"Turn to me and be gracious to me" (Psalm 25:16)

It's been a very interesting week in all kinds of ways. Ups, downs, and hopefully a rebound.

On Tuesday, my friend Al Hamme invited me to make some music at Mohonk Mountain House, a castle in the Catskill Mountains. It was "Music Week" at Mohonk, and Al put together a sextet for a presentation on jazz history.

We had a wonderful time. The band was (essentially) the Presbybop Quartet Plus Two. Al brought Andrew Williams from Binghamton, NY, to play trombone. Jeff Stockham, whose amazing trumpet work has graced three Presbybop CDs, drove down from Syracuse with his Lady Victoria. Ron Vincent swam up river from Dobbs Ferry to play his drums. Tony Marino rode along with me to the gig, and it's always a treat to hear him play the bass. Wow! What a band!

Our music lasted only an hour, but I will remember it for some time. This is one of the only gigs that I've accepted during the sabbatical -- and the notes will linger in my ear for some time to come. Maybe the best part was the pay: a free night's stay in Mohonk that Jamie and I will enjoy later this summer.

But then came the ride home. It was the fourth straight day of rain, and the rivers were getting dangerously high. As Tony and I crossed the Delaware, it looked ferocious -- and the rain kept falling. Heavily. Unlike my friends in the band, we were home by 7:00 pm. (Al didn't finish his three-hour trip until the next morning!)

That night, Jamie and I watched the TV images with a sense of foreboding. We saw many scenes like this one, of nearby Tunkhannock. This is a region with a painful memory of floods, including the 1975 flood in which Jamie and her mom lost their home. Our prayers go out to the many people who have faced the destruction of this year's floods.

On Wednesday, I went to visit Jamie at work and to take her to lunch. For some time, she has wanted to introduce me to a young friend that she knows from her workplace. His name is Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, and he is a talented young actor. You may recognize him from a major motion picture where he played the lead role this summer. I'm not going to mention the picture, because Seamus is much too talented to be typecast.

I will say that he has a very promising future, and he is (shall we say?) devilishly handsome.

But now comes the toughest news of all. I've had some moments during the past week when I haven't felt well. A couple of chest pains on Wednesday sent me to the Doc's Office -- and my Doc is not one to fool around with such things. He sent me to the hospital for a stress test, and I ended up spending Wednesday night in Room 202 with a heart monitor wired to my chest.

After a full round of exams that ended at 4:00 p.m. today, I am happy to report that my heart is fine, and I'm resting at home. Of course, an event like this gives one time to speculate. Too many cheeseburgers? No, although I could benefit by dropping some weight. Not enough exercise? Well, that was obvious as I jogged on a treadmill this afternoon; but like I said, medically speaking, my heart is fine.

The best explanation may be good, old-fashioned stress. As best as I can figure, I'm accustomed to living with stress in my job. Just maybe - as I've unplugged from my work - some of that stress has sneaked past my defenses and kicked me in the chest. I can't say for sure. Yet with some soul-searching for the past day and a half, that's the only explanation that makes sense.

The way forward for me is clear: learn how to sit still, eat healthier, get some exercise. Despite all the pious declarations in this blog, all of this is hard work for me. In God's mercy, a trip to the monastery will come at the right time.

Keep me in your prayers, and know that I take great comfort from Psalm 25: "Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins." (Psalm 25:17-18)