Yesterday was another very good day. Many good things took place. As for my musings …

-Our District Superintendent was with us yesterday. He brought a powerful message. It was great to have him here and good for our congregation to hear from him. I love that my new people now have a face to put with the name as we pray for him in his role as District Superintendent.

-It was 4 years ago this past weekend that my wife and I interviewed with the leadership of this church.

-I loved it when the children sang in our worship time yesterday. Their enthusiasm and joy were inspiring.

-There were 2 or 3 rows of kids singing. It wasn’t that long ago that all the children fit in one short row of about 4 kids. The growth in our children’s ministries is encouraging.

-We are still celebrating this morning after seeing a lady, for whom we have been fervently praying, walk in yesterday. She is a miracle after coming back from her stroke. It was a very special moment.

-Last week I spent a couple of days with 4 guys from my college days. The 5 of us became friends our freshmen year in college. We have maintained the friendships through the years. For the past 10 years we have gotten together for a couple of days every fall. It is always fun. It is always entertaining. It is always meaningful, and it is always worth it. We live in 4 different states and most of us travel several hours to get together. They are great men and great friends. I know I can contact them anytime and know that they will pray and if it were needed, they would rearrange schedules and show up. I am blessed.

-It was very different to be in our worship service but not preach. That also meant that I was not preparing to preach during the week. I was still studying for some up-coming sermons, but the urgency was not present. It did make it a great week to be gone a couple of days with my college buddies.

-This week our daughters and their families will be with us for a few days as we celebrate Thanksgiving. The house will be full. Games, many games, will be played. The laughter will be loud. The energy, from 5 grandkids, will be significant and awesome. The joy will be wonderful. However, we will be missing our son and family as they are serving in Africa. There will be 11 in the house and 7 that will be missed.

-We have many people going through significant physical issues recently. Several procedures, surgeries, emergency room trips, serious tests and more in the past couple of months. I almost need a separate calendar to keep track of them all. I hate seeing people suffer or anxiously waiting to hear results from tests.

-My fantasy football team squeaked out the victory last week and I am leading this week heading into the Monday night game. I assume you were anxiously waiting to hear.

-I have the basic outline of my Christmas message series laid out, but I am struggling to get any further with the messages.

-Is it just me, or has this year gone faster than most years?

Here’s praying that you will notice many things for which to be thankful this week.

Dennis