Just Thinking

We had a good evening. We went to eat then to a birthday party at the church house for one of our good sisters. It's her fiftieth.

We then took my mom home and that's when the thinking started. It sure is tough leaving her in the big house alone. I know it must be hard for her to go home at night by herself. I know she must miss dad so much.

I miss him more than you can know. I miss his gentle spirit and the way he treated others--always better than himself. I miss playing the guitar at the kitchen table singing tenor over him singing what ever Merle Haggard song we could think of. I miss him giving. He was just that kind of man. He would give his kids and grandkids whatever they (we) needed. He was the most generous man I ever knew. I miss the smell of the cabinet shop when he would come in from work. I miss him in my Sunday morning Bible class sitting with mom. I just miss him guys. I get him on my mind and want so desperately to just talk to him. But that can't happen here. I believe by faith that it will one day happen again and that is the only thing that keeps me sane.

How I wish he could hear me now tell him how much I love him and want to be with him. Maybe somehow he can. I just don't know about such things.

Thanks for listening to my "thinkings." I love you all so much!!

The Bug That Wouldn't Fly

Little creatures in the world amaze me. Even the scriptures talk about the ant and how resourceful he is.

Today I saw a little insect about the size of a gnat (why the put a "g" in front of that word I'll never know). Anyway, I reached up to smash the little guy with my mighty hand! He crawled away. I tried several times and finally he decided to stop. I knew I had him this time. I reached to hit him and he did something that surprised me--he flew away. Imagine that, he could fly. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I could get him, but he flew! Do you get the picture? No not the fact that a grown man is trying to kill this little insect, but the message I saw in it.

Aren't we just like that in our spiritual walk somtimes? Satan is continually trying to smash us and we try and crawl away all the while knowing that we have the ability to fly. Isaiah said, "But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind." Isaiah 40:31

Let's purpose in our hearts to never crawl again!

Winterfest, Awesome!

We are back. Wow, what a fast weekend! I had forgotten how quickly weekend retreats fly by with a youth trip. Besides a flat tire on Sunday, which is a whole other blog story I may tell sometime, it was a smooth trip.

Being my first ever experience with Winterfest, I thought I would write down my positive thoughts and my disappointing thoughts for what it's worth, and a SPECIAL MEMORY.

Positives about Winterfest from my perspective:
1. Jeff Walling is always a great communicator of the good news of Jesus. He is always dramatic and I really like that kind of thing. I think it especially communicates well to teens.

2. Our group was small, but so well behaved. I love to see kids wrestle with spiritual things and these kinds of weekends cause that to happen. Be sure and read the end of this blog for a SPECIAL MEMORY concerning our group.

3. Tait was a great band. Their drummer was awesome. He did a solo that was worth the ticket to get in.

4. Bob Stromberg was wonderful. He is a really funny guy. Best hand puppets I have ever seen.

5. Lost and Found were hilarious. I love their dry humor.

6. I loved the stage set up and the way they held nothing back to create an atmosphere that was wonderful for communicating to teens.

7. It snowed, which for a southern boy is always a treat to see.

Negatives from my perspective:
1. I know it is hard to get good a capella singing in such a huge place, but I thought the singing left something to be desired, especially for 6500 people. Watershed Worship led the group, and really did a somewhat mediocre job. I have heard them before. They have even been at Creekside and did a super job. Remember that this is from my perspective. Several others commented that the singing was great. So there you go. I guess when you've been to Zoe Conference, your expectations are set pretty high.

2. The crowds. After about five minutes of being in that group of humanity, you begin to feel like cattle. it was a "moooooving" experience.

3. The costs of eating (and everything else) in a tourist town are astronomical.

4. Then there was the flat tire. I'll save that story for later on. It will be a good illustration for how satan works on us during a spiritual time in our life.

A SPECIAL MEMORY from Winterfest: We have in our congregation a lady who works with Safe Place. Safe Place, you may or may not know, is a home of protection for women and their kids who are living in dangerous abusive situations. One of the families that she is working with has six children and four of them have been coming to Creekside. I won't use their names in this blog, so as to keep anonymity (a big part of Safe Place for obvious reasons).

These two young men have been through more things that most of us have seen in a lifetime. Again, for fear of someone reading this who do not need to know, I won't go into details. The special memory is about their attitude and actions on this trip.

They were like little children in a candy store. They took nothing for granted and loved everything we did. Every time we did a devo, the youngest wanted to sing the "Turning Song." sometimes we tend to forget the excitement we once felt in worship. We don't clap like we used to. We don't smile as much, especially during songs we have heard a hundred times. They haven't heard anything a hundred times and they were so fresh.

Hear are a couple of comments they made to me and to the teens in our group. One of them told our teens, "You guys are my new best friends!" The other comment I remember was, after I asked him if he was having a good time, he said, "This is the greatest time I have had in my life!!"

With messy people come messy behavior. They were so excited that they tended to get on some of the teens' nerves. But after those comments, those teens that said that, realized what an impact this weekend had on these two young men. Realizing this, one of my daughters said that it made her feel bad for thinking that these kids were obnoxious.

I guess this is so special to me because rarely do we get to see fresh excitement for the Lord. Rarely are we blessed with such enthusiasm for singing and worship and just being together. It was a wonderful thing to see.