Whew!

What a hideous, exhausting 10 days! I thank God it's over! Now my life gets back to something more like a normal schedule.

Many thanks for the notes I've received and the support I have felt from many of you.

Our vestry has now completed the two-days-each interviews of the three finalists to become rector of our parish. What an amazing experience this has been! We are not a parish that cultivates some abstract notion of "diversity." But the pool of finalists could not have been more diverse in the usual terms of ethnicity and gender. More striking was the difference in the candidates' styles, passions, strengths, and backgrounds. I think we grew to like them all. And as the process moved toward an end, I don't think I'm the only one who came to realize that we have the power to touch each other and change each other's lives. Once we make a decision early next month and someone accepts our offer, lives will be changed – the lives of the candidates and their families and current parish, and the lives of all those in our parish. It's a humbling responsibility.

I spent the weekend working the AFRECS national conference. ENS ran a good story about the conference, and I had the delightful experience of spending some time in one-on-one chat with the ENS staff person, talking with him about my perceptions about how TEC seems finally to be providing better coverage of the news and events and issues in our church. I had a marvelous time working alongside other members of our Companion Diocese Committee (composed mostly of others who – like me – have spent time in Sudan's Diocese of Lui) to "pull off" the site arrangements and logistics for this conference. And it was marvelous to meet other people from the U.S., Canada, and England who are working there.

I'm not doing justice here to what's been happening in these last many days. Oh well. But I'm back now. Back to the regular schedule of working my 8-5 weekday job, and spending evenings on matters Episcopalian. Thanks for your patience and support.