Must read for pastors & elders

Finally finished The Transforming Community: The Practise of the Gospel in Church Discipline by Mark Lauterbach.  Sinus infections tend to slow down your reading.  Funny how that goes.

I love how Mark treats church discipline as a function of the the gospel.  It is one of the ways the gospel works to transform local bodies and individual Christians.  It is not about “getting even” but about helping people move “farther up and further in.”

One aspect he mentions is public disclosure, when and how it is appropriate.  Sin is deceitful and thrives in darkness.  As it says in John 3, “men loved the darkness because their deeds were evil.”  My prof Steve Brown used to say, and surely still does, “demons die in the light.”  This is why we are told to “confess your sins to one another (James 5).”  When we confess our sin to another person we break part of its power over us.  I’ve seen this in my own life.  It is not so much the confessing, but stepping out in the gospel recognizing that my reputation with that person is an illusion.  The doctrine of justification frees me to openly talk about my sin in appropriate relationships.  Like rats and roaches when the light comes on, temptation often flees.  He also draws in sections of Bonhoeffer’s great book, Life Together, to argue his point.

Another important aspect is that restoration takes place in community.  I recently read about Gayle Haggard’s book.  I was shocked to learn that the overseers removed them from the church community.  The very thing they needed was taken from them.  I don’t understand their decision, and it flies in the face of everything I understand about the gospel, community and church discipline.

A final aspect that I found interesting is in dealing with divisive people.  Lauterbach falls back on the pastoral epistles and essentially says “tell them to leave.”  Looking back I see how I should have told some people to move on after warning them about their divisiveness.  Mark Driscoll also talks about this in Confessions of a Reformission Rev.  People who undermine the unity and purity of the church will undermine the prosperity of the church.  If they refuse to submit to discipline, they need to go.

Mark’s book doesn’t try to address every circumstance.  He allows the place of wisdom to sort out some of the gray areas in application.  His focus is on our goals and the heart attitude.  He has done the church a great service in writing this book I wish I had read earlier.  Pastors and elders would do themselves a great service by reading this book and applying it in their ministries.  It will be a process.  A church that has not been exercising church discipline will need instruction and time to get where they need to be.  We tend to think that God’s timetable is NOW, but Scripture shows that He usually moves slowly since we are but dust.

The Urban Slacker Himself

The other evening CavWife informed me that we, CavFamily, were invited bowling.  The church a friend works for was having a free bowling night.  Free?  Free!  With pizza.

Normally I would have been more excited, but I’ve been waging a war with a sinus infection.  At times I’ve coughed so much my neck has been bothering me.  I didn’t plan to bowl.  I figured I had Daddy-duty and would help the kids roll the ball down the alley.  But I wasn’t planning on bowling to get back in touch with my inner Lebowski (or Jesus Quintana).

We arrived after the tornado warning had ended.  It has been a few years since I’ve been bowling, and more since I’ve been this this particular bowling alley.  As I gazed upon people in the parking lot, I discovered 2 things.  I was grossly underweight, and I lacked a neat little carrying case on wheels.  The latter was a new invention.

It was chaos inside as kids were everywhere.  We got shoes, and I knew I’d need a pair to help with the kids.  It was then that I learned that CavWife purposely did not wear socks.  Nice, our marriage is turning into The King of Queens.

Well, my friend decided to put my name up on the score sheet.  I of the sore neck and persistent cough … was …. bowling.  I was a bit distracted by the fact that the bumpers were up.   I had to try and get my groove back, but when it wandered away a few years ago it didn’t really leave a forwarding address.  Not that I had any time to beg it to come back.  It was disconcerting that I couldn’t really slide into my release.  Awkward (in my best Kevin James imitation).

Bowling with the kids was a different experience.  It was their first time.  It was made all the more difficult because CavSon essentially refused to touch the ball.  Fortunately we had one of those ramps to roll the ball down.  All he had to do is touch enough to get it started down the ramp.

Sadly, the whole group had to share the ramp since it was the only one in the whole place.  Sad to watch 6-8 year old boys using said ramp.  Waiting for the ramp made the whole thing move slower than a slug nearly frozen to death.  Being patience-deprived, I taught the kids the “granny roll”.  This was difficult with CavSon’s reluctance to hold the ball.

