Outdoors!

I know what your thinking, this will be a post about the outdoors and camping or hot hot it is or something like that.  Well, no, not really.

The church I attend, Journey North, held an outdoor service yesterday.  It was at a park in town.  The park has a pavilion, and benches and lots of trees.  It was really nice weather, cool with a little breeze.  Everything would have been perfect.  Except that the park has a playground.  With swings and slides.  I have kids.  They want to play on the playground (shocker, I know!), and not sit and listen to some sermon.

I really like outdoor services. I think they are a great way to shake things up a bit.  But, at every church I have ever gone too, outdoor services are NOT for people with kids.  How do I know this?  They never have any type of childcare at these services, so those with kids inevitably end up chasing or playing with their kids.  I know what you are thinking, if only the Almond was better behaved, he would have sat there for the entire hour and paid close attention to the pastor. WRONG! The Almond is TWO!!  He could care less about what the pastor is saying, especially when there is a giant slide and swingset only 50 feet away. 

He did end up being happy to sit on my shoulders. From there, he could reach the leaves of the tree, shred them and sprinkle them on my head.  A great time was had by all.  BTW, the sermon was about independence day, how accecpting Christ into our lives is OUR independence day, and we should view it as such.  It was pretty good, what I heard of it. I can’t wait until they start offering the sermons on CD so that I can hear the ones I miss on days like that.

Coming Home

Well, it is almost time for us to return to Minnesota from California.  I can’t say that I will miss California that much, because the entire time we have been here, it has rained and been cold.  I am not sure that the temperature has gotten over 60 degrees.  Now, don’t get me wrong, 60 degrees in February is plenty warm for this frozen boy from Minnesota, but it is not what was in the travel brochure!!!  I feel like I have fallen for the old ‘bait and switch’.  Come to ‘Sunny’ California!!  Hahahaha, only when they are actually here will they realize it is more overcast and gloomy than East Germany during the cold war!  (For those younger readers, it you don’t understand the last reference, pay better attention in history class!)

It really was a great trip though.  Even though there wasn’t much ‘sunlight’, there sure was plenty of ‘Sonlight’.  Even more than what I could have learned at the conference, was what God showed me through the actions, converstations, comradiarie that was shared with the great group that went with us.  We still have a long road ahead of us to getting small groups off the ground at Journey North, but at least now, the GPS as acquired the satelittes and we can see the roadmap ahead of us.  We just need to keep the little car on the pink road, and we should be good.

I am excited to return home, not only to see the sun again, but to see my kids, whom I miss intensely.

Looks like I have to go pack now.  Hope you all have a great day.