Greetings on this lovely Monday morning!

Finally…
After long last I finally got my yard done.  I have been staring at my long grass and abundant leaves for a couple weeks now wondering when I was going to get some nice weather and time to clean up my yard.  I never seemed to get those two parts of the equation at the same time.  Well…Sunday was a beautiful day and I barely had enough time.  I borrowed a riding lawn mower with a bagger and finished the yard.  I looks great and I feel much better.  The problem is I think I cut my grass way too short.  That could be a problem later.  Oh well…my yard looks nice so I am going to enjoy it for the time being.

A visit
I had one of those nice visits yesterday.  While I was on the lawn mower I saw someone pulling into the church parking lot…obviously looking for me.  I stopped to chat.  It turned out that he just wanted to explain to me why he hasn’t been in church the last few weeks.  It turned out to be medical reasons.  He is doing fine but it got me thinking:  I wish more people felt this sense of duty to be in worship; not because they HAD to be there, but because they wanted to be there to praise God.  Also:  I wish more people felt this calling to talk to people who have been absent and check in with them, "We’ve missed you in worship recently".  Wouldn’t that be nice?

Disturbing movie
I am usually not one to pass on email forwards or pay much attention to them, but I thought this was worthy to pass on to you.  There is a movie coming out that everyone needs to be aware of, especially if you work with children or care about children at all.  The movie is called The Golden Compass.  This movie is based on a series of children’s books with anti-religious themes.  Actually, the author talks about killing God.  The worry is that children will enjoy the movie so much that they will want to read the book series.  Please follow the above link to learn more so we can collectively protect our children.  This is indeed very disturbing.

Web site
Thank you for the comments I received for the new web site we are working on for Salem (www.salemjackson.org).  The site is still a work in progress but it is coming along quite nicely.  If you think of any other suggestions please let me know.  As a visitor what information would you like to see.  What needs to be improved or communicated more effectively?

Personal stewardship update
I finally reached the 20 pound mark in my weight loss.  I had been stuck at 17 to 18 pounds for a while.  I still have another 10 pounds to go to reach my first goal.  I hope to reach that by the end of the year, but with Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, that might be difficult.

Thank you (as always) for stopping by.  God bless you today and everyday as you live out the promises given to you in baptism.

-edh-

"…weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning…" (Psalm 30)