What A Great Weekend

This was a great week that just passed!

Friday began with a trip to Des Moines to see my Mom. She had a wonderful lunch fixed when Lynn and I arrived. Lunch was Graziano's hot sausage patties with cheese served openfaced on Krispy Krust Italian bread and my Mom's world famous vegetable soup w/ chicken. What a feast!

The purpose of the trip besides just getting to spend time with my Mom was to go through some of my Dad's things. I'm telling you the truth, it was tough. But as I tell my kids hard is hard, hard is not bad, hard is not impossible. I even learned something about my Dad that I hand never been aware of before that day. I miss him!

After our visit at Mom's, Lynn and I drove to the Sportsman's Warehouse in Ankeny and just walked around. Not that we were really looking for anything but enjoying the diversion and just spending some time together. You know, it never seems like we get enough time to just hang out and as unbelievable as it might seem Lynn likes spending time with me! She's so weird!

We picked up Lynn's Mom and drove to the Grandview Park Baptist Church for a concert with the Faith Baptist Bible College Choral. It was fantastic! The group did a great job and we thoroughly enjoyed the music as well as the fellowship. We met some church friends there as well as others and we slipped away to Hickory Park BBQ and Ice Cream for a bite to eat following the concert.

It ended up being a late night not getting home until about midnight but it was worth the effort!

Saturday was kind of a lazy day as the girls all drove to the outlet mall to go shopping and Phil and I stayed close to home and the NCAA tourney on the TV. My bracket is a royal mess, however, 3 of the final four teams are in as well as my pick for national champ. You will have to wait before I tell you who I've crowned as the Champs!

I made homemade chicken pot pie for supper and everyone really enjoyed the meal (Thanks to the Fultz's). We spent the balance of the evening watching movies that were so-so. Not enough car chases and crashes for me!

Sunday was incredible. I love the opportunity to preach and teach the Word of God! On Sunday mornings I'm working through a series in the Book of Hebrews. Sunday morning we looked at Hebrews 9:15-28 and saw once again that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what makes it possible for us to stand before a holy God! One verse that I mentioned that is so cool is 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." I stand in awe of our great God!

Sunday evening we had out TFC night at the Church. Talents For Christ (TFC) helps teens to develop their God-given talents for ministry within the local church. It encourages students to prepare and to gain skill for serving the Lord. Students can choose to compete in either the Open category or the Scholarship category. The open category is for students just developing their skills or students who are not planning on attending one of the participating colleges. If students choose to compete in a scholarship category, they have the potential of qualifying for college scholarships on the state and national level.

We have three young people from our church involved with TFC and one of them is Susan (our daughter). She is in the ladies vocal and she did a great job Sunday evening. I'm really looking forward to hearing her compete. Someone asked how that much volume could come from a package that small, I responded that she takes after her mother because I'm so meek and mild.

I'd better stop there!

I Remain,
Pastor Steve