CavSon wasn’t the only one with issues.  CavGirl is sensitive, and was sad to realize others might be doing better than she was.  She was very aware of how much clapping was going on, at every moment.  If the level of clapping for her seemed low, there was pouting.

Things went so slowly that my mojo returned from who knows where.  I think.  I’m not sure entirely since we timed out.  That’s right folks, we were not able to finish our game.

As we walked to the car, CavGirl said “When can we go bowling again.”

A Great Little Book

February is fast  approaching, and with it my responsibility to preach on Jonah.  In my cold-induced haze, I went stumbling through my as-yet-unboxed commentaries looking to find my stash on Jonah.  There was one in particular I was looking for, one that finally became available in the U.S.  only recently.  Sinclair Ferguson’s Man Overboard! seemed to be just that- lost at sea!  I could not find it.

This morning, since we all have horrible colds and did not go to public worship, I was doing a bit of cleaning.  A thought came to mind of a few places it just might be.  I could not imagine putting it in a box.  I had 3 places in mind, and thankfully it was in the 3rd place.  I rejoice that I will be able to refer to Sinclair Ferguson’s fine little book on the wayward prophet.

Man Overboard!: the Story of Jonah by Sinclair Ferguson.  He is a theologian who writes with a pastor’s heart.  This little book is no different.  You are not overwhelmed with Hebrew (though there is some in important places), or tedious arguments for/against the historicity of Jonah.  That is not the purpose of this book.  It is to drive the message of Jonah into your heart.  Perhaps this first chapter will whet your appetite.

Salvation Through Judgment and Mercy: The Gospel According to Jonah by Bryan Estelle. This is part of the Gospel in the Old Testament Series which I love and recommend.  It keeps these Old Testament books within the larger context of the whole of Scripture- the message of reconciliation accomplished through Christ.

Hosea-Jonah (WBC Series) by Douglas Stuart.  I heard Dr. Stuart preach at my church in NH way back when.  I have pretty much all his commentaries.  Yes, I was impressed.  I have not read this yet, but have started the section on Jonah.  As is common in the Word Biblical Commentary Series, it is more academic.  It has lots of Hebrews and interacts with the various views put forth by scholastic liberals.  It is a very good academic commentary, though not all of them in this series are as solidly evangelical.

Here are some books I don’t have, but find interesting.

Jonah (Geneva Commentary Series) by Hugh Martin.  It is small, and published by Banner of Truth.  Based on reputation, I’d say this is a concise, solid commentary.

Jonah: A Study in Compassion by O. Palmer Robertson. Once again published by Banner of Truth, this book brings the perspective of the missionary-theologian to bear on the book.

Tim Keller has a recent blog post clarifying their use of a multi-site church model.  He laid out their reasons for following this model, and how their model will be changing in the years to come as local staff grows and takes more ownership.  Not all multi-site church models are the same or exist for the same reasons.

He briefly mentions the collegiate shift in the post.

We will then transition from a ‘multi-site’ to a ‘collegiate’ model. Though still under one unified board of elders, each church will have its own pastoral team, elder team, and set of lay leaders. Other collegiate models in our PCA denomination include Harbor Presbyterian in San Diego and Brooklyn Presbyterian here in New York City.

I’ve been able to witness on here in central Florida.  Trinity Presbyterian Church in Lakeland has been functioning as a church planting center for close to a decade.  Tim Rice planted the church in the mid-90’s.  They have planted two churches in Lakeland and just planted one in Winter Haven.

The key difference with most church plants is the unified Session.  The church plants are not pulling elders from a variety of churches.  The idea is to have the same group of elders with the same priorities and the same ministry style.  They have a higher commitment to the long-term health of the church and are used to working together.

Keller expands on this idea in the comments section.

The collegiate model is attractive to leaders who like team ministry and collegiality, and yet who want to be entrepreneurial as well. The collegiate model means the ‘lead pastors’ of each congregation will have to work closer together than they otherwise would. It means taking much more counsel before making moves. MattM asks ‘why not move right from multi-site to particularize’? The first answer is that the collegiate stage helps keep the congregations more on the same page in ministry vision for a longer time. While the churches will eventually particularize, by that time they will have had a number of years in which they have had to work together. This will make it more likely that the churches’ ‘DNA’ likeness to one another will last for generations. It makes long-term unity more likely. The second answer is that the collegiate model enables the pastors and leaders of each congregation to get much more help from me and from other senior leaders. They will be in a formal mentoring relationship with us for several years. It makes it more certain that the ministry wisdom of the founding generation of leaders is passed on.

