More Molasses

The Area Event was a great ending to the day. The Texas Boys Choir was entertaining and inspiring. These boys practice 2 hours per day and it shows. They are apparently talented and well coached. Their concert was varied and entertaining. The range of the types of music pleased all those attending. The inspiring thing was the evident discipline that they practice. Voices that blend and produce sounds that are so smooth that they seem to be one voice. Gospel to Broadway tested their skills and they were equal to that test. I hope that it is okay to express the opinion that these guys are Great! The concert was followed by a time of food and fellowship in the water garden and inside the convention center. Country and Western music along with Lydia Patterson Institute Mariachis provided a Texas flavor to the evening, as did the tables laden with cheeses, fruits Mexican chips and appetizers. The opportunity to do serious damage to ones diet was at every hand. Most of us took advantage of the opportunity.

Early in the Sunday session there was a report on the UM response to the Katrina disaster. There was much evidence that UMCOR is the first on the scene and is still there all the years between. It became evident that the mission teams, volunteer workers and financial support have made a real difference. The job isn’t finished and there is some concern that there is “Katrina weariness” will cause the effort to die out. The call has gone out to keep up the fight.

Parliamentary maneuvering plagued the plenary session Sunday afternoon. That seemed to be the fore taste of what was to be Monday. The reports and petitions were plagued by more of the Sunday afternoon wrangling. Once again it became the perfection of each sentence word by word. Most of the amendments were as consequential as a flea on an elephant’s ear. The petitions with financial implications, by rule, have to be dealt with by 5 PM on Monday. So much time was spent with one calendar item that the rules were suspended to allow the session to continue until these petitions are finished. The time was extended until 11 PM, but we posted signs that the last bus would leave for the hotels at 1 AM. I left at 10 because as a delegate for several of these rodeos, I’ve seen this rerun before.