Anniversary Dinner

Yesterday I preached at a local Presbyterian Church. It was a nice service. They had praise team that lead the music and a young man served as liturgist. I did the children's talk. (I used my Qchord and had one of the children strum it as we sang "Jesus Loves Me." It was the first time I used the Qchord in a worship service and sang along with it in public. I sure did have trouble finding that first note... but it went well.) Since they use a video screen, I chose to incorporate a video clip from "Facing the Giants" into the sermon. The essence of the sermon was that "God cared enough to send the very best, that we might be blessed." And then He not only calls us to give OUR best, but he helps us do that. The texts I used were: John 3:16-17; Matthew 22:35-39; and John 15:1-8 (I am the vine and you are the branches... apart from me you can do nothing.) I had fun, and I think they had fun in worship with me. (Note: Their pastor was on vacation, but due to a death in the church, he was present in worship yesterday. It was nice to see him there.)

For the rest of the morning and afternoon we relaxed on the deck and read the Sunday paper. Later, we returned our deck umbrella because it was coming apart and then bought another one at JoAnn Fabrics that was on sale and actually nicer.

Since we hadn't had a nice "anniversary dinner" together, we decided to go to the Springfield Grill and use a gift certificate give us by friends. We had the stake and cake (crab) dinner. And since I'd gotten an email from the restaurant for a free dessert, we used that too. We had a really nice time. Tablecloths and all!

When we got to the restaurant, a bus had just pulled in and was pouring people into the restaurant. We had a 45 minute wait, but the seats were comfortable and I had a chance to talk with Jan about her visit with mom. Mom isn't doing well mentally. Very forgetful among other things. That's where I'm going today to see that she gets her prescriptions filled, car inspected etc.