PCA General Assembly 2016 - Mobile, AL - Day 2

How can one day hold so much?

After breakfast, starting out the day at 8:00 AM with seminars that teach, inspire, and challenge my thinking.

Then ... Laura Story. If you've never heard her before, look her up on youTube. I was captivated by her music, as well as her account of her husband's severe health issues, just a few years into their marriage. Always humbly admitting her own inability to deal with things, always giving God the praise for His work in the situation. I came out of there reminded of God's faithfulness in all of our situations in life.

I sat in on the pastors' and elders' meetings for a while today. I will probably be doing a lot of that tomorrow. It is interesting to me to hear about these behind-the-scene things that these men handle in our denomination, and I'm thankful for their diligence, humility, wisdom, and thoroughness. There are a lot of godly leaders in the Presbyterian Church In America.

Then .. the Gettys in concert. Another thing to look up on youTube while you're there. Their gift for hymn writing ... Keith's piano playing .. Kristyn's voice ... their passion for congregational singing ... their very talented band ... and the sound of their native Ireland in much of their music leaves me joyful, wanting more, and praising God. The day couldn't have gotten any better.

Until ... Tim Keller preached. I always learn so much from listening to him. His sermons are always gripping, instructive, and Gospel-centered.

But wait ...there's more! The "dessert social" in the exhibit hall! Although, we did more socializing than dessert-ing. It's so great ... people you know ...or people that you don't know, but are the parents of someone in your congregation ..or a pastor who is the son of a former member ... or when people come up to THOSE people, and introductions are made, and you ALL have a great time talking ...

There's really nothing else like it. Maybe it's because you're all in the same ministry boat together, and you can relate to each other in ways that no one else can. But it's a great boat to be in ... I wouldn't want to be in any other boat. :)

PCA General Assembly 2016 - Mobile, AL - Day 1

Have I mentioned that I LOVE General Assembly? I really do. It is a highlight of the year for me whenever I go.

We left our room to go to breakfast this morning. As we walked through the hotel lobby, it's exciting to see lots of people that are there for the same reason. While we're walking from one place to another, I'm usually looking around for someone I know. In the elevator, I'm checking out people's tags to see where they're from. It's usually a conversation starter.

We didn't have to wait long to start running into people we knew. Walking down the street in downtown Mobile, we saw a couple we've known from when Don was finishing seminary in Miami, FL from 1981-1983. The man was the pastor of the church in Miami where Don was an intern. We chatted with them for a few minutes, then kept walking.

We were standing outside of a coffee shop where we ended up having breakfast, looking at the menu on the window. Don noticed, sitting inside the shop, having breakfast with his teenage daughter, the pastor of the PCA church in Eighty Four, PA (right down the road from us!) After breakfast, as we were leaving, we saw and chatted with a guy that we knew when we were in West Chester, PA.

This kind of stuff goes on continually - happy reunions, followed by catching up. It's truly a blessing to hear how God is working in people's lives. 

We attended some great seminars today, There are so many good choices, and sometimes it was hard to make a decision. We chose ones that we felt were things that would be helpful for us in our own church and community. We don't always attend seminars together, but today we did. 

Another place to run into people is the Exhibit Hall. This is a large area where various ministries and agencies have booths set up, with people available to talk and/or give you information on their particular group. There is also a bookstore set up. But it's a great place to stop and chat as well.

The evening session tonight began with a pre-worship concert. They were a very gifted group of musicians. Then the worship service began. It is really wonderful to be together with such a large group, singing, reading Scripture, praying, and taking the Lord's Supper together. The outgoing Moderator gave a message on Habakkuk 3:16-19. Great encouragement and exhortation.

After the worship service, a new Moderator for this year was elected.

Tomorrow will be a slightly different kind of day for both Don and me ... stay tuned!

Pre-General Assembly, Day 2

Driving. Then more driving. Then more. And just in case it wasn't enough, more. About 600 miles today.

But it was fun - we always manage to have a good time in the car and find joy in the journey.

And the long journey got me thinking about heaven:

We were going somewhere we'd never been before, but we knew there was a place there for us, we were expected. And even though we'd never seen it, we knew it would be pretty great. We'd see lots of people we've known over the years, and spend time worshipping God together.

Kinda like heaven.

Which made the journey worth it.

Kinda like heaven. 

Pre-General Assembly, Day 1

I love going to General Assembly. I really do. I also love road trips.

But DRIVING to Mobile, AL is just a little bit crazy. Maybe more than a little bit. More like 982 miles worth of crazy. But airfare was really pricey, so driving it is.

Leaving right after church doesn't make it any easier, either. Don is always tired on Sunday afternoons. But add to that the fact that he just got back from a week-long conference in Grand Rapids,MI yesterday, and you've upped the crazy factor.

He put in a respectable 100 miles of driving before turning it over to me. Then I put in almost 100 miles, which allowed him to nap, which enabled him to finish driving to our destination, Elizabethtown, KY.

It's been a mostly good trip except for the part where I realized exactly how far we'd be driving tomorrow - 5 miles longer than going to our son's house. See, mileage doesn't mean anything to me, but if I can compare it to something I know, I'm good. And I know how long it takes to get to David's house. Which is not good. So I may have been a little upset for a short time.

