Looking down driveway at 9:30am

Woke up this Sunday morning (February 22, 2015) to find that mother nature had decided it would be good to have a nice quiet day inside.  The snow, rain, sleet from Saturday night into Sunday morning left the church parking lot with about a quarter inch of ice in parts!  Praise God the temperature is expected to go up to the low 40’s today and we should watch most if not all of this melt away.

Driveway from State Street at 9:30am

I know it is not reality but it sure feels like every significant winter event this year has come on Saturday night into Sunday.  Can’t wait until we do not have to worry about weather disrupting worship services.

Everyone enjoy the day and take it easy.  Stay inside and stay safe.  Spend some time with family and make the most of a quiet day.

This is one of my favorite times while on the Island of Roatan….hanging out at Herby’s with some of the boys from French Harbor.  One afternoon I took the boys for lunch and we had a great time talking and sharing about life.  I had a great time with Bebe, Jarvey and Pablo, the mealtime passed way too quickly.

Summer of 2014 was a year of big transitions for myself and our family so I missed the opportunity to travel to Roatan.

2015 is looking much better.  We are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Roatan for July 18 – 25th.  Rayann and I will be traveling back to spend a week with the people of the island who have captured our heart.  Rayann and Bebe keep in touch via text and facebook on a regular basis.  It will be good to sit down over lunch and catch up on life.

It was a little windy and the cotton candy machine got a little out of control…but besides that it was a fantastic day!  The Christian Education Board of First Baptist Church put together a Trunk or Treat event that took place right after the Kennett Square Halloween parade.  People finished watching the parade and came right on up to join in the fun with trunks filled with treats.  We saw lots of families we recognized from church, daycare, and vacation bible school…but we saw many more new faces.

We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed spending time with Captain America…even though she kept eating “extra” cotton candy.

Can’t wait until next year…

The women of the church are invited to our Advent Morning Retreat, Consider Mary.

On Sat., December 6, from 9:00 am until 1:30 pm we will meet here at church to prepare our hearts for the season of Advent. This event will give each woman a time to enjoy breakfast and lunch with friends as we listen to the Christmas story brought to life with music, art, poetry, devotions and reflection.

Nancy Nicewonger will speak about the joy and trials of the ministry of Mary, the mother of Christ. You will be amazed at the details of this story you may have missed over the years.  Space is limited, so please register soon.

Tickets will be available on Sunday mornings for $5, or send an email to Nancy Nicewonger.  Scholarship help is available as needed.

Feel free to invite others as we share this wonderful chance to take a break from the hectic holiday pace
and spend time thinking about how we each have a special place in God’s plan.

Yesterday First Baptist Church of Kennett Square held an installation service which marked the end of their search for a settled pastor and the official start of my ministry in this community we are quickly growing to love.  It was a great time of celebration as we looked back at the way God guided both the church and our family to the place where we were united for this season of ministry together.  Pastor Jim Olsen, the intentional interim who served before me joined us and challenged us to speak the truth with love and continue to purse what it means to be the true church in this day and age.  After the service was over we celebrated with a time of fellowship in the social hall and had a huge cake to mark the occasion.  Cassandra captured this moment as Nancy and I cut into the cake before everyone had an opportunity to share a piece.  We are looking forward to see how God is going to work in and through us in the days and months ahead.

You can see more pictures of the service below.

Thanking Pastor Jim and his wife Arden for their years of service to FBC.

Meals on Wheels Delivery

The other day I met one of the men in Kennett who works with the local chapter of meals on wheels.  It is an organization that I first became aware of back when I was in jr. high school and mowing yards.  Mr. Stafford was one of my first lawn customers and I would stop by on the way home from school just to check in on him to make sure he was okay and did not need anything.  The two of us ended up becoming friends and I was more than the boy who mowed his lawn and he shared a lot of his life with me.  I learned about coin collecting, model trains and some of the struggles that life can bring.  His model train wrapped all the way around the full finished basement.  He would sit on his stool and direct me where and how to build and place things.  I would climb under and over what felt like miles of track building towns, landscapes and placing people in the exact location to create different scenes.  It was not unusual to spend hour placing things only to move them to the other side of the basement a week later to make room for new pieces that arrived.  Quite often I would hear things like, “my wife would never let me do this when she was alive…but she cannot stop me now.”  A hollow kind of laughter would follow statements like that…you could tell he was longing to hear her footsteps on the stairs coming down to tell him to, “put his toys away!”

My times with Mr. Stafford were always filled with work, but they were special and helped shape who I am today. I would often wonder how he ate, how he cooked his food.  He did not move well, did not leave the house often, so how could he even get food from the store?  One day when we were in the basement the doorbell rang and he said, “Let’s take a break.”  We went upstairs, he answered the door and there was a man with a cooler who pulled out a container of food and gave it to him.  Now Mr. Stafford, in true Mr. Stafford style, made some comment questioning the quality of the food but he gladly accepted it and thanked the man for bringing it to him.  When he left I asked who had been at the door…and I was introduced to Meals on Wheels.  I felt better, knowing that the man I had come to care for was getting a nutritious meal and that somebody was taking the time to bring it to him and check to see if he was okay on a regular basis. Meals on Wheels has been around for a long time.  The Kennett Square Chapter of Meals on Wheels has been providing meals to home bound residents in the Kennett area since 1971.  The backbone of this effort is the crew of volunteer drivers who deliver the meals to clients.  There is currently a critical need for both permanent drivers and people willing to be placed on the substitute driver list. Permanent drivers are asked to commit 1 1/2 hours of time one day every four weeks.  Drivers pick up meals at Kendal at Longwood at 11:00 and deliveries are usually completed by 12:30.  New volunteers are given training until they feel comfortable delivering meals on their own. People interested in becoming volunteer drivers or wanting more information can contact Meals on Wheels of Chester County. Please consider how you can help continue this important service to the people of Kennett.  It may be that you can find a few “partners” who can work together to take a day and carry the load together.

Bob Burton, third generation barber & relationship builder in Kennett Square

Today I had one of those unique and special experiences that happen around things you quite often take for granted.  How often do you get your haircut and think nothing of it?  A task to get done.  Something to cross off your list that must be done in order to continue living an ordered life…unless you want to be like my brother and go for the hippy look…which I could never pull off with any kind of class or dignity.  Anyway, this morning a haircut was on my list and I stepped into Burton’s at the center of Kennett Square.  Bob is a member of First Baptist Church but more importantly he is a third generation barber.  He gets to the shop around 4am and spends the day getting to know people, building relationships and on the side he happens to cut hair.  I was there for over an hour met five people, each of whom Bob called by name and quickly shared a piece of their story.  It is clear that the shop is a place where “everybody knows your name”, a community within a community.  The walls are lined with all kinds of history, tracing the people and sports teams of the Kennett community.  You could spend a few hours looking over the pictures and my sense is that Bob could tell you a story about each image, each artifact which has found its way to the Barber shop.  I left with a haircut (item # 1 crossed off my list for the day) and more importantly I felt like I had been somewhere special…with people I could call friend even after spending such a short time with them.