My family and I have been traveling a lot lately, between taking our daughter up to Chicago one weekend, then going to Kansas City for the denominational Annual Conference this past week.  But it was worth it, if only to go to Joe’s Kansas City BBQ (that place is amazing...).  But in the two weeks between my pulpit chats, a lot has gone on in the world...

Kyle Gregory’s soulful trumpet solo Be Thou our Vision provided our call to worship. We enjoyed a short dramedy video on fatherhood legacy...

I hope that this Update finds you healthy and happy -- and if not either or both of those, I hope that you can find joy wherever you find yourself today, since it’s not dependent on either of those fickle situations...

After having a fairly mild Summer so far, it’s supposed to hike up into “Condition 90” weather several times this week -- so we’ve got that to look forward to.  For my neighbor with the pool, that sounds great.  For those of us who have to mow our lawns in the heat, that’s no fun at all...

Hello there!  I hope that this Update finds you healthy and happy, and that you were able to spend some quality time worshiping the Lord this week wherever you found yourself.  We had a lot of fun this week, because Sunday marked a birthday for both Scott Christianson and my own wife, Wendy.  Happy birthday, guys!

Before I forget, thank you to everyone who came in on Saturday and helped with the start of prepping out our Vacation Bible School decorations.  Those mountains in particular look incredible!  I always look forward to seeing what our church building is transformed into every year -- and this year’s Himalayan theme is already off to a great start...

Wendy and Megan and I spent the weekend in Chicago, and I was reminded of all of the things that I love and hate about Chicago.  We got to spend time with my aunt and uncle (whom I love), and eat at That Pasta Place (which I love), and sit in traffic for hours (which I really hate).  We got home Saturday night, enjoyed a morning of worship with the First Covenant Church family, and then ran back to Morton for Megan’s graduation ceremony that afternoon...

I knew that April would be busy, but I foolishly thought that things might let up a bit in May.  Foolish, foolish Kevin...  Between graduation preparations, awards nights, Mother’s Day preparations, prepping for Summer classes, etc., things are still pretty much hopping around here...

We’re in the home stretch for the school year, and -- as a parent of a high school senior -- I can tell you that the kids are ready to be done.  So what about you parents?  What I mean is, are you ready for the Summer with your kids?

People are complaining that it’s getting cooler out, but I’m loving it.  What I’m not loving is how much my lawn has grown while I was waiting for my lawnmower blades to get sharpened.  Lots of bagging of grass for Pastor Kevin later on today...

This past week has been great for our household, since my kids were on Spring Break, and that meant quality family time.  We even got to have some extra bonus quality family time by having Sara Stewart (who’s kinda like an extra bonus daughter) over for pizza and a movie one night.  I’ve always felt bad for those parents who look forward to their kids going off to school so that they can get rid of them -- my time with my kids is usually the highlight of my day...

Before I forget to say this, let me start this Update with a hearty Happy Resurrection Sunday!  I really do have to be careful, or else I’ll forget to mention stuff like that.  It’s not that it’s not important -- it’s just that once a holiday is over, I’m off and running, thinking about what’s coming up the next Sunday.  And that’s a shame, really...

Welcome to Holy Week!  I’d like to encourage you not to think of Easter as a “Sunday morning thing” so much as a celebration that you’ll want to spend all week leading up to.  In fact, here at First Covenant, we don’t even call it “Easter” -- we rather prefer to think of it as “Resurrection Sunday” (to remind us of just what exactly it is that we’re celebrating, and to help us make that one more step of removal from baskets, bonnets, bunnies, and chocolate in our minds)...

So, roughly half of our church family is sick.  But that’s only Peoria in microcosm, because roughly two-fifths of Peoria is sick with this nasty sinus/throat infection thing.  I’ve heard many people chuckling mid-week about how much more they enjoy being with me, now that I’ve essentially lost my voice.  Go figure...