Back to College

I finished a note that will be included in Lord of Life's newsletter to our college kids. It is a word to our college kids, but I believe it is a good word for all of us:

The Ressler family celebrates a milestone this year. Our daughter Abby will start her first year of preschool. We know that she is very excited to start school. She talks about it almost everyday. Over the course of the last month we have been getting ready for the big day. She is more than ready. The big question will be if mom and dad are ready.

While our family waits for the beginning of the preschool year, it is likely that you are already back on campus by the time receive this. You are well into your coursework. Even as I write this I am watching the start of the college football season. But the year - for the most part - is before you. The possibilities are before you. Are you ready?

I know there are many temptations that are faced on college campuses. I have been there. It is one of the most difficult places to live for Jesus. Even if you attend a Christian college you are not immune from the temptations. College campuses can be very ungodly places.

As your pastor I want to give you encouragement from Jesus. He says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33 The promise is that when you align yourself with God and seek to follow his direction and will for you, he will take care of all the details. Even when it may seem that no one else around you is living for Jesus, God's promise is that if you continue to seek his direction, go against the flow, and follow his guidance he will prosper your steps.

While facing the temptations you face, there may be no more important time in our life to develop the disciplines of discipleship to seek the will of God. This includes daily devotion and weekly worship to keep you strong in faith and courage. Romans 12:2 says, "be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Regular and consistent time spent with the Lord is vital to be renewed and refreshed to face the challenges in life. It will help you not only to know the right thing to do, but give you the strength to do it as well.

Make weekly worship a priority. Honor the Sabbath as God as commanded you. By doing so it will help to keep your paths straight. If you have not done so already discover the opportunities on campus or off campus to gather with other Christians to praise the Lord and be encouraged by his Word in community.

And as much as you set aside time to study for your classes, make sure to set aside time to be in the Word of God in quiet personal time. His Word is a light unto your feet and light on to your path (Psalm 119:105). I am always amazed how God's Word speaks to me in my daily devotion and gives me the just the right encouragement I need. So make sure to make the time to allow God to speak to you.

You should also know that if there is a time when you do stumble and fall, we serve a loving and forgiving God. God gave his only Son Jesus as a sacrifice that there is not sin big enough that his blood does not cover and the family of God will always be waiting with a hug no matter what.

Finally, know there are a lot of people back at Lord of Life who care for you. The whole purpose of this letter is to let you know that. You are constantly in our prayers. Please email us and let us know how you are doing. We would love to hear from you. You can email me at pastorpr@gmail.com and if you would like to sign up for my weekly email, visit visit my blog at pastorpr.blogspot.com to sign up. Talk to you soon.

In Jesus,

Phil Ressler
Pastor
Lord of Life Church
LaFox, IL
web: www.lolchurch.net
blog: www.pastorpr.blogspot.com

Hurricane Gustav

All eyes are on Hurricane Gustav. The people of the Gulf Coast are anxiously preparing for this storm. I can't help but think of many of the people I met last year on our mission trip to Louisiana. I am sure many of them are on edge. We pray that this storm will diminish in strength or that it will be diverted to a unpopulated area.

Here are a few specific prayer requests in relation to this storm:

We have a number of Lord of Life people who are planning on volunteering at the Returning Hearts Celebration at Angola Prison. Three years ago this event was canceled because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. We pray that there will not be a repeat of 2005. So much effort and preparation is going into this wonderful event and it would be a great disappointment for it all to go to waste. The even greater disappointment will be for inmates and their children.

We also pray for those who have already been impacted by the storm. Here is an email from Pastor Issac of the Lutheran Church in Haiti:

The peace of God be with you!

After Hurricane Gustav we live in a very difficult time. The damage is very serious. The gardens are devastated, many houses and churches are broken. There are many cries in Jeremie and the surrounding areas.

I ask if Lutheran Charities can help us with emergency aid for the needs of Christians who are left to themselves. The school will open next week, the workers are very worried because they are in great need. Thank you and God bless you. Pastor Isaac

If you would like to help you can make a donation at www.lutheranchurchcharities.org.

