Written in Heaven

Another great day at BridgeWay! Here are some closing thoughts to the last Sunday of 2008:

• As I said in the services, Dale was out sick today. If you know Dale, you know how sick he would have to be to not be at BridgeWay. Dale, missed you today man, praying for you and the fam.
• Big ups to the cleaning crew. The main theater has been so clean the past couple weeks!
• We had to make some last minute shifts in the childrens area. We had a wet theater from all the melting snow and rain (I know what you're thinking - why would the theater be wet because the snow melted and it rained? Exactly!) That's one advantage to being portable - just move to a different theater.
• Shout out to Connie our Pastor of Family Life for going with the flow in those situations. She's a great improvisor.
• Aside from that, the day was smooth sailing.
• The band was killer in the run through and lit it up both services.
• I love the song "Spring of Life" that they did this week. "Jesus, you're the well that won't run dry, Jesus, you're the drink that satisifies, living water, spring of life, Jesus you're the well that won't run dry." Good stuff!
• Thanks to our congregation for rolling with the written survey we handed out this week. That's going to help us greatly as we plan the upcoming year.
• It was fun to talk about steps to writing goals today.
• This message is one that Dale wrote. It's hard to preach a message when someone else writes it with such passion like Dale does. It's tough because you want to make sure you communicate that passion with the message. But the principles were great and it seemed to communicate well. Hopefully we'll see a lot of people map out some goals for their lives because of our time together today.
• Personally and speaking for Brooke, 2008 has been one of the greatest years our my lives. God answered our prayers (of about a year and a half) by allowing us to join the staff of BridgeWay, my sister has had God's healing hand on her as she's worked through some dangerous medical situations, my brother was married in June, my dad just got a new job that we had been praying for for about a year or so, and my mom is completely healthy for the first time in a long time. Praise God for his faithfulness in the midst of unsettling times!
• Oh yeah - and hopefully by the end of the week we'll be parents! Brooke's due January 1 (this Thursday!) so if you think about it, say a little prayer that the little guy comes sooner than later. I saw she was looking up 'natural ways to induce labor' on the internet last night! I think it's safe to say she's ready to have the baby!

Have a safe and happy New Year!