happy good friday on monday

I was blessed to have the opportunity to preach in big church on Friday for our Good Friday service.  One thing that I was most excited - and perhaps most nervous - about is that my family was able to come.  Our families saw every sermon I preached at New Hope, but they saw all of them online.  I've only preached in front of my dad one time, and to be honest, it makes me nervous to do so.  Most of what I know of the Bible, I learned from him.  That makes me his student, and to quote Charlie Bucket's teacher, "...for a student to teach his teacher is presumptuous and rude."  And he said it in a British accent, so I'm pretty sure he knew what he was talking about.

When I preached at New Hope, I started posting my sermons out of family pressure.  They wanted to see them, and I'd rather put them online than mail 5 DVDs.  I thought I was done, but alas, due to medical conflicts, not everyone from our families was able to make it.  My nephew Gabriel was not well, which meant my sister Lisa and her husband Mike had to stay home.  Sarah's dad had to go to the eye doctor for trouble he's been having, and he wasn't allowed to drive after the visit.  And then there's Dan, who's afflicted with living in Texas.  Poor guy.

The couple that is singing is Todd and Amanda Gallahar.  They're awesome.  The lady at the beginning reading the Bible is Brenda - also awesome - and the fat guy in the middle is me.  What?  You don't think I'm awesome?  Well, then, explain to me how I became an admin of the Super-Duper-Awesome-People-Club on facebook.

I'm blessed to serve where I serve, and to serve alongside the people that I do.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/10676005]

For Easter, we decided to start a tradition of just spending time with our little family. Thanksgiving and Christmas are very busy holidays for us, running to Grand Rapids and back a couple times each. We love that, but we thought it would be nice to claim one holiday as a day for just us and Jakob. So, we went to a park for lunch, took a long afternoon nap, and ate a late dinner out together. Maybe we'll be sure to be in GR the day before Easter, like we were yesterday. That seemed to work.

Happy Easters.