Yesterday was a lot like the rest of last week. It had some powerful and encouraging moments and it had some difficult and even devastating moments. As for my musings …

-Once again God moved among us in both churches and people responded. The response was not to anything warm and fuzzy, the response was to a call for total surrender to God and being filled by His Holy Spirit.

-In my 10:30 church some of our children helped lead us in worship on one song and we received a special offering to help churches around the world with repairing and building facilities to further their ministries.

-We mourned the loss of a very special man who was a regular part of my 10:30 church. He was a favorite person to many in the community. He will be greatly missed and I ache for the loss his family is feeling. We all agree that we are glad that he is not suffering anymore and we know he is rejoicing over hearing “Well done” from the Lord. His funeral, later this week, will be a time of celebration and sharing of stories. He has given has a lot of material to share. It will be a real honor to lead his funeral service.

-It seemed that everything was conspiring against me being prepared to preach yesterday’s message. Thursday, Friday and Saturday all had things that popped up and severely crowded into my planned times of study and prep. Then on Sunday morning itself that trend continued right up until the worship service began at my 9:00 church. Good news, God still came through and people responded at both churches.

-Attendance was very low at both churches. January has been a difficult month for attendance. There have been many people absent every Sunday in January due to illness. I am hoping that turning a page on the calendar brings some better health.

-I was able to spend some time with my Dad, Stepmom, brother and step-sister for a couple of days early last week. My Dad is having some serious health issues. His constant theme through his 44 years of pastoral ministry was “God is still God”. He is still living that theme. It is difficult to see and hear of his struggles. My Dad has been my greatest spiritual example my entire life. I will be making another trip to see him very soon.

-My brother and I had not been together for quite a while. We talk on the phone and comment on each other’s Facebook activities. We just haven’t been able to be in the same spot recently. It was great to spend some time with him.

-This past week marked my 3^rd anniversary as pastor of my 10:30 church. God has been good and the church has grown significantly. Most important is the spiritual growth. Seeing people come to faith in Christ and seeing many grow in their faith and service with Christ. To expand our impact in our community and our reach internationally has been exciting. It has been a positive 3 years. Looking forward to the next 3 years and beyond.

-We are beginning a new round of Discipleship training this week. I love seeing people dig in and grow in their personal walk with Christ.

-I am very thankful for special times of prayer. I have been desperately standing in the need of prayer often in recent days. I have also felt the burden of many pastor friends who are going through some difficult times. I am standing on the promises and God’s promises always come through.

-This morning in my time of prayer I was directed to Joshua 3:5, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

Here’s hoping you are preparing yourself to see, and experience, God do amazing things in your life.

Dennis