Last night was our annual baptism service. I’m glad we captured these moments on film:
Archives For General
Wow. Just had an opportunity to be reminded of the importance of friendship.
This morning after our third service I was doing the handshake thing as people were leaving and heard my name used in the hallway. I glanced around and saw two familiar faces. As my brain quickly compared those faces with my internal Rolodex I quickly recognized Bob and Linda Moore from Chesnee, SC!
They were on the highway today on their way back to SC and saw a sign for New Stanton being a mere 30 miles out of their way! They took a chance and came into church just in time to hear the sermon.
We quickly made some things happen to have lunch with them and they treated us to Cracker Barrel! It was so great spending just a couple hours with them and catching up on how much life has happened since we’d last seen them (3 years ago!)
Bob and Linda attended the two churches my dad pastored in SC, they were at our wedding in Warsaw, IN and probably a hundred-other life-moments in my life as I grew up in SC!
So, my life-lesson today has been that I DESPERATELY want to be the kind of friend that Bob and Linda are to my family to those I call my friends. It’s authentic, unassuming, and Christ-filled!
As Bob and Linda left our house from a short after-lunch visit, I thanked God for friends like them! Thank you Lord for those people in our lives who seek to make us feel special!
As I relax in a hotel room in Hershey, PA (saved $125 using Hotwire.com, by the way), I am being reminded at just how important it is to get-away with my family.
The “everyday” of local church ministry too-often gets in the way of a pastor’s family-life. There are meetings, over-night events, weeks-away at camps and retreats, and numerous “after-hour” tasks that continue to get-in-the-way of what some “normal” families know as “Family Time”.
I am thankful to have this week with just my wife and two kids. We have some things planned, but have more things UNplanned. We’re just going to enjoy each other this week. We’re going to sleep-in (maybe, if God performs a miracle), we’re going to stay up late (watching Prison Break Season 1, no doubt), we’re going to eat whatever we can get our hands on, we’re going to visit places we’ve “been meaning to visit” but haven’t had/taken the time to yet.
I thank God for my wife Jessica and our two amazing children. Ella is sleeping in a pull-out sofa-bed right now and she thinks she’s the queen of the world for having such a treat! We are a blessed family.
God, please use this week to recharge us emotionally, spiritually, and physically, that we may continue to do Your work!
I also managed to hold onto my camcorder on a couple trips down the “Mean Streak” wooden coaster (that I rode a total of 5-times in a row!)
