Back in the Saddle Again

For the one or two people who still check my blog, I am finally back. I have been a bit busy since the last time I blogged. Let's see, Roberta and I went to Hawaii for a week to celebrate our 30th anniversary. As soon as we got back we packed up our two cars and drove from Santa Clarita to San Antonio as I made the transition from being a staff pastor at Grace Church back to being the senior pastor of Believers Fellowship. It is good to be back at the church I pastored for 10 years previously.

When we arrived in San Antonio, we moved in to the guest house of some members of the church. They own a ranch and we enjoyed the view of horses, cattle, and lots of deer. Eventually, though, we needed to go back to Santa Clarita to pack up our house. We made the decision to stop trying to sell our house and rent it. That meant we needed to get everything out. We were able to get a good renter right away but, as you can imagine, all the packing and then doing all the rental "stuff" was a bit demanding.

Now that we had rented our house in California we were ready to find a house in San Antonio. After a lot of looking, we found a really nice house at the right price in Schertz (a suburb of San Antonio). But before we could move in, we made one more trip to California to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday and go to the USC-UCLA game (Fight On!). Once we returned the moving truck arrived and all the unpacking began. That kept us busy for a number of days.

We were blessed to have Billy, Cory, and Ben with us at Christmas. That has really helped to make our new house feel like home. Ben will be with us for another week and a half, and that will help even more in the transition. Plus, we enjoy having him here with us.

Now that all of this is behind us and the transition is over, I feel ready to really dig in to the ministry here. I am looking forward to preaching, teaching, counseling, praying, discipling, and evangelizing. San Antonio is a fast growing city but one in which the voice of the gospel seems to be diminishing. I pray that our church can make a difference. I pray that the Lord will open our eyes to the spiritual needs all around us and that we would be filled with a sense of urgency.

There's an old saying here in Texas that goes, "Don't put the spur to the horse until you're firmly in the saddle." Now that I'm back in the saddle, I'm ready to ride as fast as I can.

May the Lord richly bless you in 2008.