Sunday thoughts

• I had a difficult time wrapping up my sermon for part 3 of "Kaleo."  I truly believe it was a lot of spiritual warfare going on.  Some weeks are a real struggle - but in the end I felt God using me and speaking through me.
• I spent a couple days home with Klaire because she was sick.  It hurt me to see her not feeling well and yet I loved the time with her - we seemed to bond a little more during those days - she's still a big time mommy's girl.
• On Thursday I prayed for God to open a door for me by providing a family for me to reach out to and help.  He did.  We received a call at the church around 11:30 - it was a family of three - dad had just been laid off from Copeland and they needed help with the electric bill.  They met me up town at the utilities office - pray for them as God works in their heart.  Giving is truly much better than receiving!  
• Julie's parents, Jim and Carleen came out on Thursday night to hang with the family and to help with the fundraiser on Saturday.  It's always great to visit with family and have them around!  I don't think everyone feels that way about their family - sad.
• I think Klaire gave me some kind of bug on Friday - I even stayed home from the football game - just felt real bad - like I had been hit by a truck.  Thankfully, I felt better by Saturday morning.
• Demolition began on our new Youth Center.  We had ten guys hitting it hard for about 4 hours of hard work.  It's going to look amazing!  Our teens deserve it - they have been waiting a long time for this.
• Our women's bible study group met our home on Saturday and prepared over 1,500 fried pies for the adoption ministry.  Cassie Lane is currently in the process of adopting a little girl form Ethiopia.  I couldn't believe how many people came out to get the pies made.  We are blessed to have some incredible people in our church!  Huge props go to Julie's parents for making this one happen!
• Sunday was a great day with new people in both services, one new member, and many people making decisions to "follow Christ" by sharing their faith with their friends and family.  I can't wait to see how God is going to use this in our people's lives.
• The highlight of my day was teaching the 201 CLASS last night.  We had ten people go through the class!  It's amazing what God is doing in people's lives.  I love it.
• This next Sunday we will be Celebrating God's blessings in our church and the vision for the next several years - it will be one big service at 10:00 am.
• Can you believe it - we will be celebrating Klaire's 3rd birthday on Tuesday.