Pastor Mesidor Ernst, who Lord of Life supports and runs a church and orphanage in Haiti also wrote to us at Lord of Life that the situation is very dire and asks for prayer and support. He reports that the children of the orphanage had been moved before the hurricane arrived and are safe. But he says many homes and churches have been destroyed.

We pray for all our brothers and sisters in Christ and everyone who has been impacted by this storm and potentially will be.

Growing in your Ministry

It is official. Lord of Life will be moving to two services in less than two weeks. On September 7 we will begin worship will be at 8:30 and 10am. Sunday School will be held during the 10am worship. So mark it down on you calendars. Labor Day weekend will be the last weekend we worship at 8, 9:30, and 11am.

Today, I started a new senior pastor's network. I have been eagerly anticipating this experience and looking forward to this opportunity to grow my calling. The reason I am joining this network is because it is my desire to be the best senior pastor I can be for the Lord, for the Church, and for you. I am not content to give God less than my best.

I have a name for this. I call it Holy Discontent. It is not a bad discontent. It is a good discontent. It is a sense that we can always be more the Lord and there is always more that we can do for the kingdom. I am never satisfied.

I want more for the people of God. I want more for Lord of Life Church. I want more for our community. I want more for you. And I realize that for God to use me in a greater way I need to be open to allowing him to expand my skill and ability.

God has given us all giftings and passions to fulfill the work he has called us to. God works through people who do things well. I would encourage you to look at your callings and passions in ministry and the ways that you serve the Lord. Then ask yourself, "how can I grow in this calling? How can be a better usher, Small Group leader, children's minister, elder, etc?"

Here's a few ideas:

1) Evaluate. Improvement does not take place without evaluation. Ask yourself, "how am I doing?" Honestly access and identify your strengths and your areas for growth.

2) Set goals. Seek where God would have you go. Set goals in accordance that are measurable and attainable.

3) Read. Find a book or a website that is dedicated to helping you grow in your calling.

4) Pray. Earnestly ask for the Holy Spirit to increase your effectiveness. Even better have others pray with you and for you to hold you accountable.

5) Network. Find others who are also seeking to grow in your calling. Then spend time together to encourage each other.

6) Prioritize your time. Sometimes we are caught doing things that are urgent and not necessarily important. Find ways to set aside the urgent to allow yourself to spend time doing what is important.

7) Discover your gift and passions and then work in those areas. Sometimes we are serving in areas of ministry that we are not all that gifted for and not all that passionate for. This is not what God intended. God gave you those gifts and passions for a reason. If you are not serving in an area of your passion it stands to reason you are not going to be all you can be for the Lord in that area of ministry.

8) Celebrate successes. Sometimes we get so focused on what we are not accomplishing that we forget to celebrate what we do accomplish. Feel free to receive a pat on the back from time to time as a encouragement to expand even more.

9) Take a break. Sometimes the best way to step up is to step back. Taking a sabbath helps to renew and refresh us. I know some recent time of vacation has helped put a little bounce back in my step.

10) Delegate or join efforts. This is hard. It is so much easier to do it ourselves. But one rule of ministry I learned some time ago was never do ministry alone. By insisting on doing ministry alone we will fail to multiply our ministry to its full potential. Partnerships are great!

To sum it all up, never be satisfied, because the minute we are satisfied is the minute we have given God less than our best.

Readings for next week:

August

31 Job 37:1-39:30
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10
Psalm 44:9-26
Proverbs 22:13

September

01	Job 40:1-42:17 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 Psalm 45:1-17 Proverbs 22:14		02	Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:22 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Psalm 46:1-11 Proverbs 22:15
03	Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:7 Psalm 47:1-9 Proverbs 22:16		04	Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18 2 Corinthians 7:8-16 Psalm 48:1-14 Proverbs 22:17-19
05	Ecclesiastes 10:1-12:14 2 Corinthians 8;1-15 Psalm 49:1-20 Proverbs 22:20-21		06	Song of Solomon 1:1-4:16 2 Corinthians 8:16-24 Psalm 50:1-23 Proverbs 22;22-23

St. Matthew's Soup Kitchen

On Tuesday we had ten people from Lord of Life serve at St. Matthew's Church Soup Kitchen in Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood. St. Matthew's will be the September mission of the month at Lord of Life.

