What a weekend!
Saturday was absolutely gorgeous! The Gaston’s started the day with Soccer pictures and a 9:00am game. I love being the coach of Sydney’s team; however, I find my competitive nature creeping during the games. I know, I know we are in the league that doesn’t have goalies or keep score (yeah right!), but I just want them to do their best everytime they are on the field. Ok, that was the politically correct answer, the real reality I want them to win everytime (or is that me?)!
Later in the day I went to the Justin Whitaker funeral at North Stafford. It turned out to be a home run or better yet a ”Grand Slam” (Craig’s [Justin’s dad] words)! What a beautiful tribute to a young man who lived a short life with huge impact. We heard from Justin’s fiance, Courtney as she shared some amazing words of hope. She has displayed incredible strength throughout this entire journey. What an amazing young lady! We also heard from Justin’s parents, the North Stafford Principal, the baseball coach, school counselor, and three highschool friends: Nathan, Zac, and Tony. Pastor Zac did an amazing job of encouraging the people who attended as well as clearly sharing the gospel. Church, you would have been very proud of him. I love having him on our team!
I finished up this amazing afternoon with yard work. Pam and Lexie planted flowers in the front and back. Our yard is beginning to take shape. There is something I like about mowing. Maybe it is time alone during the task or perhaps it’s the sense of accomplishment I feel when I can look back at the yard when the job is done. And check (the box)! It feels good to accomplish a task! I don’t know about you, but I thought the sky, the sun, and the temperature was perfect! What a day!
Where was Pastor Todd on Sunday? I actually attended the 8:20am service at Mount Ararat. Pastor Matthew continued our series Grace Rules in talking about the role of the law. This book of Galatians is so powerful. I took advantage of the morning by driving up to McClean Bible church for the 10:45am service. I took Pastor Juan, Pastor Greg, and Katie Hawkins to go along with me. There is something to be said for taking times to be a guest again on another church campus. The experience at McClean was amazing! Lon Solomon is the man!!! (Not a sermon, just a a thought). Their campus is pretty incredible too (they have a two level parking garage)! And they do a stellar job in leading first time guests to places to get their questions answered! We brought back copious notes to help us with our information center and ministry connection center. As we drove home on I-95 in the pouring down rain, I prayed for you Mount Ararat. I just miss being with you on Sundays! I love our Sundays together!
Even though the weekend ended with tons of rain, I found this weekend very refreshing. I hope your weekend was refreshing too!
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ’No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:11-15
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April 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
I had to smile at the photo of the soccer team. Even though with my boys it was T-ball and then baseball the feelings are the same. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to coach a team that your child is on. On Sunday we were blessed with rain outside and the rain of the Holy Spirit inside. I was so happy because my son Peter and his girlfriend attended both the service with me and also went to my small group class during the third session. The experience led to a very lively discussion about God, grace and legalism. It lasted until they left late in the afternoon. We all missed you on Sunday.
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I joked to Pastor Matthew that of course you gave him the task of preaching Galatians 3 in 35 minutes!! There is so much meat in those paragraphs, but I thought he did a fantastic job. (I think you would have done well, too, Todd–I’m not hating!!) To give people context on how much material Matthew had to work with, John Piper once preached on Galatians 3 over the course of 6 weeks!
On a serious note, I’m extremely pleased with how our church has been a place where this grieving North Stafford community can find rest, comfort and most of all, hope. These events have reminded me of something that Louie Giglio spoke about at Passion–We can’t always explain why some things turn out the way they do, but we can point people to the wondrous cross and the Christ who conquers death.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
i’ll have to tell josh how much you love to mow your lawn- he still hasn’t mowed ours in the 9 months we’ve lived here!:)
April 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Todd,
If April showers bring May flowers what do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims
It was difficult for me to go from coaching mode to spectator mode (like when you saw me at the Mt. View game and I just stopped coaching a few days before) but I went home that night and He told me to be still and I obeyed. What a wonderful calm He can bring!! What a wonderful time to be with those children and watch the “Charlie Brown Effect” as I call it = all arms, legs and a cloud of dust from one end of the field/court to the other. But when that one child who had no coordination at the beginning of the season, grabs a rebound or kicks the ball down the field = WOW!!
We are truly blessed by our Pastors and NSHS and the surrounding community was blessed by His Word.