What, you might ask, is the first book I’m reading?

Well, there are several books on the device already: the two Jules Verne novels that I managed to finish on my smartphone before the Kindle arrived, the free Bible that I downloaded while trying to figure out which Bible to buy, and The Siege of Washington : The Untold Story of the Twelve Days That Shook the Union, which I discovered on sale through the terrific web site Ereader News Today, which spotlights whatever books Amazon happens to have on sale (or free!). Today, caught up in Dickens bicentennial madness, I downloaded A Christmas Carol, which like the Verne books is a public domain work offered by Amazon for free.

But – other than looking up a couple of Bible passages – the first book I’m actually reading on my Kindle is kind of unexpected: God Drives a Tow Truck, an inspirational book by Vicky Kaseorg. The book is normally $2.99 in the Kindle store, but when I stumbled across it the other day, during my fevered week of Kindle anticipation, it was free. I can’t recall whether I saw it on Ereader News Today or somewhere else.

I’m not usually a “Chicken Soup For The Soul” kind of guy, but the reviews on Amazon were favorable, saying that Kaseorg’s autobiographical stories were frank and funny. It just seemed like it might be something worth reading, especially at the no-risk price of zero. (The Kindle holds 1,400 books, and even if I were ever to delete some of them to free up space, I can always re-download any book I’ve purchased.)

I have to say, it’s an easy and enjoyable read. Yes, it’s upbeat, inspirational, and a little predictable at times, but the stories are well-told, Kaseorg has a sense of humor about herself, and the sentiment seems genuine, not manufactured. The stories cover various periods in the author’s life, many of them taking place when she hadn’t yet come to the Christian faith. Some deal with her love of animals, others with her family life or with people she’s encountered along the way. Kaseorg is also an artist, and each chapter has an illustration; that’s the one drawback of the Kindle’s otherwise-wonderful black-and-white e-ink display.

There are some of the stories that I can probably use in the future as sermon illustrations when I lay speak. (I always attribute stuff like that, by the way. I will never forget the time when a previous pastor of mine used Walter Wangerin’s story “Ragman” from the pulpit without saying where it came from, as if he had made it up. I was furious, “Ragman” being one of my favorite stories.)

Anyway, even though it’s not free anymore it’s still a good buy, an inspirational book that actually is inspirational.

The Bible translations I’d use most often – the New Revised Standard Version, which is used in a lot of official United Methodist literature, or the most recent update of the New International Version – are available for Kindle, but according to the reviews they don’t have e-reader-friendly navigation. There are some other Kindle Bibles that do have good navigation, making it easy to look up a chapter and verse, but they don’t come in any of the translations I like. There are also some specialty NIV Bibles that cost more than I’m looking to spend right now or that are organized in special ways, including the Passages NIV e-Bible that has the readings broken up so that you can follow along with the Daily Audio Bible. As a DAB listener, I may get the Passages Bible eventually, but it’s not what I’m looking for right now.

I have ordered a Holman Christian Standard Bible for free; I’ve heard them use that translation on DAB from time to time, although I’m not too familiar with it otherwise. But I really want HarperCollins or Zondervan to get on the stick and create a great, reasonably-priced NRSV or NIV e-edition.

I’d looked at various online forums and message boards, and they gave me reason to worry. I thought AT&T would insist, rightly or wrongly, that the problem was interference in my wiring – and I had just gotten through dropping the inside wiring maintenance plan as part of some cost-saving changes to my phone service a month or two ago.

But I figured I needed to get something resolved with the DSL before installing a wireless router, and the router is now on the way (in fact, if Amazon is to be believed, it’s now at the Shelbyville post office). I came home over lunch today, and decided to call AT&T, even though the problem doesn’t normally manifest itself at that time of day.

My first call was an exercise in frustration – I got shunted into the automated help system, and when the questions I answered indicated that my Internet was functioning at that moment, the system told me, in effect, “Good! Problem solved,” and promptly hung up on me.

I called back and this time made sure I got through to a live person.

Well, I have to say that she was helpful and did not treat me like an idiot. She did say it might have been better if I’d called during the evening, when the problem was manifesting itself, but she didn’t use that as an excuse. She put me on hold to talk to the technicians, and after an interval she told me that the techs were going to give me a “new profile,” whatever that means, which they hoped would stabilize my connection. If evening came and the problem returned, I was to call back and they would figure something else out.

Well, whatever the new profile is, it appears to be working. The dropouts usually start long before now, and as far as I can tell my service has not dropped once.

AT&T takes some grief sometimes for its customer service, but in this case, and several others in the past, I’ve gotten courteous and effective service. Now, I’m waiting for the router – and then, once I get my wi-fi up and running, I’ll be ready for a Kindle.

Rayz’n Cain, a band which includes one of my sister’s friends and classmates from school, sounded fantastic – and their performance was all the more remarkable because one of the band members lost a family member … to cancer … earlier that day.

So we had a great crowd, and they were also a supportive crowd when it came time for the auction.

The preliminary figures are that the event raised more than $10,000 – yes, you read that right – for the life-saving work of the American Cancer Society. But that’s not all! Earlier in the day, one of our individual Relay teams, the Snazzy Nazzys team (First Church of the Nazarene), held its “Crown For A Cure” pageant, raising more than $4,000. So it’s possible that in total, we raised more than $15,000 in a day.

There’s still time to put together a team for the actual Relay, which will take place June 1-2 at Bedford County Agriculture and Education Center. Or you can contribute to someone who’s participating.

But then, by the time people were gathering at Pines, I was feeling better. I figured maybe it had just been allergies. I got up early Sunday morning and helped cook men’s club breakfast at church, and felt fine Sunday, if maybe a little tired. I still felt OK during the day on Monday. But then, last night, I got a stuffy nose — the kind that’s stuffy and swollen even when it’s not runny.

My colds usually follow a predictable pattern: a little tickle at the back of the throat, then a day of feeling miserable and wrung-out but sounding OK, then a few days of sneezing and coughing, during which I sound horrible but actually feel better than I did on the first day of the cold. This is all followed by a few days of being croupy in the chest. This cold isn’t following that pattern at all. It’s a weird slow-motion cold. My nose is a little bit runny, and I’ve sneezed once while writing this, but it still doesn’t feel like a regular cold.