Dear Friends,
Back from a long vacation-nine weeks at our place on Lake Ontario-and
settling back in at the church. Was without a computer for eight weeks-screen
broke and Best Buy spent 8 weeks trying to fix it-but the chip they needed
wound up being more expensive than the computer itself, and so we
wound up having to buy a new one. During this time without a computer, I really
felt disconnected from so many of my friends, but I did appreciate hearing
from several you who had been wondering if I was still alive on planet
earth. Today is the first time I have been able to access my new computer.
Jean and I had a great time with family-all our children and
grandchildren were with us during different parts of the summer.
Part of the summer was interrupted by a trip to the ER to deal with the
passing of a kidney stone. Fishing was good, but I kept getting out fished by
my buddies who use live bait, and for whatever reason the bass seemed largely
disinterested in my efforts to trick them with artificial lures. One of the
highlights of my summer was fishing with my 85-year-old high school football
coach in a little Glacier Lake outside of Watertown, N.Y. I continue to be
grateful for those high school and college coaches in my life who have been
such an encouragement to me.
Another highlight was seeing Jean get herself on a rubber raft and
pulling her around White's Bay with my 21-foot Penn Yan boat. She still
struggles with her Parkinsons, but she doesn't let that stop her from taking on
new challenges. Spent some wonderful days with my high school friends who live
in the area, found time to tend to my several gardens, and
made several five and a half hour trips back to NJ to attend funerals
for three of my special friends, one of whom was my son-in-law's dad who passed
while we were away. They were all believers, and so their funerals were
all glorious celebrations of the resurrection hope we have in Christ.
It is good reconnecting with friends once again, and this past
week I rejoined our men's discipleship class studying Oswald Sanders Spiritual Discipleship,
our life group which is studying the book of Ephesians, as well as our prayer
group which meets every Thursday morning. There is nothing like being joined
together with other brothers and sisters in fellowship and prayer.
As of July, I am working half-time at our church which frees up
some more time to visit my children and grandchildren, umpire baseball, and
continue a church' consultation training program which hopefully will
provide me with the tools and expertise to assist churches looking for a fresh
set of eyes to help them address church related issues.
I am grateful for the tremendous flexibility our church provides
me as I continue ministry here at New Monmouth.
In the future I am hoping to continue the discipline of writing a daily
devotional, trying to complete a book about encouragement I started several
years ago but at present I feel the need to focus most of my attention on
church related issues after being away for such a lengthy period of time.
Jean and I covet your prayers as we begin our 53rd year of
ministry together. We are both so grateful for the many friends, like you, that
we have made throughout our years of ministry, and we always look forward to
hearing from you and what the Lord has been doing in your life.
To be continued...
Yours in faith and friendship,
Pastor Tom
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