I went up to Orange City, IA last Wednesday to spend the night and speak for the middle school group My Choice on Thursday morning. As most of you who live in Iowa know, we had one heck of a snowstorm on Wednesday night, especially up in Northwest Iowa. Due to the impending storm, I left early on Wednesday morning in hopes of beating the snow. I got to Orange City around 3 o'clock, just when the snow really started to come down. It then proceeded to keep coming down for around the next six or seven hours - snowing about an inch an hour.
So, not knowing whether or not my speaking engagement the next morning was canceled, (It was at the middle school at 7 AM) I headed over to Sioux Center, IA to pick up good friend, Dordt College student, and blog regular, Dustin, so that we could go out to eat and hang out. We went to the Pizza Ranch, played some pool (Dustin destroyed me), and then ate some dark chocolate over coffee while playing chess (I destroyed Dustin) in the Dordt College coffee house.
We had a great time. I always have a great time with Dustin, but just the fact that we had about four hours of time to just hang out with no other worries was fantastic. We just goofed off and watched the snow fall. Dustin told me about how anxious he is to get out of Dordt and head to the Netherlands to study overseas, and the whole time I kept thinking I wished I was back in college and hanging out with Dustin on a regular basis.
After "Dustin Time" was over, I made the slow crawl of a drive back to my hotel in Orange City. Usually, the drive between Orange City and Sioux Center is about 15 minutes. But due to the severity of the snowstorm, it took me about 45 minutes. But I made it safely, found a note that said my speaking engagement had been postponed by three hours in the morning, watched some cable TV, and hit the hay.
I slept in a little, packed up, and got a call from My Choice director Scott Starkweather telling me that I was now going to be speaking in school at 10:15 AM. It wasn't going to be for the My Choice group, but another group of middle schoolers, so it would be just about the same.
I talked about Abram and Lot from Genesis 13 and 14, and related it to the importance of family. The students were fantastic, and I even used one to play Lot to my Abram. Scott asked me to stick around and give the talk one more time for another group of students, so I did, and I had another great time. And then Scott asked me to stick around one more time, so I did, and, that's right, I had yet another great time.
I love speaking to Scott's group at the Middle School. It's a great group, and an amazing thing that he's got going on at the school. The students listen so well, and laugh at all the right places.
After I was done at the school, coincidentally enough, my good friend Rob Roozeboom of RISE Ministries happened to be having his RISE benefit dinner and auction that night. It had originally be scheduled for November 15th, but it'd been canceled due to poor weather, and had been rescheduled for the Thursday I was there. I was supposed to emcee the original event, but had another engagement, so when Rob heard I was in town last week, he asked me to stay the day and introduce him at the benefit that night and I agreed.
It was a great event. I spent the afternoon helping Rob and his crew set up the dinner hall. They had all kinds of great autographed sports memorabilia and fun gifts to bid on. While perusing the merchandise, I found something that I knew I just couldn't leave without - an autographed caricature of Buddy Hackett along with a FILA sweatshirt he used to wear around the house and a letter of authenticity for both from his wife.
For those of you who don't know, Buddy was the star of such hits as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, World, The Music Man, and one or more (I don't remember) of the Herbie movies. As soon as I saw the items, I raced to put my bid in. Oddly enough, no one else bid. I did see a few couples pick the items up and look at them fondly, though. I was very tempted to run over and tell them that it was the sweatshirt that Buddy had actually died in to scare them off, but it ended up that my fears weren't warranted because they didn't even bid. So at the end of the night, I got the picture and sweatshirt! What will I do with them now? I have no idea. But they're mine!
After the benefit was over (around 10:00 PM) I hopped back in the car and started the 5 1/2 hour long drive home. Driving long distances over the late night hours has become something I've gotten used to since I started speaking. Some time, I may have to blog on just exactly what that can be like at times. You tend to meet the most interesting gas station attendants at three in the morning, and I've seen my share of strange drivers and unidentifiable flying objects in the night sky on those lonely Iowa roads. But alas, that's for another time. This blog has gotten very long as it is!
I think I'm doing some improv this weekend in Omaha, and then doing a poetry reading next weekend for a bakery Christmas party. So expect more updates soon!
Till next time,
Jason
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