It’s so good to be back in the Chicago area with my fellow Bulls, Blackhawks, and Cubs fans (the Sox are purposely not included!). I’ve also enjoyed reconnecting with friends from the past. I’m at Calvary Baptist Church, pastored by Rick Weesner, and I’ve been able to fellowship with Jenni (Muth) Green, who went to school with me in Schaumburg. Jenni’s husband is seeking the Lord’s will about entering full-time ministry. I also met David and Laura Neal, friends from my Mt. Calvary days. David is pastoring a new church in Harvard, IL. I’ve also seen Derek Black. He was quite a bit younger than me at Schaumburg, but now he’s a missionary going to Alaska with his family. Most importantly, I was able to see my sister Lori last night. She was able to come to hear my ministry presentation. I’ll see her again later this week as I stay at her house.
It’s been a great conference so far. I really appreciate the work that the church is putting into the conference and how the Lord is blessing. I taught the teens and college-aged students for SS and then the children for Children’s Church. The pastor asked if I would be willing to teach the latter, and I said ‘yes.’ So I put something together over the weekend. But then when I got here, the pastor said that the CC leader wanted me to do just a 5-10 minute thing. When I was talking to this man between SS and CC, he got excited about my presentation and asked if I could still give it. After scrambling around to get my computer and projector from my car in the rain and then having my notes printed off (which I hadn’t looked at since Friday night), I was able to teach the kids about language, communication, and their relation to what God has called us as believers to do. The Lord gave us a wonderful time together.
My speaking responsibilities are over for this conference, so now I can just enjoy the other speakers. On Thurs I head to my sister’s.
That was pretty funny! You shouldn’t have done such a good job and then told what a wonderful lesson or presentation you had prepared. He never would have known. But, God had other plans and you were given the grace to pull it together still even with all of what you had to go through. Wish I could have been there to see and hear what you did and said.