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My, what a significant weekend we just enjoyed, beginning with a productive “date” with Claire at Milady’s CoffeeHouse out in Fremont. Prayers on the way, conversation, making plans, catching up on our journals, etc. Very nice. Then, before heading home for our preparations for Sunday’s busy schedule, we stopped off at Hobby Lobby. That proved an interesting (and kinda’ fun) errand because, though our reason for going was simply to get a couple of gift cards, we ended up getting all of our Christmas Child boxes (and lids) and a surprising array of “impulse buy” items which were on sale: Thanksgiving napkins, 9 boxes of Christ-honoring Christmas cards that we will use in Vital Signs’ December letter-writing parties, a. nifty attention-getting Christmas yard sign, and two books -- Revelation: How God’s Plan for the Future Can Change Your Life Now by Amir Tsarfati and The Theft of America's Soul: Blowing the Lid Off the Lies That Are Destroying Our Country by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame.
Saturday’s key event was our attendance at an open house party to celebrate LaVern and Marlene Smith’s 65th anniversary. It was also our first chance to see their new place, admire LaVern’s latest paintings, and to meet 3 of their children that we had not met before. We had a terrific time with the Smiths, their family, and such other guests as old friend Coach Jim Classen and his wife Dot. It was a lovely and inspirational afternoon.
Then came a packed Sunday beginning with my presentation “The Unlearned Lessons from 9/11” to the adult Sunday school at Wellspring Church in Papillion. And, for the worship service later, I gave a sermon on Jesus’ healing of the 10 lepers in Luke 17. We always love it when we are invited to Wellspring. What an engaging, attentive, and encouraging group of saints.
From there we caught a quick lunch back home before going to Aksarben Village Senior Living for our regular Sunday afternoon church service with my sermon there being a brief but direct challenge from Philippians 2:14-16 about avoiding a complaining/argumentative spirit. Also significant were questions I was asked afterwards (in the coffee, cookies, visiting portion of the service) about spiritual warfare and Islam. I was pleased to be able to answer Mary’s concerns in some detail with several others listening in. It was a good afternoon.
And finally, we then headed over to the Global Friends annual fundraising dinner where we were really honored to have Bob & Linda Potter, Dan and Barb Serlet, and Israel and Luqi Olasunkanmi at our table. (That's the photo above.) The program was excellent (especially GF Director Julie Arant) with the testimonies of God changing the lives of international students coming one after another. And not only from Omaha but from the other places where GF has established new “beachhead” outreaches: Lincoln and Bellevue, Nebraska; Estes Park & Golden, Colorado; Vermillion, South Dakota; Okoboji, Iowa; and still more. It was a wow evening with an exciting, effective ministry that we truly admire. Bless them mightily, dear Lord...and thank You for a great weekend!