But we're at the hotel now, and not in the car, and all is good. Time to relax, time to sleep, and get refreshed to hit the road again in the morning.

402 miles down, 590 to go. 

My Life With Cicadas

I am completely and totally freaked out by all these cicadas. At first, it wasn’t too bad. You’d hear the sound, see a few exoskeletons lying around, and that was it. But in the past week or so, they’ve gone bonkers. Their activity has escalated to the level of Psycho Cicadas. They are everywhere. I spend more time indoors than I should. I rush from the house to the car, and car to the house (or store or wherever) trying to avoid confrontation. My modus operandi: keep my head down and avoid eye contact.

I wondered why I was so worked up about this – I’ve seen a lot of people just living their lives as if nothing unusual was happening all around them every single second of every single day. So I did a little history of My Life and the Cicada Cycle. Every 17 years, right?

2016 – The current year. Year of the Crazed Cicada.
1999 – I was living in east Tennessee.  No cicadas there.
1982 – I was living in south Florida. No cicadas there, either, though it must be noted that there were plenty of Palmetto Bugs. For the uninitiated, palmetto bugs are … well … think of a very large roach. That flies. However, these critters just go around minding their own business, unlike cicadas, whose purpose in life is to fly in a drunken stupor, bumping into my windshield and everything else that crosses their path. And some things that don’t cross their path.

1965 – I was living just outside of Philadelphia. No cicadas.

So there you have it. The reason I carry 26 grocery bags from the car to the house all at once is because THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE THAT I HAVE SEEN THESE THINGS! And I don’t want them to carry me away to the Cicada Land of Doom and Creepiness. Or even touch me.

The next time around, I’ll be 78. With the advances that are made in science and technology every day, my hope is that by then there will be spray-on cicada repellent, or even a phone app that keeps them far away. Or maybe I’ll be wiser and more mature and won’t care.

Naaahhhh. 

How did I get back here again?

If you scroll through and look at the dates of my posts, you'll notice that I'm not what you'd call a consistent blogger. I'm pretty sure there are two reasons for this. The obvious one is being busy. The one I don't want to think about is the fact that, more often than not, I forget that I even have this blog. But that's because I'm so busy, right? (Just nod your head and move on.)

So what am I doing back here again?

In a little over a month from now, Don & I will be attending our denomination's General Assembly, which is a yearly gathering of pastors and elders from churches across the country. There are meetings that the guys attend, to deal with the business of the PCA (our denomination). There are also seminars for everyone, women's activites and meetings, even activities for the kids of those who bring their family. Also, when you've been in the ministry for over 30 years, and you've lived in many places, you accumulate a lot of friends and acquaintances within the church. At General Assembly (aka GA) you have the opportunity to catch up with people face-to-face, either in a brief encounter in the assembly venue, or over coffee, or sitting down for a meal together. Amazing stuff.

So, what's this got to do with a new blog post, I hear you ask. (Okay, I can't actually hear you ...)
Well. I got to thinking that it would be fun for me, and possibly interesting for you, to blog about each day while I'm at GA this year. Then I started thinking that in order to do that, I need to set up a blog somewhere. Then I remembered that I already have one (see first paragraph :P ).

So that's how I got back here again.

And I hope you'll get back here again, too, because maybe this blogging about GA idea will inspire me to blog, once again, about regular life, and about how God is working in my life.

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P.S. When I started this blog, my nest was emptyING, hence the title. Now my nest is empty, but rather than change the title, I'd like to keep the title, but just cross out the I-N-G. So if anyone knows how to do that, please send me directions. :o)

A change of caffeine

So I guess I drink coffee now. I was always a tea drinker, but about 8-10 years ago, someone gave me a gift card to Starbucks. I thought it was odd, seeing that I don’t drink coffee, but I went, figuring I’d get a pastry and some hot chocolate. That particular day, at the Starbucks on Gunbarrel Road in Chattanooga, they were giving out tiny samples of Cinnamon Dolce Latte. I love cinnamon, and it smelled really good, so I decided to try it. I immediately became a fan of the stuff, but got it infrequently, and still only considered a latte to be “sissy coffee”. 
Fast forward to September 2014 when  I decided to give up Diet Coke and start drinking water instead. It’s been great, and I never looked back. However, while we were making a trip right after Christmas to visit our three kids (over 2200 miles of driving), I started thinking about the caffeine of it all. But I wasn’t willing to go back to the mass quantities of Diet Coke.
While we were at David & Jen’s, I started experimenting with NOT making a latte. No milk, just a bunch of flavored creamer. Finding it pretty good, I kept adding less and less creamer.
So here I am at home, now making coffee, with just a little Amaretto creamer in it. It’s really good.
I still drink tea (with nothing in it), and especially love the “tea time” that Don & I have when we talk about the upcoming day, or week, or life in general. He declared some time ago that he intends to start drinking coffee when he is 70. I have no idea why he has made this statement. But since that is almost a dozen years away, I’ll still enjoy our tea together.  But on those crazy road trips, or after I come home from school, or when I just plain feel like it? It’s coffee.