St. Matthew's is an old German Lutheran Church that once had more than 1,600 members. Today, it is a far cry from that. The church is mainly Hispanic and the predominate language is Spanish instead of German.

Pastor Loza is the pastor of St. Matthew's. He has served at St. Matthew's since 1980. There is no doubt that Pastor Loza is at the right place where God has called him to be. We look forward to having Pastor Loza at Lord of Life in September. Pastor Loza shared with me his heart for inner city ministry. It is not a calling that everyone could embrace. It takes a certain hardness mixed with compassion.

As with many inner city neighborhoods, the neighborhood around St. Matthew's has its share of poverty. We served meals for about 120 people, mostly men. Many of those whom we served on this day were unemployed and lived in a homeless shelters. As we left there were some men gathered on the street corner drinking alco hol.

St. Matthew's has a very different population that it serves from what we serve at Lord of Life, and yet the need is exactly the same. People need Jesus. While I was there, Pastor Loza asked me to read the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Jesus declares in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

Gary Kessler said it best on our trip. He said, "when it comes down to it, our needs are really simple, and our needs are the same." We may live in different neighborhoods. We may come from different nationalities. We may speak different languages. But when we get down to it, we are not the different. We all need Jesus.

We pray that we feed people not with just bread and soup, but with the Bread of Life as well.

First Full Day Back

I would unofficially term this my first full day back from vacation. Getting caught up on a bunch of messages and such.

On Sunday at Lord of Life we officially adopted new worship times of 8:30 and 10am. These new times begin in less than two weeks on September 7.

That is not the big news however. We also adopted a new Sunday morning ministry plan. As difficult as it was to get to that point, that was the easy part. Now comes the task of implementing the plan. There is much to be done. It ought to be a fun ride.

It is a great way to come back from vacation with a new plan in place and starting on a new journey.

Thriving vs Declining

Bill Easum describes characteristics of Declining vs Thriving Churches in his book “Growing Spiritual Redwoods”

Declining: committed to the church

Thriving: committed to Christ

Declining: managing committees

Thriving: deploying missions

Declining: holding offices

Thriving: doing hands-on ministry

Declining: making decisions

Thriving: making disciples

Declining: trained for membership

Thriving: on a life quest for quality

Declining: serving at the church

Thriving: serving in the world

Declining: preoccupied with raising dollars

Thriving: preoccupied with souls

Declining: doing church work

Thriving: matching people with gifts

Declining: retiring from church work

Thriving: life-long personal growth

Declining: surveys internal needs

Thriving: Surveys community needs

Declining: eager to know everyone

Thriving: eager for everyone to Know God

Declining: loyal to each other

Thriving: drawn to the unchurched

So how are we doing at Lord of Life? In some areas I would say well. In other areas ok. And in other areas we have some room for improvement. But it certainly is a great barometer.

Refocus

It is good to be back home. Our family had a wonderful vacation to New York, but it is always good to come back home. We are looking forward to seeing everyone back at Lord of Life very soon.

At our last stop on our vacation, I took out my camera and went to take a picture. Bad news! It seemed my camera was not working quite right. It was not properly focusing. Oops, I noticed the auto focus had been accidentally turned off. So when I hit the shutter button to autofocus, nothing happened.

It is hard to take a picture without proper focus. It is hard to live life without a proper focus. But from time to time we loose our focus. When taking a picture you want to make sure and focus to be on the most important subject within the frame whether it is a face, a sunrise, a flower, or a building. If the most important thing is out of focus the picture will be lost.

Taking some time away has helped me to refocus a little bit and to remember what is most important: God, family, and the church. All in that order! It is about keeping the main things the main thing.

So what is your focus? Do you have a good picture of your priorities? Or are they out of focus? One thing I know is that it takes constant adjustment to maintain a proper focus.

A couple of adjustments I plan to make to maintain focus:

1) Re-prioritize my time with my family. It is easy to fall in the trap of working around the clock.

