Flying High

I got to fly an airplane yesterday. I went with a friend who has a private pilot's license. We were up there and he said, "It's all yours," and just let me take it. That was pretty fun.

I took some aerial photos of the lot where the church's new Life Enrichment Center (LEC) is going to be built. You can see the church building on the upper right of the picture. The gray building across the street from the church is going to be torn down today, and that whole lot is going to be where the new building goes.

Foto Phun 2

We had another snow last week. The first pic is with a long exposure and no flash.

Baby Bass 2

Emily is pregnant. Due date is Sept. 16th. That's 3 days before Luke turns 2.

Desiring God Pastors Conference Recap

I just made it back to the metropolis of Smithville a few minutes ago. I have been at the Desiring God 2007 Conference for Pastors since Sunday. It was a fantastic time of worship, and hearing encouragement from the Word of God, and buying books, and a million other things.

I got to meet and talk with John Piper. He's the preaching pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church and the founder of Desiring God ministries. I've read several of his books but it was cool to get to meet him.

Okay...it was really, really, really cold in Minnesota. It got down to -20 degrees at one point while I was there in Minneapolis. And during the day when the sun was out warming things up...the temperature rose all the way to -3 degrees. When I got back to Tennessee tonight and it was in the +20's...I thought it felt rather tropical.

A Few Random Thoughts Coming Away from the Conference

- I really enjoy preaching. It is a great honor to be a pastor and have people give me 30 min. of their time every week. I don't treat that lightly.

- I really do deserve hell. Something inside us kinda feels like we were worthy of a little grace...that heaven wouldn't be quite as good if we weren't there...that we're not really THAT bad so that we deserve eternity in hell for our sin. God is obligated to give us a shot at heaven isn't he? Yeah right. We demand that God be fair and just with us. If God were fair and just we'd all be hell bound. These thoughts on hell come from studying about the holiness of God for the past several days.

- God is big. Exalt God in your life and watch what happens. God intensely desires that he be glorified. Live your life to glorify your big God!!!

Train Them Early...

Foto Phun

It snowed today in Smithville. All of these are near our house.