Joy - Disappointment

Tomorrow, my wife, daughter and I will be traveling to Chicago. My son is graduation from Navy boot camp on Friday. We were planning on spending a nice weekend with our son after not seeing him for nine weeks, however, I received a phone call from him this afternoon. He said he received his orders today and he will be leaving Friday afternoon for Pensacola, Fl. We may have one hour to see him after the graduation and he will be gone again. Of course we are very proud of our son, but this was a great disappointment to us.

Life is full of disappointments. Sometimes we bring them on ourselves and sometimes they are dealt to us. Never the less, they are hard to endure. I hope this weekend will bring some joy in seeing the graduation because the last few weeks have been very tough. I'm sure I'll have some great pictures to post in a few days.

Sunday

Candi and I got up early yesterday, unusual for a Sunday, and drove to Cincinnati. We went to the Clifton Church of Christ and worshiped with the McCray family. We've known the McCrays for many years through Fort Hill Christian Youth Camp and are good friends with two of their sons that now live in our area with their families.

We then went to the Cincy Zoo and had a great time. I enjoy going out on little advertures with the wife and spending some good time together. Here are a few pics of our day.

Summer

It's a beautiful day in southern Ohio. With temperatures in the mid 70's and the humidity low, the sun is shining brightly and the sounds of motorcycles passing leisurely down the highway. It would be a nice day to golf, but I'm tied to the office today...however, I can get outside!

I wonder what my son must be doing this morning, he's at Navy bootcamp north of Chicago. Just two and half weeks left, Matthew! We've heard from him in several letters to relatives and friends. We did get one phone call a couple of weeks ago and it was wonderful to hear his voice. He sounded good! Talked as if he were getting along very good in the training and making lots of friends. This was a huge life decision for my son, signing up for five years of active service in the Navy. I pray he has wonderful life experiences in the coming years.

My daughter has been at home most of the summer but will be heading back to school in the fall. She's very tied to a guy in Tennessee right now and we see her very little on the weekends. But it is very good to have her around!

The big Scioto County Fair is over for the year. I made it out to the fair two evenings and it was very good to talk to many, many people I rarely get the opportunity to see except at the fair. Mom wiped up in the flower show this year as usual and took some ribbing from the grandkids about letting the other entries have a chance once in a while.

Church life seems kind of mediocre right now for some reason. I personally am confused by some of the teaching practices. We say we believe the Bible as the whole Holy inspired Word of God and yet I see we pass over things said in the Word, put our own spin on things... all the things we say we do not do and accuse others of doing. Our worship seems to be at a very low level spiritually. Attendance is down, collections are down, and community outreach is down. We're stuck in a rut. We're content with where we are and have little enthusiasm to further the gospel to the lost. I've seen these times come and go before and I really don't know what to do about them. Seems to me that one person can have an effect on the mood of the congregation. I will pray that I and others will spread some excitement about the Lord soon.