Welcome to Weird 2008

Happy New Year! What an incredible year 2007 was. God gave us every minute of each of those 365 days and each was a beautiful gift that I pray was used to glorify Him. Now we've been given another one. It's 2008! How weird is that? I remember talking about 1958! Granted, I was only in the second grade - Mrs. Sidnores class, but I remember it. In '68 I hitch-hiked through Florida that summer and came home to Washington, D.C. to find soldiers and tanks still in the streets after the riots. In '78 we had two small daughters and were working with a small congregation in Fairfax, VA - but it didn't stay small long. By 1988, we had three assemblies, 850 members, so busy that I resigned after eight years of being a volunteer Police Chaplain for the Fairfax County Police, and even our youngest, Jonathan, was eight years old. In '98 we finished up an eight year ministry in Texas, moved to Nashville, had all three kids graduated from High School and in college and the oldest one married. Deborah and Pat will have their tenth anniversary this May. Wow! And what's happened in the last ten years? Two more weddings, five grandchildren, and now starting our fourth year at Florissant. I am overwhelmed with how blessed we are. It keeps getting better. In the Fall of 1968 I preached my first sermon at a little church in south Georgia, and now the Father has us working with the most incredible church family we've ever been part of. They've all been great church families, but there is something very special about Florissant. We thank God every day for bringing us here and I'm more excited about the coming year than I've ever been before. So, yeah, 2008 sounds weird - but wonderful! I'm excited about what God will do with us and through us in next 365 days (not counting today - and yes - it is a Leap Year).