Been a while

Sorry about the absence. It has been a busy couple weeks with long days of work and my days off spent somewhere besides here. The picture shows that a buddy and I did some fly-fishin' on Clear Creek. The shale beds provided some unusually symmetrical scenery to mark where we turned around. Plus I made a trip to Mom's for part of a day.

But work has been the big story. The university began its fall semester and my life as college minister becomes more intensive as new students are met and helped, new programs are organized and run, and new friendships are tended. The teaching load would not have changed much except that I am doing some preaching on Sundays while pastors are out of town. The challenge is that I would twelve to fifteen hours and be farther from "caught up" because I would realize more needed done than I had thought at the beginning of the day. Plus, whatever I would concentrate on, I knew that something else important was not getting done and may not ever get done. But I draw the line when it comes to my sleep. I need at least a five or six hours to function the next day and eventually I will need more. It's sad, I'm much less willing to do all-nighters than I was just three years ago in grad school.

But the Lord is blessing our efforts. Our Tuesday night worship service is reaching all-time highs in attendance. The students who are coming are the big reason why. They are inviting friends and neighbors. Plus many, many of them are committed to wanting more from the Christian life and growing closer in their fellowship with Christ. They want Bible studies, one-on-one discipleship meetings, and involvement. This fervor is great to see and a joy to minister as it prompts me to dig deeper and work harder to match their hunger for more. Plus their willingness to give back to the ministry means that they are willing to help bear the load in work that needs done and projects needing their particular expertises. This is awesome to see.

Even my youth group at church continues to grow in amazing ways. We divided the class tonight, boys from girls, to start an ever-other-week rotation of my teaching the guys to be men of God, and Amber to teach the girls about being godly women. However, we have some growing pains as I now have ore kids wanting to ride the bus than I have seats in the van. For some deranged reason, they love riding the van with me. I hope their parents are patient with their teens getting home after 10pm.

So that's the news for now. I'll try to sneak in a post more frequently from now on. And I'll try to get some pics to post as well. God bless ya,

Brad

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12)