Weekend update

(Yeah, yeah. I'm running out of original post titles.)

Saturday morning, we held the Kids Club Valentine's Party at our apartment complex. Turnout was lower than expected, a fact which I attribute to the slow adjustment by the kids to the rescheduling of Kids Club from Friday afternoon (immediately after school) to Saturday morning. Plus, we have to compete with Saturday AM cartoons! But we had a good time with the kids who came. One fun observation: little boys will be little boys, regardless of their background. All of the kids who came on Saturday were from countries other than the USA. We spent time making Valentine's cards for parents and other family members. Without fail, the lone boy in attendance began his card with some heart shapes and quickly progressed to detailing a remarkable scene of a cowboy engaged in an epic gunfight with an airplane. If that doesn't express love and affection, I don't know what does.

(Just in case you were wondering about the gunfight, the cowboy won.)

On a more serious-yet-celebratory note, that evening we attended a surprise 50th birthday party for our pastor, Bill Murray (not to be confused with the Groundhog Day guy). The event proved to be a neat and profound example of how one man can impact so many lives, as his family and friends shared favorite memories about Bill. One of the most touching moments was when his four boys came up to talk about the many ways in which their dad has blessed their lives and shown them Christ at every turn. I've been fortunate to know Bill as both my pastor and friend for several years, and I am blessed for it.

As if those events weren't enough to fill a weekend, we also got to see Randall Goodgame and Jeremy Casella in concert on Saturday evening (before the birthday party, that is -- I hope you aren't left unbalanced by the non-sequential narrative!) The two played as part of the Intown Community Church (PCA) missions conference this past weekend. Between songs, both guys shared stories from their experiences with missions organizations (like Compassion International) and outreach focuses (like the plight of the Dalits in India and the AIDS epidemic in Africa). We really appreciated the fact that Intown has a tremendous focus on missions, and church members highlighted several parts of the world where they partner with indigenous Christians to further their outreach. For example, the silver common cup used for the Lord's Supper at Intown was a gift from a sister church in Istanbul and serves as a weekly reminder of the partnership between the two churches. Additionally, several Intown members are spearheading an ambitious project to build a hospital in Rwanda, a nation in dire need of medical facilities in the aftermath of the brutal genocide of the last decade. We were encouraged to hear the many examples of how Christ's kingdom is being built up around the globe.

And if that wasn't enough, we also found time to watch Hero and Bottle Rocket, both films being wonderful in their own special ways. So all in all, it was quite a full weekend. I hope you feel sufficiently updated!