2) Spend a little more time reading (real books and not the internet), and a little less TV. Engage the mind with godliness (see Philippians 4:8)

3) Get back on the treadmill. - practicing good stewardship with body God entrusted me with.

4) Get back to doing some more creative photography (not just family pics). Admire the handiwork of God (see Psalm 19:1)

I hope these adjustments to my focus will help me get my priorities back in order.

As I said, it is good to be back. Looking forward to seeing you all. Readings for next week:

24	Job 12:1-15:35 1 Corinthians 15:29-58 Psalm 39:1-13 Proverbs 21:30-31
25	Job 16:1-19:29 1 Corinthians 16:1-24 Psalm 40:1-10 Proverbs 22:1		26	Job 20:1-22:30 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 Psalm 40:11-17 Proverbs 22:2-4
27	Job 23:1-27:23 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:11 Psalm 41:1-13 Proverbs 22:5-6		28	Job 28:1-30:31 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 Psalm 42:1-11 Proverbs 22:7
29	Job 31:1-33:33 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 Psalm 43:1-5 Proverbs 22:8-9		30	Job 34:1-36:33 2 Corinthians 4:1-12 Psalm 44:1-8 Proverbs 22:10-12

Never Loose a Thought

A few years back I attended a conference at Willow Creek. One of the things that Bill Hybels shared during his presentation was - "Never loose a thought." The main point here is that when you hear or see a creative idea make sure that you have a system to archive it.

There are really two parts to this process. First there is the archiving of the creative idea and secondly being able to retrieve the idea.

For me I carry my Blackberry with me most everywhere I go. Anytime I see something I will input a text memo and save. I also have a camera on the Blackberry that can serve as a portable scanner for printed materials. When I sync my Blackberry with my computer I will then save everything in a special "Never Loose a Thought" folder that is then organized by subject.

It comes in real handy that when I am looking to prepare a stewardship message, I can go into my "Never Loose a Thought" folder and find another folder labeled "Stewardship" where I can find an illustration I heard or read about sixth months previous.

It takes a bit of work and effort to maintain such a system - especially getting started. But it pays off in the long run when you are looking for a bit of inspiration but all you can do is draw a blank.

Day at the Beach and Homeward Bound

We are on our way home. 25 miles until we get to Indiana. It has been a good trip. It has been a long trip. I am looking forward to being home. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Beyond a little tired, I am a little sore. Got a little sun burn at the beach. The crazy thing about this sunburn is that it was a delayed sunburn. It was not until a day and a half later that my back turned red. Very odd. If you looked at me on Monday night, you would have said that I had got a little sun, but not too much. Last night Tuesday was a different story.

Abby was scared of the waves at the beach so all we did for the most part was play in the sand. She said she had never seen such a big sand box. We did get her to go into the water a couple of times, but it was not without a fight.

Of course a trip to New York would not be complete without a trip to the Chinese Buffet. Any time Great Grandma comes to visit or we go to visit, there is always included a mandatory trip to the Chinese Buffet. This trip was no different. We waited till the last day, but we made sure to get it in.

Our return trip also included a stop at the Crayola Crayon Factory in Easton, PA. It is not really a Crayon Factory, but an interactive museum for kids. August is probably not the best time to go. It was very crowded. Probably too crowded.

We still found some fun things to do. Abby is a creative little girl. She loves to sit and draw and color and play with stickers and playdough. This was right up her alley. At home she attends a weekly art class. She really loves it. Mommy and Daddy really like it that she enjoys quite play.

Sunday

We have one more full day in New York. Today, Barbara and I took Abby into Manhattan for church. We attended The Journey Church. Good worship. Good people. Enjoyed our time there. We were happy that Abby eagerly went to Sunday School by herself in a strange place.

I have read a few things written by Pastor Nelson Searcy of the Journey and really like what he has to say. He has some some great ideas for welcoming guests. Since we were so close I had to go and experience it for myself.

The Journey doesn't worship in a church building, but a theater. They put a lot of effort into making sure that their guests feel welcome. I hope that we can do much of the same at Lord of Life and maybe even more. I am encouraged in recent visits of some growing churches and realize that we at Lord of Life are not too far away. We have got a lot of great things going for us. And most importantly God is on our side.

