Sermon and such things...

First off, before I get into anything else please join me in lifting up a prayer for all those stricken by Hurricane Sandy this week.

Dear Heavenly Father, we lift up to you all those suffering loss in this world. We especially lift up those that have been affected by the recent hurricane and it's aftermath. Lord please place your arm of comfort around these people and grant them strength and resolve as they go about reconstructing their lives and their homes.

We pray for those who have injuries and who have lost loved ones. Lord grant these people strength and please place into their lives people who can help them heal physically, mentally and spiritually.

We place all our prayers, our concerns and our needs into your loving and compassionate hands. Thank you for your care and grace.  We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Saturday night Gail and I went to a surprise 50th birthday party for my good friend and 'adopted' little brother Jim "Mongo" Weltz.  Jim is one of my favorite people in the world and I'm sorry to admit that it had been about 4 years since we'd seen each other.  It was a great party, I got to visit with a good number of my old Jaycee friends, many of whom I haven't seen for nearly 20 years.  Several were greatly shocked to learn that I'm pursuing the Ministry.  I will admit that especially to this group I certain did not look like a good candidate for such a role.  Again (as I've said so often) I pointed out that this is merely proof that God can (and will) use anyone for his purposes in this world.

We didn't stay too late as I wanted to get home in order to not be tired Sunday morning while preaching.  It was enjoyable seeing the 'old crowd' and hearing what was going on with them these days. I do however need to try and get together with Jim and his wife Jane, perhaps we'll try and set up to meet them for dinner some evening.

On Sunday Gail and I again drove down to Humboldt in order to worship with the members of the Christian Church.  This time the video worked better however we learned that Maddie's camera automatically stops video recording at the 10 minute mark.  Due to this there is a small part of the middle of the sermon and a bit of the closing prayer that didn't get recorded.  I'm not sure if this is something that can be adjusted.  I will have to look at her camera and see if there is an option for longer recordings.

I again was not happy with the sermon.  It's better than I thought it was, but I definitely feel there are some areas that I didn't do a good job of clarifying.  Perhaps part of the problem was at the last minute, I decided to modify some of the beginning of the sermon and some more later on.  These changes threw the sequence of my notes and preparations out of whack and caused me to stumble too much. If you like take a look and leave me any comments you might like.  Just remember to be NICE!  LOL

I again very much enjoyed attending the Church in Humboldt and I do think Howard has a great congregation down there.  It sounds like he and the Youth Group had a great trip to Joplin doing follow up to the aid given after the tornado down there.  Praise God for everything he's doing through Howard and their Youth Group.

After we got home we all went out for a late lunch at Cilantros Mexican Bar and Grill.  http://www.cilantrosomaha.com/  Maddie, Gail and I all loved the place and we agreed to make it a regular for the Karlen family.  The food was excellent, the service top notch and the prices weren't too bad either.  If you're looking for Mexican food I'd strongly suggest giving them a try, you won't regret it!

Sunday night my shoulders were still bothering me and I decided to push my workout to Monday night and so I just stayed home and did some reading and studying.  We discussed going to a movie but opted to just stay home and have a quiet evening.

Monday night I went to the gym after work and had a great workout.  My strength is doing very well in spite of my shoulder forcing me to hold back a bit.  Managed to hit a personal best on Incline Bench Press and match my best on Hammer Strength Hi Rows.  I also upped my reps on several other movements, so all around it was a good workout.  Especially since my shoulder held up throughout.  Tuesday night I trained legs and that was a bit more of a challenge.  For some reason my system was a bit upset and that's not really ideal when training heavy legs.  Somehow I managed to get through the entire workout and did add reps to my Hack Squats so I was happy with that.

The other day I ordered one of the books that I wanted after taking our Pastoral Care class.  The book showed up yesterday and I'm looking forward to taking some time tonight to start reading in it.  "All our Losses, All our Griefs" by Kenneth Mitchell & Herbert Anderson is the book and again I'm anxious to jump into it as I really enjoyed the material from it that Russ used in our last class.

Today I had a great conversation with a couple that have been clients of ours for years.  We spent about an hour talking about the Bible and Christianity and they seemed very excited. They told me to let them know when I find a local pulpit as they would very much like to attend a Bible Study Class with me.  It's really in these one on one or at least smaller groups that I feel the most comfortable and where I think I can have the most impact.  I keep praying for the right opportunity for God to use me in his plans to present itself.  Patience is the word of the day and perhaps that's the hardest and greatest lesson God is trying to teach me.

You all have a very Blessed day and remember to be His Blessing to somebody today!

In his constant and abundant Grace,
Roy