Tomorrow morning I will be posting a short story. It was an illustration that I originally wrote for the sermon last night. I am doing a series on the book of Numbers and last night we were in Numbers 9:1-14.

The illustration turned out to be quite long, turning into a short story, which I’ve decided to post here.

The basic idea I was trying to illustrate was this: what is it like when someone says, I like God, I just don’t like the church? Or, I’m a Christian, but I don’t have to go to church for that.

In Numbers 9, God makes it clear to the Israelites, if you don’t partake in Passover, you have no place in the congregation, and if you have no place in the congregation, you have no part in me.

Check back tomorrow.

BUSY weekend. Here are some pictures from our annual All Church Picnic, the one that happens to always fall on the same day as some big football game. Of course, because of the picnic, we have to cancel the evening service.

Really. It’s the picnic’s fault.

But we always have a TON of people. The free hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken breasts, and soda probably has something to do with that. And people bring a lot of other food, too.

I’m in at 6:30am – Jack, our breakfast chef, always beats me in – and I’m last out, about 5pm. It’s a long day, with a lot of work in between.

But everyone has a great time. Glad it’s over.

Picture #1: The guys wait to test their muscle.

Picture #2: Sam gives his “Of COURSE I’m going to hit the bell” look.

Picture #3: Pastor Pete, master of the fun.

Picture #4: Dalton is SO STRONG, he bends the handle! Or my iPhone doesn’t do action photography. One or the other.

Picture #5: Sam hits one out of the park. Or to the cat. Again. But not the bell. At least he was happy about it.

Trudi and I have started teaching a Sunday School class together…the first time we’ve ever tried to teach an adult class together. I’ve called it “Wii” (hope I won’t get any nasty-grams from Nintendo’s lawyers), because it’s about relationships…making the two “i’s” form one “we”.

So far, so good. We had our second week (or is that “wiik”?) and people seem like they will enjoy it. We will be looking at personality types, love languages and other relationship items.

Next wiik Trudi is at the helm. It should be fun.

And we have our own blog for the class. It’s the Wii-lationships blog. I forgot to record the class yesterday, but when we do, it will be available as a podcast, too.

That title is more literal than you might guess. We finished Scrooge on Monday, with mixed results. The cast and crew got better every night, and Sunday was a great crowd, full and very responsive.

Monday was small and “appreciative”. All-in-all, everything went very well.

Now it’s over, and I’ll be spending most of the rest of the month out of the office. Yesterday was full of several errands and about 30 minutes in the office.

Today is the “pooped” part. Our septic tank at the house has backed up. Barry the plumber – a very nice man from church – is currently trying to determine whether there is a clog or if we need our drainfield redone. (“A drainfield for Christmas for me?! Oh, you shouldn’t have!”)

In the meantime, I missed the opportunity yesterday to wish my brother-in-law, Terry, a very happy birthday. So, happy late birthday, TS!