Church Update and Reality Check

So since I had Monday off, I was able to go to church twice on Sunday. It seems to me that my church is doing well. My dad told me that almost 35% of the people at church had never had any other pastor other than the pastor at my church. This is very encouraging because it means that about 1/3 of the members of our church are new Christians or have just recently started coming to our church. This is extremely exciting. Also my church is very close to finally finding a permanent Youth Pastor to replace the one that left shortly after the split. This is just another sign that my church is slowly recovering from what happened almost two years ago. Even though there all of these wonderful things going on, there is still a lot of really hard feelings between the people that stayed and the people that left. I continue to hear stories of people still being very unhappy with several of the people that left. Also it continues to be quite weird for me to return to my church just because so much has changed and so many people have left. I have to just keep reminding myself that it is never going to be the same at the church I grew up in, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. I obviously still have some healing to do from what happened, but seeing these different things has been so encouraging.

The next part of this post is the Reality Check part. There is a boy that is my age who has been going to my church for 5 or 6 years and has been struggling with cancer the whole time. I found out this weekend that he was extremely close to death and was in hospice care in his home. This reminds me how short life is. He is only 21 years old and is dying of cancer. It is so sad, but he has been inspiring to me and so many other people because his faith in Jesus Christ. He has definitely showed people around him how to trust in Christ and His plan even when it is so hard to do so.

Labor Day Weekend

I am back to school after an absolutely wonderful three day weekend. I came home on Friday afternoon and then returned to school early this morning. Other than the extremely difficult and stressful drive home, the weekend was amazing. Right after I got home, I went to a birthday party for my sister-in-law at her step mom's house. This was a lot of fun because I got to spend time with family. Then on Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to go Kayaking with my brother and sister-in-law at a lake right close to their apartment. This was so much fun. My brother and I explored the lake and got to spend a lot of time together. Then on Sunday I got to go to church. This was so refreshing and enjoyable. Lastly on Monday, I spent the day helping my parents around the house, shopping, and spending time with family. On Monday night I went to a BBQ with college and young adults from my church. This was also a lot of fun. Overall this weekend was a lot of fun and very relaxing. I am so glad I got to go home because I will not get another break till Thanksgiving.

One thing that happened this weekend while I was home is that I was able to talk to my other brother and sister-in-law with Skype. This was fun because I also got to see and "talk" to my niece Lilli. While I was talking to them, I found out that they are expecting another girl! I have known for quite a while that she is pregnant, but I didn't know what they were having. Her due date is February 1st. It is so exciting that Lilli is going to have a little sister. I am so excited for them!