The Lord was gracious to bless us with a solid, enjoyable weekend; certainly the best since Kalila and I have gotten Saturdays off.Saturday Morning. On Thursday, my pastor sent around an email to the men of the church to let us know that we were not going to have our usual Men’s Gathering on Saturday morning. Instead, he wanted to have a discussion about the mission, values, and ministry of our church in light of our upcoming “Family Meeting,” customary to the end of the fiscal year of the church. Thus, we got together on Saturday morning and did just that. This was really the first meeting of this kind, and I think it was absolutely critical to the future of our church. We reflected on the blessings we’ve experienced at the church since it started about 3 1/2 years ago. We discussed the needs of our area and the potential God could offer through us. We poked around concepts and phrases that captured the essence of our mission and values to really help give us a concise point of reference. We also brainstormed about how we could better our current ministries as well as others that we could offer. I think God’s hand was hugely evident, and we can be a better church because of it.

Saturday Afternoon/Evening. No sooner do I leave this meeting that I get a call from my dad letting me know that he has tonight off, he just bought a new truck, and he wanted to come up and visit. His truck is brand new, which is crazy because the newest vehicle my dad has ever had is was like 10 years old. Since he now has a truck, he was now able to bring up some bureaus and chairs we had wanted that he had in his basement (we’ve been meaning to get this stuff for about 10 months). While waiting for him, we had lunch at the new Panera now in Beverly and we talked about the importance of the meeting that morning. My dad arrived around 5:00 and we quickly moved the furniture up the stairs and in place at our apartment. After we cleaned some of the furniture and chatted a bit, we headed to have another fantastic meal at the Wildhorse Cafe.

Sunday Morning/Afternoon. There was a new sense of anticipation as we went and enjoyed the worship gathering at our church Sunday morning. There was a slight buzz while at church, I gather, from the rest of the guys who were at Saturday morning’s meeting. At church we just had a great time catching up with the saints and meeting new ones that came to visit. We ended up going out to lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse with our good friends Eric and Elizabeth. This Friday will be Elizabeth’s birthday, so we offered to cover her meal. It had been a long time since we caught up, so it was sweet to get together. Elizabeth will be turning 31, happy birthday!

Sunday Night. After a late afternoon/early evening nap, we went again to the Wildhorse for a drink and some nachos with our good friends Matt and Kayle and their friend Matt. We had an interesting yet brief discussion about some of the reasons that their friend Matt, a seminary student, doesn’t attend a church regularly. I could really resonate with some of his reasons and it really opened up a great context to hang and chat about it further.

I think the reason I feel so fond of this weekend is that it was all about people I care about. I don’t think I am really satisfied as a person if I am not well connected with those that I love. It is great to feel re-connected.