Back in the saddle again is a theme running through my head this morning. This is my first Monday back at it after about 12 days of vacation. The good news is that I am refreshed and excited. The bad news is that I intended to do some writing and posting during vacation but as we arrived at our destination I realized that our cottage had no wifi. I decided to just unplug and enjoy it. But I am back, and back at it, and this is an awesome Monday. Let me get to the musings …

-Vacation was great. I got spend a lot of uninterrupted time with wife, I always love spending time with her. I slept a lot. I read a lot. I fished. We got to spend time with some old friends and play some Rook with them as well. We spent some great time with my youngest granddaughter, and her parents. I was able to attend my granddaughter’s dedication and even had the privilege to pray over her and her parents. It was great to get away and unplug and it was great to get back home.

-We had a great time celebrating yesterday. Several months ago we began emphasizing praying for our unsaved friends and family. I encouraged people to focus on 3 people and pray fervently for them to come to faith in Christ. One our people shared that one of his 3 got saved last week! Then we shared that a 4 year old great grandson of a couple in our church who was diagnosed with leukemia was now in full remission! There was much celebrating in our congregation for both.

-There was a tremendous spirit in our worship service. You couldn’t be in the service and not be impacted yesterday.

-Many people responded to the message at the end of the service.

-The message was on grace. The sermon in a sentence was “Grace is greater.” It is greater than whatever you are facing or fearing. (I preached more than just a sentence, but this is the condensed sermon.)

-Our attendance was very good.

-Our children’s church crowd was in the service for all the music, prayer time and giving. They added a lot of energy to the room. They also are not inhibited, so they were clapping and moving during the music. I loved it!!!

-There were great spiritual conversations taking place after the service concluded. I love hearing those conversations.

-I had a couple of people approach me after the service to let me know they would gone next Sunday. But the reason they were informing me of this is that they wanted to let me know they were willing to help with an event that is happening in 2 weeks. Since they won’t be here next week to get all the details they wanted to get in on serving. How cool is that?

-I have another anniversary of my birth tomorrow. I am told it is a big one. I assume I will feel much the same tomorrow morning as did today and I want to celebrate each day. But it is kind of fun to enter a new decade. Hey, it’s just a number, albeit a big number, but I am not deciding what I can and cannot do based on age. So let’s eat some cake, or better yet let’s eat some really spicy food.

This week I pray that you find some things to celebrate. If you can’t think of anything feel free to celebrate my birthday.

Dennis