First Round of the Season

My wife had a library conference in Minot on Friday so another pastor from town and I got in 18 holes. It was my first round of the season (although I did golf some in April while in LA). I shot very well for barely having picked up a golf club in nearly nine months. I shot 54 through the first nine and 47 from 10-18 (with back-to-back pars) for a grand total of 101. My goal is to shoot consistently under 100 so I'd say I'm not too far away from that. I even had to take one shot left-handed as my ball was in the well of a tree. Fortunately I began golfing left-handed since my Dad's a lefty and Pastor Dean carries a left-handed club in his bag for times like these. We had fun (except for the mosquitoes) and it was a good break from sermon prep.

Well keeping with the sports theme, on Sunday I made it back out to the school gym for pick-up basketball. There were at least 16 guys this week as we were able to run two games of 4 on 4. There were also quite a few tall, fast and athletic players there (things I am not). My strengths lie in being a smart defender, opportunistic scorer, decent 3-point shooter and above average rebounder. Even though I'm certainly not one of the better players out there, I'm able to contribute and I enjoy a good challenge. Of course, after being off for two weeks whatever legs I had gained from playing earlier this spring were all but gone. I was already pooped after the first game from having to chase a high school age guard up and down the floor.

I am getting excited about our church's summer events. Next weekend we'll have a booth at the McLean County Fair and we'll host a free carnival game for kids. Our goal is to build good will in the community, show that we're here to serve them for Jesus and engage community members in spiritual conversations. Then next Sunday we're hosting a summer kick-off worship-in-the-park and community BBQ. I'm amazed at how many people from the congregation have already signed-up to contribute toward this event and took fliers to pass out to friends, neighbors and co-workers. In July we're planning some prayers walks around the community and in August will have a booth at Harvest Fest and possibly an end of the summer worship-in-the-park. It will be a busy summer and God-willing productive.

By God's Grace, Jeff