SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY...

It didn't take me anytime after I started preaching to realize that Sundays come every 7 days (hey, I'm pretty sharp!) And further that in preaching Sundays are mighty important. Armed with that essential information I tried to remember, "How many Sundays growing up do I actually remember? What sermons specifically impacted my life?" Now, I know in a sense they all did, it's the accumulation of lessons and study that causes growth. It is not a specific meal that makes you healthy/overweight/skinny, but the accumulation of them.

So, in one of my strange moments, I called the various preachers who I'd heard deliver these life-impacting sermons and asked for their notes and for permission to "use" their powerful sermon. They were all gracious and allowed me. Most said something like "I won't mind if the guy who I stole it from doesn't." :)

Sunday I will preach one of those sermons. It is the sermon I think that most made me who I want to be and the sermon I heard most growing up and one of the sermons I have most often preached. Spring Meadows reminds me of so many things precious to me from my growing up years that are being made fresh and alive at this place - WONDERFUL singing, the children (so many children) playing in the yard and enjoying being together while their parents visit on the porch, as warm a welcome as you can imagine.

Have I said enough to encourage you to be here? To bring several friends? To my Spring Meadows friends, let's overflow both buildings this week.

See you Sunday?!

P.S. Next week I'll try to post on my connections with John Karr, my interview on Larry King Live, the new book I have coming out and a good friend who was just diagnosed with diabetes.