Earth and Heaven Happenings

Wow, what an election return!  While I’m excited about the potential of a unified Republican government (especially constitutionalist Supreme Court nominees), I remind myself that my ultimate hope belongs in heaven, that this world is under a death sentence, and that our primary task is not to make America great, but to glorify our great God, and Savior, Jesus Christ.  

The election results were a nice birthday present as another year caught up with me and passed me by.  I still don’t know how many more times the calendar will flip before I retire, but as long as my health holds up and my company lets me stay, I hope to continue the work.  I’ve learned not to be overwhelmed by the size of the task, but just focus on the people and the work that the Lord gives me each day.

Last week we had our annual associational meeting.  How exciting to hear our churches report about God’s work among them.  I think I heard that about 50 had been baptized since our last meeting 6 months ago.  Some churches have begun new outreach points, others reported spiritual renewals among their members, still others have been challenged to plant new churches.  I am so blessed to see God work so strongly among such humble people.

On the family front, Martha’s wedding will be on Dec. 3.  Preparations are proceeding.  Two weeks ago, Hannah competed in a triathlon – a 3-part race that including 450 people swimming half a mile across a lake, bicycling 12 miles, then running 3 miles.  When Hannah started training a year ago, she said her goal was to beat the truck that picked up the cones at the end of the race!  After a year of disciplined practice she completed the race with a respectable time.

When I was at David and Andrea’s wedding a year ago, Hannah asked me when and where was our next family vacation.  Knowing they liked the movie Lord of the Rings, I quickly smiled and said, “Hey, let’s go to New Zealand!  Hahaha.”   They didn’t hear the ‘hahaha’ part, so Hannah, Sara, and I will be touring New Zealand the first 2 weeks of February (southern hemisphere's mid-summer).  Martha had originally planned to go, but then marriage happened.

Well, that’s about all the major news for the past couple of weeks.  The world still turns no matter who is president, I still get older no matter what I do, and the Lord still works in people’s hearts no matter what the devil does.  Thanksgiving is around the corner, so as the old hymn says, “Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done.”