Yesterday was a very good day. There were many positive things from yesterday. There were some difficult moments, such as talking to 2 families who recently lost a daughter or daughter in law unexpectedly. As for my musings …

-A huge praise from yesterday is that at least 3 people made the decision to accept Jesus as their personal Savior! What a joy to see people accept the forgiveness of Christ. The message was entitled “Salvation 101”. I did my best to lay out the Gospel in a clear and meaningful way. People seemed to be very engaged throughout the message. I am praying that many more will make decisions as they reflect on the message or listen to the recording on our website.

-My heart was breaking as I spoke with a family at each of my churches who have lost a daughter, or daughter in law suddenly and expectedly within the last 2 weeks. I was wishing I had some magic words to bring them comfort. I assured them of my prayers and thoughts.

-Yesterday was my last day at my 9:00 church. I am now back to pastoring just 1 church. I am looking forward to having time during the breakfast and as people come and go from Sunday School/Small groups to visit with them. I have missed those casual times of touching base with people. I am also looking forward to being able to eat some of the awesome food that is served during the breakfasts at church.

-We had an awesome meeting on Wednesday with people who are serving in our children’s ministry, or who would like to begin serving. The attendance was much larger than we expected. The passion for kids and ministry was encouraging. Good things are in store for our children’s ministry.

-Last evening there was a youth gathering. That is a big deal because that is 2 times within the past month. We are growing a youth group. It has taken a long time to get this going again and I am so excited for the possibilities. They ran out of seating yesterday during Sunday School/Small groups in the youth class.

-This coming Sunday I will be preaching about how to get back up when you are down. We will be looking at what the Bible says about dealing with depression and discouragement.

-In 2 weeks, we will begin a 6-part message series entitled “Dream”. I am very excited for this series and have been working on it for a few weeks already. I believe it is going to trigger some great things in some people’s lives and in our ministry as a church.

-I don’t know what is going on with me, but I had 3 nights in the past week where I got less than 5 hours of sleep. The worst was Saturday night when I only got 2 ½ hours. Not good heading into a Sunday.

-My wife and I will be making a trip to see my Dad later this week. He was back in the hospital for a couple of nights recently. It will be great to see him, and my brother and sister-in-law will be there at the same time. It will be a brief visit, as we will only be gone about 36 hours. When you consider that the trip is about 6 hours long, that means we will not be there very long.

-My oldest grandson begins his second year of college this morning. Praying that he has another great year and that he can stay awake during his classes today. He just arrived from Africa last evening. International travel and a 10-hour time difference will likely take a toll on him.

-My Cubs are still in first place in their division. Still not comfortable with our lead or how inconsistent we are playing.

Here’s hoping that all your travels are safe this week.

Dennis