Dry Spell

I've had several people ask me when I was going to have a new entry.
OK, it was really two people so not quite several but more than one.

Lots has happened but nothing has made it to the keyboard and to the blog.
It has been a dry spell.

I have had good intentions to sit down and put something down but just didn't make it. Excuses are plentiful. Too tired, too late, too burnt out, too uninspired, too distracted, too busy, too, too, too.

Excuses are just that excuses and they come in handy when we don't want to do something that we should do. And I like working on this blog.

But I have other dry spells in my life recently: not reading the Bible enough, not spending enough time in prayer, not getting enough sleep, not returning calls promptly at work.

Wow! That's a convicting list and I am sure that I could come up with some more things I am not doing right now that I should be doing if I thought about it for half a minute.

I can use the excuse that I am reffing high school soccer but there is that word again: excuse.

But that is winding down. Tonight I had one game that was done early. Next week the playoffs begin. And I should be done by the middle of the week.

Wonder what excuse I can use then...

Follow Up

It's the small things that can make a big difference.

Last Sunday Loralie and I visited a new church. It is in the neighborhood and seems to be growing.

The church is nondenominational (not affiliated with a denomination).

A couple of observations: They made it real easy to like.

There were couples at the door to open it as we walked in as well as parking lot attendants to direct the parking.

A couple of people came up to us to make sure that any questions we had were answered.

When the sermon started, ushers came down the aisle and passed out Bibles to anyone who needed one. The pastor said that you could do what you wanted with it, leave it, turn it in or keep it. In the Bible was tucked the sermon outline.

The sermon outline was on the video screen also.

But the follow up after the service is one thing that most impressed me. When visiting a church we are used to a post card acknowledging our visit or maybe a phone call from someone on the "visitation team."

Today we got a handwritten personal note from the senior pastor thanking us for our visit and mentioning that his wife met Loralie several years ago. And inviting us back to hear the rest of the sermon series.

And as I was checking the messages on the answering machine, there was a message from one of the other pastors thanking us for attending and asking us to call if there were any questions.

Quite the contrast from some of the other churches we have visited in the past.

And I do think that I want to hear the rest of that sermon series...