Another Monday Morning...

Somewhere in northern Missouri, someone is asking a co-worker, "How was your weekend?"
And that co-worker is responding with, "I'm glad you asked that. You see we had a guest preacher at our church and he challenged us ... "

Yes, another pulpit challenge to tell people the simple message -- "God loves you. Jesus died for you."

I always put myself into the challenge, although I doubt that anyone will ask me how my weekend was. It's not because nobody cares (nobody really does), but because I probably won't have much contact with anyone during the day.
I also always invite churches to hold me as accountable as they hold each other, but they rarely do.
Somehow I suspect that I'll be getting a tweet or two asking for my story of sharing this simple message.

My ride to Chillicothe MO (The Home of Sliced Bread) was warm and uneventful. (My last ride to Chillicothe was when I lost all my stuff.) I arrived in town shortly after 3 PM with all of my gear intact. I unloaded the things for my magic show at the church and then went to the home of Steve and Pam Miller. The Millers were my host family for the weekend. They live in a grand old house, built in the 1880s. They are doing a lot of work to renovate and keep (and restore) the original character of the house. Perhaps it will be a bed and breakfast place in the future.
Oh! And speaking of breakfast, it looked like a magazine or TV show breakfast.
Coffee, OJ, stuffed French toast topped with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream, and a side of patty sausage. Beautiful and delicious!

The Saturday evening magic show went well and I believe that a good time was had by all. The church put on a nice event for the neighborhood and community. The program began with a very good puppet show that was put on by a troupe from another local church. While being entertained, the kids (parents, too) enjoyed popcorn, nachos, cotton candy, and lemonade. There was a brief intermission and then the magic show.

I should mention that I believe many churches would pass on such an event simply due to the number of workers necessary to pull it off. The fellowship hall was very well decorated. There were lots of kitchen workers to prepare and distribute snacks. There were greeters and there were plenty of people to clean up and reset the hall for Sunday morning.
Just looking at (or anticipating) all of the popcorn and chips scattered on the floor would prevent many churches from doing this. But the clean up was fast and fun -- yes, I said fun -- as it looked like the people were genuinely enjoying their service to others!

Sunday morning was more of the same hospitality and joy. Pastor Rob is truly blessed to be serving a people that show their love for one another and the community around them. The young staff is energetic and tends to infuse their enthusiasm into the rest of the congregation. It is so much easier to preach to a church full of folks that are happy about serving and worshiping our God and Savior.

After church I changed into my riding gear, loaded up the bike, had lunch with the pastor and headed home. The day was warm (low 90s, 33-34c) and traffic was light. As I neared Springfield, the wind started to pick up and I could see rain ahead. I stopped to check the weather radar for the route and decided to push on. Later, I stopped again to put on my rain gear and did run into some rain before making it home. However, I was treated to a bright and magnificent rainbow as compensation for my short ride in the rain.

I doubt that I'll get much riding in for the remainder of September. I've a lawn to mow, groceries to buy, and other household chores to tend to. On Saturday, I get to celebrate with a friend as he gets married.

It has been a grand month.
I hope that yours has also been a fun adventure.
Finish it well.
Tell somebody -- God loves you. Jesus died for you.

John <><