August Was Crazy

It has been a little while since I have had anything significant to say on here. Life has been hurried to say the least. During the month of August I had two people close to me pass away: Louise Jones and Betty McClough. Louise is my grandmother and Betty is a friend from Memphis, TN. I was afforded the opportunity to go to TN for my grandmother's funeral, but could not attend Betty's due to them being on the same day. The trip was extremely last minute, but I was glad that I was able to go. I got to reconnect with some family I have not seen in years. It was a nice to be home with family. The biggest problem with being away was that I had to leave Dana and the girls behind. I do not like doing that at all. To complicate things it was our anniversary weekend. (I am still trying to make up for that one!)

Two weeks ago I attended an orientation at a local college to hand out information about our congregation. It was a great experience seeing these freshmen begin their new life away from home. They looked so young! They were all full of dreams and excited about what lies ahead for them. It is hard to believe that it has been 13 years already since I was a college freshman. Man I am starting to get old.

Last weekend I took some vacation time to go to Virginia Beach with my family. Our good friends, the Kirvens, have been living there for almost 3 years now. We met them during our time in Canton, OH and have been keeping in touch ever since. They are a wonderful family and have experienced some happy and disappointing times with us during the past six years. We took the time to go to the beach to relax for awhile and just enjoy the weather. Benjamin is the Family Life Minister at the Bayside Church of Christ. He was gracious enough to have me speak the Sunday night we were there. It is always a neat experience when preaching at a new place. You never know what to expect, but it was exciting as always. We ended up doing a cookout on Monday down there and then traveled 9 hours back to Lebanon, PA. The traveling part was not fun at all.

Due to all of thie travel and activities, I have not been at my congregation for three Sunday's in a row. I must admit that having the time off was good mentally and spiritually. It gave me the opportunity to get recharged and refocused. I am sure you ministry people out there know what I mean. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

I hope that each of you have enjoyed your summer and cherish this warm weather before it is gone.