Monday, February 9, 2004

10:45 PM On Tuesday, February 24, I am doing an “Ask Pastor Ray” night for 20/20, our ministry to singles and young couples. I was pleased to receive the following e-mail from Pastor Howard Duncan:

We are going to do two things on the 24th: Starting at 7:00 we will have a dessert potluck made by everyone in 20/20, then after about 15-20 minutes we would like to start our “Ask the Pastor” night and go until 9:00. In the past we also had to little time so we are looking forward to giving you the most time possible. We will also have some chocolate cream pie for you. I think that is your favorite pie, if not tell me what kind of Baker’s Square pie you prefer and I will be sure to have it available. Otherwise we have asked everyone to bring their favorite homemade desserts.

Chocolate cream pie sounds great to me. 9:26 PM I heard a good sermon a few minutes ago. While perusing the Dallas Seminary website, I found a page with audio recordings of recent chapel services. I listened to a stirring message by Howard Hendricks on The Ultimate Final from 2 Timothy 2:15. Every pastor would do well to listen to this sermon once a year. 9:18 PM I We’re back home after a four-day whirlwind trip down South. It happened that I was not scheduled to preach on Sunday so Marlene and I decided to travel to Alabama and Tennessee to visit my brother Andy and her brother Mark. We left on Thursday night during a snowstorm and traveled 125 miles in four hours before we gave up and found a motel room. The next day we drove on to Florence, Alabama, where we stayed with Andy (his wife Betty was in Miami for a wedding). That night and the next night we got to watch my niece Megan play basketball. She’s a senior starter for the 25-5 Bradshaw Bruins. They beat Deshler on Friday night and lost to Athens on Saturday night. Megan’s younger sister Kathleen played in the JV game both nights. Nick drove up from Samford University in Birmingham to join us. After the Saturday night game we drove to Nashville to spend two nights with Mark and Ruth Wolery. Sunday turned out to be a true day of rest for us. We spent hours sitting in front of the fireplace—talking, laughing, and taking turns playing “Jawbreaker” on Mark’s PDA. I told Marlene as we drove back that I can’t remember when I felt this relaxed on Monday morning. All in all, a very refreshing visit.