Sunday…What a Day!!!

It’s Monday afternoon and I’m finally recovering from yesterday.  So let me set the stage:  Russ is in Africa, the sound guys we usually use are all out of town, Nathan Boyd is speaking (his first time handling the entire Sunday morning message here), Josh and Rebekah are handling Media Shout for the first time with us, and at least one of our set-up crew has to head out of town at the last minute.  All of that as it was, the first Gathering was excellent.  Nathan did an amazing job sharing the story of John 4 in both Gatherings (listen to it by clicking here and choosing “listen online” in the upper left corner of the CATG website). 

After the Gathering, Nathan and I were hanging out talking when my mother in law had a seizure (possibly a stroke) and we began to put things in place to get her some help.  This is where I was amazed at all of those that are part of the CATG community.  I told Nathan that he was on his own for the second service…he didn’t even blink…he just said “sure, we got it handled.”  Two of our local firemen carried my mother in law outside while I ran to get our van.  Two of our best friends in the world said they would take care of our kids.  And, on the way out the door, I told about 4 other people that I was leaving and that they just needed to do the “best they could to get everything handled.”  When I left, I was fully confident that things would be handled well.

My mother in law recovered partially in the ambulance and spent several hours in the ER getting feeling and control back in her body.  While we were waiting for the doctors to run several tests, I headed back to the church to be helpful.  When I showed up, I was amazed at all that people had accomplished in thirty minutes.  The second Gathering was just as good as the first (thanks again, Nathan, Josh, Rebekah, Ric, and everyone else) and much of the clean-up work had already been done.

Basically, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone.  Thanks for your prayers.  Thanks for your hard work.  Thanks for your follow-up phone calls.  Thanks for everything.  You took a Sunday that could have “fallen apart” in many different ways and made sure that the message of Jesus went out clearly (as it should).  You’re awesome.