Okay, I’ve held back from commenting on this up until this point, but I just can’t stay silent any longer... Go Cubs!  Thank you for your indulgence...

It’s October!  Time for raking leaves, time for putting pumpkins and dried ears of corn out on our front stoop, time for long walks in the cool of the evening, time for getting huge bags of candy at sale prices, time to host Tom and Janice Kelly (our missionaries to Mexico for the past 30 years) one last time, time for Pastor Appreciation Month (so make sure to give your Deacons and Elders a hug this month), time for finalizing the church’s budget (so make sure to give your Deacons and Elders a hug this month), and time for ramping up to the November Presidential election...

I’m sure many of you are lamenting this week’s weather, but I’m loving the cooler temperatures.  In fact, I helped take some friends on a tour of Illinois State University’s campus yesterday, and it was so much nicer than it would have been last week.  Of course, it was still terribly hot for Eric and Sara Diemer’s wedding on Saturday...

This was a special holy week in Central Illinois (or, as I like to call it, the Morton Pumpkin Festival).  People trek in from all across the country to see the largest parade in downstate Illinois, eat pumpkin ice cream, ride the Tilt-a-Whirl (or bumper cards, whichever is more your speed), and generally have a lot of fun.  Yes, we got drenched by the downpour on Friday night -- but that just made the lines for the pork chop sandwiches that much shorter...

Fifteen years after the destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorists, the day was marked by remembrances... and people complaining about remembrances.  It was significant how many people didn’t like that President Obama gave a pre-recorded address before a football game, or that a Wal-Mart put up a display using Coca-Cola products, or that Papa John’s sold pizzas at $9.11, or that players stood during (or didn’t stand during) the national anthem, or that Hillary Clinton didn’t tell people that she had pneumonia, etc.  Fifteen years later, and an amazing number of people were far more interested in feeling offended than they were in being moved, because it’s all about how they feel...

One more week to go before we start back up with our Sunday School classes for all ages!  Apart from that whole horrible “I have to come to church an hour earlier!” tragedy, everyone loves being part of these classes.  It’s not like a “school” school class, where you have to know stuff already, or you feel inadequate when the teacher asks you to write out the math equation on the board, this is purely a time to learn and interact with information that you probably didn’t know before -- and to do that with people whom you might not normally get to interact with...

Man, this has been a full week for people here at First Covenant (and around the Peoria area).  Lots going on, lots of emotional issues to work through, and yet, lots to look forward to...

My family and I had a wonderful vacation -- thank you all for letting us just get away for a couple of weeks and rest a bit before school started back up for Wendy and the kids...

I’m writing this Sunday Morning Update a little early this week, because we’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks.  So don’t feel bad if you don’t hear from us until mid-August -- no, it’s nothing personal...

Thank you, thank you, to all of you who were praying for our Vacation Bible School this past week.  Yes, the building looked amazing (and thank you to everyone who helped out with that), but more importantly, things ran very smoothly and everyone had a wonderful time.  But far more important than that, we had several children who were strongly affected by what we discussed throughout the week, and three who specifically gave their hearts to the Lord.  In an important addendum to that, I had some intensely constructive conversations with four different families at the Ice Cream Social this past Friday evening (I even got to pray with three of them), so our VBS continues to minister to people, even after the week is all over.  We can only attribute the effectiveness of the program to the Holy Spirit, going ahead, alongside, and after us at every step.  So thank you for praying!

So I’m sending this out right in the middle of our annual Vacation Bible School, and it’s exciting!  The whole church building is decorated like a series of giant caves (complete with a mining car and track that runs throughout the building), and it’s always a pick-me-up for our VBS workers whenever the children walk through the hallways ooh-ing and ahh-ing...

I am typing this after opening the windows to my car to try to get it to dry out after the interior was soaked in a huge rainstorm because we’d left the windows cracked open on a hot and sunny afternoon... which had been really humid, what with that big rainstorm early this morning...

Before I forget, let me belatedly wish everyone reading this a very Happy Independence Day!  Yes, I know that you’re reading this after the fact, but there was no way to do it differently this year, so... get over it and just appreciate the well-wishing...