Yesterday morning went very well. This morning however, did not go as planned, that is why these are Monday evening musings…

-Our Worship service was very good yesterday. The music went well, and the congregation seemed to be engaged and participating well. We honored a young lady in our church who just graduated from college. It was encouraging to see how she is maturing and growing in her faith and life. She graduated from high school just a few months after I came here to pastor. We had a great time of prayer. Even the offering seemed to be a moment of worship.

-The message was on repairing relationships as part of a series of messages entitled “The Hope of Relationships”. I received word from 2 people yesterday afternoon how God spoke to them and how they needed that message.

-Attendance was reasonable and has been up slightly for the past 3 months.

-We had 9 youth in our worship service yesterday!

-There is a growing sense of God’s moving in our fellowship, and in our community. Doors are opening for relationships and opportunities. A few more people seem to be burdened to pray intensely. There is obvious spiritual growth in some people. There is a renewed excitement. Some of the excitement stems from seeing children and youth growing in their walk with Christ.

-My wife continues to do well in her recovery. On Wednesday it will be 6 weeks since her surgery.

-My oldest grandson is having to come back to the states for a few weeks to clear up some of his student visa issues. While I am excited to see him and spend some time with him. I hurt for him as he is losing his summer with his parents and siblings and they are losing that precious time with him. Just another example of sacrifices that missionaries and their families make.

-I feel the need to set aside some time to make sure that I am doing what God desires of me right now. Recently, I have had a lot of opportunities come toward me. All these opportunities are intriguing and interesting. All of them are good things. I just want to be sure that I am spending my time on the best things that are available. That may mean saying no to some good things. I want to make sure that I am not chasing after so many things that I am fail at doing my best. I am not good at stepping aside for this type of evaluation. I love to evaluate, but I love to evaluate after I am doing. I need to get better at some evaluation before I even begin. Now to make the time to do this evaluation.

-My message this coming Sunday is on restoring relationships. It is one thing to repair broken parts of a relationship, but it is another thing to restore a relationship that appears to be dead. Prayer are appreciated as I try to get this important message across to the people of my church.

-I did some Facebook live with our service yesterday. I would like to do this every week. But I need to figure out some better logistics for the recording.

Here’s hoping you are seeing reason to hope in your relationships.

Dennis