We finished at The Journey and went to have Pizza. Abby saw a Hawaiian Pizza and decided she wanted the pizza with fruit on it. She didn't care much for the pizza, but she did like the pineapple and cherries.

Abby also enjoy riding on the subway. We have taken her on the "L" in Chicago but it has been a long time. The train was a bit crowded and she became a little overwhelmed by that. But she was excited to ride the train.

Also took her to the FAO Schwartz store. Abby bought a lollipop with her piggy bank money. In the store they had a set of toy soldiers made with 170,000 jellybeans. You can take one home for a mere $30,000.

We ended the day at Central Park. Went to the zoo. Walked around. So many people in park.

Fun in the Sun

The sun came back out today in New York. Time for some fun in the park. Sprinkler was on. Park was full of people. Big smiles!

Day at the Beach Cancelled

We had planned to go to the beach today. However, we woke up to a forecast of rain all day. It ended up being cloudy all day, but didn't rain until later. We have rescheduled beach day for Monday.

So today we stayed indoors. We left grandma and great-grandma to go shopping while we went to the Long Island Children's Museum. Abby enjoyed it. Full of fun interactive activities for kids.

Other than that it was a rather slow day. A good thing when you are on vacation. Tomorrow I am going to have Abby help me do some home projects for great-grandma.

A Day in Manhattan

Spent the day in Manhattan today. Got a taste of NYC Mass Transit taking the bus and subway. I am such an out-of-towner. It took a bit to figure it all out, but I think I got it down now.

Rode on the 7 train into Manhattan. You might remember how former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker made this train famous as part of some inflaming derogatory made towards New Yorkers while being interviewed for Sports Illustrated.

Made it to the B&H Photo. I have wanted to go to this store for several years now. If you are into photography at all, this is a store you must visit. They have everything and more related to photography. I got to try out the next lens on my purchase list. It is the Canon 85 f1.8. Check out the pic of Barbara (noticed the blurred background -it's called Bokeh). It is a great portrait lens and for events in low light. Perfect for church activities.

After visiting B&H we walked down the street a way to the Macy's flagship store. I went and sat in Starbucks for an hour while Barbara shopped. I figured that since she went with me to B&H it was the least I could do to let her go to Macy's.

Lunch at the Metro Cafe. Then to Eddie Bauer. Finished with a stop at the Mac Store. Back on the subway to Grandma's house.

Sesame Place

Spent the day at Sesame Place just outside of Philadelphia. It's an amusement park for kids with the a Sesame Street theme. Not too much excitement for adults, but it is a lot of fun watching the kids enjoy themselves.

As with most amusement parks, most everything was way overpriced. However, not as bad as some other amusements parks. However, $40 for a ticket with no big roller coasters is a bit of a bummer. Abby had fun meeting her Sesame Street friends.

Tomorrow, Barbara and I are doing Manhattan on our own while we leave Abby with Grandma and Great Grandma.

View from our bedroom

Before we left, I was asked where we were going on vacation. I would respond, "New York!"

"Oh, where in New York," came the response.

"The City!"

So here we are. This is the view from our bedroom window. Not too bad of a sunset tonight.

New York, New York

So we drive 860 miles from Illinois to New York. We left at 2pm on Sunday afternoon and arrived about 6:30pm on Monday evening. We come all this way and what is the first thing we do? We go to the playground to play on the swing and the slide. It is something we could have just as easily done in Illinois. But instead of mommy or daddy pushing the swing - Great Grandma did it. That made it all worth it.

Tomorrow we are going to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. It is an amusement park for kids. On Friday we will be going to Jones Beach. On Sunday we will be worshiping at the Journey Church in Manhattan followed by a trip the the B&H Superstore and a day in Central Park. Then back home to Illinois next week.

A prayer to pray every day

God, how can I best use the time you have given me today.

Time to Rest

Maybe you heard the following story before:

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family. "You aren't going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman to the fisherman. "You should be working rather than lying on the beach!"

