Thursday, February 05, 2009

Just thinking.....


Just a few random thoughts for this busy day.....
-It's been almost a year since I fell and crushed my heel. It's been almost a year of chronic pain and difficulty walking. This week has been the first week in which I am not thinking about my foot, not having much pain. There is a better day ahead, and it feels great to not be in pain all the time.
-Next week, the 15th, my sweet wife, Joye, and I will have been married for 35 years! I am so blessed. I cannot believe I'm old enough to be married for 35 years. I'm very blessed and excited to have had these years with Joye.
-I'm studying through the book of Revelation as I prepare to teach it each week. It is really building my faith to work through this book again. Interesting how much I have missed in the past.
-I'm hoping to take Joye away for a few days next week to celebrate putting up with me for 35 years, but I'm a horrible planner....I haven't planned anything yet. Your ideas and prayers for me on this would be most gratefully accepted.
-We have recently started a Divorce Care ministry at our church. It's been in the works for months to get ready and we have launched it in the last few weeks. It's great to offer this to our community. The good news is that there are 32 people in the class. The bad news is that there are 32 people who are dealing with broken lives and marriages.
-We had great fun last night. We had two different people come over to the house to roast some coffee with us. I was able to send each one home with a warm bag of freshly roasted "gold." It was a lot of fun. I also sent my friend, Gary, off with my old roaster. He seemed thrilled to have been initiated into the "club." It's a really fun hobby....and you get to enjoy the results of your work.
-I've been praying for the sweet daughter of one of our missionaries and this morning I got a note from them that their little girl is "ok." All the tests came back with good reports. I'm thrilled for them and I'm glad for answered prayer.
-We are getting ready to go to Africa in June. I have about 5,000 things to do before I can even think about this trip, but I'm really excited to be able to be part of this ministry. We added the last couple to the team this morning. It will be a great group. May I ask for your prayers as we get ready for this week with pastors and their wives in Kenya?
-My own personal time in the word, although consistent, has been really dry lately. Today the word began to come alive for me again....I'm so excited about this. It's one of the seasons of our walks with God, dry times and wonderful times. I'm glad this dry time has passed....I was getting tired.

6 comments:

Ian said...

Just out of curiousity, is the class being taught by folks that have actually been through a divorce?

I'm glad to see CBC offering this - it'll help out a lot of folks that really need it.

Mike Messerli said...

Ian,

thanks for the question. And the answer is "YES". The leaders of this group have been through divorce and through the leader training. I have taken the leader training as a pastor to know what the course was about, but because I'm not divorce (and hope not to be) I'm not qualified to lead the course. I must honestly admit this is one time when I'm not upset that I'm not qualified. Our leaders for this course are awesome, and we have over 32+ people attending the course, most of them do not go to our church. It has turned out to be more than I hoped it would be.

Schweers' Mom said...

The coffee is amazing. I think I might have to go make myself a cup and take some time to savor it while reading a book. What a perfect afternoon! Best birthday ever! My precious son let me sleep-in this morning. He got up, dealt with all 3 dogs (no easy task), made his breakfast, made his lunch, started the dishwasher and wrote me a sweet birthday note. I feel so special! Sometimes being a parent is the best job!

cookiehawk77 said...

I guess Lea Ann won't have to get coffee from Mark any more! How fun to have a new roaster in the group!

cookiehawk77 said...

And I'm so glad you're having days when your heel isn't the center of your attention -- or even on the fringes!

Ian said...

Thank you, sir. I'm glad to hear that. I appreciate it!