Per my web-stats this afternoon, 18 people have downloaded yesterday’s posted sermon!

That’s pretty incredible to me.

I wonder if I can add those 18 to our Sunday Morning attendance figures?

“to keep the people happy”:

To the treasure hunters that no-doubt will eventually scout along the waters of Dewart Lake in Northern Indiana sometime in the future: the size 13 wedding band that you find somewhere in the middle was lost on this, the twenty-second day of May, 2005. Please value this ring as I did before it was lost in a tragic jet-ski incident that left most of my body in large amounts pain.

You may keep the ring – I’m pretty sure my insurance will cover it, though I’m nearly positive that jet-skiing will NOT be a ‘ring-wearing’ activity ever again.

Thank you, and enjoy my ring…

…

That’s right, I am no longer the proud ring-wearing husband that I once was. The waters of Dewart Lake have consumed my ring in all of its brilliant-shining glory.

The way in which I managed to lose the ring was an unbelievable event in the life of two friends: Stevan Sheets and Jason Denniston.

We were chopping along at what I would guess was 30-ish (MPH) along some great ripple-wake from an earlier boat when suddenly Jason turned a hard right on our 1200-cc Yamaha Jetski. One quick over-adjustment and the two of us went skipping along the water at our own jetski-free versions of 30-ish..

OUCH.

My body at 10:25 this evening is feeling the “hurt” that happens when a human body is suddenly dropped into a lake at high speed. The left ankle: swollen. The left side of the body: very much a painful existence. The right hip: for some reason this hip feels “out of place”? Couldn’t be..

When we finally “righted” ourselves in the lake we realized we were “okay”, though the jetski was some 50-yards away from us. Thankfully we could both move and quickly let out the distinguished “I am SO THANKFUL that we didn’t die” laughs. Seriously, it was an amazing “spill” from a high-powered water-toy that I will not soon forget.

I get another possible Jetski experience this week with friends Wes and Brandon, and to “duplicate” such an event would take YEARS of planning, so don’t expect this to EVER happen again!

Thank you Jason and Michelle for allowing us the privelege it was to spend a day of YOUR vacation cruising the lake, eating the BBQ’d chicken, and enjoying fellowship of a brother and sister in Christ and ministry!

A quick “highlight” of pictures:

Stevan and Jason (note: the “extra” weight in the back of the jetski PROBABLY helped with our “spill” soon after this picture was taken…)

If you’ve never experienced an “I’ve fallen off a jetski and had to swim and now I’m back on and have a TERRIBLE CRAMP”-feeling, you must!

Jason and Stevan doing “clean-up duty” on Dewart Lake, removing a water-logged 2×4 from the path of oncoming water-traffic. Other items we chose NOT to clean up, but passed at high-speeds throughout the afternoon: 2 sunburnt & floating crappie (pronounced “croppy” in Indiana), 1 dead duck, numerous floating vegitation, and atleast 1 wedding ring that we knew about.

For listening pleasure, I present to you the 10:45AM message: “Dare You To Move” in mp3 format.

Promise Keepers: “AWAKEN” pretty much summed up my latest “rants” and “raves” about how “dead” the Church seems to be (capital “C” means the WHOLE church, not any particular local church)…

We were challenged by the following: Reggie Dabbs – Emcee, Dave Roever, James Ryle, Bruce Fong, Joseph Garlington, Dan Seaborn, & Ken Davis.

I was pretty impressed last night with the NEWSBOYS, too – and of course Brad Stine (my personal favorite comedian) rocked the 10,000 of us with laughter.

I will have to once again NOT post pictures due to lack of effort on my part. I will work on getting some of the better pictures posted in the next day or so – hold me to it!

It’s good to be home, good to be relaxed, and I’m excitedly nervous about tomorrow. I will be there early to do some more praying and studying.

Looks like we’ll be leaving after second service and spending some time up North on Tippey Lake with our friends, the Denniston’s. (as far as I know, jet-skiing will take place!)