A few brief words -- personal notes

So much has happened. The last week has been a very mixed one for me. Michael and LaMelva Eubanks outdid themselves putting together a great conference. Herb Peters and I shared a platform for the first time. The audience was both enthusiastic and informed. I had to leave that conference at Southfield's beautiful Embassy Suites Hotel to make a sad journel to Fort Wayne, Indiana to say my final goodbyes to my sister Linda. After a four year battle with cancer, she passed last Tuesday. Family viewing was Sunday and the funeral and Linda's "last hurrah" at the lovely home husband, Dr. Barth Ragatz, and Linda shared was held. I was thrilled to learn that Linda had made peace with God and died fully trusting in Jesus.

The Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan has been archiving my work. Their acquisitions director will be at my home in the morning to map out a strategy to physically remove 25 years of paperwork. They have already archived what spilled over to my office, but the meat of my collection spanning 25 years of research on the New Age Movement resides in my home. I will be so happy to have it moved. That means we can finally reorganize and redecorate.

Condition wise, our home is probably 1/3 of what we moved into when we purchased it in 1984. The assessor thinks it is 3 times the house we bought! That increase is certainly only on paper. With wheelchair traffic and my research, you can imagine the condition of carpeting. Frankly, I am inclined to let nobody in until it is redecorated. I have been saying that for the past 12 years!

But, considering the misery one sees with Katrina victims, Pakistan, New Hampshire and New Jersey flood victims, I am more than thankful to have a dry roof over our head, even if that roof needs redoing, which it does!

Pray for me. Pray for the Katrina, Pakistan, New Hampshire, and New Jersey folk as well. It has been a stressful month -- it has been a stressful year. Michigan is not going through a recession. Given the outsourcing of everything, it feels far more like a depression. The "New World Order" has not been kind to at least the American economy. Turbulent times seem to be the order of the day for much of the world and we all need God's grace to make it through.