Kissimmee Odds & Ends

If you have 34 odds and ends on a table, and you knock 33 of them off, what do you have left?  An odd or an end?   - George Carlin

Today I want to share a few odd thoughts on my years at FUMC-K, and bring that section of this blog to an end.  There will be some more New York stories coming in a month and more ski trip stories as well, but tomorrow we will move on to the Union Church of Hinsdale.  So here we go!

• Way back in April I told you the story of SFM's return trip from Walt Disney World in 1993.  Included in that story was a description of a stop we made at Simmon's Truck Stop in South Carolina, and I promised you there would be yet another tale told about that place.  I never got around to telling it until now.  The FUMC-K group was returning from a ski trip in West Virginia, with Vern Watson and David Johns (pictured) driving the bus.    A car pulled along side of the bus and told Vern that the tread was coming off one of the rear tires.  We decided to stop at the next exit and check it out.  We pulled off, and turned into the large parking lot of a truck stop.   I could not believe our bad luck.  We were back at Simmon's, and it had not changed a bit- the guns, the dobermans and the porn were all still there!  To understand just how horrible this place was, click here to get the whole story.  What are the odds- different church groups, several years apart, winding up in the same hell hole needing a tire.  And I don't think we saved a soul either time...

• At a National Youth Workers Convention I attended with Jerry Hanbery and the other Banana Splits, Jerry had the Affirmation Team at the NYWC put up a banner honoring me.  I don't know if I ever really told him how much that meant to me, but I kept it for years, and it is pictured at right in the enormous closet (with the Wendy's cups) that was in my office.  Thanks, Sundance- for so many things!
• In November of 1999, Andrew Lewis, Mark McKenna and myself drove from Kissimmee to Cincinnati for the NYWC (Jerry joined us as well, although by then he driving a truck and just met us there for part of the time).  I don't know how many miles we drove, but I do know this:  It takes 17 CD's to make that trip- right Mark?  :)




Caron Cook and Kim Heiter


• Tommy Weaver, Meagan Hill, Joe Molnar, Eric Jakobsen, Jason Fry, Wayne Crotty, Cindy Franklin, Erin Bay, Jill Franklin, Aaron Falcon, Joan Thompson, Tricia Young, Bobby Young, Kim Heiter, Caron Cook, Lindsey Joiner, Brian Joiner, Natalie Moon, Megan Bay, Hamp Sessions, Chris Hanbery, Daniel Autrey, Celia Thacker, Matt Wheeler, Kristin King, Angie Whalin, Krystle Singleton, Melissa Pollock, Brook Teoli, Matthew Teoli, Ashley Blazina, Stephanie Gorman, Ashley Arrington, Sarah Dykes, Elizabeth Dykes, Courtney Moon, Sally Hollingsed, Steven Hollingsed,  Sarah Autrey, Lisa Harrison, Jessica Oversteet, Jay Lynes, Jennifer Borders, Josh Harris, May de le Fe, Carla Odell, Christine Cooper, Melanie Schultz, Stephanie Potter, Matthew Rogers, Trey Augenblick, Jon Burlison, John Holmes, Jennifer Holmes and Jessie Gudahl.  This is an incomplete list of people who were an important part of my years in Kissimmee, but whose names have not shown up very often in this blog.  You are remembered and you are loved.  I would love for my FUMC-K readers to pass along other names I may have overlooked in the comment sections.




Jill and Debbie at Golf Tourney, 1998


• And finally, I want to give a shout out to a couple of ladies who always made me laugh, patiently listened to my gripes and kept me sane (as close as I get,anyway) - Debbie Davis and Jill Augenblick.  They took care of my son (Jill led the child care and Debbie the FUMC School) in his early years (even if we did fight over which was "the real school").  They often invaded my office, stole my candy and made my days enjoyable.  Even after I was gone, they remained my good friends, meeting me for clandestine lunches so The Pastor Who Shall Not Be Named would not know they were consorting with this persona non grata.  It was a joy, an honor and a pleasure to work with each of them, and I miss them still.

Thanks to all of my old friends from Kissimmee who have been such faithful readers.  If you'd like to take a look back at what I have written about you, visit the FUMC-K's Greatest Hits page.  I hope you'll stay with me as I look back on my journey after I left you.  It might just make you smile, because it turns out God has a great sense of humor.  I know I'd laugh- but all this happened to me...

Because of Jesus,