10:04 PM End of a busy day in Florida. If possible, today was even nicer. I told the folks in the morning service it was “just another day in paradise.” After the service one of the missionaries (Jeanette Silver) said she had gotten a phone call from Carrie Cleaver in Oak Park. Carrie called to say that I am her p…
2:45 PM We land in Beijing. Big rush to get off the plane. The terminal reminds me of Terminal 5 at O’Hare. Long lines, long hallways, escalators, all of it keeping you moving toward Immigation. We pass through with no problems. We had heard about Chinese officials checking luggage. Not on our flight. There were two of…
11:27 AM Just finished my morning message. I’m doing two different series this week: In the mornings I’m speaking on “The Cross, the Church and the World” from 1 Corinthians 1-2, and at night I’m doing a series called “The God You Can Trust.” Today I mentioned the Chicago Cubs and how peop…
8:28 AM I’m writing this note from guesthouse at the SIM village in Sebring Florida. After church yesterday, I rushed home, ate lunch, watched a bit of the Colts-Chiefs game, then Marlene drove me to Midway Airport where I flew from Chicago to Orlando. Calvary missionary John Ockers picked me up. Burt Long, another ret…
BAGGAGE CLAIM by Ray Pritchard The following illustration comes from Craig Barnes, longtime pastor of National
Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. One day he stood at the baggage claim area in an airport, watching the bags tumble
off the conveyor belt and onto the carousel one by one. As he pondered the matter, that une…
4:33 PM Speaking of Bob Weller, he offered the following inducement at the end of his e-mail: Speaking of coming to Kansas, you know there are over 150 paved miles of bike trails in Johnson County, a bike in our garage, and we have a nice quiet place for you and yours to work/write/relax not to mention all the great BBQ pla…
7:45 PM Special thanks to Keith and Bev Haselhorst of Lancaster, PA, who sent me some rare photocopied Billy Sunday material from 1917. 7:40 PM This afternoon the OPCA boys and girls basketball teams played Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst. The girls game went down to the wire with Timothy coming from behind to win the …
8:52 PM Renovation update: Took a tour with Mark Todd, head of the Renovation Task Force. We walked on the new gym floor and I was amazed and how soft and springy it feels. Makes you want to pick up a ball and start shooting baskets… . We passed our building inspection today so we should be ready to use the gym by ne…
10:30 PM Ron Feley sent an e-mail with the good news that Jackie’s surgery today went well: Hello fellow prayer warriors, today was the happiest and saddest day of my life. It was a day where my prayers were answered and my gift from the Lord had major surgery. Very very very humbling day. As bad as my wife’s condition is, …
5:53 PM Nice little serendipity … As I was taking my bike out of the garage to start my ride, Ron Feley happened to drive by. His wife Jackie goes in to Loyola Hospital tomorrow morning for breast cancer surgery. Ron and I talked for a while and then we prayed together. His faith is strong—As he said in his pra…