About a friend

Our community has lost a great man this weekend. Longtime community member and a friend to all, Nick Gampp lost his life.
There is no doubt in my mind that Nick was loved by everyone he came in contact with over the years.
According to his obit, nick was an Art and History professor at Shawnee State University and a member of Sunshine Church of Christ in Minford. Nick was a florist, local artist and active in the Southern Ohio Museum and Cultural Center and area garden clubs.
SSU President Dr. Rita Rice Morris said in a released statement, "Nick loved his work and he loved his students. He touched many lives through teaching – and through his art. We will miss his influence on our Fine Arts Department and our campus. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, his family, and all who were fortunate enough to have known him.”
During my time at Shawnee State I majored in Fine Arts and I had the pleasure of taking numerous art classes with him. He became a treasured friend.
Nick was known for sharing his artwork, such as beautiful collages, made from things he found around the house or along his daily journey. He made one I fell in love with and had to have. After it was displayed in the Appleton Gallery
 in the Vern Riffe Center of the Arts, I expressed my desire to purchase it. To make a long story short, I ended up with the collage and it has hung in my house ever since.
Even though I graduated college six years ago and have seen Nick once or twice in that time, I still called him a friend.
As an example of the impact he had on this community and the SSU community. When the news broke on Facebook of his passing it was within a matter of minutes people were expressing their sorrow and fond memories.
One of his former students wrote,"He was a one-of-a-kind for sure. He taught many people not just about art but how to embrace it with passion. He was the only professor that has taught several members of family and we never have felt so blessed to have had him in our lives."
The scripture 2 Timothy 4:7 comes to mind, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
As this community says goodbye to a great man, it is my hope and prayer that we will be thankful for the people we have in our lives.

Life is like a good game of words with friends...

For the past several years now, I have been playing Words With Friends.
For those of you who are not aware of the game, it's similar  to Scrabble, but digital. Not to boast but at any given point I will have 20 or more games going at the same time with various friends.
In my mind, there are various degrees to which people play the game.

Among those 20 or so games I am playing there are a few things that ring true,
1. The minute you play the game, it will take up about a half hour of your time.
2. When you make a move against certain people, they will be there to make a move right back.
This is true with about 5 friends I play against. They have always been there to make a counter move for every move that I make, no matter the time of day.
3. There are some who can not stand for it to be their move. If I make a move, well into the night. A few minutes later they are there to make a move as well.
4. We could go on for hours making various moves without saying a word.
5. Then there are some, in which it takes them a while to make a move, for various reasons (like, they have a life or something).
6. In my case there are certain people you play where I am going to loose by 100 points. 
Here are some of the things I've learned from Words with Friends,  
There is always going to be that beat you at this game, and there are those who will put up a good game and you still loose about by 1 or 2 points.
Then there will be those who you beat by 100 points or those who put up a good game and you win by about 1 or 2 points.
So is the game of Life, there are days in which we feel like we could never win or get ahead because everyone else has made better moves than we have.
Then there are days/weeks/months in which the opposite rings true. When we we are just sailing along and are on top of the world.
My hope and prayer for you my friends,  is that you have more days in which we feel on top of the world.

A weekend for me

This weekend was supposed to be men's retreat at Camp Bountiful. The event was canceled due to lack of participation. So, this freed up my calendar a bit. This is not a bad thing, it allowed me some time to do what I wanted when I wanted.
On Saturday, I went to Shawnee State University's Graduation, there were a ton of people there. They graduated nearly 500 people. With double if not triple that number in the audience.  

 

After that I was invited to attend an Indian Burial. It was an interesting experience. It's always interesting to see how they conduct such a ceremony. A friend of mine was interested in the service so she came with me. It took about an hour and she said her life was changed as a result. It was easy to experience the spirit that was there in abundance.  Most of the people that participated in the service was from northern Ohio. They made the trip to honor those who were being reburied. 

Later Saturday afternoon I went and saw the Avengers in 3D. It was a sweet movie, filled full of action and laughter. I would recommend you see it. I got to the theater about a half hour early and was 50 people back in the line. Despite that I  was still able to get decent seats.

On Sunday, I went to church and then decided to drive to Columbus to do some shopping. I ended up at Target and surprisingly able to find several things I could not live with out. 

Later that afternoon I went to a friends celebration of life. This was a man that had a profound impact on this community, to an extent that is not yet known to a lot of people. 

So, that was the extent of my weekend it was action packed and had a lot of experiences. This weekend I am working on Saturday so, who knows what that will have in store. I am presiding over Sunday services and will be celebrating Mothers day on Sunday. 

The following weekend there will be a lock-in that will have a lot of people and fun.

And the planing for camp has started......

I hope your weekend was really productive as well.

     

The calendar is filling up...

So, I do not think I need to tell any of you but this is a busy time of year for everyone. In my case the calendar is starting to fill up. For example this week I am organizing a visit from the governor to our habitat house. This has been an adventure, all in its self. This weekend I will be at camp working and helping to get the camp together for the coming camping session.
Well, I will not bore you will all the details of my calendar, but I just wanted to take the time to say I hope you all are having fun during this busy time of year...