Straight Out Of Zion

Dr. C. Ronald Williams is Pastor, Founder, and Senior Elder of Mt. Zion Fellowship of the Brethren in Highland Hills, Ohio. We built a house on the edge of a natural promentory for Pastor about 6 years ago that is shaped like a cathedral from the bird's-eye view (like old European cathedrals) and has a 3 1/2 story litehouse built into it. The litehouse has a beautiful winding staircase that follows the walls of the 15 foot wide tower which leads to the 360 degree observation deck on top. I had never met him until I moved back to Ohio back in April.

He greeted me with a massive hug.

Of course, he had to stoop down to my 5'10" level due to his 6'4" frame.

I was greeted with many-a-mighty hugs when I went to his church a few months ago... more on that in a minute.

But first, back to Pastor. He gave me a tour of his home, which I had not been to since it was finished. Apart from his incredible house (nice work Payne & Payne Builders!) I was most impressed with his aggressive sense of humor that included a few well-placed jabs about my brother Dave's pregnant wife and how "it was going to be a little black baby." He also insists that my stepmom's ancestry is black, not Italian, due to her extremely tight curly hair. He took me to his garage where I met his 30 chickens that he was raising for a trustworthy egg and meat source (you know, no hormones, chemicals, extra heads, etc.). There's only one catch: He didn't eat any of the chickens he laboriously raised last year. "Why not?" I asked Pastor.

"Because I made the mistake of naming them..."

What a heart. He did, however, eat the hog he raised last year which I can only assume he did not name. Hopefully he'll get some good chow time out of his unnamed chickens this year!

So, my friend Kristin just moved to Australia for two years to work with YWAM. Dang-o! It's hard sometimes to find a friend; she will be missed.

However, before her departure, she and I (pictured above with a mouthful of apple before a we went to a 3-d movie) went to Mt. Zion Fellowship of the Brethren one sunday morning. It was requested that anyone new to Mt. Zion please stand up for recognition, which helped us identify that we were 2 of the 4 white people out of about 800 or so in attendance. After being welcomed with about a full minute of clapping, I was hugged by a procession of women sitting around me. The next hour was filled with a lot of passion, some SICK bass lines from their rockin' band, an incredible sermon, and clapping to every song that was extremely tight and in perfect time with the song (not a characteristic of my suburban church).

On our way out we were greeted and wished well with many a hug, so thanks to the incredible people in the Mt. Zion community. It was a beautiful place to be.

Here are some highlights from the sermon:

"Mama, you still look good, baby." (when speaking of his childhood and upbringing)

"Pastor's comin' up after the devil today!"

"The devil can't diss you unless God ain't there!"

"It's best to stay with God!"

"You don't miss the water 'til the well runs dry!"

Moving from Colorado to Ohio was a tough move and a massive transition filled with more obstacles than I expected. It was an incredible blessing to meet and be encouraged by such a unique individual. I hope to be back at his church again soon.

Pancho & "Lefty"

You have to be super careful about making people with one hand angry. They always have a harmful weapon firmly attached to their composite limb. Their temperament is also highly susceptible to the effects of altitude and temperature, as evidenced by this photo taken two summers ago at 14,000' (where my t-shirt-clad amigo was overwhelmed by the frosty high-altitude temps and took it out on his climbing associate... me).

Yes, this is the dark side of my former Aspen roommate Aron Ralston, who I'm very happy to announce will officially be making an appearance in Northeast Ohio next May in between travels to Europe and Colorado. This is a very sweet opportunity, as he is speaking at a special event for the Green Building Initiative that I'm part of, and we will be raising money for the Wilderness Workshop (a wilderness conservation non-profit out of Aspen). We'll just make sure to keep a warm temperature in the room so he doesn't go on an ice-pick hand attachment beating spree.

I hope this doesn't hurt his public perception... next thing you know Tom Brokaw's gonna have another special, "When Good 2nd-Tier Personalities Go Bad."

Ummm... Does the "six inch rule" still work in Ohio?

The "six inch rule," of course, refers to taking the morning off work to go skiing anytime there is more than six inches of snow.
Well, my office is right across the street from the skiing epicenter of Geauga County (Alpine Valley Ski Resort), but nonetheless I think ditching work would be a little premature, considering this is the first significant snowfall so far this "season." I think it was a little gift from the Big Man Upstairs so that we didn't get too jealous of Aspen's 44" inches last week.
Either way, I'll take it. It was nice to wake up to a big blanket of white... and now the sun's coming out. Mmmmmm.
Keep your eyes to the skies and of course...
pray for snow.