By the grace of God, I’m writing this Sunday Morning Update on the Lord’s most favorite day of the year (yes, there may be more important days, but this is His favorite -- I’m sure of it).  So let me start by wishing you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I dunno whether you’d say March came in like a lamb or a lion, but it’s pretty warm at the moment.  We just had snow last week, and now I’m overly warm in just my shirtsleeves.  I’m not going to go so far as to complain, per se, but I’d kinda like a smoother transition from winter to summer.  Then again, I may just be dreading that time change coming up this weekend, so don’t listen to me...

Hello!  I hope that this Sunday Morning Update finds you and your household warm, loved, and growing closer to the Lord this week.  I know that this has been a complicated week for a lot of people, so we all have a lot to pray for, as well as to be thankful for...

Before I forget, let me stop and make sure to wish everyone reading this a Happy Valentine’s Day!  We had a beautiful day in the Lord today, with some of the most amazing snowflakes that I’ve ever seen.  I know that it might sound silly to say that, but seriously, these were the size of pencil erasers -- so big that you could see the lacy detail of the crystalline structure of each flake.  I’ve never seen anything like it in my life...

Wendy asked me right before the Super Bowl started who we were rooting for, and I had to think for a minute.  Yes, Carolina was probably going to win, and yes, half of the team was formerly associated with my Bears -- but I’ve always had a fondness for Denver, and it was going to be Peyton Manning’s last game in the NFL, so I told her that I guess we’re rooting for Denver...

As we go into February, I probably ought to take a moment and remind people of all of the things coming up that you could take part in...

Hello!  I hope that you are doing well, and that this Update finds you healthy and happy.  We always need to remember what a blessing those days are, because there are always going to be all of those other days that aren’t so healthy or so happy...

Welcome to honest-to-goodness winter.  It’s cold, it’s snowy, and I’m elated.  I had lunch with someone who just got back from Florida, so I know that not everyone is as elated as I am, but I personally still like a little winter in my wintertime, nonetheless...

Before I forget, let me make sure to tell each and every one of you Happy New Year! (that’s important, because I forgot to say that one year and I heard about it later...)  We had a lot of fun at our annual New Year’s Eve FCC Family Game Night, with a full house of people and a ton of new games that people brought with them.  Spyfall went over well, and so did Burgle Bros., and I’m sure that there were other new ones that people enjoyed as well (personally, I was reminded of why I both love and hate Tri-Bond...). 

I hope that this Update finds you warm, safe, happy, and with power in your home (about half of Peoria is still without power as I type this).  We had unseasonably warm weather last week, followed by an ice storm on Monday, followed by a light dusting of snow on Tuesday night.  Frankly, Central Illinois looks just plain beautiful right now, but a ton of trees and branches are down... as well as a number of power lines and phone lines that had once been strung near them...

This week, we welcomed in three new members to our church family -- Caleb Bruhn, Matt Ljung, and Eric Diemer.  Make it a point to connect with them the next time you see them and welcome them to our FCC family personally.  And, as always, just in case I somehow forget to say it before I finish this, Merry Christmas!

I dunno about looking like Christmas, but it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.  Halfway through December, it’s finally starting to get a little cold outside.  So I appreciate that.  But you can definitely be in prayer for a couple of our FCCers...

It snowed this week... but for only about a minute and a half.  I miss real snow.  And it’s supposed to be, like, 60 degrees this weekend.  On the plus side, that meant that it wasn’t very cold for our annual Neighborhood Caroling evening this week...

There’s been a lot going on around here, both in our FCC schedule and in the lives of our FCCers themselves.  First off, Michael Uhler and his family said good-bye to his mother this week, as she passed away on Sunday.  And I also found out this week that my friend, Tony Haddad, has stage 4 cancer and has been placed into hospice.  Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers.  It’s always hard to lose a loved one, but it can be especially hard during this time of year, when everyone is trying to be so focused on being thankful and joyful.

This year, we opted to observe the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church three weeks after the rest of the world (yes, that’s a little odd, but then, we’re kind of an odd group, so I still consider it appropriate...).  But even though our decision to push the observation back was due primarily to the personal schedules of the people involved, it still worked into God’s timing just about perfectly...