Lost and Found

First - Thanks to all who prayed for the Heavyweights series - it was cool.

I also appreciate your prayers for my upcoming missions trip to China this fall and also all of the tasks on our building project.

Vacation Update - so after Disneyland Paris - we actually spent one night in Paris and had a total of about 40 hours to cram as much sightseeing as possible. Of course we did the usual Eiffel Tower - Louvre (what an amazing museum - it was cool to see the Mona Lisa up close - but it is surprisingly smaller than you would expect). One of my favorite experiences was one afternoon I had to go out and change some money while the kids and Paula went shopping - I had my map but got turned around and was lost for a little while - just basically walking around in circles - being a man and not wanting to ask for directions, I just decided to stop by a sidewalk cafe and have some espresso -(there are tons of these cafes all over Paris) - it was so cool - just sitting there by myself trying to get re-orientated and then taking a moment to just sit back, relax, and people watch for a little bit. We are an interesting bunch - the human race - we may speak different languages and have different customs but people are basically the same all over the world . As I was taking this time out - It dawned on my that there are times in our lives when we feel lost or get confused - I think one of the best things we can do in that moment is stop, slow down and regroup - God's Word says Be still and know that I am God - think about that.

So, after the coffee- found my way back to our hotel and then it was time to pack up and get ready for our trip to Barcelona and the cruise - more on that tomorrow.

Talk at you soon.

Wacky Wednesday

OK - this is the last of the adjective - day titles. Enough already!

On with the vacation stuff- let's see, when we last heard from the Pennington's they were in England -off to France then - we flew out early on Thursday from Heathrow to CDG Paris, France -Charles De Gaulle? airport - just before the torrential rains that hit London and flooded alot of roads and in general wreaked havoc. We had 12 bags -6 carry ons totalling about 600 pounds. So, wherever we went it was interesting - the comments about how much luggage the drivers thrilled at how much luggage, etc. Upon landing we headed straight for Disneyland Paris and two nights there before one night in Pairs. Interesting point - you hear so much about the rude Parisians, but that was not our experience - everywhere we went -the people were nice and helpful. More on Pairs tomorrow.

Thought for the day - While we were in Europe we had to get accustomed to their way of life - their customs - like the whole line queue issue - generally in America -people get in line in a somewhat orderly fashion - in Europe - it's a free for all in a lot of places with a lot of pushing and shoving -but if you pay attention you quickly figure out how to cope and how the game is played - my point is that we often just see things from our perspective -Paul said that he had become all things to all people- the question is - who in your life do you need to demonstrate some understanding towards because they think about things differently or approach a situation differently, I'm not asking you to disregard a moral or ethical issue - but rather to have an attitude of understanding for a different approach.

Talk at you soon.

Another Manic Monday

So I will give you some insight into church attendance. Usually, a church can expect that 80% of the members or regular attenders will be at church on any given Sunday(Sept - May) but during the summer months it drops to 60-70%. Yesterday was one of those low in attendance Sunday's. But as we all know - God is always there in our midst and we continue to hear testimony after testimony of people being ministered to, people making commitments in their faith and people being encouraged to live a deeper life of faith - that's cool stuff. Plus - I got to play guitar during worship yesterday -love that!

Vacation update - so on day two of our trip - we visited Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the British Museum. Pretty cool walking in and seeing the Rosetta Stone and the ancient Egyptian artifacts(they even had stuff from Nineveh). Had to get home early and get ready for our early flight to Paris the next day. More to come.



Thought for the day - God is bigger than ________ (lyrics to a great Delirious song) - but seriously - fill in the blank for your life right now

Talk at you soon

It's Friday

I love Friday's - not the restaurant, but the day and even though I tend to work too much on the weekend; normally the radio show and covenant on Saturday and church on Sunday - it's just a nice day. Also - for you oldies out there - also a good the cure song.


Vacation Inf0 - so we landed in merry Olde England on July 15 to begin our vacation - and we went to our Hotel to check in but the room wasn't ready - so we got on the tube(the London Underground is incredible) and went to Madame Toussaud's - the famous wax museum - cool story - before we left for vacation we prayed that God would grant us favor on our trip and several times we experienced this, sometimes it's just the simple things that remind us how much God loves us - so we are standing in line and it's about 1.5-2 hour wait and this lady is walking down the line and she stops every few people and talks - just basically letting people know the wait time and she comes to us and offers us the opportunity to jump the queue and go straight into the museum - we say yes and as soon as we get inside it starts to pour rain outside. Normal everyday circumstance that has the fingerprint of God all over it. We enjoyed the museum and had a wonderful evening(btw - the rain had stopped when we were done with the museum). More on the vacation to follow.

Thought for the day - also a great Chris Tomlin song - Your Grace is Enough - His grace is enough for anything you are facing right now.

Talk at you soon.

My Other Life

Well not so much my other life as much as a part of my life - for those who don't know -I am also in the mortgage business - co-owner of a mortgage broker company in mid-atlantic region, and wow, and not a good wow, but more a can't believe wow is this a challenging time in our industry. I truly appreciate your prayers as we try and traverse this changing and challenging market.

As part of the vacation update (btw - I don't think I am usually this random, but when I blog it's mostly stream of consciousness), it was a whirlwind and it was amazing all at the same time. Here are the countries we visited - England(London), France(Paris, Disneyland Paris), Italy(Rome, Naples), Spain(Barcelona, Palma De Mallorca) and Malta(remember the island where Paul was shipwrecked) - so those are the places we visited - I will tell you all about the trip in the days ahead - it was a planes, trains and automobiles(also boats) kind of trip.

Thought for the day - God cares about how you fell right now.

Talk at you soon.

I'm Back

So, I was gone for a while again. Literally, out of the country - but more on that in days to come - Yeah - I am going to post for the next few days in succession to make up for some lost time.

Really exciting news - Our church broke ground on our property this past Sunday -12 years in the making - Thank God! Details to follow.

Even More Exciting News - going to China with a group of 6 this fall.

Other News - finally, football is back on TV - I know it's only pre-season, but YEA!!! I have my first drat this Friday - will keep you updated on my 2 leagues

Thought for today - God will never give you more than you can bear - that's a prime thought from the series I'm preaching right now - Heavyweights -

Talk at you soon