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what will my reward be?" "Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman's answer. "And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman, still smiling. The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!" "And then what will my reward be?" asked the fisherman again. The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions. "You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" he said.

"And then what will my reward be?" repeated the fisherman. The businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!" Once again the fisherman asked, "And then what will my reward be?" The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in the world!"

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I'm doing right now?"

God has created us for work, but God has also created us to rest. On the 7th day of creation the Bible tells us God rested from his work. In Exodus 33:14 God promises his people that he will provide them rest from the burden of slavery they had endured. Hebrews 4:9 says there still remains a Sabbath rest for God's people.

So it is good to rest from our labor. That is what I am going to do next week as I will be vacationing with my family. I plan to take some time at Jones Beach in NY and remember this story. I hope you take some time as well to relax and just simply linger in the presence of God.

Since will be on vacation next week, there will be no weekly email going out. I will catch you again in two weeks.

Readings for next two weeks:

10	Ezra 10:1-44 1 Corinthians 6:1-20 Psalm 31:9-18 Proverbs 21:3
11	Nehemiah 1:1-3:14 1 Corinthians 7:1-24 Psalm 31:19-24 Proverbs 21:4		12	Nehemiah 3:15-5:13 1 Corinthians 7:25-40 Psalm 32:1-11 Proverbs 21:5-7
13	Nehemiah 5:14-7:73 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 Psalm 33:1-11 Proverbs 21:8-10		14	Nehemiah 7:73-9:21 1 Corinthians 9:1-18 Psalm 33:12-22 Proverbs 21:11-12
15	Nehemiah 9:22-10:39 1 Corinthians 9:19-10:13 Psalm 34:1-10 Proverbs 21;13		16	Nehemiah 11:1-12:26 1 Corinthians 10:14-33 Psalm 34:11-22 Proverbs 21;14-16
17	Nehemiah 12:27-13:31 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 Psalm 35:1-16 Proverbs 21:17-18		18	Esther 1:1-3:15 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 Psalm 35:17-28 Proverbs 21:19-20
19	Esther 4:1-7:10 1 Corinthians 12:1-26 Psalm 36:1-12 Proverbs 21:21-22		20	Esther 8:1-10:3 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 Psalm 37:1-11 Proverbs 21:23-24
21	Job 1:1-3:26 1 Corinthians 14:1-17 Psalm 37:12-29 Proverbs 21:25-26		22	Job 4:1-7:21 1 Corinthians 14:18-40 Psalm 37:30-40 Proverbs 21:27
23	Job 8:1-11:20 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 Psalm 38:1-22 Proverbs 21:28-29

The Storm

Last night we had a major storm blow into town. I was in one of the worst places to be during a storm - on the golf course. Metal clubs and metal spikes do not go well with lightning.

About the third hole the sky began to look a little ominous to the north. No biggie. I checked the weather radar on my Blackberry and it seemed like it was moving away from us. So we kept playing.

We came to the 6th hole and there was a sudden flash of lightning on the horizon. Checked the Blackberry and their was definitely a storm moving in on us now. At this point in time we were about as far away from the club house as you could possibly be.

So we started to play our way back to the clubhouse ahead of the storm. I checked my Blackberry again at the end of the seventh hole. This time it informed me we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. It was 7:07pm and the report said the storm was due to arrive in Elburn at 7:20pm. We had 13 minutes.

So what did we do - we played the 8th hole. My wife told me that only a bunch of guys would do that. We got to the green. Dan Peska was excited because he had a putt for birdie. But that was when I saw the dark clouds breach the horizon.

I promptly informed the group that I was going in. But Dan wanted to try to make his birdie putt. I said that was fine, but I'm going in. So we hopped on a golf cart and away we went arriving just seconds before the brunt of the storm hit without a moment to spare.

I'm sure there is a sermon illustration somewhere in this story. I'm not sure what it is, but I am glad I am safe from the storm. It was by far my worst round of golf this year, but it will be by far the most memorable adventure.

I arrived home that night to find a dark house. Our electricity was out. Abby thought is was funny the lights were out. She really liked having a flashlight party.