A new week has begun; it is bright, it is beautiful, it is a bit warm but comfortable so far. I'm alive and God has granted me another day on earth to accomplish something. It is going to be a short week though. Wednesday we take off on vacation to Las Vegas for a reunion with a bunch of my military friends from the late 1960's. I still have no idea what anyone has planned for the reunion as in is there a meeting /gathering place. Are we having a meal together, meeting for chit-chat or what. If someone doesn't come up with a plan soon, as in tomorrow or Wednesday, I guess Ms. Kate and I will just have a nice vacation in Vegas by ourselves.

Our Homecoming Sunday at the church went extremely well. We had thirty eight in Sunday school and we had seventy-six for the worship service. The bell choir and the chancel choir both did an excellent job. Our guest pastor gave an excellent sermon on the prodigal son which was an excellent choice for a homecoming. The picnic afterwards was well attended and as always, the food was wonderful. I do love church carry-in meals. Ms. Kate fixed a crock pot of green beans with bacon and she made two apple pies. They went quickly! Thank goodness she made a third one for us. I had two pieces of it last night and it was her normal super job. She has enough mixed up to make one more small pie yet. I'm not sure what she will do with that since we are running out of time. I'd hate to see it sit in the refrigerator for a week and go bad.

I watched a television show last night in Discovery channel that I really liked. It was a show that I normally watch called Expedition Unknown and stars Josh Gates, an anthropologist. Normally he takes his audiences out of some wild exploring adventure to historical ruins and stuff. But, he is now doing a four-part series on exploring life after death. Part of the show last night dealt with interviewing people who had had what is called "near-death experiences"; people who had actually died but were brought back. It was fascinating listening to them tell what they experienced while dead. Each one of them described a total sense of peace, of not being alone, and of a sensation of complete and total love. It sounds wonderful, but, as a pastor I think it raises more questions for me than it answers. None of these people indicated whether they were people of faith or not. As a Christian, we preach and we believe that one must live by the tenants of God and accept Jesus Christ as the way to get into heaven. If these people who had these experiences were not Christians, --- where does that leave us with our belief? If everyone who dies experiences the same thing --- what does that mean?? I have the series set to DVR while I'm gone because I want to see where this leads. If you get Discovery Channel on your television, I recommend the show to you for next Sunday evening.

That's about it for today. I hope you have a wonderful and a a great week. Take some time out of your schedule to purposely do something for someone else. Peace.