“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7

One thing Rebekah and I always do our best to make happen when we travel on vacation is to find a local church we can attend. This is even more important when the grandchildren are with us, because this is prime learning time in their lives, and if they miss this lesson now then it is going to be much harder to latch onto later.

As we are near Pittsburgh we made sure to get together with Tim and Kelly Black, along with three of their four super-cool children. We enjoyed dinner together on their patio Saturday, with laughter and conversation late into the evening. Then, meeting up again the next morning at Christ Church, United Methodist, for 9:00 contemporary worship.

Kelly is on staff now, serving as Associate Pastor for Congregational Care and Discipleship. Christ Church is strong, vibrant and mission-focused, featuring authentic life and a lot going on in the way of creative ministry initiatives. Senior pastor Chris Morgan is an excellent communicator, affable, engaging and a positive presence. It was a joy to worship with the community.

Some friendships are instantly destined to be lifelong, even from that first meeting when Tim traveled to Brandon in 2004 to interview for the associate pastor position at First Presbyterian. He and Rebekah shared ministry as a unique and exceptionally effective team for nine years, and all of us do our best to stay connected and to catch up whenever possible.

A memory that makes us smile:

Rebekah and Tim were talking about a particular photograph from the day we celebrated the completion of a significant campus extension, a years-long initiative that both expanded and completely transformed the property at FPC Brandon. So I dug around and found the image to share in today’s post.

There are particular seasons in the life of a church that are so beautiful, so positive and so fruitful that all we can do is say “thank you” for the privilege of being witness to God’s spirit in action. Always, we have discovered, God is calling us into something innovative and new.

Thousands (maybe millions) of decisions:

In his message at Christ Church, pastor Chris talked about the constant, deliberate, incremental, intentional, formative, life-shaping decisions we make multiple times a day when it comes to following Jesus. It reminded me of the subtitle for my latest book – “One Million Decisions, a Memoir” (click here).

No matter what is happening in our lives and where we find ourselves, it is always the next decision that is most crucial. As the legendary Ben Hogan responded when asked, What is the most important golf shot? He said, “THE NEXT ONE.”

May your day be full with great decisions, loaded with promise, and saturated with the life-giving presence of Jesus.

– DEREK