Going to be Preaching on July 20th

First off let me announce that on July 20th I will be doing Pulpit Supply for my friend Howard Blecha at the Humboldt Christian Church.  I'm looking forward to getting to visit with his congregation again and have already started preparing the sermon.  Howard told me yesterday that when he asked who the congregation wanted to fill in for him several said "get that Baptist guy again".  I had to chuckle over that one, Howard said they couldn't remember my name but remember me as the "Baptist Guy".  Oh well, I could certainly be remembered as worse.  I'm planning on getting a proper video camera before we go down, so I can finally take a decent video of the sermon.  Maddie ended up having an issue with her memory card on her phone and unfortunately that means my last sermon was lost.

This last week or so has been a bit hectic with work and dealing with things at home.  Last Wednesday I went with Creath to Watertown, SD to look at a car.  Creath's car got caught in a hailstorm up in Sioux Falls and the Insurance Company totaled it out, so he decided he wanted to use the money they gave him for the car to try and find his 'dream car'.  Well ironically enough he found just what he was looking for on Craigslist.  He located a young man in Watertown who was looking to sell a 1983 Chevrolet Z28 Camaro.  So being the wonderful father I am (every so often anyways) I drove all the way to Sioux Falls to spend the night and to drive with him early in the morning to get to Watertown to see this car.

Long story short, the car wasn't bad at all, so I negotiated with the seller a bit on the price and then we shook on the deal.  Creath was thrilled to get to drive it back to Sioux Falls.  It's a black car that has been recently repainted.  The paint job isn't perfect, but it's not awful either.  The car handles well and everything works on it, including the rear wipers.

Creath Karlen with his 1983 Camaro
WmRoy Karlen photo

On a less happy note, this week we finally had to have our beloved pet 'Gracie' put to sleep.  It was a very difficult thing to do and we put it off for as long as we felt we could.  Maddie is still very sad over the loss of her 'baby' but as a result all the other animals are being lavished with her attention.  Aubrey and Pansie seem to understand that she is gone, I think they realized that she was sick and somehow understood that when I carried her out the door that last time that she wasn't coming back home.  I buried her in the back by the oak tree next to Jasper and Holly.  Maddie wants to get a headstone for her so we'll take care of that this next week.  I have a friend that sells 'rocks' and one of his products is pet headstones.

Maddie Karlen with her baby girl "Gracie"
WmRoy Karlen photo

I'll likely post again before the 20th but for now I need to run.

I pray that this brief blog post finds you all well and blessed along the path of your individual faith journey.  Please remember that no matter what comes down the road to you today, either good or bad that your God loves and cares for you deeply.  Don't forget to spend a bit of time in prayer and thanksgiving for all that the Lord has created for each of us.

Many Blessings to all!
Roy