We got blogging, correspondence, and some lawn work done; we did some praying and sidewalk counseling in front of the despicable Planned Parenthood abortion mill; I finished preparation for a speaking engagement that I delivered last night; and we had an absolutely swell "When Swing Was King" time over at Life Care Center yesterday afternoon.
On today's schedule is a phone call from Focus on the Family (they want to talk to both Claire and I about WSWK and other ministries to senior citizens), a long overdue lunch at Dolce's, and a dinner party tonight for eight people at which we will play our famous "Couples" game.
For the weekend we've got more lawn projects and sermon preparation ahead of us. Plus, I hope to get a few hours to write some overdue posts for The Book Den and to finish Rebecca, the haunting 1938 novel that made Daphne du Maurier one of America's most popular writers. I started it Monday night but haven't got back to yet. So far (I'm only about a hundred pages into it), I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
Anyhow, back to other matters.
The "When Swing Was King" program yesterday was, as I mentioned, at the Life Care Center in Omaha, the very place where this ministry began 22 months ago. And yes, it's still hard for us to believe that this music/photo/commentary/visitation outreach that we originally conceived as just an occasional party for my Mom and a few other residents of LCC has become the momentous ministry it has. I mean, for crying out loud, since that first little showing, we have created 17 different volumes -- each volume containing 13 big band hits, a couple hundred photos, and specifically adapted commentary.
And we've presented over 180 programs!
Wow. We just couldn't be more awed, more humbled, or more delighted at what the Lord has done.
Okay, a quick word about last night. I had been invited to speak to a group of men at Evangelical Bible Church who were having a spaghetti supper and program. I chose to speak on "Knights in Shining Armor: The Ideals of Christian Chivalry" and it went really well. There were, I don't know, maybe 35-40 guys in the audience and they were all very attentive. It was a lively talk and a challenging one. For instance, I gave a direct challenge to them to deal strongly and as a group with an item that their leader had brought up before my talk -- this sordid business of a Lingerie Football League.
My talk was about 35 minutes -- just what I had been asked to do. But then I stuck around for another 55 minutes engaged in conversation with several of the guys. Some I've known for a very long time: Leonard Johnson (whose paintings hang on our walls), Tom Peterson, David Ingraham (who, when he was just a kid, was a very valuable colleague in our nursing home outreach), Rob Quiring, Billy Dickson, Gary Krehbiel. Some I don't know as well. And some I just met that night. I talked with teenagers about sports, school, pro-life ministry, the Bible, the battle of Waterloo. And I talked with the older guys about the same stuff...and more. I hope I was a blessing to them in some way for they certainly were to me. Rock on, EBC.
And me? I'd better rock on too. So until Monday's blogging (unless you drop by for Sunday services at Faith Bible Church, 10:30 AM), have a great weekend!
