Yesterday was a long day with many positive happenings. Sundays often feel like longer days by the nature of the energy and emotion spent, however yesterday just seemed a little longer. Some of the things that made yesterday feel longer were from events leading up to Sunday. Maybe the more accurate statement is that last week was a long week. Now for some musings …

-I am very excited to see everything God is going to do in our church, and beyond, in the next few weeks. We are focusing on prayer and learning how to change our world through prayer.

-I don’t remember the last time I felt a greater burden to preach a message than I felt yesterday. The message was on praying for our lost family, friends, co-workers, classmates, neighbors and beyond.

-I challenged my church to pray specifically for 3 people who they are acquainted with who are without Jesus as their personal Savior. They can pray for more, but for the next few weeks to focus on intensely on 3.

-We are using a symbol as a reminder. Hold up 3 fingers, your index, middle and ring finger and then touch your thumb and pinky with the thumb on top. The 3 fingers will represent the 3 friends we are praying for, the pinky is us and the thumb is the Lord. As you hold up the 3 fingers and pray for your friends you are remembering that you and the Lord are surrounding them in prayer. I challenged them to pray for their friends every time they saw the number 3 this week and to use it as an encouraging signal to one another whenever they see each other this week.

-We had some major technical issues yesterday. These were mainly the result of having our worship computer stolen last week. Not sure when it happened as we didn’t discover it until Saturday. So there was some major scrambling going on Saturday and all through worship. But God is still God and we had a great time of worship.

-I was so burdened for this message that I fumbled a bit in presenting it. Praying hard that the Holy Spirit filled in where I failed. He usually does, I just made him work a little harder yesterday.

-Had a fun time in the afternoon with a group from our church who went to a local (an hour away) orchard that has all kinds of great stuff to see, do and buy. Their cider cake donuts are Awesome! That’s right, Awesome with a capital A. I brought some home since my wife was not able to go. I am about to eat 2(more).

-I was encouraged by the dedication of a group of servants who will be leading a renewed focus on our children’s ministry on Sunday mornings. They had a meeting last evening to set schedules and get everyone on the same page. I loved hearing their burden and passion for children. God is really up to something good around here.

-Our small group did not meet last night due to the afternoon event and the meeting for children’s workers. I missed being with them.

-We had a lot of regulars missing yesterday and still had a reasonable attendance. Kind of odd to me, but our September attendances were lower than August. I don’t know if I have ever had that in any church I pastored.

-Last week there were many things that created heartache. Hearing news of several situations increased my prayer list and burden. But, God is still God and I am depending on Him.

-Heard some good reports from people doing the daily devotional for this sermon series on prayer.

-Irritated about the theft of the computer we used to run things in worship. It was due to be upgraded, but this is not an expense that we planned for this church year. Just reminding myself that God is still God and he will provide.

Here’s hoping you have a great week and that you remember you are not alone. I am praying that you will be encouraged today as you see God at work.

Dennis