These pastors, locally, meet weekly to talk about the sermon text.  They younger, less experienced pastors are learning how to think about a text and how to preach it.  They all help one another, and yet they are all responsible to prepare and preach their own sermons.  It is a good balance of mentoring and personal ownership.  The church planters really seem to benefit from the relationship, and the mother church is consistently challenged to think in terms of mission.

Yes, I still have not read The Shack (see Tim Keller was not the last person on earth to read it, I might be).  I personally know a few people who have.  I’ve tried not to engage them about it too much- things tend to get tense fast where this book is concerned.

For some reason there have been a spate of blogs posts & reviews of late.  They interact with the book in a variety of ways.  And the comments show the typical polarization taking place.

Tim Keller has a typically good number of impressions about the book.  He mentions some positives about the book (including the use of narrative to convey theology), and some concerns he has (including the theology conveyed in this narrative).  Those concerns center on ideas present in the book that undermine biblical, historic, orthodox Christianity.  One pertinent concern is that it really does not prepare anyone to meet the God of the Bible.  The god portrayed is a more post-modern, neutered deity who fails to recognize the relational nature of sin, and how the Law reveals love.  If we are expecting people to become Christians after reading this, the bait & switch tactic is unloving and unfair.  It is unloving to our neighbor, and to God (whose character is misrepresented, which sounds like bearing false witness to me).

Al Mohler laments the lack of evangelical discernment in this whole affair.  He addresses one of the defenses of the book- that it is a work of fiction, not a theological treatise- quite well.

The theology of The Shack is not incidental to the story. Indeed, at most points the narrative seems mainly to serve as a structure for the dialogues. And the dialogues reveal a theology that is unconventional at best, and undoubtedly heretical in certain respects.

Or, to put it another way: if there was no theology to convey, there would be no story to tell.  The whole point of the book is to teach his children theology, which he has now shared with the rest of the world.  It is not merely a story about a guy in which God is incidental- the whole point of the story is for Mack to have his theology corrected (and heart healed) via an encounter with God.  The theology that Young dumps on us through this work of fiction is rooted in a number of liberal notions evangelicals have contested.  Yet many evangelicals are defending this book.  A sign, perhaps, that evangelicalism has lost its way.  To be fair, I should say yet another sign that evangelicalism has taking a wrong turn.  Like Bilbo’s band, who didn’t listen to Gandalf, we have left the road and ended up in a really bad place.

Among other things, Fred Sanders notes that you won’t find any Finding God in the Shack-books written by any Reformed people (though Steve Brown might be tempted).  Though Young’s theology is not compatible with the Reformed heritage (“parts of it seemed designed to make Calvinists go nuts”), even “John Wesley could school him in the doctrine of providence.”  Where are the non-Reformed people who find serious problems with this book?  See the section on Al Mohler’s review.

Katherine Jeffery calls it “a post-modern, post-biblical theodicy” that just might be post-Christian too.  Sadly, some celebrity Christians have claimed the book has changed their view of god, and will change yours too.  More sad, Eugene Peterson compared it to Pilgrim’s Progress.  Positively compared, that is.

She examines the book literarily, focusing on how he tells the story.  Young utilizes, among other things, theophany.  But his theophany has more in common with modern film (she cites Oh, God!, Bruce Almighty and Dogma), than biblical theophanies.   She also spends plenty of time explaining the significant differences between in method (and theology) between Pilgrim’s Progress and The Shack.  Like much post-modern thought, he redefines theophany, and theology.

MacDonald: Famous or Infamous?

James B. DeYoung is a friend of William Young’s who sees this as his apologetic for “Christian univeralism”.  It differs from “general universalism” which is summed up as “all roads lead to God.”  In Christian universalism all will be reconciled to God, either before or after death.  This view was put forth by another ‘Christian fiction author’ George MacDonald.   So he’s sort of a post-modern George MacDonald.  In this view love trumps all.  DeYoung says that Christian universalism is what ties all the other heterodox views together.  It is not just one more error, but the one upon all the others rest.  As a result, Young is being deliberately theological.  The theology of the book is not merely incidental, but central, to the book.  This is what makes the errors so significant.

