More things I've been thinking about...

ok I know I haven't posted for a while, I promise I'll be better about it. January has been very interesting so far. Most notably in my mind is that the Church Plant we are involved with Imago Christi is now meeting. We are currently meeting on Saturday nights, and then on Thursdays for Prayer. After 3 services we seem to be averaging about 50 people a night, many from the coalition of churches that are supporting the plant. It is exciting to see people in from the neighborhood, and from Coe and Cornell Colleges. I was recently asked to take on some supporting responsibilities with the plant, and accepted them readily. Both Bridgit and I feel that since this Church Plant is in our neighborhood, we are being led by God to support, and commit to it. We plan to eventually call this our home church. This of course raises other things that need to be adressed. I'm currently serving as a Deacon and a Sunday School Teacher at Noelridge Park Church, one of the supporting Coalition Churches. We feel called to Imago Christi so in March when voting for Deacons happens, I plan on not reupping, I don't think it is fair to the people I'm serving at Noelridge to continue on as a Deacon there when I'm being called to Imago Christi. This is something I've wrestled with because since we currently don't have Sunday School at the new church we plan to continue attending Sunday School and Wednesday activities at Noelridge for the time being. It will be difficult to leave my Sunday School kids too, they are a great group of Middle School and High School kids, who have a thirst for learning about their God and a Habit of making me commit to projects that are very very large, and complex... I think I always end up learning more than they do. But as we grow as a church at Imago Christi I know we will be adding Sunday School and other activities, so I believe I will be teaching kids again, but it is also time for a much needed break from it after two solid years of teaching. Another thing that has been much on my mind lately is my Grandfather, he just turned 96 last week, and last Sunday we didn't expect him to survive to his Birthday. He had stopped eating and drinking and was very minimally responsive. They moved him to a nursing home in Cedar Falls, and Hospice care was arranged, after a couple days the report came in that he is eating and drinking again, and may soon be able to take meals in the lunchroom with the other residents. Knowing that he is ready to go home to be with His Lord, I think God must still have some plans for him to keep him here. When we visited him last Sunday, we shared with him that both our children Have accepted Christ as their own personal Savior, and he seemed to hear and comprehend that. This was something that we have left up to the kids to share with others when they were ready, since it is such a personal thing, but we felt it was important for him to know. The violence is Kenya still is a concern and we continue to pray for the people there. Both those we know personally who work in the mission fields there with Empowering Lives International, and other organizations, and for the people of Kenya that the violence will stop and peace will once again be restored to this beautiful country. We continue to plan for our next Spanda trip in October with Dr Fitzgerald to Kenya in hopes God will allow us to serve there again this year. Our son Aaron is gearing up for a fun and exciting trip to Nicaragua with my parents in March, he is nervous and excited about this at the same time, so is his mother, I think I'm just excited. I can't wait to hear about his reactions as he learns about and sees where his Grandma Myriam grew up. It will be his first trip ever out of the US and his first time on an Airplane too. It think this trip is very important because it will help him understand some of his heritage better. Sorry about the rambling, I promise I'll post more often and keep my posts shorter.