Will (Part One)

Ben and Will are my beloved sons in whom I am well pleased.

Will (11) is having surgery today at Chidren's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He's been having abdominal pain for about two months and the tests so far haven't shown it's cause.

Please pray for Will and for the rest of us that we will experience God's peace and presence as we wait.

Crazy Monday

Okay, let's review Monday.

We had a big day. This was the plan.

Cash paycheck.
Drop my truck at the New Stanton Cracker Barrel.
Drive to Whitehall (our church's state offices).
Drop off Janelle for her 10:30 meeting.
Drive Ben to Cooperstown (40 minutes) to spend a couple hours with his girlfriend.
Get back to Whitehall for my 12:30 meeting.
Janelle would pick up Ben at 1:20.
Janelle would then pick me up at 2:00 (whether my meeting was done or not).
Pick up my truck at Cracker Barrel.
Janelle drives Ben home.
I go to my golf league.
Janelle meets up with her car pool for Sweet Adelines.
Jim Jacquillard starts the movie for my VBS class.
I sneak in after golfing one of the best rounds of my life! and guide the after-movie discussion.

Sounds simple enough, right?

I was at the bank window at 8:00 a.m.. Unfortunately the bank doesn't open (I found out) until 8:30. Waiting would put us at Janelle's meeting late, so, we decided on plan B and I headed back home to load my golf clubs in Janelle's PT Cruiser. Janelle has her bike rack on her hatchback, and the extra weight was just enough to bring the hatch crashing down on my skull. It rattled my teeth and left me with a lump.

We dropped my truck at Cracker Barrel and headed for Whitehall. We dropped Janelle off a couple minutes early and headed for Cooperstown. Janelle told me she'd seen a PNC Bank in Franklin (right on our way to Cooperstown), so we planned to cash my check there. What do we find? Three (count'em three!) National City Banks and not a single PNC Bank. A teller in one of the three National City branches told me the nearest PNC Bank was in Titusville.

I dropped Ben at his girlfriend's, and headed for Titusville (18 miles beyond Cooperstown by a most circuitous route). Got to the bank, made my deposit and got a little cash for the day and headed back to Cooperstown to slip Ben some lunch money. Left Cooperstown at 12:35 to make the 40-minute drive to my 12:30 meeting (can you do the math?). About 12:40 my phone rings and it's Janelle telling me my meeting has been postponed for a week. Everyone claims they'd sent me an email, but I never got it.

We decided the best thing then would be for me to hang out and pick Ben up at the appointed time. I slipped into Franklin and got some lunch, and then went back to get Ben. Goodbyes meant we couldn't leave until 1:30, after which we rushed to Whitehall and got Janelle and headed for home.

By this time, it was apparent Janelle wouldn't have time to take Ben home before she met her carpool. It was also looking like I was going to be later than I planned to my golf league, which would also make me even later to VBS. We decided Janelle could just drop me and Ben at my truck; she could go on to Sweet Adelines, and I would forego golfing (a painful sacrifice).

That's what we did. Janelle got where she needed to go, and I took care of my VBS responsibilities. I just didn't get to golf. I figured it up, and I spent approximately 8 hours in the car just driving. What do I have to show for it? My meeting was cancelled and I missed my golf league. I could have stayed home. By the time VBS was over with, I was so tired I just fell into bed.

Oh, well; that's life.

Today is Tuesday, and it's going to be pretty much the same.

This Weekend

Sunday's going to be a great day! We'll be honoring our High School graduates and previewing our teaching series for the summer: Core Values.

This Sunday will just be an introduction. Next Sunday will be Fathers' Day, and the week after that I'll be gone for the Church of God North American Convention in Anderson, Indiana. So we really won't start any serious unpacking of the summer topic until July 1.

Our church's mission statement (which predates my tenure here) is as follows: Connellsville Church of God exists to connect people with God in a loving Spirit-filled environment of family worship; teaching, discipling and equipping each member to advance God's Kingdom, resulting in changed lives.

That's great, but WHY are those things important to us? Because of our core values. Core values come first. Mission statements are constructed on the foundation of core values. If part of our mission statement is the desire to connect people with God, that has to come from somewhere. We must believe that people need to be connected with God. Connect people with God is the mission; People need God is the core value.

Got the idea? Then join us as we explore these ideas further this summer. You'll even have the opportunity to explore your own core values.

Family Vacation Thumbnail (Part Four)

This is the final installment of our vacation odyssey.

