Challenging, humorous, and interesting are all appropriate words to describe yesterday. It was a very unique day’ At least I hope it was unique and is not repeated any time soon. As for my musings …

-We have had a very mild winter but yesterday was a winter Sunday morning. It started snowing around 2 AM, but there was only a couple of inches on the ground by 8:30 when people would have started heading out for the 9:00 service. By 10:00 we had another couple of inches and it was blowing as people would be heading out to the 10:30 service. As a result my church with the 9:00 service had pretty good attendance, the one with the 10:30 service was just over half of our normal attendance.

-The electricity when off and on 2 or 3 times while I was preaching in the 9:00 service and when it stayed on we only had half of our power. That meant no projector, none of our furnaces and only about 2/3 of our lights. It also meant that the clock I keep an eye on stopped. The really bad news is I didn’t realize the clock had stopped until I was nearly finished. Fortunately I don’t preach real long (at least by my account) so we finished when I had planned to finish I just didn’t know.

-We had a new family at the 9:00 even on a snowy Sunday.

-We had words for our music at the 9:00 but my sermon points were not there. At the 10:30 we had my sermon points but no words for the music.

-When I went to my car to go from my 9:00 church to my 10:30 church I discovered I did not have my car keys. I went back in the church and searched. I remembered having them in my teeth as I unlocked the church and carried things inside. I remembered setting them down, but they were not in that place. I hitched a ride back to my other church and arrived 6 minutes before the service was to begin. Then discovered that my wife had picked up my keys and put them in her purse when she left the 9:00 service to head to the other church. I still love her.

-The great news is that God is not limited by our circumstances or technical failures. God still showed up in some special ways in both services.

-We received some new members in our 10:30 service. That is always fun.

-I am very encouraged by how many people are stepping up in ministry at both churches.

-My big disappointment in the weather-related low attendance is that my 10:30 church was receiving a “Give it all Away” offering. Everything that came in yesterday is being given away to help and bless other ministries. Half of it to 2 local organizations and half of it to 2 international ministries.

-I did not have to make a trip back home yesterday. We remembered everything we needed to take with us for the 9:00 church. We are making progress.

-Tonight my wife and I going for a Valentine’s evening. Nothing fancy, but it will be a couple of things we enjoy. I think that is how it should be, not trying to match some advertised image but spending quality time with those you love expressing that they mean the world to you.

-I am starting to get a little stressed as I realize that I will now be doing year-end reporting for 2 churches. Our church year closes at the end of February. What was I thinking? I should have waited until March to begin pastoring 2 churches. Oh well, my common sense has come into question many times before and will continue to be questioned in the future I am sure.

Here’s hoping you have a week filled with reminders that you are loved.

Dennis