Just Thinking

Now 14 of Punxatawny Phil's relatives have perished near the McCarty house.

FYI the official groundhog count is now up to 13. Shot 3 just this evening.

Our kids are doing great. Just wanted to share an update on them. Breanna is 8 now and just finished 2nd grade. She finished 2nd place in her class with a 99.7 average. She is taking piano lessons and is doing great with them. Bethany is 7 and just finished 1st grade. She finished the year with a 97. something average. Wow we have some smart girls. Bethany is also taking piano lessons and is learning quite well. Ethan is 4 now and is planning on starting pre-school in the fall. He loves to be outside riding his bike. He is developing a great personality and sense of humor. Ean is 2 but is almost as big as his older brother. He only weighs a couple pounds less than Ethan. Ean is all boy. Gets into everything and isn't afraid to try anything. This explains why he has been to the emergency room twice. Once he received 7 stitches right beside his right eye and the second trip he got several staples in the back of his head. His nose has already been broken but he gets right back up and goes at it again.

I love being a pastor. I do not claim to be good at it but I love it. Sure there are times when it is overwhelming but I'm glad God chose me to do His work in this capacity. This month has been a real test to my calling. If I didn't know that I was called to pastor it would certainly be easy to find something else to do. Please don't misunderstand me, I do not say such things lightly. I am just glad that things aren't always like this. I have preached 3 funerals in the last 3 weeks, traveled approximately 2,500 miles for visitation alone, trying to serve on 5 different boards and this is all besides my sermon preparation and other pastoral duties. But you know, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm tired, wore out and sometimes just downright exhausted but God is so good. I am not writing this to complain or to brag on myself but I share these things to say that I'm glad I'm busy doing God's work and not something else. I also want to say a big "THANK YOU" to my wife, Melisa for her help and understanding during these busy times. She takes care of 4 children, me, does the laundry, cooks the meals, cleans the house and is so supportive of my ministry. I am truly blessed.

We had a great weekend here at our church this past weekend. We celebrated our 66th year as a church (for those of you who are wondering, no I haven't been pastoring that long :-) Things went very good. Penn View Chapel Choir did a great job on Friday night. After the service our young people and the choir went to a gymnasium for a time of food and fellowship. What a great time. A couple of those girls from Penn View can really play some hoops. One of them blocked one of my shots. How embarrassing. Saturday night had Tim Calhoun and Nathaniel Tucker at the church. This service went pretty good too. I had to miss the Sunday morning service due to the death of a member of our church during the night. But I hear it was good too. The Lebanon Valley Gospel Band provided the music for the afternoon service and evening service and they were classic LVGB. It was great. Bro. Tucker gave the evening challenge and did a fantastic job. God really helped him and he was an encouragement to our church.

We have a big weekend coming up here at the church. May 19-21 is our Anniversary Weekend. This year we are celebrating 66 years. Usually this is only a one day affair but this year decided to extend it for the whole weekend. On Friday night the Penn View Chapel Choir will be here at 7:30. On Saturday night at 7:30 Tim Calhoun and Nathaniel Tucker will be providing the music and Bro. Tucker will also be speaking. If you like good banjo and guitar music you need to be at this service. Bro. Calhoun does an outstanding job singing as well. The same arrangement is scheduled for the 10:00 AM Sunday Morning service. At 2:30 the Lebanon Valley Gospel Band will be providing the music. And at 6:00 PM they will be playing again along with Bro. Tucker giving the closing challenge. We're excited about this weekend and invite everyone to come. Meals will be provided on Sunday.

The groundhog count is now up to 9 thanks to a nicely placed shot at approximately 250 yards from my 204. If you need some groundhogs exterminated just let me know. Or if you would want me to save the ones I shoot so you can eat them feel free to ask. I hear they taste like chicken (everything tastes like chicken).

I'm finally blogging again. Wow, things have been really busy. Things are generally busy for a pastor anyway, but it seems like the last several weeks have really been over the top. All in all I still love it. We have had several individuals in several different hospitals all at the same time so this has been keeping me on the move. I had a funeral last Saturday and another one coming up on Monday. But again, I love being a pastor. I also love spring weather. We have been taking advantage of the nice weather to do alot of work around our house and the church. Several trees, bushes, shrubs and even a couple of buildings have been removed from the property to try to improve how things looks around here. Also a major excavation project has been going on to try to reroute the water and keep it from flooding the church yard. It's been a few weeks but I also enjoy shooting groundhogs. The large fields behind my house provide ample opportunity to shoot the critters. My count is now up to 8. Groundhog anyone?