One was smooth and one was a technical disaster. That would describe the worship at my two churches yesterday. As for my musings …

-My 9:00 church went very smoothly yesterday. All of the technical issues of the previous Sunday were all worked out. It made for a much more focused time of worship.

-As for my 10:30 church, not so much. We had one sound glitch after another during the music portion and especially during my sermon. No rhyme or reason for any of it. This week I had to preach the whole message old school without a microphone. My voice is paying for it now. First my headset mic was registering that it was working on the sound board but no sound and then it quit registering at all. Then I grabbed a wireless mic that was just used during singing and though it was on it would give no sound through the system. At that point I pushed the voice. We survived, but I was definitely rattled. We are going to be spending some significant time working on the sound system this week.

-We had a new family in attendance at my 10:30 church. I messaged them later yesterday and they indicated that they enjoyed the service and will likely be back. Proof again that it is about God working and speaking to people even when it was not our idea of a perfect service. It also speaks to how well our people welcomed them.

-On Friday I made a trip to O’Hare airport and picked up my son and grandsons 2 and 3. They are heading back to Kenya tomorrow (another trip to O’Hare, I think I have this down pat now). The boys start school in a few days. Then my son will fly back to the states. Later this week my daughter in law will take grandson 1 to college. How is that possible? Then she and their 2 youngest will fly to O’Hare the day my son flies back from Kenya. Then they will be heading out to several churches during September before heading back to Africa. It has been great having our son and grandsons with us for a few days.

-Attendance was down a little at both of the churches yesterday.

-We are gearing up for some new mid-week ministry at both churches beginning in September.

-We will be having a baptism service in September at both churches. I love times of baptism. Hearing testimonies of people’s faith journey is always so encouraging and moving. Then celebrating their baptisms is just plain fun. 

-We continue to have people show up to pray every Monday and Friday morning between 5:30 and 6:30 am. Only good things can happen when people pray and pray consistently.

-My voice is definitely feeling strained today. 

-A pleasant surprise was being able to shut off the A/C Saturday and Sunday and so far today. Having the windows open has been refreshing. The forecast looks like the open window policy will end later today. It was fun while it lasted and makes me long for fall weather.

-I have been re-reading some great books recently. One from 3 years ago, one from 5 years ago and one from 20 years ago. I am in awe as to how culturally relevant things are in the book from 20 years ago. It is interesting to see what stood out to me at the time I first read these books and what stands out to me now. Much is the same but some things that jump out at me now are surprising that they didn’t stand out to me the first time through.

Here’s hoping you see God showing up in many things this week.

Dennis