So why are so many people eating this book up?  Why is it so popular?  How come people are being so undiscerning?  I don’t think I have all the answers.  But I think his emotional honesty is what pulls people in.  Sentimentality and supposed authenticity.  William Young is/was a very broken man.  Many bad things happened to him, and this is how Young tried to sort out those things with his relationship with God.

We all want our broken places to make sense.  We want a faith that can encompass them and heal them.  Many Christians are uncomfortable with the skeletons in our closets, forget their own.  We fail to bring them into the light- into our relationship with God and His people.  This is sad, and seems very much out of step with Scripture (the Psalms, Romans 8 etc.).

But Young does not bring them out into the light.  Well, real light.  I once did an experiment (one of my many failed science experiments) to note how plants grew differently in sunshine and in florescent light.  Both are light, one natural and another artificial.  Young brings our pain and shame into the artificial light of Christian universalism instead of the natural light of biblical Christianity.  He taps into a real need, but sells people a false religion.  This is one of the easiest ways for false teaching to spread.  We are touched by this painful story, and think that somehow this means we are responding to truth.  Our tears blind our vision.  Rather than finding healing, we will end up finding even more pain and shame.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

With my search for a new pastoral call pretty much over, I would be remiss to not express gratitude for God and his many blessings through this long trial.

So, I’m grateful for:

• Jesus my Great High Priest, who sits upon the throne of grace that I might receive mercy and grace in my times of need (Hebrews 4).  Indeed, a bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not put out.
• The Father was teaching me to rely not on myself but on Him who raises the dead (1 Corinthians 1).
• The Father’s “manna” from heaven that sustained us, inexplicably, through a long period of un/under-employment.  He used so many people, in so many ways, to provide for us.  We never missed a meal or a mortgage payment.
• For granting repentance regarding the idols He revealed in His occasionally severe mercy.
• For my wife.  We were on the same page 97% of the time.  She was supportive.  I’ve seen many marriages really struggle in a time like this.  Ours didn’t.
• For my kids.  During this time we adopted CavSon without incurring any debt, and saw him through 3 surgeries without incurring any debt.  They bring much joy to our hearts, often helping us to keep things in perspective (sorry daddy was so grouchy sometimes).
• For brothers, past and present, who wrote books that encouraged me including Tim Keller, Sinclair Ferguson, Richard Sibbes, John Newton and John Piper.
• For all the brothers and sisters who prayed for us, encouraged us and showed us kindness.  This includes the friends I made on search committees that chose someone else.  Some blessed our times of fellowship with good beer which didn’t ordinarily fit my budget.

• For the worship music of Jars of Clay, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and Indelible Grace for reminding me of the gospel when I was prone to fix my eyes upon my circumstances.
• For the many churches that welcomed me into their pulpits.  It was great to meet so many people, serve them and be encouraged by them.

Since I’m feeling ill, I’ve got a bit more time to poke around the internet today.  With the return of a book allowance I was interested in what books might be coming out soon.

He's a Cavman fav!

O happy day!  Sinclair Ferguson has a new book coming out.  If you’ve been on this blog much, you’ll soon discover that Dr. Ferguson is one of my favorites.  His new book is called By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me.  He addresses the sad reality that many in the church are no amazed by God’s love & grace.  A bit of that entitlement mentality that plagues us in many ways.  I look forward to reading this.

Sorry, that is just one book.  But it promises to be a good one that is worth reading often.

Update:

Scandalous: The Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus by D.A. Carson.  Carson is another one of my favorite contemporary authors.  This series to designed to simply and clearly present central doctrines.  With them under attack (again), this should be a good defense of historical orthodoxy.

We have learned the result of our recent trip to Tucson.  After a week to pray, the congregation had a meeting today.  I’m very grateful for the way in which the Search Committee and Session have handled this.  It is a big decision for a congregation.  Rather than just vote, they informed the congregation of the process they used, and why they thought I was the man God had chosen to lead them into the future.  They allowed time for questions, and then voted.

Classrooms & playground

This was great for them, but tough for us.  “We kept wondering, are they ever going to call?”  At one point we paused the movie we were watching to pray, again.  We were getting pretty anxious to be honest.

After about an hour and 40 minutes one of the elders called to let us know that they voted to extend a call as pastor of Desert Springs Presbyterian Church.  They were very excited about what God may have in store.

