Snowy Day

It is a snowy day but not a snow day. Actually, the snow meant that I worked today instead of taking the day off. Sarah didn't go to work today because of the weather and will go in tomorrow, so I will take tomorrow off to take care of the kids while she is at work. It has been a day of more time on the phone and less time getting things studied or written. At some point this evening I should go out and snowblow. I've held of doing it because it is so windy. I haven't written anything much on the blog about the Dominican Trip. In fact, I have done a pretty poor job keeping up on the blog since I got back. The more visiting I get in, the more you realize how the church is just too big for one or two people to keep up with everyone. As attendance has risen, so is our need to really be taking care of each other. It never was supposed to be just the job of the leadership and now it can't be. I am so thankful for how well our church is doing on this. We still have a ways to go, but we are moving in the right direction. I am looking forward to the night that Dave and I get to share about our trip to the DR. It really was an awesome trip. It is hard to only go for a week. I am used to long term ministry. I have been at Berea for 20 years and at Bean's Corner for almost 13 years. Building deep relationships over time is the best way to do meaningful ministry (in my humble opinion). I am catching up with this as I get ready to break off work for supper. Micah has dropped into the office to play with the little blocks that I keep up here. He is quite the personality. Sarah and I take such delight in the kids. They can be a lot of work as you focus on training and discipline, but we have already seen the results of stepping up to the plate and fighting the battles early. I remember nights where bedtime was a lot of work as we had to repeatedly climb the stairs to discipline and correct. Now, even though we are up to three kids, we rarely have to go up even once. Many nights we don't have to do anything. Just tuck them in, pray with them, kiss them, and goodnight. They go to sleep. Now we are glad we did the hard work earlier. Discipline, when done consistently and lovingly, works. I am SO appreciating working with Nate. He is a good ministry partner. It is neat to not only work well together, but to be able to be personally close. It is only going to get better as he and Charlene marry and he and I will be able to relate to each other as married men. I am so thankful for the men that I can be personally close to. To have people who ask about how my relationship with Sarah is going and how I am doing personally and who in turn are accountable to me about how their home life is. This is the Biblical accountability that is so valuable when we are open enough to practice it. I am really enjoying studying the Natural Church Development material. There is so much here. It is going to take care and wisdom to know how to roll this out in the best way for the church to grow, but it is going to be so valuable. I can see how the Lord is already setting up this next season in our life as a church. I am excited to have a feeling that we are going somewhere, not just maintaining. I will be speaking at InterVarsity at UMF. Now they are technically called Farmington Christian Fellowship. I enjoyed my time there last week and look forward to another chance to share with them this week. Well, I should wrap this entry up. Just a few Stray Thoughts after too long of no entries. It is good to just empty out the buffer sometimes and write about whatever is on my mind. Helps keep things flowing. Hopefully I will get back here and share some anecdotes from my Dominican Trip as well as more about what I am excited about at church.