God!

Allow me to get a little ahead of myself by saying that we were able to give all the bread away, and hopefully some people will be blessed by this. Moving on…

After a mellow afternoon, which included a tasty lunch, BJ, Joey, and I went over to Ron Kelly’s parents house for a party, where many of BJ’s old friends came to reunite with their chum. This was a most extraordinary visit. Some of the collectibles at this house included an original Ford Model-T car, gramophone, a Colt .38, etc. Many valuable antiques. If, and when, I ever write a movie that deals in the time period of the early 20th century in America, I’ll know who to talk to. Perhaps a gangster movie of some type. Attached to this blog is a quick video or our ride on the Ford Model-T, which was pretty awesome.

Tomorrow features a tour of Kansas City, some rehearsal, and some more blogging from yours truly. Perhaps I’ll pick up a hobby tomorrow. Like badmitten, or even fishing. Probably more blogging, though. More to come for you faithful WhaleBone followers to come.