I should post more often so that I don’t end up trying to summarize an intensely busy week in a post short enough not to bore you all to tears.
Let me quickly summarize the events of the past week:
Wednesday – Staging for 1st Community of Hope Leadership Retreat. Phil tasked me with setting up the “hike”. Realized I couldn’t prepare adequately without actually looking at possible trails, so grabbed a friend of mine (Brandon) and hustled up to Harrison Lake after work.
Thursday – Planned to make up for taking off yesterday by spending the evening with my wife, but then Harry called me with tickets to Game 1 of the Canucks’ 2nd Round! “No” is not an option with Canucks playoff tickets. Man do I owe my wife.
Friday – Leave for the leadership retreat. Yay! We have a 4×4 to get to the hiking trail! Good drive up with Jason and Juan-Carlos.
Saturday – Challenging day, fascinating how God had been speaking to many of us about the same things before we even left. Ron Helmer (Bread Garden Catering, Surrey) makes some serious gourmet vittles. Not home until after bedtime. Owe my wife even bigger.
Sunday – Church, then our “Discover Hope” Lunch. Met 7 people interested in pursuing membership. Then shopping for Awana, then Awana. Cheryl has a stomach bug. I still owe her big time.
Monday – Finally got some yard work done – cut the front lawn, raked, seeded ripped out moss patches, fertilized. Made supper, and then Small Group Leader meeting. That makes 5 nights in a row unavailable to Cheryl.
Of course, one more thing on the docket tonight to bring the total to 6.
What I learned this week:
- My wife is amazing and despite her discomfort with the growing twins (see sidebar), her heart is behind me. I am so grateful for that. She also told me this week when I mentioned I think I need some fulltime ministry experience this winter, that she will sacrifice again for me to be able to do a few hours each day after work at the church offices. What a blessing she is!
- Our leadership team here has a huge heart for people which really helps when you are planting a church. If you don’t have passion for the lost, you are going nowhere. Plus, they are fun guys to be around.
- I am the best pool shark of the bunch! Heh. I dare you to dethrone me!
- God is so working. What a blast to see it happen.
- I need to apologize to my oldest, Dylan. I was hard on him last night about leaving tasks unfinished.
More later. Next post will be about evangelism – God is opening some doors!
Tags: community of hope, hiking, leadership, retreat, sacrifice
