I AM BLESSED

Today was a good day. Sunday, February 1st, 2026. 

The drive to church was absolutely magical this morning. An early morning frost had frozen on all the trees and across the stubble in the fields, poking out from under the 14 inches of snow that fell last weekend. 

My good friend from seminary days, Tim Price, and his wife Suzanne and their daughter Macy had come to provide music for the morning, but now all of that was in jeopardy due to a malfunctioning church furnace - on a morning when the outside temps were in the negatives. 

A couple of our trustees tried to get the furnace up and running, but by the time they worked their miracle, there wasn't enough time to warm up the sanctuary by 10:30. Tim and I decided we'd go ahead and do a live stream on Facebook.

And then church members showed up anyway. Everyone kept their coats on. Some brought blankets. It was a fun morning. 

Tim and Macy did a beautiful job leading worship and people were genuinely appreciative of their gifts. 

This evening I drove back out to church, and the landscape was again magical, now bathed in the peculiar slant of light of a winter sunset. 

The church was still cold, but the youth met together for dinner and a lesson on the Lord's Prayer. They are a lovable group of goofballs. 

At the end of our meeting, our youth leader, Pam, asked the kids to surround me and pray for my trip to Ghana this week. 

It was a beautiful moment. 

A beautiful day.