Wendy asked me right before the Super Bowl started who we were rooting for, and I had to think for a minute.  Yes, Carolina was probably going to win, and yes, half of the team was formerly associated with my Bears -- but I’ve always had a fondness for Denver, and it was going to be Peyton Manning’s last game in the NFL, so I told her that I guess we’re rooting for Denver...

As we go into February, I probably ought to take a moment and remind people of all of the things coming up that you could take part in...

Hello!  I hope that you are doing well, and that this Update finds you healthy and happy.  We always need to remember what a blessing those days are, because there are always going to be all of those other days that aren’t so healthy or so happy...

Welcome to honest-to-goodness winter.  It’s cold, it’s snowy, and I’m elated.  I had lunch with someone who just got back from Florida, so I know that not everyone is as elated as I am, but I personally still like a little winter in my wintertime, nonetheless...

Before I forget, let me make sure to tell each and every one of you Happy New Year! (that’s important, because I forgot to say that one year and I heard about it later...)  We had a lot of fun at our annual New Year’s Eve FCC Family Game Night, with a full house of people and a ton of new games that people brought with them.  Spyfall went over well, and so did Burgle Bros., and I’m sure that there were other new ones that people enjoyed as well (personally, I was reminded of why I both love and hate Tri-Bond...). 

I hope that this Update finds you warm, safe, happy, and with power in your home (about half of Peoria is still without power as I type this).  We had unseasonably warm weather last week, followed by an ice storm on Monday, followed by a light dusting of snow on Tuesday night.  Frankly, Central Illinois looks just plain beautiful right now, but a ton of trees and branches are down... as well as a number of power lines and phone lines that had once been strung near them...

This week, we welcomed in three new members to our church family -- Caleb Bruhn, Matt Ljung, and Eric Diemer.  Make it a point to connect with them the next time you see them and welcome them to our FCC family personally.  And, as always, just in case I somehow forget to say it before I finish this, Merry Christmas!

I dunno about looking like Christmas, but it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.  Halfway through December, it’s finally starting to get a little cold outside.  So I appreciate that.  But you can definitely be in prayer for a couple of our FCCers...

It snowed this week... but for only about a minute and a half.  I miss real snow.  And it’s supposed to be, like, 60 degrees this weekend.  On the plus side, that meant that it wasn’t very cold for our annual Neighborhood Caroling evening this week...

There’s been a lot going on around here, both in our FCC schedule and in the lives of our FCCers themselves.  First off, Michael Uhler and his family said good-bye to his mother this week, as she passed away on Sunday.  And I also found out this week that my friend, Tony Haddad, has stage 4 cancer and has been placed into hospice.  Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers.  It’s always hard to lose a loved one, but it can be especially hard during this time of year, when everyone is trying to be so focused on being thankful and joyful.

This year, we opted to observe the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church three weeks after the rest of the world (yes, that’s a little odd, but then, we’re kind of an odd group, so I still consider it appropriate...).  But even though our decision to push the observation back was due primarily to the personal schedules of the people involved, it still worked into God’s timing just about perfectly...

A friend of mine emailed me this week, commiserating that we were probably the only two people around here who have been enjoying this cooler, rainy, overcast weather.  Of course, now that I’ve typed that sentence, the sun just came out.  Ironic timing, that.  God has a sense of humor...

I was going to write about how much I love the weather this week (cool, overcast, kinda breezy), but since I’m writing this in the middle of a brewing thunderstorm, perhaps I should hold off on that until I see what kind of damage the storm will bring as of tomorrow morning...

So I got to go stand in the fairly cold wind and rain to watch Josiah Christianson’s final football game in his elementary school league this Saturday morning, and it was a blast.  No, they didn’t win, but the experience was just a lot of fun.  One of the coaches kind of apologized to the parents for the weather, but I just said that “It’s football weather!”  I mean, you might rain out a World Series in baseball, but you don’t let a little thing like hypothermia ruin a perfectly good football game...

Hopefully, this Update finds you and your household doing well as you prepare this week for Reformation Weekend.  Yes, that’s right -- 498 years ago Saturday, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church there in Wittenberg, sparking off the Protestant Reformation.  Luckily for us today, stores like to stock up on candy in preparation for the celebration...