We had a wonderful weekend at SMBI. In amidst all the music and singing and friends and everything else, I also launched my public speaking career! But as I told By, I’m sure this is going to be one short-lived career.

All drivel aside, my sermon went pretty well. I fleshed out my notes quite a bit and ended up with a fairly well padded outline that I also used as a handout. I wanted it to be a somewhat cohesive document that would stand on its own as a possible resource for the recipient at any point in the future. My words would fade from their memory, but the wisdom inscribed on that solemn document would last forever. Wait, I’m back to drivel again.

I was a little concerned about being able to yap for an hour. I ended up not quite even making it through my notes, so that was fine. I did ramble and repeat myself a good deal, I think. It’s hard for me to keep the big picture in view and keep track of where I am trying to go. But it was good, I was satisfied overall with how it went.

It’s funny, normally public speaking fills me with horror, denial, and dread, but this incident didn’t nearly so much. And I have a theory why. Not only am I passionate about the subject (quartet organization and operation), but it’s one that I feel I know and understand very well. I felt I really did have something to offer.

Anyway, more about the weekend. My wife wasn’t able to come, so my brother-in-law Todd drove out with me. He visited his buddy Ryan who is currently a student at SMBI. It was a long drive (7.5 or so hours). What a pain. We arrived at about 2:30 am.

All attendees sang in a men’s chorus under the direction of my friend Brandon Mullet from Faith Builders. It was great to sing under him again, he’s a wonderful director.

Saturday morning this kid (also in the bass section) comes up to me and says, yeah, I read your blog. Turns out that it was occasional ITF commenter pickupman! That was a surprise.

And while I’m talking about ITF, here’s another story. Sunday afternoon I was trucking down the hall looking for Todd and I heard a man shout “Troyer!” I whirled around to see who it was and I didn’t know the guy. He said, “Are you Mr. Iced Tea?”

Ha ha!! What in the world! Yes, I sure was. Turns out that his wife has a blog (I apologize, I forget the name) and is an occasional ITF surfer. They were sitting there during our program that afternoon and she turned to him and said, “I think that’s Mr. Iced Tea up there!”

More later.