This is just one example of the haute cuisine we enjoyed while living the high life in Dreary Erie, the Mistake on the Lake. Hey, I grew up there; I can say that... but don't you dare disrespect my home town!

The reason I included this picture is this little vignette. We had ordered our Taco Bell dinner and were waiting for it to be served up, when a guy asked if I'd been waited on, because he didn't want to cut in front of me in line. I assured him I was taken care of, and noticed his McDonald's cap. He was on break and enjoying dinner at Taco Bell, wearing his McDonald's uniform from the restaurant down the street. Okay; maybe I live a sheltered life, but I thought that was mildly amusing.

Then, I hear a shout, "Pizza's here." The restaurant doors open up and a Pizza Hut delivery guy brings in a stack of three pizzas for the counter and kitchen crew's dinner!

At first I worried for my health that even the Taco Bell employees wouldn't eat there, but then I realized it was something much more sinister even than that. The McDonald's kid and the Taco Bell crew are just like us. How often do we want something other than what we have? We want a new car even though the one in our driveway runs great; we want a new house even though the one we live in has plenty of room; we want a new husband or wife even though, when you get right down to it, there's nothing really that wrong with the one we've got (in fact, we're probably blessed beyond our imagination, and won't realize what we've got until we've lost it)!

The Taco Bell Chronicles illustrate a microcosm of the human condition. Once upon a time in a Garden called Eden, two blessed people failed to appreciate all that they had been given, and coveted the one thing they were forbidden. And that, my friend, is why Pizza Hut delivers to Taco Bell.

Family Vacation Thumbnail (Part Three)

Here's a little more about our vacation in Erie, PA. We wish you could have all been there with us, except that our tent would have gotten a little crowded.

Our first day or so on the beach was pretty solitary. There were a few other tents around, but for the most part it was quiet. Then came Friday. The place filled up with partiers. I was driving 8 mph through the camp ground and got hollered at by a Barney Fife security guard for driving too fast. I wanted to say, "And where were you at 3 a.m. when the college kids started screaming because they were out of beer!?"

The beaches were just about empty because the water was so cold. With the air at 90 degrees and the water at 56 degrees, no one was doing much swimming. By late August the water will be up to about 80 degrees, and it will stay that way all the way through September (even though there's no more swimming after Labor Day).

Our kids are growing up so fast; it was really fun to see them acting like kids. Sand and a couple of styrofoam swords will do that to you.

Lake Erie is fairly shallow (as far as Great Lakes go), which means a storm can kick up the surf faster than one can imagine. But except for one gusty night, there was almost no wind and the water was as smooth as I've ever seen it. It was really great watching the sun set each evening. How great is our God!

Family Vacation Thumbnail (Part Two)

The following pictures are associated with Splash Lagoon, an indoor water park in Erie. Three different hotels have enclosed walkways leading to the park, and they offer special admittance prices for their guests.


This is Ben crossing the lily pads.

These are two scenes just to give you an idea of what this park is like.

This is when I came back from our campsite to pick up Janelle, Ben (14) and Will (11). I know I look like I'm sunburned, but really I was just overheated from setting up our tent in the unseasonable heat and humidity, and then the few minutes I spent at Splash Lagoon just exacerbated my condition because it was SO HOT in there! I'm not sure why I look so much taller than my sons; Ben is just about as tall as I am, with Will coming up quick.

This is a really cool stained glass window in the pool area of Residence Inn (not the hotel in which we stayed, but we entered Splash Lagoon through their lobby). The window shows Admiral Perry's flagship Niagara, Perry Monument, the Presque Isle light house, a rendering of Presque Isle peninsula itself (middle), and some of the beautiful lily pads for which the lagoons are known.

Family Vacation Thumbnail (Part One)

I haven't blogged in the last week because my family and I were taking a week off. We traveled to Erie, Pennsylvania where we spent a couple nights in a hotel, and then camped on the beach for the remaining three nights. This is a picture of the Presque Isle lagoons. I have great memories of fishing here with my dad, and I have been blessed to take my kids there. Unfortunately, we didn't catch a single thing this year, unlike last year when Will caught the most fish and Ben caught the biggest fish.

In this nature preserve no gas engines are allowed, so we rented a rowboat.

Here's a picture of Will bringing us back to the dock after a hard day's fishing.

How did we pack all our camping stuff into Janelle's PT Cruiser? Prayer.

This is the Perry Monument. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry is a Lake Erie hero from the War of 1812. He fought bravely against the British, but would march a mile out of his way to avoid his greatest fear... cows. To this day, if people bring cows along on their outings at the beach, they must keep them securely leashed.