This was the Pastor who hosted us for the week - Pastor Jeff Klingenberg. (or PJ, or Colonel Klink, or Klinger, or Klinky-dink). What a great guy and a fun man of God. Don't let this picture fool you. He does have a silly side.
Highlights of the Week:
1. Nicknames: We had a student ride with us (Troy, Dawn, and I) in the car every day, and we took it upon ourselves to deem them with a new name. We had Magellan, Ups, Flo, and Peter Son of Tater Heir to the Throne of Bobcat. Don't ask. It was a long week.
2. Canadians: What a great group! I've totally changed my opinion on Canadians. I didn't tell our group this last week, but I've had a few not so great experiences with Canadians before. Well these two groups from Alberta totally changed my mind. They were some of the most humble, ministry minded, caring folks I've ever met.
3. Shark's Teeth: Yeah, I was one of the few that found one on the beach.
4. Canadians
5. Troy and Dawn: I got to spend A LOT of time with these two this week. Now, let me just give you a little insight into our relationship as a ministry team. The three of us, along with business guy Mark Elgersma, are the core of Happy the Dog Ministry. We get to travel together quite often.
Now, you'd think, being the world travelled, amazing musician, theater trained, theologian, Christians that we are - you would think that we'd have some pretty fantastic conversations about God, life, faith, and all those kinds of things. Well here's a typical conversation for us:
Troy, Dawn, and I head out for steaks on our last night before our flight home, and I go to use the restroom. As I'm unbuttoning my shorts, the button on the front of my new Old Navy shorts pops off and lands in the urinal. Now, I have a very simple rule about the bathroom - anything that lands in the toilet (under a certain value, of course) stays in the toilet. I quickly realize that buttons are worth mere pennies, and I did indeed have a spare attached to my inside pocket, so I let it be.
As we're waiting for our table, I tease Troy that I've left something for him in the bathroom that I wonder if he could fish out for me. Troy immediately goes to the bathroom and comes back with my button. You see, Troy has been serving as a temporary janitor at a high school for some weeks now, and he says that's he's fished all kinds of things out of toilets and gross places. He tries to give me the button back.
I decline.
He says I'm being silly. I should take and reuse the button. It's been thoroughly washed.
I say I don't care how well it's been washed. It was in the toilet. I'll use my spare.
Troy says I'm being silly. Dawn now chimes in and says I should just use it. I have a feeling she's just egging Troy on, because I'm pretty sure Dawn wouldn't use a pee button.
Troy tells me I'm a baby and that I need to chill out.
I tell Troy that I've had to do gross things in my life. I grew up on a pig farm afterall, and I worked there six months after college. I've done gross things. I just choose when I do them. I do not want the button back.
Was I crazy here? It fell in the urinal! The toilet! It got very wet! I've asked a few people since coming home and they have all agreed with me - once the button hit the water, it's gone!
What do you think? Feel free to chime in on the comments. I'd love to hear who you think is really right?
I'll update some more on Bradenton with more pics later!
Till next time,
Jason
5 comments:
Jason,
I do agree wth you - no pee buttons for me!
But, what I do want is to see a new picture of that baby on your blog site.
Sheri Bousema
You are weak! Some of the stories I've heard about you and you wouldn't take a "rinsed off" button back. C'mon Jason, I expect better of you!
Love the beach picture by the way. Am missing the sunshine lately - especially as it was snowing here this morning. My west coast blood is used to a partial tan by now!!
I was a Janitor for 4.5 years and never fished something out of the toilet and used it. It was always treated as biohazard waste.
I totally missed the trip man, until next time....
Mark
Nice shot. How is your boy and Andrea doing?
becky
I'm more interested in how you spent the next day (or several hours) after your authentic Mexican food; I'm surprised you only popped off a button...
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