Probably?  Why probably?  Presbytery, that’s why.  I’ve seen enough to know that Presbytery is not a formality.  This Presbytery sounds like a good Presbytery with very few hot-button issues.  The elders think I’ll fit in pretty well.

So we are excited, and sad.  This will be a big change, and we have made many friends here in central Florida.  But we see ourselves going to be a part of a great community with lots of promise.  Our timetable is not set at this point, and there are many things for us to do before we leave.

Update:  Though dated (it is 10 years old) this article has some info for pastors who are moving.  Here is another brief article.

The topic of church discipline is a touchy one.  People tend to go to extremes.  They either try to discipline people for anything and everything, or they try to avoid ever doing it no matter how severe the sin.

My experience as a pastor has been mixed.  There have been times I’ve believed church discipline was required, but enough of the Session disagreed that we never pursued it.  I’m sure some of those times I may have been over-reacting since the people were attacking me.

I have been wanting to read The Transforming Community: The Practise of the Gospel in Church Discipline by Mark Lauterbach (that’s not a typo, but the British spelling of “practice”, I think) for a few years.  I finally picked it up.  I’m glad I did.  It is a great little book (so far, I’m only 1/2 done).  Mark sees church discipline as a part of how we live out the gospel and how God transforms us.  It is an essential function of church life- part of the church being the church.  Without it the church becomes a social club and lives are not really changed.  This was one of the issues I encountered.  Many in the church wanted it to be more of a chapel (nice service, not much else) rather than a place where the gospel was at work to make people more like Jesus (Romans 8), as Christ is formed in them (Galatians 6).

“… as the saving doctrine of Christ is the soul of the church, so does discipline serve as its sinews, through which the members of the body hold together…  all who desire to remove discipline or hinder its restoration- whether they do this deliberately or out of ignorance- are surely contributing to the ultimate dissolution of the church.”  John Calvin

Lauterbach rightly points to pride as one of the main problems in the church.  We  resist church discipline, thinking it unnecessary because we think more of ourselves than we ought.  We fail to recognize we are the biggest sinners we know (1 Timothy 1:15, as Paul uses the present tense).  If we are unwilling to face our sin, the gospel makes no progress in our lives.

But the pride cuts another way too.  We who utilize the tool of church discipline can function out of pride too.  We must recognize that we who exercise church discipline are sinners too, prone to discharge our holy duty in an unholy manner.  This fact ought to humble us rather than keep us from fulfilling our responsibility.

“The new community is not a place where people are perfect.  It is a place where people are honest about their sin.  It is not a place of perfection, but of humility and the cross.”

We also underestimate the deceitfulness of sin.  This is part of why Jesus instructs us to go to one another.  Sin lies to us so that we think we are doing good, not evil.  We often feel justified in our sinful course of action.  We need another to come along side, and by Word and Spirit open our eyes.  Lauterbach spends a good amount of time here because this is so important.

This is not just a theoretical book, but one in which he offers guidance in applying the truth.  He helps us make good and necessary distinctions.  One such distinction is between forgiveness and trust.  We often confuse them (just as we do forgiveness and reconciliation).  Forgiveness is an act that occurs at a moment.  But trust is something that may have to be rebuilt over time, depending on the offense. Trust is about character, forgiveness is about mercy.

So far I would highly recommend this book.  I found myself humbled by my own failures as a pastor, and follower of Jesus.  I also found myself encouraged knowing that this is part of the process to become more like Jesus.

Opening Track: Bad Attitude

Apparently they had enough.  Today was a day full of frustrations as we headed home.  We got up a little early so we could get some breakfast before leaving at the target time of 8 am.  I enjoyed one last waffle while the kids had cereal.  We grabbed stuff for our time on the plane and headed back to the room to load up and check out.  We left the parking lot a 8 am on the dot.  It was looking good.

The ride to the airport went smoothly.  There was little/no traffic so we arrived with plenty of time before our flight.  But first we had to say “goodbye” to the Sienna.  It was so easy to get the car seats in and out of the Sienna.  It rode well and was quite peppy.  We were sad to turn it in.

