“8 Days with the Preacher” : Day 5, Thursday February 23

What a wonderful day!

I got up at 6:00 and went through my normal morning routine. Yes, that included Angry Birds with Turner, but this morning, Mary Carol got in on it, too! After finishing breakfast with the family, I headed to the office. By the time I got to the office, I had listened to the ESPN First Draft podcast, Let My People Think with Ravi Zacharias, and part of a Dave Ramsey Show podcast.

Upon arriving at the office, I finished writing Sunday morning’s sermon. I am only preaching once this Sunday, so I have done a little on the sermon each day. When I am preaching twice, I try to focus on Sunday morning’s sermon on Monday and Wednesday, then the Sunday night sermon on Tuesday and Thursday. Not that this ever happens, but that’s what I try to do!

After finishing that part of the sermon, I made the PowerPoint for the sermon, then spent about two hours working on my Sunday morning Bible class. A little after 11:00, I stopped and did my Bible reading and then some general reading as well.

At noon I stopped and had lunch, but today was a little different. Once each month, our “Young at Heart” group has a meal and game day, so I went over and ate lunch with them. It was a great treat to enjoy the meal and to visit with some of these special people for a few minutes.

After lunch, I came back over to the office and did some work on the design of our blog. It isn’t quite where I want it to be yet, but I hope you are enjoying the new look. My goal is to finish the transformation next week, and I’ll have more to say about it then. During this time, I also listened to The Briefing with Albert Mohler and finished the Dave Ramsey Show podcast. I also started the ESPN College Basketball podcast.

Finally, before leaving the office, I looked over my Sunday Bible school lesson a little more and sent a couple of emails.

I headed to a local hospital to visit one of our members who has been there for a few days. Thankfully, he is showing improvement and should be transferred to a local rehab center tomorrow. The best part is the rehab center is literally across the street from his house, so his wife can easily visit him and help out. We had a very pleasant visit, then I headed home.

I got home about 4:00 and decided to take advantage of a glorious weather day. I went outside with the kids and played and watched them play and visited with neighbors…for two hours! I love our neighborhood. One of the best parts is that it still has that “old-fashioned” feel where children aren’t afraid to run and play, and where neighbors talk on the sidewalks and porches. I sat with one of our neighbors for about half an hour and had a delightful visit.

About 6:00 we came home and Leah had an amazing meal prepared. She even went the extra mile and had candles on the table to make it more special. She’s amazing, and I’m blessed beyond words to have her.

After supper, I sat down to watch Duke play Florida State and I typed this post during halftime. My goal for tonight is to watch the rest of this game and then to just relax some. I’ll probably read a bit, but I hope to do more relaxing.

What a wonderful day!