The Priest and The Parson

The day after Christmas and The Priest and The Parson is on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Priest-Parson-Dan-Weatherington/dp/1479192996/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1356528986&sr=8-20&keywords=Dan+Weatherington

It Was Interesting... But, It's Over

As you did, I waited a long time for last night. The robo-calls on the telephone went past disgusting. The mailbox full of oversized postcards got ridiculous and the same ads over and over on TV were absurd.
I flipped through all the channels last night, and finally found CBS was the best, especially with the sound off. I can't say I found the least need to be reminded who 53.6% of the white males voted for in 1964 or who 73.8% of the Hispanic baggage carriers in Rhode Island voted for yesterday, so the sound stayed off. For a while, it looked like Obama was losing. Okay, but the "swing" states were still out and still out and stayed out, something I couldn't do any longer. Oh well, I'll find out in the morning.
At 1:30 I woke up. Thousands of people in front of huge Obama pictures were waving American flags and a line was at the bottom of the screen... Waiting for President Obama's acceptance speech. It was over, finally!
I now have four years to figure out how to do away with my telephone, junk my mail box and forget about TV. I believe I can do it!
Have a great day,
Dan  

A Good Week

Have I used "A Good Week" before? Probably so. But it was a good week. My books are doing okay. The Priest and The Parson will be out in a couple of weeks and I'm well into The Thrill Seekers - The Haunting of Derbyshire Castle, the last of the Thrill Seekers Trilogy. And, my webpage http://www.danweatherington.com/ has been brought up to date. But, enough about me.
The Bishop, the Parson, the Professor and I have done our lunch thing uninterrupted by funerals, weddings, meetings and Bar Mitzvahs for a solid monthe... four weeks... one twelfth of a year. The Professor did miss one lunch, but it was because of some latent desire he has to be a school bus driver and knowing the cause, we gave him an excused absence.
Otherwise, it has been great!
We have hashed over politics to the point, I believe, the country, state, county and city are now in fine shape... that is if all these candidates will listen to us. I don't remind the preachers not to spout politics in the pulpit, probably because we think they agree with us. We think! Now the Bishop's "Man of faith for Obama" pin is a dead giveaway. And, when I announced I had already voted straight Democrat, I was quickly reminded that meant I had voted for a couple of candidates that we had already established weren't exactly desirable, I could have crawled under the table. BUT, this too will pass.
Have a good weekend and a Good Week.
Dan

Actual Headlines

Do they proofread this stuff? Here are actual newspaper headlines:

-Miracle cure kills 600 patients
-Rangers get whiff of Colon
-Total lunar eclipse will be broadcast live on Northwoods Public Radio
-The bra celebrates a pair of historic milestones this year
-Starvation can lead to health hazards
-Rally against apathy draws small crowd
-Police arrest everyone on February 22nd
-Parents keep kids home to protest school closure
-New sick policy requires two day notice
-Nudists fight erection of towers near Wreck Beach
-Man with 8 DUIs blames drinking problem
-Hospitals resort to hiring doctors
-Homicide victims rarely talk to police
-Barbershop singers bring joy to school for deaf
-Meat head resigns
-Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after 25
-Federal Agents Raid Gun Shop, Find Weapons
-Caskets found as workers demolish mausoleum
-County to pay $250,000 to advertise lack of funds
-Puerto Rican teen named mistress of the universe
-Man accused of killing lawyer receives new attorney
-Study shows frequent sex inhances pregnancy chances
-Bridges help people cross rivers
-Meeting on open meetings is closed
-City unsure why the sewer smells
-Worker suffers leg pain after crane drops 800 pound ball on his head

Preachers and Reap People

I love Preachers. In a few weeks, I'll publish a book about preachers. The book is based on two great preachers, two great friends. The Bishop and the Parson.
I love Preachers. I love to make fun of them. They expect it. After all... who wouldn't want a job that you only have to work an hour a week? Sorry, couldn't resist!
I make fun of Preachers, but sometime, there's another side.
We have lunch every week, the Parson, the Bishop, the Professor and I. But, this week the Parson may not come. He's feeling poorly. In part, it is because he has recently buried some good friends.
There is an old Irish saying to "Live a life that is so good that even the undertaker   will hate to see you go". The Parson has seen some people go whose life lived up to this saying. I hate it, because I look forward to seeing my friend on Thursdays.
Yet, I understand. I have seen the pain in the Parson's face before. I have seen the same pain in the Bishop's face after a funeral, or two, or three, or more.
Yes, it would be great to have a job where you only worked an hour a week, but not so great if it required saying the last words over a friend. Not so great at all.
Be there Thursday, Parson.
Have a Great Day,
Dan

Times they are a changing

This morning, on my way to Hardee's, one of my favorite songs of the seventies came on. It was the Village People singing YMCA. I loved that song. It was upbeat and made you happy. Unfortunately, this fantastic group fell into oblivion when it came out that they were gay.
It was the seventies, they were gay, and...
They are still performing thirty years later, but aren't as acclaimed as they were, and should be.
Thank God times have changed. If you were to do away with the known gay entertainers, Hollywood would be a ghost town and, for all but a few sickos who still hold outmoded values, sexual preference has nothing to do with talent.
My last book, The Thrill Seekers II - Mattox is Missing, is holding it's own and my current project, tentatively titled "The Parson and the Priest" should be complete in a few weeks.
"The Parson and the Priest" is based on two people I have known for quite a while and have referred to frequently as the "Bishop" and the "Parson". The main crux of the book is that the clergy is first human. They have pluses and minuses, good points and bad points, and wants and needs like all of us. I am totally enjoying writing the book and my unbiased opinion is that it is great!
Thanks,
Dan
http://danweatherington.com
http://danweatherington.blogspot.com

