Yesterday was a difficult day for me. My mind was trying to process too many things and I had trouble staying focused when I was teaching in a small group and when I was preaching. That is not a good thing. I apologize to everyone for being so distracted. As for my musings …

-Yesterday during our worship time we honored, and remembered, five people who passed away in the past year. We presented members of their families with a framed certificate recognizing their loved one’s faithful service to the Lord and our church. I challenged the congregation with needs we now have with the passing of these faithful people. We need more to step up their prayer life, to help in VBS, in encouragement, and much more to continue the good works that these had begun.

-I heard some great praises of how God is working in some families to build relationships and of growing interests in the things of God. I also heard some disturbing reports of relationship strains that some are in the middle of.

-I continued the message series “The Hope of Relationships”. We examined the need to remember those we are in relationship with and to work at making sure they know we remember them. We cannot expect good relationships if we ignore our relationships, especially our relationship with Christ.

-Our attendance was down yesterday.

-On Friday and Saturday my wife and I were in another state where I was coaching a volleyball team at a tournament. I will be coaching at our high school this fall and this is a summer camp/tournament that they have gone to for the past few years. It was a great experience, even if we didn’t win as much as I had hoped. It felt great to be back in that role again. My wife did well with the travel (a few hours away) and going in and out of gyms and up and down bleachers.

-We have a great praise. We have asked for prayer for our oldest grandson and his student visa that is needed so he can study in South Africa this fall. His application was approved!!! It was approved on his first try. Now we wait for the documents to arrive. We are praying that they come quickly, we have been told it could take four weeks. We want them to arrive quickly so that he can get back to Africa where his parents and siblings are serving. This process has cost them precious time together this summer. Thank you for praying.

-Saturday would have been my Dad’s 90^th birthday. On Sunday it hit me that this is the first time in my lifetime that I didn’t speak with him on his birthday. However, he is enjoying a much better birthday than he ever has before.

-Being out of town, sleeping in a hotel for a couple of nights showed my wife and I that maybe it is time to get a new mattress. When you sleep better in a strange bed, in a strange place, it may be time for a different mattress.

-My struggle with focus yesterday was a result of some burdens, also from me trying to fix too many things at once, of wrestling with some ministry vision ideas and a little fatigue.

-I am getting excited for our Vacation Bible School and it doesn’t begin until July 30. Some of the props, and decorations are beginning to be put together. A couple of the items will be too big to fit through our sanctuary doors, so they will need to be built in the sanctuary and they will begin working on them soon.

-Coaching this past week confirmed that I need to get in better physical condition and drop some weight. This will be some of my accountability by making my commitment to this goal public on my blog.

Here’s hoping you have someone that you can count on to hold you accountable and encourage you in a goal. If not, then be that for someone else this week. Especially the encouragement part.

Dennis