Our Sunday started with a little watering of the lawn before the heat of the day...and before getting ready for church. We appreciated the pastor’s sermon on Daniel which emphasized the need for a devotion to prayer and we were pleased to see a few friends before the service started. Now it’s true that our time at Grace Bible Church is limited nowadays, not only because of our travel and speaking schedule but, even when we are able to attend, we have to duck out right after the sermon in order to get ready for our Sunday afternoon church service at Aksarben Village Senior Living. So, we extend our apologies to our GBC friends for our “quick in and out habits” there.
The Aksarben service yesterday went terrific. Our visitation team included Don Kohls, Keith Moran, and a marvelous surprise edition of Matt Troutman and three of his kids, Luke, Anna, and Lydia. They were all lively, gracious, and of excellent help, especially as the day included our communion service. They were all needed too because yesterday, in addition to our cookies and coffee after the sermon, we passed out a lot of salt water taffy from our Estes Park visit and two Colorado postcards apiece to each resident. The sermon (just about 10 minutes as is our custom) was an appropriate one for a communion Sunday. It was entitled “The Memorial of the New Covenant,” dealing with Jesus’ introduction of the Lord’s Supper in Mark 14: 22-26.
And yesterday’s songs were also splendid: “Crown Him with Many Crowns” by the Oasis Chorale at Cornerstone Mennonite Fellowship, “Ever Faithful” by The Collingsworth Family, and “As the Deer Panteth for the Water” by Gracias Choir. We had (as usual) a really swell time.
Finally arriving back home around 4:30, we closed the day with some more watering of the lawn, discussing the week’s upcoming activities, and our night’s prayers together. By the way, those upcoming activities include Claire and I speaking at the Business and Professional People for Life luncheon on Thursday, September 7th at noon at the German-American Society. We will be talking about the unique and critically-important ministries to seniors that Vital Signs Ministries has developed over the years. We think it will be an enlightening, even inspiring program. The cost for the program and excellent lunch at this impressive venue is $25. However, a designated gift has been given to cover $10 of each meal for guests of Vital Signs Ministries. If you would like to attend the luncheon, please respond to this invitation as soon as possible.