Last Night

Last night was a treat. It was quiet, Judy was taking her nightly nap. She likes to take a nap after supper before she goes to bed. (Don't ask me!?!) Like I said, it was quiet and I was excited because tomorrow the two preachers, the professor and I will be breaking bread. I had already taken my bath, brushed my teeth and done all that nightly stuff and was flipping between my absolute favorite Broadway show, West Side Story, and one of my favorite movies, You've Got Mail. Just before nine o'clock Meg Ryan met Tom Hanks in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side (one of my favorite places) and told him that she wanted it to be him so badly to Over the Rainbow (One of my favorite songs) and I flip over to see Natalie Wood singing Tonight with Tony (One of my absolute favorite songs). It just doesn't get any better than that!!! Plus, I am totally in love with both Natalie Wood and Meg Ryan and have been for years. And, I'm no fool. I know Natalie Wood is dead and Meg Ryan is married and lives three thousand miles away, but every relationship has a few little rough spots that need to be worked out!
Have a great day,
Dan

This Week

This week the four of us will be together. Totally excited about the event, I contacted a man who supposedly put together a large part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee to see about obtaining a flotilla and a marching band. After he considered my request and our budget, he stated the best he could do was a john-boat and a couple of guys playing kazoos. Totally offended, I made some some rather verbose statements.
At this point, he informed me in no uncertain words that the Bishop of Wilson was not the same as the Archbishop of Canterbury, that a professor at Wilson Tech was not the same as Harvard or Yale, there was only one Queen, but that anyone with two dollars and ninety-five cents and an Internet connection can be a Baptist preacher, and that as far as my giveaway of over seven hundred books, Lowe's gives that many books away every day telling people how to unclog their toilet.
I was offended, but upon reflection, realized my plans were not to come to fruition. And, the more I thought about it, no matter how lively and pithy my books may be, if I had a clogged toilet, I would definitely be more interested in one of the books from Lowe's than any I had written.
Oh well, we'll be together this week, we'll have fun, and beside... what's a john-boat?
Have a great day,
Dan

Another Day

   How many times have I started with "Yesterday Was Nice"? If I was to do it right, I would have to say the same thing again. Yesterday was nice, but in order to be perfect another person would have been at our table. The Deacon was visibly absent. Oh, his reasons were more than valid. His mom had minor surgery three hours before our normal lunch time and he had a funeral an hour after we would normally begin, which brings me to some thoughts.
   I know I make jokes about the late-night preachers selling their "Miracle Water" and "No Evil Oil" and I honestly believe the people I see hawking their brand of Christianity on TV are no more than con men sucking money from anyone weak enough to buy into their scam, but I also know both the Deacon and the Bishop. And, I have never heard either ask for personal gain or promise something they couldn't deliver in order to wretch a few coins from someone less fortunate.
   No, I know the Deacon and the Bishop. I know them well. And, I know what they make and while neither has to worry about his check at Harris Teeter bouncing, I have never been blinded by the glare from either one's Rolex or lost my parking place to their Rolls Royce. No, what I know about both of them just doesn't fit my picture of the late-night con men. This is what gives me pause.
   The two of them, the Deacon and the Bishop, shepherd over two of the largest congregations in Wilson and have a contact with every person in those congregations. For all intents and purposes, these people are their family and I have to wonder how I would feel, or react, to losing one or two family members a week. My mental picture is not pretty.
   The Deacon's congregation is older and to put it simply, they're dropping like flies . Yet, he maintains. For this, I admire him. But, I have to wonder how?
   The Deacon delivered a sermon a few weeks ago about how he is included in the best, and the worst, of his congregation's life. He is there to marry them, to baptize them... and he is there to bury them. This is indeed a fact. For most people in time of joy they call their pastor. In time of pain... they call their pastor. For this I must admire them. And, I do admire them for far more than just this. Time and time again I have seen both of them join with people, not of their denomination, to provide a kindness, a service.
    While my late-night money hawkers would never entertain any idea that their way of believing isn't the only way, so many times I have seen both the Deacon and the Bishop reach beyond such silliness.
   Yes, I admire them both. Would I admit this in public? Never!
   Would I concede at our weekly lunches that either one of them are any more than small town Benny Henn's or Jim Bakker's groping for every farthing? Get real! So, let's just keep this between us.  
 

Yesterday

   Yesterday was nice. The Professor and Mrs. Professor went on a well deserved sabbatical to Myrtle Beach so it was just me and the two preacher fellas. We had stimulating conversation about the death penalty, gay marriage and abortion and, strangely enough, there was no screaming, yelling or cursing. It was entirely civil. A couple of times I thought about trying to bring up some bad points about the Professor since he wasn't there to defend himself, but I couldn't think of one. How can a college professor who is around drugs, lust and raging teen age hormones every day be so without sin? Amazing!
  I hope he'll be back next week.
Have a good day,
Dan

Yesterday

Yesterday was nice. The four of us got together for the first time in a while. We hashed out recent goings on and talked about things soon coming up. It was just nice.
Dan