This is where things took a downward turn.  We didn’t do curbside check-in, obviously.  With 4 bags and a luggage carrier with 2 car seats, it was necessary for one of the kids to pull one of the small bags.  CavGirl, being bigger and older, seemed the best choice.  Oh, the crying began nearly instantaneously.  She cried nearly the whole way from the rental car return to ticketing giving new meaning to “trail of tears”.  But she wasn’t pulling the suitcase.  CavSon was doing an admirable job, even with his backpack on much of the way.  He took a short rest while on a ramp (sitting to rest), but he was quite the trooper.  She, on the other hand, seemed incapable of even carrying her own backpack, trying to pawn it off on any number of people.

At ticketing one of the bags got knocked over.  I was frustrated at this point, so I roughly uprighted it.  Over-correction as it fell the other way, bonking CavSon in the head.  More tears!

While waiting in line for security, CavSon made a new friend (the proverb about strangers being friends you’ve yet to meet was written for him).  Soon, he’s riding on her luggage bag.  Then CavGirl starts whining and crying that it’s her turn.  Yeah, this is special stuff folks.

While waiting we tried to figure out what to buy for lunch.  Meanwhile the kids are playing “kitty”.  CavSon has decided to pretend that he really can’t listen to anything I say.  I have to put him in time out for slapping me (even though he was playing it still isn’t appropriate), and then again for knocking down his sister’s bag of markers while she was doing some homework.  This is all while CavWife is buying us food, so he and I can’t have a real meaningful conversation about all this.

The first leg of the trip was largely uneventful.  I sat, as usually, with CavSon.  He was a tad wound up, continued to practicing his lack of listening skills.    He was preoccupied with the tray, moving the catch with his foot, and wanting to kick the seat in front of him occupied by his sister.

We arrived in Denver a few minutes ahead of schedule.  We brought our stuff to our next gate.  CavWife and CavGirl headed off to the restroom.  CavSon decided to try and remove his diaper right there at the gate.  When they return, it is our turn.  I look longingly at the much better fare available in the Denver airport.  We return to the gate just in time to get in our proper place in line to board.

Why don't they fly?

On our flight to Orlando he looked like he was about to fall asleep after take off.  But we were going to eat.  So we made the mistake of waking him up.  I really enjoyed my sandwich, but he picked at his.  Now he didn’t want to nap.  I kept trying to find things to occupy his time lest he resort to destructive behavior.  I had to resort to the Berenstain Bears DVD.  He was quiet while we watched all the episodes.  I pondered how “hick” they were.  Mama is quite the frump, and I’m not sure where Pa got that hat.  But he was quiet until just before we landed in Orlando.  Technically quiet, he was slightly destructive.  I made the mistake of giving him crackers with cheese for a snack.  I gaze over to discover he’s taken one apart (typical CavSon behavior) and now the cheese, having been on his fingers, is now rubbed into his clothes.   At one point during the video extravaganza I was 99.9% parched, longing for the stewardess to ask me if I wanted a drink.  CavWife suddenly tossed an orange we got in Tucson over the seat.  It really hit the spot!  I turned to check on him seconds after we landed, to find he’d fallen asleep in the last few minutes.

On our way to baggage claim we had to ride the monorail.  “Do we get to ride the tramp?” says CavGirl.  “No, it’s a tram.  A tramp is something completely different.”  A moment of comic relief in a long journey.

During our journey CavWife discovered that she didn’t have to report to her new job teaching group exercise in Bartow Tuesday evening.  The gym changed management and her class was now obselete, even before beginning.  But she may teach one there on Mondays.  We have really talked about it.  Sad because though we traveled nearly 3,ooo miles together we had little/no time to talk.  In the airports we were herding the kids.  In the planes we were in different rows.  We barely talked about anything not kid related.

After our friend arrived and we packed up the car it was off to home.  While they caught up, I spent much of my time trying to make sure neither of our children fell asleep.

We arrived home a little later than anticipated and gave them cereal before a shower.  I discovered a little spider had set up shop in our bathroom sink.  We weren’t gone that long!  We also discovered that the frost had done a number on much of our vegetation.  It was brutal.  Crying began again because it was “cold”.  I’m not sure 70 degrees qualifies as cold.  There were delay tactics as clothes were removed.  They were fighting to stay in the warm water.  Then it was “I don’t want to wear those PJs”.  “Well, sleep naked.”  “I don’t want to sleep naked.”  I was at a loss.  Our very nice trip ended with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But we are home.  And now we wait and pray until God reveals what’s next.  We have have to begin a whole new series on putting the house on the market and heading West.  We’ll see.