The Latest on Granddad

Sorry for the delayed update. Granddad is back at home now. He came home from the hospital last Saturday, and has been resting. He has recovered well from the pancreatitis, but 9 days in the hospital is about enough to wear out anybody. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for my grandparents. As my uncle put it the other day, getting old isn't for wimps.

A little help

For all of you who, like The Future, have had a little trouble finding my email address (and by the number of emails I have received, I would guess that a lot of you have been having trouble) here is a little help. Click on "view my complete profile" in the right column of this page. Then on my profile page click "Email" in the left column. It's as easy as 1,2...
Of course, The Future never was too quick when it came to computers and numbers and such. So maybe the rest of you didn't need this bit of help. So, Future, this one's for you.
My niece and nephew are here this week. No big plans yet, but there is talk of seeing the sights downtown. Should be fun.

New Number

I changed my phone number. For privacy reasons I am not going to post my phone number here for the whole world to read. But if I know you, please feel free to email me and I'll give you my new number. This will also help me update my email address book. I'm sure you can find my email address here on this blog.
peace,
kent <><

Update on Granddad

Thanks for the prayers for my grandfather. He is still in the hospital, but is doing much better with the pancreatitis. Tomorrow they are going to do a procedure to investigate the cause of the problem, so hopefully it won't happen again. Please pray that Granddad would be strong and of good courage. It can be hard on a fella lying in a hospital bed for a week, with visitors stopping by every now and then. And please pray for my grandmother. He is her primary care taker, so it's hard on her when he's not around.
As for me, I have one month before school begins. One month of freedom before my life changes in unforeseeable ways. If you ever wanted to come visit me in Indiana, now would be a great time. To be honest, I am getting nervous about school, but I'm looking forward to getting started. It's been a while since I did any hardcore academics. I'm sure this first year is going to rock my world, but in a good way hopefully.
Any suggestions for things I should do during this final month of summer break?

Granddad

Thank you for your prayers for my Granddad. He is still in the hospital, but has been moved to a regular room and is doing much better. He has pancreatitis and they are still unsure of the cause, but he is getting better. Please continue to pray for him, and for my grandmother. It is hard on her when he is not around. We took her up to see him this afternoon and she must have told him a dozen times "I love you." And of course every time he responded similarly. It's great to have grandparents who love each other so much after 66 years of marriage.

Home Early

I'm not supposed to be home from camp until Friday afternoon, but I came home late Thursday night because my Granddad is in the hospital. Please pray for him. I just came home long enough to change clothes, before heading up to spend the night at the hospital, but I wanted to send out this prayer request. Please pray for Granddad and for Mom (my grandmother).
thanks.

Sorry to Keep You Waiting

I started off the week strong, with two early posts. But now, as the days have worn on and the week is waning, I find myself slacking in the category of "frequent posts." So without further ado, let me get to some content.

Sunday marks the beginning of the observation of a great tradition - the Southeastern Church of Christ Bible Camp at Spring Mill. For all but perhaps 2 or 3 of my 24 years of life, I have attended camp. The first time I went to camp I was a young 4.5 months old. And for I believe 3 of the last 5 years I have served as a counselor for the high school boys. This year the tradition will be repeated as Tom Perkins (the youth and worship minister) and I take on a cabin of 13 rowdy teenage boys. I'm sure the week will prove to be a grand one. In addition to my usual responsibilities as counselor, I will also be leading singing in the morning chapel times and I will be one of the designated rental van drivers for the week. All of this suits me fine. I've led singing a number of times, and the rental van driving, while a very big and serious responsibility, is nothing entirely new to me.

But there is an added burden facing me at camp this year. Strangely enough, this burden is not some new responsibility that I have never faced before. In fact, I have done it multiple times in the past. But something about teaching the high school Bible class is weighing on me this time like a bench-press bar resting on my chest that I just can't muster the strength to lift. (I'm quite familiar with that feeling, which is one reason I avoid working out) While I have willingly taken on this task, and fully intend to carry out my responsibility faithfully, I am intimidated by facing 24 teenagers for an hour and fifteen minutes each morning to talk about "building character like Christ." And in all honesty, I think the pressure comes not from the 48 eyes that may or may not be upon me for that time, but rather from the topic that I am expected to "teach."

What do I know about the character of Christ? Well, of course, I was a Bible major at ACU, so I ought to know plenty about the character of our Lord (not to mention the fact that I've been a Christian for 13 years now). Ok, fair enough - so for the sake of argument I'll admit to knowing a decent amount of information about the character of Jesus. But that is not the topic for the week. The topic for the week is "BUILDING character like Christ," and at this point I have to throw in the towel. I know nothing about how to build character like Christ. Or at least, I feel like I know very little.

Let me take an aside here to add a disclaimer to this conversation: Please, I repeat, PLEASE do not read this as me looking for compliments. I don't want comments encouraging me by saying "You're a great guy" and whatnot. Do I want encouragement? Yes, but encouragement about teaching this class, not about my status as a follower of Christ. So please don't comment about that. It will only give me a big head, and that won't help anything.

So how am I supposed to instruct a group of teenagers about being conformed to the likeness of Christ, when I myself feel no closer to the goal than those who I am instructing? How can I, being fully aware of the sin in my life (or maybe not being fully aware - which would be worse) take it upon myself to spend more than 6 hours this week teaching some kids how they ought to be like Jesus? This is the source of the burden I feel weighing heavily upon me.

I know that the transformation of a life is accomplished by the gracious and graceful hand of God, not by the eloquent, skillful words of a wiseman. And I know that the softening of a heart is result of the work of the Holy Spirit, not the effect of a well organized worship service. And I know that the salvation of a human being is great work of the grace of God, not the end product of a life well lived. So I recognize that the building of Christian character in the lives of these teenagers (and in my life) is not dependent upon my skill and suaveness, my humor and intrigue in this week-long Bible class at camp. But what a burden I feel in spite of those truths.

Please pray for our class, and for the campers, and for the staff. It will be a great week of fun. I pray that it will more importantly be a great week of spiritual growth - for me and for the campers.

thanks for bearing with me.