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For me, the excitement is building.  Today I visited with three families who will join us for the baptisms.  One is a good friend of one of the candidates.  Another is just new to the church and “dunking” is an exciting thing.  The other family has known the candidates for years.  What a cross-section of those who will be here.

And that’s what excites me.  There will be family, and friends and new acquaintances and even people we probably don’t even know.  All to hear five people talk about their center in their lives – Jesus.  In a world that is more often than not focused on themselves, this focus on Jesus is both unusual and yet uniquely outstanding.

Come if you can – 11:00 tomorrow morning!

Edna had all the wrong cards in life.  I did not hear much of her younger days other than that they were abusive, her marriage less than ideal.  Her husband died of cancer, her daughter committed suicide and her son is in jail.  She did not endear herself to others and lived a lonely life.

I crossed her path when her son began to come to church.  Unfortunately his addictive nature and habits overtook his searching.  In the midst of this I met his mother. 

She never attended church.  She had lived enough of life to be suspicious of others.  She tended to reject a God of love.

These last few weeks, as she lay in hospital dying of cancer, I talked to her of heaven.  Not a lot.  At first she scoffed. 

I’d like to say that she came to see Jesus as the doorway to heaven.  I’m not sure.  Perhaps I was not as direct in speaking to her as I would have liked.  Perhaps I thought she had more time.  Perhaps I cannot change a person’s mind. 

Only God can.

Only God can touch the deepest, inmost parts of a person.  The closest I come to that person’s inner sanctuary is by prayer to God on their behalf.  And so for these last few days I  have been praying.  

For Edna, that she would come to Jesus, the doorway to God and to eternal life.

Edna died yesterday.  Her time for decision is past – those prayers are finished.

But a new prayer has been birthing in my own heart.  God is giving to me a greater desire to tell others about Jesus.  God is calling me to have more God-chats with others.  God is pointing out to me that, while I cultivate a relationship with others, I need to be simple, direct and understandable as I talk to them of God and Jesus and life.

From Edna’s death I sense a Spring of new life emerging!

What an enjoyable 24 hours!  Just outside Outlook is a home that housed seven senior pastors. 

We slept, laughed, prayed, learned, interacted, ate and were refreshed.  In the end  the networking enhanced our ministry.  And as we work together there is an opportunity to pray for each other, to support each other and to just be to each other Christ’s ambassadors.

I suppose our monitors for computers are getting fairly sophisticated.  In past years the real problem was that any image remaining for an extended period would “burn” the image on the monitor.  So the screensaver was the salvation of those early monitors – at least, that was the intent.  The original screensaver was a blank screen!

Not to be outdone, pictures and animation was added as screens became able to withstand the “burn” time.  Audio was added.  Of course, one of the other intents of the early screen saver (privacy from those who just “popped into your office”), was now complemented by a full video presentation which distracted your visitors.

Today I was viewing a screensaver on my wife’s computer that takes the pictures you select and continuously plays them across the screen.  I’ve glanced over once in a while and just enjoyed myself.  Of particular interest was a recent picture which was of my mother, myself, my daughter and her daughter.  There is a legacy there which I appreciate. 

Now, you are just going to have to imagine that.  Since you are reading this, your screensaver hasn’t kicked in yet!