Wesley's 3rd Birthday!

Wesley has been pretty excited about Thomas the Train the last few months, and when I asked him about three months ago what kind of cake he would want for his third birthday, he assuredly told me he would want a Thomas cake. His passion for Thomas seems to have waned just a bit the last few weeks as he has taken notice of things like Cars, Berenstain Bears and Pooh and Tigger, but I kept reminding him how exciting it was going to be to have a Thomas cake. It paid off. His face when he saw his cake was worth it all! Lela helped me carry out my mission and it was mostly a success.

My Mimi's birthday is August 30th and Wesley's is the 31st, so we had a double celebration...Mimi turned 89 and Wesley 3. They both seemed to have a ball!

We had quite a turn out. The party was at my parents' house so we had Misha, Gin-Gin, Lela (from California!), Mimi, Aunt Debbie, Eric, Audra, and John Mark's parents, Golly and Granddad, in attendance.

Curtis enjoyed snuggling with Audra :)

The gift that was the biggest hit was probably a tricycle from Golly and Granddad. He said, "Well, look at that!" when he realized what it was. I wonder who he's been watching open gifts to generate such a reaction!

Wesley Finally Made it to a Zoo

...and Curtis did, too!

KY to TX

I finally uploaded some pictures now that we're getting somewhat settled in Texas. Here are a few shots from our transition time around the move.

We had a fun last hurrah hanging out with the girls from my Bible study eating, feeding goats and playing with the kids outside. I'm missing those girls a lot!

This is a shot from our last day at Little Mount. After the Sunday morning service we packed up the last few things and headed out for the long drive to Texas.

The story of closing on our house was absolutely ridiculous...I don't even feel mentally ready to write anything about it on here, but let's just say we had some extended time at John Mark's brother's house. He and his wife were VERY gracious to us by letting us stay with them for over a week while we got things figured out. While we were there, John Mark's sister and her family came by on their way back home from camp. It was good to see the cousins having fun together.

The day finally came when we got to move into our house!! We were SO ready. (We also literally got to live in a barn for a few days while waiting on logistics to get figured out with our closing.)

Once we were in, Wesley didn't waste any time finding some crazy things to do, and Curtis was just happy to have his bucket of toys to rummage through.

We miss our Kentucky friends dearly, but we are slowly getting adjusted to our new life here. It's nice to be close to family.

First Day of Seminars

This morning I went to my New Testament Reading Seminar - my first classroom experience in the PhD program. I arrived early enough to pass the Seminary president out walking with his dog. (He had his dog in the chapel for orientation on Tue!) I ran into my professor 10 minutes before class, and he sent me to a new location. A few minutes later we received word that our location had been changed again.

When I introduced myself to the prof & 5 other students, I embarrassed myself twice. Dr. Hoskins asked whether I knew two professors from my previous school. The first, I admitted, I had avoided taking his classes on the word of a friend. The second came to campus after I graduated, but I confused him with another professor with the same first name, whom I did know. I made a remark about playing basketball & throwing elbows with him. The prof & one student who knew the real man in question were a bit surprised but nodded in agreement.

Never Again!

I think the Lord just opened my eyes to one of my failures as a pastor over the last several years. A lady in the church remarked to me many times that she saw God work a miracle in August of 2009 during our worship service: instead of transitioning from the end of my sermon immediately into the Lord's Supper (which was my habit for every month's last Sunday), I decided to offer a chance for people to respond to the message & to the Holy Spirit as we sang a hymn. During the response time, this particular lady's 69-year-old husband decided to follow Jesus & seek baptism. The miracle, said this lady, was that I broke with my habit and God graciously intervened.

One Sabbath day at the synagogue Jesus broke with tradition and healed a woman who had been disabled for 18 years (Luke 13:10-17). The 'worship leader' said this was neither the time nor the place for that kind of ministry. Jesus rebuked him and all who agreed with the 'worship leader.'

I assume that the disciples eventually got the message - NEVER AGAIN will true worshipers be permitted to ignore other people - especially the oppressed & helpless. They understood that a major component of gathering in worship is ministering to one another. And just maybe, to ensure that the Church would not drop this responsibility to love people as Jesus did, he decided to equip every disciple with gifts by the Holy Spirit to use in ministering to one another.

When Church Is Boring

Church gatherings, Bible studies, sermons, Christian books, and much more of church life are supposed to teach you information. That's their primary purpose. At least that is the impression you might get if you talk about the quality of a church with a seasoned church person.

1. What if the message at church this morning is something you already know? That means you could have stayed home - or at least it means that the message is for someone else. I've heard this idea expressed by not a few church members.

2. Why do congregations even need to gather if we can learn the same truths from a book, a TV program, or even a podcast. The chances are high that you can find almost any truth better articulated from some source other than your local church. If church is mainly about learning new truths, it would make much more sense for us to all use the best resources.

3. Since we've moved to TX, I don't think I have learned anything new from the sermons or Bible studies. In fact, sometimes I found different minor points to be not as 'on point' as I might like. Even so, I have been encouraged and refreshed every place we have visited. One major reason: experiencing love from others and from the Holy Spirit.

4. Much of the information provided us in Scripture is familiar but has not transformed our hearts. Known truths unapplied mean we have deceived ourselves, and we are left bored with truth. This is dangerous on several counts. What should be done? We must meditate on familiar truths - mull them over in our minds, asking God to shine light into our haziness. Boredom with a truth is a gracious warning sign.