Every once in a while I get a kick in the pants that sets me on the straight and narrow ...for a while anyway.  This new realization began with Pastor Randy's sermon on Sunday.  The subject was "time"...not having time, etc.   Can you imagine that topic would get my interest?  I'm not good at managing my time.  I used to be, but no more.  In my defense, most of the time when my day doesn't go the way I want it to, it's because I'm doing something for someone else...something for the paper, something for a booster group or church, something for family...once I take a step away from my plan for the day, I get behind.  I'm so far behind now, I'll meet myself on the way!  

The fact that Pastor Randy picked that particular Sunday to speak on time is one of those things that happen that let me know God is looking out for me.  I typically don't hear Pastor Randy's sermons because I'm in the Nursery.  If the kids are quiet, I can hear most of what's going on through the speaker.  When there are a lot of kids or they are having a particularly good time, I hear nothing.  I had planned to go to the Nursery again this Sunday, but we had some kids stay for morning worship and one of them was old enough to take Nursery duty and she offered to take the kids down.  Therefore, I heard the sermon - and I needed to hear it!  

Kids helping kids!  Sunday was a great day in Port Allegany. Kids from our church collected for UNICEF and raised over $200 for their efforts.  Scouts of all ages and their leaders collected two pick-up truck loads of non-perishable food items for the local food pantry (PACS).  The kids can feel really good about what they accomplished that day.  The weather cooperated big time!  It was beautiful.  

I tried to work on the time thing on Monday, but it wasn't going well.  I started thinking about everything that needed to be done while trying to do the first thing on the list for the day and that was not allowing me to complete task one quickly and efficiently.  I was worried about getting my newspaper stuff done as I had appointments that would occupy most of my Tuesday morning.  When things get to be too much, I go to my "poor me" mode and that pretty much seals the deal that I will not have a successful day/evening.  That's when I walked back into my office and the Oprah show was on.  I didn't hear the beginning and was distracted in the middle, but what I did see was a young couple who was dealing with an indescribable loss.  A semi ran into the back of their mini-van and they lost all three of their young children - a son and two daughters.  They were talking about their grief and how they get through each day.  It made my problems seem pretty small.  

When I came back into the room, I had missed a segment and Oprah was talking about a miracle.  I wondered what it could be, but I was called out of the room and missed it.  When I came back, the couple who had previously talked about their grief and how they weren't sure they could go on, were holding three beautiful children.  I don't know anything that was said in between - wish I would have taped the show - but the bottom line was this couple was blessed with triplets - one boy, two girls. Amazing!   The couple explained that while these triplets did not in any way replace the loss of their first three children,  that they definitely brought joy back into their home.  If you don't have a good evening after hearing all that - there's something wrong!

Today, I spent another morning at Charles Cole.  Once again, didn't have to wait long, every one I dealt with was very friendly, very professional and most importantly to me - very kind knowing that I'm scared to death of whatever it is they plan to do to me.  

There were several things I thought of last week that I was going to talk about in this week's column.  Those ideas have all left my memory.  If any of them return, we'll have the column already done for next week!